Public Health in the News – July 6, 2014

Global

• When researchers studying ways to solve global food issues needed a cheap, modular, transparent material in which to grow plants for their experiments, they turned to Legos.
• A new test that can diagnose tuberculosis much more quickly than other methods has been developed by scientists at Stanford University.
• People infected with malaria give off odors that attract more mosquitos, a new study finds. This may help researchers develop new ways of detecting people who have been infected.

National

• A large-scale analysis of vaccines found that the benefits far outweigh the risks.
• You may have heard by now about the study released by Facebook showing that your emotions could be manipulated by your newsfeed. An article in Wired discusses whether this constitutes Human Subjects Research and whether or not proper approval was obtained.
• Why are some teens more likely to end up binge drinkers than others? A newly-developed computer algorithm uses multiple variables to predict who will have alcohol problems.
• Discover Magazine talks about some new ways technology is being used to promote health, from a smartphone app to monitor mental illness to monitoring seniors’ activity through their energy use.
• How can we get a more accurate picture of drug use in a city? Look in the sewers.
• Sneezes travel even farther than we thought – up to eight feet!
• Dong-Pyou Han, a former scientist at Iowa State University, pleads not guilty to faking data in an AIDS study.
• Researchers studying the flu virus at the University of Wisconsin – Madison didn’t initially comply with new US biosecurity rules, even though their study falls under the category used to describe research that may pose a public health risk.
• “People don’t want to think about us,” said Dr. Paul Scalise, chief of medicine at the Hospital for Special Care. “I don’t want to think about us, either.” The New York Times profiles long-term acute care hospitals.
• Michelle Obama is fighting against Republicans in the House of Representatives who are considering a bill that would allow school districts that are strapped for money to opt out of the standards that require healthier foods to be served in schools.
• Science writer Holly Dunsworth takes inspiration from Alysia Montano, who just competed in the US Track and Field Nationals while 34 weeks pregnant.
• 30 minutes of exercise provides cognitive benefits, but this effect decreases when you exercise for longer periods of time.

Northwestern

• Neil J. Stone, MD, was named Physician of the Year by the American Heart Association!
• It’s not too late to adopt healthy habits that can benefit your heart, says a new study led by NU Professor Bonnie Spring, PhD.

Cover Photo by TookAPic via Pexels: Creative Commons