Public Health in the News – May 3, 2015

Global

• Nature explores what is happening to scientists in Tunisia, Egypt, and Syria in the wake of the Arab Spring.
• It is getting harder for Chinese researchers to access public data, raising concerns that research progress will be slowed.
• Bacteria found in the soil influences the way that crops grow. Researchers are using these bacteria to find new ways to improve our food sources and use less water.
• A new mosquito-borne illness, chikungunya, is beginning to spread out of the Caribbean and Latin and South America.
• The World Health Organization is overseeing distributions of medical goods and coordinating medical teams in Nepal following the country’s large earthquake. The Conversation discusses what works best when it comes to disaster health response.

National

• Vice has a series of articles and videos up about various mental health issues, such as LGBT mental health and a history of mental health drugs for women. Note also their article about using prisons as mental health facilities – we also covered this issue in a past edition of the NPHR.
• Several recent headlines have claimed that a new study showed that thinking causes cancer. Not quite, points out Neuroskeptic.
• Companies that offer genetic testing to consumers are now developing ways to use their data to come up with new treatments.
• A little public health history: here’s a wacky treatment once used for tuberculosis.
• Advances in diet research over the past year include findings such as an exercise pill, harmful effects of artificial sweeteners, and the neural pathways of hunger.

Illinois/Chicago

• A new law says that produce sold at farmer’s markets will have to include information about where it came from, so people will know if their food is locally grown.
• Illinois’ Medicare dental program may soon be cut, although past experience tells us that this ends up costing everyone more in the long run – unresolved tooth problems can result in expensive emergency room visits.
• The Cook County state’s attorney’s office is decriminalizing misdemeanors involving marijuana, and attempting to treat offenders in order to address the public health side of the issue.

Northwestern

• NU scientists have found that looking at the DNA in your blood cells can help predict whether you will develop cancer.
• A new clinic will open at Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital, which will give northern suburb residents easier access to cancer clinical trials.