Body

African American and white men who live in racially integrated communities and who have comparable incomes have far fewer differences when it comes to behaviors that contribute to poor health -- such as physical inactivity, smoking and drinking -- compared to African American and white men overall in the U.S., according to a new study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Kingston - Researchers from Queen's University, working with colleagues from the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, have linked the localized near-extinction of a native crayfish species in four lakes in Algonquin Park to declining calcium levels, a long-term legacy of acid rain on forest soils and aquatic ecosystems.

The remains of an Iberian lynx specimen which lived 1.6 million years ago - the oldest ever discovered - were found resting in a cave in Barcelona (Spain). This discovery not only allows us to shed light on the origins of one of the world's most endangered feline species, but it also means that the emergence of this species on the Iberian Peninsula dates back half a million years earlier than what was originally believed.

With increased legalization of marijuana for medicinal and recreational purposes, interest is growing in the potential health effects of its secondhand smoke. A team now reports in ACS' journal Analytical Chemistry the development of a urine screening method that is sensitive enough to detect even small amounts of chemicals that result from this exposure.

Strong painkillers known as prescription opioids appear to be overprescribed in some regions of British Columbia (B.C.), resulting in higher rates of overdose and death, according to a new study from UBC.

UBC researchers collected data about the amount of opioids prescribed across 79 of the local health areas of B.C from 2004 to 2013. They found significant variation in prescription rates. Researchers also found that areas with the highest volumes of prescribed opioid purchases were also the areas that experience the most overdose deaths involving prescribed opioid drugs.

New studies of the public health workforce reveal signs of unprecedented change ahead. Notably, 38 percent of state public health workers plan to leave the public health workforce by 2020, either to retire or to pursue positions in other sectors.

"How could this have been prevented?" That was the first thought for University of Guelph sociology professor Myrna Dawson upon learning last month about a Winnipeg woman charged with killing her two-month-old daughter.

Dawson asked herself the same question this past summer after a Montreal man killed his 10-month-old-son and then himself.

And she pondered it again this month after hearing about a woman who threw her six-month-old child from a New York City apartment - the third such infant death in three months in that city.

October 28, 2015 - Researchers from around the world are working to improve soldiers' health and physical performance and health--with the goal of increasing military readiness and effectiveness, according to the November special issue of The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.

Scientists have developed a new paper device that analyzes DNA and could rapidly and inexpensively assess disparate conditions including hepatitis B and male infertility, which together affect millions of people around the world. The test, reported in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, could be of particular help diagnosing people in low-income areas.

The rate of growth in children varies with the season while higher latitude and greater summer daylight exposure makes a significant difference in results for children treated with growth hormone, according to new research from The University of Manchester.

The study of children with growth hormone deficiency from 14 countries measured their rate of growth for a year whilst being treated and mapped their response against the amount of summer daylight exposure typical to the latitude at which they live.

700 million year-old DNA sequences from ancient animals have been unearthed by researchers at the Universities of Leicester and Warwick, shedding new light on our earliest animal ancestors and how they influenced modern species - including the sponge.

The team, led by Dr Eran Tauber (Leicester) and Dr Sascha Ott (Warwick) has discovered highly conserved sequences in non-coding DNA by analysing the genome sequences of 12 different insects - and have identified a set of 322 non-coding DNA regions which have been evolutionarily preserved for at least 180 million years.

Scientists at Oxford University have identified the key groups of bacteria responsible for the majority of meningococcal disease cases in England and Wales over the past 20 years.

Genome analysis of 899 individual bacterial isolates revealed the presence of 20 families, or lineages, of the bacterium Neisseria meningitidis in England and Wales over the two-year period between 2010 and 2012. But only three of these lineages caused 59% of cases. Researchers were able to compare this with previous data to shed light on disease fluctuations over more than 20 years.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Every heart beat and step in our daily lives is dependent on the integrity of muscles and the proteins that keep them strong and free of injury as they contract and relax.

Researchers at the University of Michigan Health System have identified a new way of triggering the instructions normally given by the muscle protein dystrophin, which is found in the muscles used for movement and in cardiac muscle cells.

Proteins usually responsible for the destruction of virally infected or cancerous cells in our immune system have been found to control the release from cells of a critical growth factor governing head and tail development in fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster). This may help explain how these perforin-like proteins function in human brain development and neurodevelopmental disorders such as Autism Spectrum Disorder.

A large international study shows that breastfeeding is associated with a lower risk of developing an aggressive form of breast cancer called hormone-receptor negative. This new combined evidence shows the risk was reduced by up to 20% in women who breastfed. Published in Annals of Oncology, this breastfeeding meta-analysis is a collaboration between Breastcancer.org; Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; Washington University, St. Louis; and the American Cancer Society.