August 28, 2007 Not everyone needs a genetic test before taking the cancer drug irinotecan, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration should modify its prescription guidelines to say so, according to researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Joseph Ibrahim, Ph.D., and Pingping Qu, Ph.D., of the UNC School of Public... Read more »
August 17, 2007 Photograph of Dr. Steven Zeisel Young women are less likely than men or post-menopausal women to suffer liver or muscle damage from a deficiency of the nutrient choline, according to a new study led by Steven H. Zeisel, MD, PhD, Kenan Distinguished University professor of nutrition in the UNC School of Public... Read more »
August 01, 2007 Dr. Jennifer Smith The variety of human papilloma viruses that cause invasive cervical cancer cases worldwide are largely consistent across continents, according to a new study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This finding means that prophylactic vaccines currently available against these two most prevalent types of human papillomavirus... Read more »
August 01, 2007 Confirmed incidents of child abuse and neglect among Army families increase significantly when a parent is deployed to a combat zone, according to a new study by researchers at RTI International and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health. Dr. Sandra Martin and Dr. Lawrence Kupper, professors... Read more »
July 25, 2007 The good news: more women in North Carolina are being screened for cancer and infectious diseases, fewer women are dying from heart disease and stroke and the number of women who smoke has dropped substantially. The bad news: barriers to health care are worsening for poor and minority women. About 16 percent... Read more »
July 09, 2007 Putting bacteria on birth control could stop the spread of drug-resistant microbes, and researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have found a way to do just that. Image of biophosphonates, bacterial cell and DNA strand The team discovered a key weakness in the enzyme that helps “fertile”... Read more »
July 06, 2007 Photograph of Dr. Jonathon Kotch Children and staff at child care centers stay healthier when better equipment is available for diaper-changing, hand-washing and food preparation, according to an article published this week in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Jonathan Kotch, MD, professor of maternal and child health at... Read more »
June 19, 2007 Photograph of Dr. Noel T. Brewer Adolescent girls who are vaccinated against Human Papillomavirus (HPV), a sexually transmitted virus that may cause cervical cancer, are not likely to engage in sex more often than adolescent girls who are not vaccinated, according to a new study led by a researcher from the University... Read more »
June 05, 2007 Taking folic acid supplements does not reduce the risk of developing precancerous tumors in the colon and may even increase the risk, a new study has found. Photograph of Dr. Robert Sandler “We had great hope that folic acid would be a very cheap and effective agent to prevent large bowel adenomas.... Read more »
May 30, 2007 Skin cancers often contain different gene mutations, but just how these mutations contribute to the cause of melanomas has been a mystery. A new clue comes from scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Schools of Medicine and Public Health. Their research indicates that early life sun exposure, from... Read more »
