Nutrition professors contribute chapters to Eating Disorders and Obesity text
March 2, 2017 Drs. Cynthia Bulik, June Stevens and Deborah Tate wrote chapters in the third edition of Eating Disorders and Obesity: A Comprehensive Handbook, published this year by The Guilford Press.
Study validates a survey tool to assess patient-centered communication in cancer care settings
March 2, 2017 Dr. Bryce Reeve and colleagues at RTI found supporting evidence for the reliability of a survey instrument that assesses patient-centered communication in cancer care settings. Their findings were published Feb. 10 in Patient Education and Counseling.
Youth with Type 2 diabetes more likely to have significant complications later in life
February 28, 2017 A new report, co-authored by Dr. Beth Mayer-Davis and published in JAMA, indicates that adolescents and young adults with Type 2 diabetes bear a significantly higher burden of potential diabetes-related complications – especially among minority youth with this disease – than do their peers with Type 1 diabetes.
Among women, poor blacks in the south bear greatest burden of HIV, study finds
February 23, 2017 Alexander Breskin and Drs. Adaora Adimora and Daniel Westreich are co-authors of a PLOS ONE study that identifies U.S. counties in which the prevalence of HIV is high among women, as compared to men. Black women from poor areas in the South face a disproportionately high burden of HIV.
Hookah smoking seen as emerging public health threat in Kurdish region of Iraq
February 23, 2017 Drs. Dilshad Jaff and Anant Kumar describe hookah smoking in the Kurdish region of Iraq as an emerging public health threat. The ongoing armed conflict, economic distress and easy availability of tobacco contribute to the problem.
Maman, Herndon selected for School’s Greenberg, Barr awards
February 20, 2017 Dr. Suzanne Maman, professor of health behavior, and Sally Herndon, a health behavior alumna, have won, respectively, the Greenberg Award for excellence in teaching, research and service and the Barr Award, for contributions in public health by a Gillings School alumnus/a. Maman and Herndon will be honored at the 2017 Foard Lecture, to be held on April 27.
Sugar-sweetened beverage purchases declined in two years after Mexican 'soda tax' passed
February 21, 2017 A new study by nutrition researchers Drs. Shu Wen Ng and Barry Popkin -- and their collaborators in Mexico -- found that Mexico's tax on sugary beverages caused the purchase of those beverages to decline during the second year of the tax. Earlier research had shown an immediate decrease in purchases in the tax's first year. The study is published in the journal Health Affairs.
Legal marijuana sales creating escalating damage to the environment
February 20, 2017 By 2020, legal marijuana sales in the U.S. will generate more annual revenue than will the National Football League. However, growing the plant has serious repercussions for the environment, according to a new study by Dr. William Vizuete and a U.K. colleague.
Maternity waiting homes bring help to vulnerable women in Malawi
February 16, 2017 Dr. Kavita Singh led a study, published in the International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, showing that maternity waiting homes (MWHs) offer a promising strategy to reduce maternal mortality in Malawi and other low-income countries. MWHs allow women who live in rural areas or who have high-risk pregnancies to live closer to a health facility toward the end of their term.
Gillings School is top public health school at public university for NIH funding
February 16, 2017 The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced that the Gillings School was the top public health school at a public university in receiving NIH funding during fiscal year 2016. The School received 107 awards, for a total of $65,454,312 in funding.