PITTSBURGH POST GAZETTE - “For a while we weren’t really sure if it was just a parallel decline with age or a truly linked decline,” said EPI’S lead author ANDREA ROSSO. Finding a brain region tied to both provides strong evidence that gait and cognitive change are not just correlated but linked, she said. Measuring gait could allow for earlier dementia detection because individuals often slow their walking speeds before any signs of cognitive im...
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER - “For the first time in Allegheny County, fentanyl was found in more people than heroin,” said Pitt Public Health epidemiologist JEANINE BUCHANICH. There appear to be two distinct epidemics in Pennsylvania, said DONALD BURKE. Southeastern Pennsylvania historically has been a source of extremely pure and cheap heroin, which is now drawing some users whose addictions began with prescription pain pills.
UPI - Research led by EPI's WENDY KING found that while the number of adults with severe obesity using prescription opioids initially declines in the months after bariatric surgery, it eventually increases to surpass pre-surgery rates. "Almost half of patients reporting opioid use at the time of surgery reported no such use following surgery. However, among the much larger group of patients who did not report opioid use pre-surgery, opioid use gr...
PITTSBURGH TODAY - “PM2.5 is probably the chief concern for the region, mainly because of its contribution from a source as big as the Clairton plant has an effect over a fairly large area,” said EOH associate prof JAMES FABISIAK.... “Everything that’s a risk factor for bad health is showing up high in that area,” said LUANN BRINK, Allegheny County Health Department deputy director and chief epidemiologist (as well as EPI alum and assistant prof)...
Kudos to (photo front, left to right) alumna PATRICIA NOWALK (EPI '81, ’93) and BCHS faculty MARY HAWK, ED RICCI, and (back) RICHARD ZIMMERMAN, who received the Immunization Publication Excellence Award presented during the National Adult Influenza Immunization Summit, May 10, 2017, in Atlanta, Georgia. The award was in recognition of their work on the Four Pillars Practice Transformations Program for adult influenza immunization.
STAR TRIBUNE - “That is the herd immunity,” said WILBERT VAN PANUIS, Pitt Public Health epidemiologist and affiliated faculty of the Public Health Dynamics Laboratory. Measles is less likely to turn into an outbreak if at least 95 percent of the population has immunity protection. ldquo;If the number drops below 95, the chance of measles infection is going up,” he said. “Children who can’t be vaccinated will be at an extreme risk.”
The following four individuals will be inducted into the Omicron chapter of the Delta Omega Honorary Society at the Graduate School of Public Health, recognizing merit and encouraging further excellence in, and devotion to, public health work:
Nancy W. Glynn (EPI '94), faculty and alumna; Leah M. Lamonte (IDM '06), alumna; Natalie A. Solomon-Brimage (BCHS '06), alumna; Christopher A. Taylor (EPI '10), alumnus.
CBS NEWS - "We knew there was an increase in the number of people experiencing problems with alcohol within the first two years of surgery, but we didn't expect the number of affected patients to continue to grow throughout seven years of follow-up," said lead author WENDY KING, associate professor of epidemiology at Pitt Public Health. Her team discovered that 20.8 percent of participants developed symptoms of alcohol use disorder within five ye...
UPI - "The long term effects of bullying involvement are important to establish," EPI's KAREN MATTHEWS, the lead researcher from the University of Pittsburgh, said in a press release. "Most research on bullying is based on addressing mental health outcomes, but we wished to examine the potential impact of involvement in bullying on physical health and psychosocial risk factors for poor physical health."
POST-GAZETTE - A disturbing topic is the racial disparity in the cases of asthma. EPI's LUANN BRINK has reported rates for African-Americans that are nearly double the rates for whites. Pollution sources are clustered in areas where many African-Americans live, leading to this disparity.
ELSA S. STROTMEYER, associate professor of epidemiology at Pitt Public Health, was voted chair-elect of the Gerontological Society of America's Health Sciences Section. She will assume her role in November, joining colleagues from around the country in accepting responsibility for matters of governance and strategic planning with GSA.
CONSUMER REPORTS - Myth #2: It’s Safer to Space Out Kids' Vaccines.
That's unwise, says EPI's WILBERT VAN PANHUIS. The CDC bases the schedule on disease risks and vaccine effectiveness at specific ages, and the way vaccines may interact with each other. “To start mixing this up is really complicated and actually can be dangerous,” he says—in part because putting vaccines off can leave kids vulnerable to infectious diseases.
CONTAGION LIVE - A research team including senior author RICHARD ZIMMERMAN, BCHS, and alumna MARY PATRICIA NOWALK (EPI '93), notes that despite its lower efficacy rates, eliminating the nasal influenza vaccine has resulted in a reduced overall rate of flu vaccine uptake in the United States. Thus, eliminating this form of vaccination may lead to more flu-related illnesses. The study finds that it would take only relatively small changes to tip th...
Vice-chair for research in the Department of Epidmiology, Lisa Bodnar is to receive the Outstanding Alumnus Award from the Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The award will be presented at a ceremony on Friday, April 28, 2017.