TV3 EXPOSE - Ireland's private-TV news broadcaster cites research by Pitt Public Health's BONNY ROCKETTE-WAGNER on the impacts of TV watching on weight gain and diabetes risk. “Television watching (like other sitting behaviours) has very low energy expenditure, and therefore large amounts of time [spent doing it] could lead to energy imbalance and weight gain.”
MEDICAL NEWS TODAY - Epidemiologist ANDREA ROSSO set out to uncover why some people respond to physical exercise inventions better than others. Her hunt for these super-responders saw her looking at genes involved in dopamine regulation. Rosso speculates that higher dopamine levels may play a role in sticking to exercise regimes in lifestyle interventions.
ENDOCRINE TODAY - “Midlife and the menopause transition is a time when women typically gain weight, and losing it is difficult because there are multiple things going on,” REBECCA THURSTON (EPI) told Endocrine Today . “Women’s physiology is changing, their lives are very busy, and they’re caring, oftentimes, for partners, children and aging parents, so it is a challenge.”
NEW YORK TIMES - This doctoral alum is amazing! CHRIS TAYLOR (EPI '10), who was inducted into the Pitt Public Health Delta Omega Honor Society chapter in May 2017, won best in show in the amateur division at the American Pie Council's championship in June in Orlando, Florida. His winner beat 205 other entries with a recipe inspired in part by a Take5 candy bar, one of his favorites.
PBS NEWSHOUR - Reporter Roni Dengler asked ANNE NEWMAN, epidemiology chair and former geriatrician, for comments on this new study. Newman voiced concern that the all-male cohort’s inconsistent participation may have skewed the results toward healthier individuals. The senior author from Upsala University acknowledged this limitation, noting that it’s possible the trends they see would be stronger if there had been less bias.
ALZFORUM - Last year, a widely reported epidemiology study came to the troubling conclusion that elderly people who regularly took proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) were at increased risk of dementia. Now, a study published in the June 7 Journal of the American Geriatrics Society challenges this association. Which study is correct? Both Lewis Kuller, University of Pittsburgh, and John Breitner, McGill University, Montreal, said it’s impossible to t...
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...
It was announced today that alumna JANICE SCULLY DORMAN (HUGEN ’81, EPI ’83) is the recipient of the Pitt School of Nursing 2017 Dean’s Distinguished Teaching Award for tenured faculty. Dorman has taught classes at that school (and at Pitt Public Health) for 30 years, focusing primarily on molecular epidemiology and genetics.
Three epidemiology students traveled to Seattle this week to present findings at the 2017 annual meeting of the Society for Pediatric Epidemiologic Research. Pictured below are KYLE FREESE, LARA SIMINERIO LEMON, and TAMALA GONDWE. What was their take-away from the 30th anniversary event? Reproductive, perinatal, and pediatric epidemiology is no longer the “new kid on the block.”
Alumnus RAJESH PANDAV (EPI ’01) has now completed two years as the World Health Organization’s country representative to East Timor. Along with updates on his accomplishments, Pandav sent in a nice shout-out to his mentors at Pitt: “All this has been possible because of the excellent education I received when I was at Pitt Public Health. I would like to specially thank Assistant Dean for Student Affairs, MARY DERKACH, and my mentor, MARY GANGULI...
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.
KVOA NEWS 4 - New prediction tools to identify patients at risk of inappropriate prescription opioid use, while allowing safe administration of legitimate pain management are being developed by alumna WEI-HSUAN JENNY LO-CIGANIC (BIOST '10, EPI '05), now an assistant professor with the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy. Her newly-funded work builds on research she completed as a postdoctoral associate at Pitt's HEALTH POLICY INSTITUTE.
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)...