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US NEWS AND WORLD REPORT – IDM’s Peter Salk struggles to make sense of COVID denialism. “It’s not mind-blowing — it’s mind-bending and heartbreaking to see this,” he says. “How many people are dying, and how many are suffering loss in their families, because of not being tuned in to the reality of what’s taking place?” When Salk’s father encountered people who had misgivings about his polio vaccine, he patiently reasoned with them.
MEDSCAPE - Children in particular could be at high risk this year because of a lack of herd immunity, which usually comes from a combination of vaccinations and people who were exposed to related strains of the virus, says PHDL’s Mark Roberts. In a normal year, around 180-200 children die from the flu. But last year, only one death was recorded. "Very few kids got influenza last year, so young kids have almost no natural immunity."
BCHS’s Sara Baumann and Jessica Burke discuss the role of art following the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal in April 2015 in this episode of the HPP Podcast. They explain the origin of "collaborative filmmaking" and their focus on empowering participants and communities and encourage listeners to view their digital gallery and to learn more about collaborative filmmaking.
TIME - The success of these businesses demonstrates that people are willing to pay to skip the line and receive individualized attention, says HPM’s Evan Cole. But improving access for the wealthy isn’t the same as fixing primary care. “My big concern, at a system level, with membership fees is you’re going to systematically exclude individuals with limited income,” Cole says. “Right there, you’ve got an issue with health equity.”
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REUTERS - HPM’s Walid Gellad, a Pitt Medicine professor with a secondary appointment at Pitt Public Health, said there seems to be a benefit of having the third dose to prevent symptomatic COVID-19, but questioned if the booster was helping younger people as well as older people. "I'm just still very curious if this is primarily in people who are much, much older." Gellad said.
WPXI - BCHS's Jamie Sidani and Beth Hoffman (BCHS '19, '22) published new guidance for pediatricians outlining how to effectively talk to kids and parents about the COVID-19 vaccine that includes monitoring the messages being spread on social media. This guidance is broken down by ABC – be Active on social media, Build trustworthiness, and Capitalize on the strengths of adolescents to help spread accurate information.
WPXI - With the options for COVID-19 booster shots expanding, it's estimated tens of millions of people will be eligible to roll up their sleeves once again. "So that's great news," said EPI's Lee Harrison. "I do think the infections and the number of breakthroughs that we're seeing with the delta variant argue in favor of if you are eligible to go ahead and get your booster."
The Violence Prevention Initiative, led by BCHS's Richard Garland, was awarded funds by the RK Mellon Foundation to launch an outreach project called McKeesport Violence Prevention. “We are hiring four outreach workers who will really be violence interrupters,” said Garland. “Their jobs will be to interrupt the transmission of the disease of violence in the McKeesport area. Our work is about changing the narrative. We feel we can stem the tide o...
The MidAtlantic AIDS Education and Training Center, headquartered at Pitt Public Health, was highlighted in the HRSA, Ryan White Biennial Report published in late September 2021. The article highlights the work of IDM's Linda Frank and her staff, Susan Winters and Ingrid Godfrey in the utilization of the Learner Education and Practice Portal (LEAPP) to reach health professionals in Region 3 of the USPHS for education, technical assistance and co...
PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE - “We speculate that it could be a combination of too few high-quality antibodies in the plasma and these patients being too far along in their illness with a runaway inflammatory immune response for those antibodies to turn the tide,” said co-senior author Derek Angus (BCHS '92), the chief innovation officer at UPMC and chair of Pitt’s Department of Critical Care Medicine and secondary faculty in HPM.
NPR - With extreme heat waves on the rise in a changing climate, doctors are finding that pregnant women are particularly vulnerable. Heat waves increase the chances of going into labor early, having a stillbirth, or having a baby with low birthweight.The risk is even greater for women of color, especially Black mothers. While women are often advised to stay hydrated during pregnancy, many are not warned by their doctors about the risks of heat....
NPR - Americans love their gas stoves. It's a romance fueled by a decades-old "cooking with gas" campaign from utilities. The details have changed over time, but the message is the same: Using a gas stove makes you a better cook. But the beloved gas stove has become a focal point in a fight over whether gas should even exist in the 35% of U.S. homes that cook with it. Environmental groups are focused on potential health effects.
BBC NEWS - In a monthly feature, the BBC reveals some of the ways that planet Earth has been changing against the backdrop of the warming world. Air pollution has long been one of the biggest killers, claiming an estimated seven million victims annually. However, the Covid-19 global pandemic showed how quickly we could clear the air once we cut the number of journeys we made.
BBC NEWS - The UK is hosting a summit that is seen as crucial if climate change is to be brought under control. The meeting in Glasgow this fall could lead to major changes to our everyday lives. The world is warming because of fossil fuel emissions caused by humans. Extreme weather events linked to climate change - including heatwaves, floods and forest fires - are intensifying.
THE WASHINGTON POST - Most commercial crops are annual. They provide only one harvest and must be replanted every year. Growing these foods on an industrial scale usually takes huge amounts of water, fertilizer and energy, making agriculture a major source of carbon and other pollutants. But Kernza – a domesticated form of wheatgrass developed by scientists at the nonprofit Land Institute – is perennial.
NPR - The much-feared "twindemic" of flu and COVID didn't hit last winter. But some experts fear that last year's remarkably mild flu season has now set the stage for a big rebound in the coming months, because fewer people have built up immunity. "It could be really bad, and it could be really bad at a time when there's still quite a bit of COVID-19 filling up our hospitals," says HPM and PHDL’s Mark Roberts.
FLORIDA NEWS TIMES - As women approach menopause, the length of the menstrual cycle often increases. The timing of these changes may provide clues about the risk of people developing heart disease, according to a new study. "Cardiovascular disease is the number one murderer of women and the risk is significantly increased after middle age, so menopause may contribute to the disease," said EPI's Samar El Khoudary, lead author.
U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT - Dean Emeritus Donald Burke is an expert at using computer modeling and simulation to guide public health decision-making. He said it's important to consider the death rate and not simply the death total. "Even though the death totals are similar [for COVID-19 and the 1918 flu], the death rates — that is the rate per 100,000 people, or per-unit population — are lower now from covid than it was for influenza by about t...
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VERYWELL HEALTH - Breathing crude oil vapors can cause coughing, throat and nose irritation, dizziness, headache, and nausea, according to a 2016 medical study of the DWH clean-up workers. This is particularly worrisome for vulnerable populations like children, older adults and people with lung conditions like asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, says Dean Maureen Lichtveld.
Congratulations to Chandra Ford (CHS '97), professor of community health sciences at UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. She was recognized for her research examining relationships between racism-related factors and disparities in the health care continuum and advances the conceptual and methodological tools for studying racism's relationship to health disparities, and also for her public service and work as a mentor.