Tag Archives: public

Research uncovers key difference between our bodies’ fight against viruses and bacteria

The study, published in the journal Nature Immunology and led by Professor Uwe Vinkemeier in the University’s School of Life Sciences, centred on STAT1, a protein that can bind DNA and hence plays a vital role in regulating genes in the body. STAT1 responds to interferon signals, hormone-like molecules which control communication between cells to trigger defensive action by the body’s immune system when pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, or parasites are detected. …

Nomogram to determine individualized estimates of screen-detected prostate cancer overdiagnosis

The authors used a standard definition of overdiagnosis to refer to a cancer that would not have become symptomatic or clinically identifiable if it had not been detected by screening. Overdiagnosed cancers do not pose a risk to the patient and do not require treatment, which is associated with significant risks of impotence and incontinence. …

Eight million lives saved since Surgeon General’s tobacco warning 50 years ago

The study used mathematical models to calculate the long-term effect of the seminal report, and subsequent anti-smoking measures, over the past half-century. These cumulative efforts have significantly reshaped public attitudes and behaviors concerning cigarettes and other forms of tobacco, note the researchers. First author Theodore R…

Research backs risk-reduction surgery for ovarian cancer

The researchers from The University of Manchester — part of Manchester Cancer Research Centre — looked at 691 women who had undergone genetic testing and were confirmed as carrying a mutation in either the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene before they had developed cancer. The study, funded by Genesis Breast Cancer Prevention, the UK’s only charity entirely dedicated to the prediction and prevention of breast cancer. The results were published recently in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment…

Can celebrity cancer diagnoses prompt quitting smoking?

In a study published this week in Preventive Medicine, researchers from San Diego State University, the Santa Fe Institute, the University of North Carolina and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that when celebrities publicly discuss their struggles with cancer diagnoses, the resulting media coverage prompts more smokers to search for information on quitting than events like New Year’s Day or World No Tobacco Day. Public health experts have long known these discussions spur others to get screened for cancer or consider the same treatments, but it was unclear whether these discussions also promoted cancer prevention behaviors, like quitting smoking. This question has evaded study because the method most commonly used to assess cancer-related behaviors — annual telephone surveys — isn’t fine-grained enough to tell researchers which events are influencing respondents’ answers. …

HPV associated with increased risk of HIV in men

The study, published online by the journal AIDS, was authored by Jennifer Smith, PhD, MPH, research associate professor with the Gillings School of Global Public Health and member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Anne Rositch, PHD, MSPH, assistant professor with the University of Maryland School of Medicine. "These data from Kenya add to a mounting evidence showing a higher risk of HIV acquisition among individuals with genital HPV infections," said Smith. Men in the study with at least one occurrence of HPV infection faced double the risk of acquiring HIV, and those with three or more HPV infections had more than three times the risk of developing HIV. This pattern was consistent in both circumcised and uncircumcised men…

Deletion of any single gene provokes mutations elsewhere in the genome

Summarized in a report to be published on Nov. 21 in the journal Molecular Cell, the team’s results add new evidence that genomes, the sum total of species’ genes, are like supremely intricate machines, in that the removal of a single, tiny part stresses the whole mechanism and might cause another part to warp elsewhere to fill in for the missing part. …