News by Subject Medicine & Health

But social supports can reduce the negative effects of childhood stress. Childhood adversity is a significant problem in the US, particularly for children growing up in poverty. Those who experience poverty have a much higher risk of being exposed to violence and suffering from a lack of social support, which can have long-term consequences including higher rates of diabetes, cancer, and other diseases.

Children with elevated exposure to early life stress in the home and elevated prenatal exposure to air pollution exhibited heightened symptoms of attention and thought problems, according to researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Columbia Psychiatry. Early life stress is common in youth from disadvantaged backgrounds who also often live in areas with greater exposure to air pollution.

According to received wisdom, local activism against the establishment of industrial plants follows a cycle, with its highest intensity a short time after mobilization. If a firm stands, activism fades. New research by Fabrizio Perretti and Alessandro Piazza in Strategic Management Journal analyzes the American anti-nuclear movement and finds that the strategic decisions made by a firm affect both the evolution of activism in its own sector and the emergence of mobilization in other industries.

A newly developed method can detect even low-dose human exposure to microcystins and nodularin in human urine. During harmful algal blooms (HABs), species of cyanobacteria release toxic peptides, including microcystins and nodularin into waterways, impacting wildlife and humans living in these marine environments. These findings are the first to report microcystin concentrations directly from exposed residents impacted by cyanobacteria in Florida, and is a critical step in developing and interpreting clinical diagnostic tests for HABs exposure worldwide.

Rickettsiae are bacteria that cause severe, potentially lethal human infections, including Mediterranean spotted fever (MSF) and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Delays in diagnosing and treating MSF can cause significant morbidity and mortality, due in part to the lack of a test for early detection. A new study in The American Journal of Pathology reports the discovery of a sensitive and specific marker that may enable early diagnosis, treatment, and accurate public health notification of spotted fever rickettsial infections including MSF.

Timely prediction may help prevent the condition using nutritional and lifestyle changes.

A new approach to studying the effects of two common chemicals used in cosmetics and sunscreens found they can cause DNA damage in breast cells at surprisingly low concentrations, while the same dose did not harm cells without estrogen receptors.

People who live in more built up areas and spend less free-time in nature are also less likely to take actions that benefit the environment, such as recycling, buying eco-friendly products, and environmental volunteering.

Macro study analyzes for the first time the presence and health impact of trihalomethanes in tap water in 26 European Union countries.