Articles tagged with: harvard school of public health
With a little help from our ancient friends. Study suggests social networks sparked evolution of cooperation. … Dawn of Social Networks: Hunter-gatherers Provide Clues About the Evolution of Cooperation Coren Apicella, a research fellow in the Christakis lab at Harvard Medical School, spent the summer of 2010 traveling around the remote Lake Eyasi region of […]
Limiting Protein or Certain Amino Acids Before Surgery May Reduce Risk of Surgical Complications Boston, MA — Limiting certain essential nutrients for several days before surgery—either protein or amino acids—may reduce the risk of serious surgical complications such as heart attack or stroke, according to a new Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) study. The […]
PFCs may hinder vaccine response. PFCs, Chemicals Widespread in Environment, Linked to Lowered Immune Response to Childhood Vaccinations. Boston, MA — A new study finds that perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), widely used in manufactured products such as non-stick cookware, waterproof clothing, and fast-food packaging, were associated with lowered immune response to vaccinations in children. It is […]
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Scourge source. Extracellular matrix identified as key to spreading in biofilms. Top view of a Bacillus subtilis colony in conditions where extracellular matrix is produced, leading to biofilm formation./ Courtesy of Hera Vlamakis New research at Harvard explains how bacterial biofilms expand on teeth, pipes, surgical instruments, and crops. Through experiment and mathematical analysis, researchers […]
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A winter wellness workout. Program gives undergrads tools for fit, healthy living. The Optimal Health program held over Wintersession brought Elizabeth Frates ’90, the director of medical student education at Boston’s Institute of Lifestyle Medicine, to the Fong Auditorium. Frates had students fill out a wellness wheel and rank on a scale of 1 to […]
New Epidemiology Chair at HSPH Hopes to Continue Department’s Legacy of Discovery and Training Scientists to Change the World Michelle Williams Michelle Williams, SM ’88, ScD ’91, began as Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Stephen B. Kay Family Professor of Public Health at Harvard School of Public Health in August 2011. Previously a […]
Enlightened eating. Color-coded labels, rearranged items encourage healthy choices in study. A simple program involving color-coded food labeling and adjusting the way food items are positioned in display cases was successful in encouraging healthy choices in a large hospital cafeteria. The report from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers will appear in the March American Journal of Public Health and has […]
Clues to addiction Research showing how neurons interact could lead to new treatments Naoshige Uchida (above) and colleagues report in the Jan. 18 issue of Nature that reward prediction error is actually the product of a complex interplay between two classes of neurons — one that relies on dopamine and an inhibitory class of neurons […]
Taste test. Study of Facebook patterns suggests interests in music, movies unlikely to spread among friends. Kevin Lewis (above) and colleagues found that while people who share similar interests in music and movies are more likely to befriend one another, few interests are likely to spread among friends. These findings challenge earlier research./Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff […]
Tumor cells can prevent tumor spread. Paradoxical discovery finds cells known as pericytes help prevent metastasis. Cultured pericytes (red) and myofibroblasts (green) are two prominent noncancer cells within a tumor./Credit: Vesselina Cooke/BIDMC A new study finds that a group of little-explored cells in the tumor microenvironment likely serves as an important gatekeeper against cancer progression […]