A team including researchers from HSPH, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and the U.S. National Cancer Institute identified inherited variants of a single gene that increase breast cancer risk for women of European ancestry approximately 20 percent if they carry one copy of the gene and by 60 percent if they carry two copies. These variants were found in more than half of the women studied.
The Motion Picture Association of America, on behalf of the Rating Board, announced that depictions of smoking in film would be considered in movie ratings. A team led by HSPH Dean Barry Bloom presented a briefing to the MPAA in February 2007 on the health impact of youth smoking and the influence of films that depict tobacco use on youth behavior.
A team that included HSPH researchers found that blocking a single protein with an experimental drug prevented and treated type 2 diabetes and atherosclerosis in laboratory mice with unhealthy diets and genetic predispositions to these common killers.
Researchers from HSPH analyzed the costs and health outcomes of polio control and eradication options. They found that the relatively high short-term costs of global eradication will ultimately be much lower than the long-term financial and human health costs required to control polio forever.
In the largest study to date, researchers from HSPH and Muhimbili University College of Health Sciences in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, found that giving daily multivitamin supplements to HIV-negative women during pregnancy significantly reduced the risks of low birth weight and a small-for-gestational-age birth size. There were no significant effects observed on the risks of prematurity or fetal death.
Researchers from HSPH examined the link between coronary heart disease deaths and firefighting and looked at specific job duties to see which might increase the risk of dying from a coronary event. The landmark study provides the strongest link to date between CHD and emergency firefighting duties. It found that putting out fires was associated with a risk up to 100 times greater than the risk of dying from non-emergency duties.
An analysis by researchers at HSPH and Brigham and Women's Hospital of laws and regulations governing public disclosure of clinical trial data submitted to the FDA suggests changes should be made to the way the FDA implements its policy regarding the confidentiality of those data. Allowing greater access to safety data would enable researchers to independently evaluate risks, resulting in more timely risk detection.
A study that examined the prevalence of psychiatric disorders among black individuals in the U.S. found that the longer black Caribbean immigrants stay in the U.S., the poorer their mental health becomes.
In the first nationally representative study to examine the relationship between survey measures of household firearm ownership and state level rates of homicide, researchers at the Harvard Injury Control Research Center found that homicide rates among children, and among women and men of all ages, are higher in states where more households have guns.
A reanalysis of nicotine yield from major brand name cigarettes sold in Massachusetts from 1997 to 2005 confirmed that manufacturers have steadily increased the levels of this agent in cigarettes. This independent analysis, based on data submitted to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health by the manufacturers, found that increases in smoke nicotine yield per cigarette averaged 1.6 percent each year, or about 11 percent over a seven-year period (1998-2005). Nicotine is the primary addictive agent in cigarettes.
A team of researchers from HSPH and the University of Queensland in Australia reanalyzed data from 27 countries to estimate both the global mortality patterns of the 1918 flu pandemic and, based on 2004 population data, how a similar pandemic would affect the world today. The findings indicated that mortality rates for the 1918-1920 pandemic were disproportionately high in communities where per capita income was lowest. If the same pandemic were to occur today, approximately 96 percent of deaths would occur in developing countries.
An international team including HSPH researchers announced the completion of a genome-wide map that charts the genetic variability of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum.
In the first study to look at the long-term effects of low-carbohydrate diets, researchers from HSPH found no evidence of an association between low-carb diets and an increased risk of CHD in women.
Researchers from HSPH and the Mount Sinai School of Medicine systematically examined publicly available data on chemical toxicity in order to identify the industrial chemicals that are the most likely to damage the developing brain. The researchers found that 202 industrial chemicals have the capacity to damage the human brain, and they concluded that chemical pollution may have harmed the brains of millions of children worldwide.
In the first review to combine the evidence for major health effects of omega-3 fatty acids, major health risks of mercury, and major health risks of PCBs and dioxins in both adults and infants/young children, HSPH researchers showed that the benefits of eating a modest amount of fish per week-about 3 ounces of farmed salmon or 6 ounces of mackerel-reduced the risk of death from CHD by 36 percent. Notably, by combining results of randomized clinical trials, the investigators also demonstrated that intake of fish or fish oil reduces total mortality-deaths from any causes-by 17 percent.
Copyright, 2007, President and Fellows of Harvard College
