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June 30, 2008
Web may hold key to fighting new HIV wave
 The Sexpulse website, in development at the University of Minnesota, is the newest strategy to slow a second wave of the HIV/AIDS epidemic rising among young gay and bisexual men.
Infection rates in that population have increased 12 percent annually since 2001, according to federal officials.
To stop the epidemic, experts like the University's Simon Rosser (pictured) say they have to go to where those connections are being made — which is less and less often in gay bars and neighborhoods and increasingly online.
Rosser and others at the University are using a $3.5 million federal grant to create Sexpulse, a prototype for online HIV intervention specifically for gay men.
"If this is successful, it is huge," Rosser told the Star Tribune. "We can flick a switch and make it available to every gay man in the world."
More about Sexpulse from the Star Tribune
More about Rosser from reporter Josephine Marcotty's blog
June 27, 2008
Cook meats at low temperatures
 Cook meats and fish at low temperatures, recommends Kristin Anderson, a University of Minnesota cancer epidemiologist.
Today, Anderson was featured on CNN.com with recommendations on the healthiest temperature to cook meat, chicken, or fish.
She says it's also important to trim off any charred or burned pieces.
In interviews with the University of Minnesota's Public Health Moment and Advances magazine, Anderson discussed how her research links charred meat to higher risks of pancreatic cancer.
Anderson on Public Health Moment
Anderson at CNN.com
Anderson in Advances magazine
June 25, 2008
 Scanning the heart's arteries for calcium deposits accurately predicts the overall death risk for American adults, a new study suggests in the July 1 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Meanwhile, a multi-institutional study led by the University of Minnesota's Aaron Folsom (pictured), provided additional evidence for the benefits of calcium scanning. It compared the prognostic value of calcium scans with measurements of the wall of the carotid artery, the major artery leading from the heart to the brain.
Researchers reported that the study of almost 6,700 middle-aged and older Americans who were followed for up to five years found that "coronary artery calcium score is a better predictor of subsequent cardiovascular events than carotid intima-media thickness [measuring the artery's wall]."
Folsom's study was published in the June 23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.
More about these studies in the Washington Post
June 24, 2008
Letters from 'Scene' Readers
Sharon Farsht Torodor sent in the following question regarding the June 19 Public Health Scene on Tomatoes and Salmonella that featured Craig Hedberg.
Hello:
I've been wondering -- should we be concerned about tomatoes we're growing in our own yards or that we buy from a local farm? How can we know they are safe? It would be great to see that addressed in one of these messages. By the way, I really like and appreciate these PH Scene messages!
Sharon
Hedberg responds:
Sharon,
Thank you for your question. As this outbreak reminds us, growing fresh fruits and vegetables in a natural environment means that there are possibilities for contamination to occur. We need to be mindful of this and take reasonable steps to make eating these fresh produce items both healthy and enjoyable.
Fresh produce is grown in dirt. We want to wash our hands and wash our produce under running water to remove any dirt that may be present. We want to be sure that knives and cutting boards are cleaned and sanitized to prevent cross-contamination from raw meat or poultry. Finally, we want to serve cut produce items promptly, or refrigerate them, to prevent the growth of potentially harmful bacteria.
We don't have any particular reason to be concerned about home-grown or locally produced tomatoes, and they are certainly not part of the nationwide outbreak of Salmonella infections that has been going on. But we do need to realize that all fresh produce is grown in environments that may contain potentially harmful bacteria from time to time. We all share responsibility for keeping the food we eat safe.
The Healthy Foods Healthy Lives Institute at the University of Minnesota has funded a multidisciplinary research and outreach project to work with local producers on produce safety and Good Agricultural Practices. This project is headed up by Dr. Francisco Diez, from the College of Food, Agriculture and Nutrition with collaborators from the School of Public Health and the College of Veterinary Medicine.
We anticipate that this study will help us better understand potential threats to locally grown produce, and how to prevent them.
Thanks,
Craig Hedberg
Feel free to send us your comments by e-mail (sphpod@umn.edu) or click on Comments at the bottom of each entry.
Hospitals prepared for Republican convention
 MPR reports that Twin Cities hospitals are prepared for a worst-case scenario when the Republican National Convention opens in St. Paul later this summer.
But a recent federal report questioned whether local emergency rooms have the capacity for a large-scale disaster, particularly an act of terrorism.
Michael T. Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, says that the biggest concern is a terrorist attack involving explosives or chemicals.
“Our health care system in Minnesota, like the rest of the country, has been gnawed to the bone, and frankly we've been sucking calcium. We have no real excess capacity,” he says, adding that additional federal funds for medical equipment and personnel will help.
More about convention preparedness from MPR
June 19, 2008
Tomatoes and Salmonella
 About 280 people in 28 states have become ill during the recent Salmonella outbreak involving contaminated tomatoes.
Craig Hedberg, a University of Minnesota expert in food-borne disease, provides some perspective on this outbreak and offers advice to consumers. For example, he says that in general people are eating more fresh fruit and vegetables, which is good, but also puts us more at risk of acquiring a food-borne disease.
“Our message is that we're working with industry, we're working with growers to try to minimize the opportunities for contamination and to identify which strategies may be in place to minimize contamination after it occurs,” Hedberg said.
He also states that irradiation offers promise to prevent future outbreaks.
Listen to Hedberg discuss this issue
June 18, 2008
Repelling the attack of the tainted tomatoes
Irradiation of food is an important, safe and effective tool that has been vastly underused, largely due to opposition from the organic food lobby and to government over-regulation, writes Henry I. Miller in the Chicago Tribune.
In fact, technology such as irradiation could help prevent the outbreak of food-borne disease such as Salmonella Saintpaul—which contaminated raw tomatoes and is tied to at least 160 cases of illness in 16 states, writes Miller.
Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, agrees.
"If even 50 percent of meat and poultry consumed in the United States were irradiated, the potential impact of food-borne disease would be a reduction [of] 900,000 cases and 300 deaths [a year]," he says.
More about Salmonella and tomatos in the Chicago Tribune
June 16, 2008
Researchers to keep miners informed
The research team looking into a rare cancer on Minnesota's Iron Range says it wants to meet often with mine workers and retirees.
Fifty-nine men in northeastern Minnesota have died of mesothelioma, which strikes the lining of the lung.
The University of Minnesota's School of Public Health is leading the $5 million investigation, drawing on a database of 72,000 miners. One part of the complicated effort is figuring out just how much rock dust to which workers have been exposed.
More from WCCO TV
A good night's sleep can help keep you alive
As men age, they need their sleep if they want to live long. That's according to a health study from the University of Minnesota. Disrupted sleep somehow manages to kill off even men who are in apparently good health.
Beginning in 2003, researchers followed about 3,000 healthy men age 67 and older. By January 2008, 180 of the men were dead. The men with poor sleep patterns were the most likely to die.
“Waking early, staying up late, and severely disturbed sleep patterns may have a detrimental impact on health in older men, especially since this group was generally in good health,” Misti Paudel, who led the study, told the Ottawa Citizen. “A good night's sleep is important.”
More from the Washington Post
More from Ottawa Citizen
Read the News Release
June 11, 2008
More on the benefits of Family Meals
 A University of Minnesota study that documents the benefits of family meals was featured in the June 10 Orlando Sentinel. What was the study's key finding? That teens who frequently ate meals with their family during adolescence were more likely to eat healthier as young adults.
“We no longer live in a world where the mother stays home and cooks,” says Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, a University of Minnesota expert on nutrition, obesity, and disordered eating. “So if we’re going to have more family meals, we need to find creative ways of making it happen.”
Neumark-Sztainer's study is part of Project Eat (Eating Among Teens).
More from OrlandoSentinel.com
More about the study from Psychology Today
More about Project Eat
June 10, 2008
The key to a happy old age
 Author Dan Buettner has scoured the Earth—not for the fabled Fountain of Youth—but for the key to a happy old age. In his book, “The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who've Lived the Longest,” Buetnner interviews several experts on aging, including the University of Minnesota's Robert Kane (pictured).
In an excerpt from the book, Kane offers advice for adding good years: "Rather than exercising for the sake of exercising, try to make changes to your lifestyle. Ride a bicycle instead of driving. Walk to the store instead of driving. Use the stairs instead of the elevator. ..."
Read more from the excerpt of Buetnner's book at National Public Radio
June 9, 2008
Internet, tolerance spark change in urban gay communities
Gay communities—such as clubs, bars, events and neighborhoods—appear to be changing worldwide in light of several key factors, including Internet dating and achievement of civil rights, according to new University of Minnesota research by Simon Rosser.
“With the exception of London and possibly New York, gay bars and culture are changing. On almost all measures, we’re seeing the same trend: decreasing number of gay bars/clubs, decreased attendance at gay events, less volunteerism in gay or HIV/AIDS organizations and, less gay media, resulting in an overall decline in gay visibility,� said Rosser, a professor in the School of Public Health’s Division of Epidemiology and Community Health. "The biggest reason for these changes, we think, is the Internet."
With HIV cases on the increase, Rosser says the Internet could be used to promote HIV prevention.
Listen to Rosser discuss his study
More from the news release
June 3, 2008
Air particulate tests begin on Iron Range
The Duluth News Tribune reported today that researchers have collected their first batch of filters from a particle-sampling machine that sits atop Virginia City Hall.
In the coming months, three of these machines will be operating across the Iron Range, helping to assess what airborne particles are found in the shadow of the region’s mines.
“This is an exciting opportunity to look at dust in the air and find out how the background changes from east to west across the Range,� Tamara Diedrich, a research associate for the UMD's Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI), told the News Tribune.
The NRRI and the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health are spearheading a five-year $4.9 million study to investigate whether dust from mines poses health risks to miners.
More about particle-sampling machines from the News Tribune
Learn more from the Minnesota Taconite Workers Lung Health Partnership website
June 2, 2008
Parents not helping overweight children to eat a healthy diet
If your teenager is overweight, don't tell him or her to go on a diet—it can make matters worse, according to a new University of Minnesota study led by Dianne Neumark-Sztainer (at right).
Project Eating Among Teens (EAT) researchers found that overweight teens, especially girls, who were encouraged by their parents to diet for weight control were more likely to remain overweight five years later, compared with their peers whose parents did not encourage dieting.
“Our findings suggest that less emphasis should be placed on informing parents that their children are overweight, and more emphasis should be placed on providing parents with the information, tools, and support to help their children make healthier eating and physical activity choices," said Neumark-Sztainer.
Listen to Neumark-Sztainer discuss the findings of her study (4:25)
More about the Project Eat Study
More about the study in the Star Tribune.
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