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July 29, 2008
Why is it called Salmonella Saintpaul?
A quirky connection that explains how the most recent outbreak of Salmonella was named after Minnesota’s capital city was explained by SPH professor, Michael Osterholm.
In a City Pages posting reporter Kevin Hoffman wrote about how he learned of the connection after watching Osterholm on a national news television program.
Osterholm told Hoffman that the name, Salmonella Saintpaul, came about after a local professor first diagnosed the Salmonella in turkeys. Osterholm also revealed that data from Minnesotans sickened helped reveal the Salmonella source.
More from City Pages
Obesity Rate Stabilizes
 Childhood obesity has been on the rise for more than 20 years. Now, however, the rate appears to have stabilized.
Melissa Nelson, a University of Minnesota expert on nutrition and obesity, says the news should be greeted with cautious optimism. While the rate has flattened, the prevalence of obesity, she says, remains very high. In addition, racial disparities are vast.
• Listen to Nelson on Public Health Moment
July 23, 2008
Rise in Health Insurance Premiums
 Over the last five years, employer-based health insurance premiums have increased 10 times faster than workers’ incomes.
That’s according to a study from the University of Minnesota’s State Health Access Data Assistance Center.
Associate Professor Lynn Blewett led the study. She says that in addition to rising costs, the number of companies offering health insurance benefits is declining.
• Listen to Blewett on Public Health Moment
July 22, 2008
Salmonella scare hit California growers hard
California's tomato sales plummeted more than 40 percent during the most recent Salmonella scare. Melanie Horwath, a member of the fourth generation of the family that runs Gonzales Packing Company in the Salinas Valley blamed government for her company's estimated crop losses of $2 million.
"The government has a responsibility to only provide facts, not idle speculation. They're going to put us all out of business."
The FDA is now looking at jalapeno and serrano peppers as possible sources of the Salmonella instead of tomatoes.
"I don't think we have all answers yet," said Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota.
More from the San Francisco Chronicle
July 18, 2008
Fish Consumption Advisories
 A diet that includes fish provides an excellent source of low-fat protein and may reduce your risk of heart disease and diabetes.
But fish can contain contaminants such as mercury that can harm human health.
Matt Simcik, a University of Minnesota professor of environmental health sciences, says pregnant women and young children are most at risk. He recommends following the Minnesota fish consumption guidelines.
• More from Simcik from the Public Health Moment podcast
July 15, 2008
A New Report Urges Lake and Wetlands Restoration
A new report that could have a substantial impact on public policy was recently released by The University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment. The report outlines recommendations for preserving the state's natural resources.
"The recommendations in this report will serve as foundation for Minnesota's environment going forward," said Deb Swackhamer, interim director of the Institute on the Environment and the report's main author.
The report, which took 18 months to produce and relied on 40 U of M researchers and 50 people from other places, was written on behalf of the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources. It could influence lawmakers funding decisions for proposals identified in the 330-page document.
The five categories of recommendations include integrated planning, critical land protection, land and water restoration, sustainable practices and economic incentives for sustainability.
More about the institute's report from MinnPost
Binge drinking tied to college culture
 What is the cause of binge drinking by U.S. college students? A new study links it to college culture — campus environments that allow easy access to inexpensive alcohol and have weak control policies and lax enforcement.
The 14-year study by the Harvard School of Public Health involved more than 50,000 students at 120 colleges and found that heavy drinking behavior of students was more common in college environments that have a strong drinking culture.
One of the lead researchers, Toben Nelson (pictured), now at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, said that binge drinking varies widely depending on the college.
"At some colleges almost no students binge drink, while at others nearly four in every five students do," Nelson said.
More from TopNews
More from UPI.com
July 10, 2008
Nurses bear brunt of patient violence
 Half of all nonfatal injuries resulting from workplace assaults occur in health care and social service settings, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Nurses and other personal care workers are at most at risk — suffering workplace injuries at 12 times the rate of the overall private sector.
One of the largest studies on the issue was a 2004 survey of 6,300 randomly selected nurses in Minnesota, in which 13 percent of respondents reported having been physically attacked during the previous year and 39 percent reported having been threatened, verbally abused or sexually harassed.
“Nurses find different kinds of responses from their administrations and different levels of support,” said lead researcher Susan Gerberich, a University of Minnesota professor of environmental health sciences. “Everything from ‘This is not tolerated at our institution’ all the way to ‘If you don’t like it, people, you can leave your job.’”
More from North Carolina's Blue Ridge Now (This article originally appeared in the New York Times)
July 08, 2008
Abraham named to president’s economic panel
 The University of Minnesota's Jean Abraham has been selected to serve on the President’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA).
Abraham, an assistant professor of health policy in the School of Public Health, and her fellow staff economists will provide President Bush and other government departments and agencies with the best current academic thinking on a wide range of subjects.
“This appointment will enable Professor Abraham to have a lasting impact on economic policy and health care reform,” said University President Robert Bruininks.
Said Abraham: “This is a particularly exciting time, given renewed interest in health care reform at the federal level.”
Abraham’s research specialties include health economics and policy, with a specific focus on issues of health insurance access by families, affordability of insurance coverage and medical care, consumer use of health care information to support plan and provider decision-making, and the relationship between quality improvement and costs.
More about Abraham's appointment
July 03, 2008
Abortion rate increases for older teens
 Although there was an overall decline last year in the number of abortions in Minnesota, the number increased for the 18- and 19-year-old age group.
For those teenagers who received an abortion, the number who said that they had never used birth control increased from 116 to 150.
“Especially with teenagers, we know that almost all induced abortions are the result of an unintended pregnancy. An important piece is contraceptives,” says Wendy Hellerstedt (pictured), an associate professor at the University of Minnesota who studies trends in reproductive medicine.
The Minnesota Department of Health study also indicated that the number of pregnancies and births of Minnesota girls ages 15 to 19 increased 6 percent in 2006 — twice the national average.
More from the Star Tribune
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