Epidemiology & Biostatistics

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ScienceBlog, May 8, 2024

Molecular Evidence Of Heat Stress Damage To Gut, Liver, And Brain In Elderly Mice

"Our findings have the potential to be used for the development of prognostic and therapeutic markers for precise interventions. In a dynamically changing global landscape, the imminent threat of climate change is evident in rising temperatures, raising concerns about intermittent heat waves. Our heating planet is undoubtedly leading to acute and chronic heat stress that harms the health of our aging population." (Saurabh Chatterjee)
Oladele-Ogunseitan
Verywell Health, May 3, 2024

How Does Bird Flu Spread to Humans?

"Given that the virus can be present in chicken and cows, there’s a potential—albeit unlikely potential—for exposure to bird flu through raw milk or eggs. It’s not responsible to say absolutely that bird flu cannot be transmitted through food. All foods from bird sources should be cooked properly." (Dele Ogunseitan)
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Medical Xpress, May 1, 2024

Closing the US/Mexico border during COVID-19 increased HIV transmission, study finds

"If two or three people have viruses that are very similar to each other, we can assume that the transmission event happened more recently, because there is not enough evolution between these different viruses from these different people. This shows that efforts to build a higher wall or policies to stop immigration will not mitigate HIV spread. The Frontera [border] is one integrated community that is not defined by place of residence. Efforts to end the HIV epidemic in the U.S. also need to be integrated by extending to Tijuana. These findings confirm that HIV has no passport." (Tetyana Vasylyeva)
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Healthnews, April 24, 2024

CDC Launches Initiative to Prevent Extreme Heat Exposure

"In the Los Angeles context, residents from underserved communities are experiencing heat-related health disparities such as heat exhaustion and cardiovascular-related impacts as a result of climate change and inequitable access to heat protective environments like green space, cooling centers, shade infrastructure, etc." (Jason Douglas)
Suellen Hopfer
The Orange County Register, April 23, 2024

The true cost of vaccine misinformation: A vulnerable nation

"As a health communications researcher specializing in vaccine hesitancy, the last few years in my field have been paradoxical. Vaccinations played a large part in ushering us into the post-pandemic world, yet a “misinfodemic” against vaccines persists. … recognition of World Immunization Week – taking place annually during the last week of April – I want to highlight the collective action needed to improve vaccine uptake to protect people of all ages." (Suellen Hopfer)
Andrew Noymer
Verywell Health, April 8, 2024

Should You Worry About Rising Mpox Cases?

"The reason for the uptick in cases is unclear. A few factors could be at play: the disease is endemic, identification rates are lower, and vaccination rates have been declining. Mpox tends to stay in social networks rather than the population at large because it requires skin-to-skin contact and not airborne transmission." (Andrew Noymer)
Andrew Noymer
The Orange Country Register, April 3, 2024

Why do so few in Southern California get updated COVID vaccinations?

"Most egregiously, its official guidance is not to let a positive COVID at-home test result keep us from going to work or school, as long as we are asymptomatic. Yet some people are advised to re-up their vaccines every four months. While new guidance on a cadence of every-four-months vaccines for 65+ may make sense in light of data on fading antibodies, it’s not going to do anything to help vaccine uptake. " (Andrew Noymer)
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Drugs.com, April 1, 2024

Regional Decolonization Aids Multidrug-Resistant Organism-Related Outcomes

"The success of SHIELD-OC [Shared Healthcare Intervention to Eliminate Life-threatening Dissemination of MDROs in Orange County] in reducing MDRO carriage, infections, hospitalizations, and associated costs and deaths led to a regional NH incentive program supported by CalOptima, the sole Medicaid provider" (Gabrielle M. Gussin)
Jun Wu
Yahoo!News, March 30, 2024

Toxic air linked to low-weight and pre-term births

"There haven’t been many studies that look at industrial emissions and pregnancy outcomes in this area, where there are also higher Black populations. Air toxins also have been shown to be related to increased risk of birth defects, but the data for the birth defects are harder to get." (Jun Wu)