May 18, 2017 | Department News
May 18, 2017 | Department News
Science Daily: Brain Fights West Nile virus in Unexpected Way
By Leila Gray
Insect-transmitted viruses, like Powassan and West Nile, which can attack the brain in some cases, are becoming a growing public health concern. Medical scientists are trying to understand how brain cells try to fend off invading viruses.
Recently they have learned that, in a turnabout, a biochemical self-destruct trigger found in many other types of cells appears to guard the lives of brain cells during infection with West Nile virus.
May 17, 2017 | Health News
Science Daily: Cardiovascular Disease Causes One-third of Deaths Worldwide
Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) - including heart diseases and stroke - account for one-third of deaths throughout the world, posing an alarming threat to global health, according to a new study.
Countries with the greatest number of cardiovascular deaths, after accounting for population size, are found throughout Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, South America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Oceania, researchers said.
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May 17, 2017 | Department News
The Daily: Syrian-American Physician Discusses Crisis in Syria
By Allison Dubbs
People discuss Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and ISIS, but rarely the 20 million Syrian citizens affected by the nation’s ongoing conflicts. According to Dr. Zaher Sahloul, there is a huge lack of compassion for those affected by the Syrian Civil War, and people are avoiding moral responsibilities.
May 16, 2017 | Health News
The New York Times: The Mystery of the Wasting House-Cats
By Emily Anthes
Most days, the back room of the Animal Endocrine Clinic in Manhattan is home to half a dozen cats convalescing in feline luxury. They lounge in their own individual “condos,” each equipped with a plush bed, a raised perch and a cozy box for hiding. Classical music plinks softly from speakers overhead. A television plays cat-friendly videos — birds chirping, squirrels scampering. Patients can also tune in to the live version: A seed-stuffed bird feeder hangs directly outside each window.
May 14, 2017 | Health News
The Seattle Times: Americans Lose When Funds for Global Health Research are Cut
By Jennifer Slyker
We in the global health community are greatly encouraged by the work of Congress to increase funding to the National Institutes of Health and continue the Fogarty International Center’s mission to improve health around the world, as well as grow our next generation of researchers.
While the 2017 Fiscal Appropriations preserved the Fogarty International Center through the end of September, Congress will soon begin debating funding for 2018. And Fogarty may be on the chopping block again.
May 11, 2017 | Department News
UW Regents Approve Central Campus Site for Population Health Building to House Collaborative Research and Teaching
By Victor Balta, UW News and Information
The University of Washington Board of Regents on Thursday approved the location for construction of a new building to house the UW’s Population Health Initiative. The centrally located site will bring together the work of the UW’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, Department of Global Health and parts of the School of Public Health while creating easy access for collaborators from other departments across campus and guests from around the world.
May 10, 2017 | Health News
The Conversation: Social Media Helps Officials Spot Public Health Threats -- But Only for the Rich?
By Elaine Nsoesie
Think of the last time you had food poisoning. Did you tweet about it? Did you Google your symptoms? Or did you write an angry review on Yelp?
Every day, people use the internet to seek and share health information. This opens up exciting new ways for scientists to study the health of a population, an approach known as digital epidemiology.
May 09, 2017 | Health News
Alaska Dispatch News: Alaska Sees the Most Dramatic Increases in Life Expectancy in the Nation, New Study Says
By Michelle Theriault Boots
Over the past 35 years, life expectancy increased more in some remote regions of Alaska than almost anywhere else in the United States, according to detailed new research published this week in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.
The numbers are striking: In 1980, the average life expectancy of a person born in the North Slope Borough was just 65, on par with places like Sudan and Iraq today.
May 05, 2017 | Health News
Healio: One Health Approach Essential to Controlling Public Health Threats
Rocky Mountain spotted fever can be deadly to both humans and dogs, but diagnosing a dog with the tickborne illness does not guarantee that the owner will be examined for it, even though he or she may have been exposed to the infection through the same environmental risk factors.