The more disadvantages you face, the more likely you are to smoke — and have difficulty quitting, according to a new USC study in JAMA Internal Medicine that sheds light on groups that are resistant to anti-smoking efforts.
In … Read More »
By Sara Reeve
The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute has awarded a five-year, $4 million grant to a USC research team to discover whether stress in the lives of working mothers influences risk of childhood obesity in their children.
The project, “Maternal Stress and Children’s Obesity Risk,” led by Genevieve Dunton, PhD, MPH, will monitor stress levels in mothers through a smartphone app, as well as through salivary cortisol. … Read More »
By Larissa Puro
In this screen capture from the short film Tamale Lesson, the fictional Romeo family discusses cervical cancer screening while making tamales for a Quinceanera.
The USC faculty-produced short film Tamale Lesson, which uses narrative storytelling to educate women about cervical cancer screening, received the 2013 APHA Public Health Education & Health Promotion Award for best multimedia material from the American Public Health Association at its annual meeting Nov. 2-6 in Boston.
Cervical cancer is largely preventable and treatable. However, some populations — Latina and Korean women, especially — are not adequately screened, which leads to disproportionately high rates of the disease among them. … Read More »
By Suzanne Wu
A common genetic variant that affects one in every three people significantly increases the risk of colorectal cancer from consuming red meat and processed meat, according to a study presented at the annual American Society of Human Genetics 2013 meeting, the largest gathering of human geneticists in the world.
In addition, the study — the first to identify the interactions of genes and diet on a genome-wide scale — also reveals another specific genetic variation that appears to modify whether eating more vegetables, fruits and fiber actually lowers your colorectal cancer risk. … Read More »
More than 50 second-year medical students came to the Edmondson Faculty Center at the Keck School of Medicine of USC on Oct. 17 to hear Kim Belshe, one of the five board members for the California Covered health benefit exchange, and Professor Michael L. Cousineau discuss the public policy ramifications of the new health benefit exchanges that are central to the Affordable Care Act. … Read More »
By Leslie Ridgeway
Could air pollution make you fat? Keck Medicine of USC researchers received funding to investigate the hypothesis that children who live near busy roadways may be exposed to air pollution that causes inflammation, leading to obesity and other health problems.
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have granted $7.8 million to Keck Medicine’s Southern California Children’s Environmental Health Center (SC-CEHC) over the next five years. Three teams of scientists will mine data from previous research and conduct new studies on near-roadway air pollution’s role in the development of obesity and metabolic abnormalities that may increase the risk of type 2 diabetes. … Read More »
By Alison Trinidad
Teenagers who see friends smoking and drinking alcohol in photographs posted on Facebook and MySpace are more likely to smoke and drink themselves, according to a new study.
“Our study shows that adolescents can be influenced by their friends’ online pictures to smoke or drink alcohol,” said Thomas W. Valente, PhD, professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and the study’s principal investigator. “To our knowledge, this is the first study to apply social network analysis methods to examine how teenagers’ activities on online social networking sites influence their smoking and alcohol use.” … Read More »
By Leslie Ridgeway
A research team co-led by USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center scientists is one of five teams to be awarded four-year grants totaling nearly $14 million to study the genomics of disease susceptibility in ethnically diverse populations. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded the grant funds.
A team led by co-principal investigators Christopher Haiman, PhD, professor of preventive medicine, Keck School of Medicine of USC, and Loic Le Marchand, MD, PhD of the University of Hawaii, Honolulu, is scheduled to be awarded $3.1 million to examine the DNA from samples collected from the Multiethnic Cohort (MEC). … Read More »
The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach generate a huge volume of revenue and high levels of diesel pollution as they move vast amounts of cargo. But this comes at a
Andrea M. Hricko, professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, who directs the Southern California Environmental Health Sciences Center community outreach and engagement program, received a grant from The Kresge Foundation to research how port expansion affects local health.
(Photo/Phil Channing)
cost to the environment — and to the health of nearby residents of low-income communities.
Andrea Hricko, MPH, professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, works with a team of USC and UCLA scientists at the Southern California Environmental Health Sciences Center, directed by Frank Gilliland, MS, MD, MPH, PhD, professor of preventive medicine. The center is dedicated to studying the health effects of air pollution.
The Kresge Foundation recently awarded a $180,000 grant to the center’s community outreach and engagement program, directed by Hricko, for a two-year project entitled, “Translating the Health Impacts of Ports and Goods Movements.” … Read More »
By Sara Reeve
Researchers at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center have been awarded nearly $4 million for two ovarian cancer research project grants from the National Institutes of Health. Both projects utilize the multicenter Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC) to perform a large population-based analysis of ovarian cancer patients and their tissues. … Read More »
By Leslie Ridgeway
Based on a new study, USC environmental health researchers have advice for drivers who want to reduce their exposure to harmful traffic pollutants: The car ventilation choice you make can be effective in reducing exposure to on-road particle pollution.
Scott Fruin, DEnv, assistant professor of preventive medicine, and Neelakshi Hudda, PhD, research associate in the environmental health department of the Keck School of Medicine of USC, recently conducted the first systematic measurements of in-vehicle exposure that included a full range of car types and operating conditions, and for all types of particulate pollution. … Read More »
By Leslie Ridgeway
Despite decades of efforts to control its use, tobacco continues to be the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States. USC is one of 14 academic institutions designated to receive significant funding to contribute to a new, first-of-its-kind regulatory science tobacco program intended to support tobacco product regulations.
The Keck School of Medicine of USC Department of Preventive Medicine will receive $20 million over five years, establishing one of 14 Tobacco Centers of Regulatory Science (TCORS) in Los Angeles. … Read More »
Researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of USC have been awarded a five-year, $1.8 million grant to study the links between genetics, tobacco addiction and withdrawal in African-Americans.
Adam Leventhal, assistant professor of preventive medicine and psychology and director of the USC Health, Emotion and Addiction Laboratory, will be the principal investigator of the study, which is being funded by the American Cancer Society.
“(African-Americans) have a lower rate of smoking,” Leventhal said. “And they smoke fewer cigarettes a day than whites, but they have a higher risk of cancer, which makes it critical to study the causes of nicotine addiction in African-Americans.” … Read More »