http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. (HealthDay)—As anyone who's lost a job can attest, stress and worry often quickly follow. But the health of your heart after unemployment can also take a tumble. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-unemployment-toll-heartbreaking.html Cardiology Thu, 11 Apr 2013 11:01:21 EST news284896828 Convicted drug offenders who are denied government food benefits upon release from prison are at greater risk of engaging in dangerous, sexual risk behaviors in order to obtain food, Yale researchers have found. Their pilot study appears in the journal AIDS Education and Prevention. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-food-hunger-hiv-drug-felons.html HIV & AIDS Tue, 26 Mar 2013 08:16:13 EST news283504506 More consistent use of condoms, oral contraception or both was reported by a group of teenage girls who took part in a youth development intervention aimed at reducing pregnancy risk in high-risk adolescents, according to a report of a randomized controlled trial published Online First by JAMA Pediatrics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-clinical-trial-intervention-pregnancy-adolescent.html Pediatrics Mon, 25 Feb 2013 16:00:01 EST news281009887 Studies have found that conditional cash transfer programs, in which governments pay citizens if they consistently practice societally beneficial behaviors, have improved pediatric health care and education in Mexico, increased HIV testing in Malawi, and reduced sexually transmitted infections in Tanzania. Public health researchers therefore investigated whether the idea could be applied to HIV risk behaviors among gay men and male sex workers in Mexico City. A new study reports not only that some members of those populations would change behavior for conditional cash payments, but the exact prices they would accept. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-incentive-price-hiv-mexico.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 04 Feb 2013 11:31:28 EST news279199881 White young adults were 50 percent more likely than their Black, Hispanic or Asian peers to self-report driving after drinking at age 21, finds a new study in the Journal of Adolescent Health. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-white-young-adults-dui.html Health Wed, 16 Jan 2013 10:46:13 EST news277555563 Could marriage, and associated companionship, be one key to a longer life? According to new research, not having a permanent partner, or spouse, during midlife is linked to a higher risk of premature death during those midlife years. The work, by Dr. Ilene Siegler and colleagues from Duke University Medical Center in the US, is published online in Springer's journal Annals of Behavioral Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-marriage-linked-survival-middle-age.html Health Thu, 10 Jan 2013 10:57:49 EST news277037242 Results from recent studies show a growing number of high school students reportedly receive one or more lottery tickets or scratch cards as gifts. This, coupled with the increasing concern about adolescent problem gambling, has prompted the International Centre for Youth Gambling Problems and High-Risk Behaviors at McGill University, the National Council on Problem Gambling, along with dozens of other lottery corporations around the globe, to collaborate again this holiday season to increase public awareness about the impact of giving lottery products as gifts to minors. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-reconsider-lotto-tickets-holiday-gifts.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 12 Dec 2012 08:47:50 EST news274524456 The consequences of social stigma can be physically harmful, and even deadly. People who are shunned by our society—due to homelessness, drug use, non-conforming gender identity, or other attributes—generally have much poorer health and higher death rates than those in the mainstream. They may be at increased risk of HIV infection, be more likely to have experienced violence, or suffer from severe mental health problems, for example. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-life-margins-health-society-outsiders.html Health Wed, 07 Nov 2012 07:08:09 EST news271494479 (HealthDay)—Although a minority of adolescents are at high risk for online sexual risk behaviors (OnSRB), these teenagers appear to also be at risk for offline sexual risk behaviors (OffSRB), according to research published online Nov. 5 in Pediatrics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-online-offline-sexual-behaviors-teens.html Pediatrics Mon, 05 Nov 2012 19:30:01 EST news271358606 Adolescent girls participating in a sexual risk reduction (SRR) intervention study were more likely to practice abstinence and, if sexually active, showed substantial decreases in unprotected sex, number of partners, and unintended pregnancies, reports a research team led by principal investigator Dianne Morrison-Beedy, PhD, RN, WHNP-BC, FNAP, FAANP, FAAN, Senior Associate Vice President of USF Health and Dean of the College of Nursing at the University of South Florida. Results of the study demonstrate the value of risk-reduction interventions tailored to girls, who are at a greater risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) than boys. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-intervention-sexual-behavior-unintended-preganancies.html Health Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:40:14 EST news268997967 Not all head and neck cancers are created equal. Those started by infection with the human papillomavirus are less often fatal than those with other causes, such as smoking. Detection of a reliable fingerprint for HPV could help patients avoid unnecessarily harsh treatment. A new study finds that while one popular biomarker for HPV is not a reliable predictor of mortality from the cancers alone, combinations of some biomarkers showed much more promise. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-hpv-biomarkers-neck-cancers-combinations.html Cancer Tue, 18 Sep 2012 13:00:01 EST news267187425 (Medical Xpress)—A trip to a petting zoo may bring more than a smile to a child's face—it also could lead to them getting sick. That's one reason why a Kansas State University professor says that interactions between animals and the public need better oversight. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-petting-zoo-require-vigilant-disease.html Health Fri, 14 Sep 2012 07:58:49 EST news266828318 (HealthDay)—Many households in the United States are ready should a disaster—such as a hurricane or earthquake—strike, federal officials said Thursday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-households-ready-disasters-cdc.html Health Thu, 13 Sep 2012 21:30:02 EST news266783034 Some young people's expectations that they will not live long, healthy lives may actually foreshadow such outcomes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-teen-survival-risk-taking-behavior.html Health Wed, 01 Aug 2012 17:00:02 EST news263057285 A Rhode Island Hospital researcher has found that emergency department patients prefer technology-based interventions for high-risk behaviors such as alcohol use, unsafe sex and violence. ER patients said they would choose technology (ie text messaging, email, or Internet) over traditional intervention methods such as in-person or brochure-based behavioral interventions. The paper by Megan L. Ranney, M.D., is available now online in advance of print in the Annals of Emergency Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-emergency-patients-technology-based-interventions-behavioral.html Health Mon, 16 Jul 2012 13:07:12 EST news261662821 People who survive cancer when they are teenagers or young adults are more likely than their peers who never had cancer to engage in risky behaviors like smoking later on, a US study said Monday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-health-woes-persist-young-cancer.html Cancer Mon, 11 Jun 2012 04:30:46 EST news258607558 The public health community has long struggled with how best to reduce HIV infection rates among black Americans, which is seven times that of whites. In a new paper in the journal PLoS ONE, a team of physicians and public health researchers report that African-American clergy say they are ready to join the fight against the disease by focusing on HIV testing, treatment, and social justice, a strategy that is compatible with religious teaching. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-clergy-hiv-faith-friendly-terms.html HIV & AIDS Wed, 16 May 2012 17:00:17 EST news256405835 A long-term follow-up analysis of participants in the Step Study, an international HIV-vaccine trial, has confirmed that certain subgroups of male study participants were at higher risk of becoming infected after receiving the experimental vaccine compared to those who received a placebo. The vaccine used in the study did not contain the HIV virus, but it did contain HIV genes which were delivered to cells using a vector that employed a type of cold virus known as adenovirus serotype 5 (Ad5). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-early-elevated-hiv-infection.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 07 May 2012 11:35:16 EST news255609306 Voluntary testing and counseling (VT/C) for HIV or sexually transmitted infections (STI) among cocaine and heroin users who were treated in the emergency department (ED), accompanied by referral to drug treatment, was associated with reduction in unprotected sex acts and fewer sex acts while high according to researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston Medical Center (BMC). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-cocaine-heroin-users-unprotected-sex.html Addiction Tue, 17 Apr 2012 10:51:23 EST news253878677 High-risk sexual behaviors and drug habits that can increase a person's likelihood of getting HIV/AIDS are on the decline in the United States, according to a government survey released Thursday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-risky-sex-drug-decline-survey.html Health Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:40:01 EST news246201340 Although there is an effective vaccine for hepatitis B and public health officials have a strong sense of who is at highest risk for the infectious liver disease, tens of thousands of people in the United States contract the virus every year. According to a new study by researchers at Brown University, missed opportunities to administer the vaccine continue to be a reason why infections persist. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-high-risk-americans-dont-hepatitis-vaccine.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 19 Jan 2012 11:00:01 EST news246191223 Behavioral interventions aimed at reducing sexual risk behaviors, such as unprotected sex, are effective at both promoting condom use and reducing sexually transmitted infections (STIs) long after the initial intervention, according to a new report in the December 15 issue of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-behavioral-interventions-condom-sexually-transmitted.html Health Thu, 15 Dec 2011 12:51:26 EST news243175859 Large, population specific community-based screening may increase awareness of the dangers of smoking and reduce at-risk behaviors, according to a new study in the November 2011 issue of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-population-specific-community-based-cancer-screening-discourage.html Addiction Tue, 15 Nov 2011 11:10:01 EST news240577795 A new study of sexual risk behaviors within long-term couples in South Africa finds that HIV-positive people take almost as much risk in their sexual behavior when they know their partner is HIV-negative or don't know their status, as when they know their partner is already infected. At the same time, HIV-positive partners who are on antiretroviral therapy and in intensive counseling do engage in less risky behavior. The Brown University researchers who led the study say both findings suggest that more couples-based HIV counseling is needed in South Africa where about 18 percent of adults carry the virus. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-hiv-south-africa-focus-couples.html HIV & AIDS Mon, 25 Apr 2011 11:45:49 EST news222950735