Until recently, the idea that food can be addictive has largely been rejected, but new research has made the case that food and drug addictions have much in common, especially in terms of how they stimulate the areas of the brain involved with pleasure and self-control. Studies have been done on subjects ranging from rats to children, and more and more findings suggest that the brain’s response to overeating looks very similar to that of drug use.

Read more: http://nyti.ms/P63bny  [ASPH Friday Letter, Sept. 28, 2012]

Political leaders, donor representatives, and medical experts met this past week on the sidelines of the 67th U.N. General Assembly session “to celebrate [polio eradication] efforts that have already reduced the incidence of the crippling and potentially fatal disease by 99 percent around the globe. … [W]orld leaders vowed … to embrace a new approach that includes long-term funding commitments, greater accountability and a specific focus on the three countries where the crippling disease remains endemic.”

Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, “who is helping spearhead a global campaign to eradicate polio,” has said ” he hopes that by 2015 no child in the world will be paralyzed by the disease and by 2018 polio will be wiped out,” according to the Associated Press. More at: http://bit.ly/PmW191 [Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report, Sept. 28, 2012]

A new document is available from Active Living Research, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Moving More at School – Increasing Physical Activity Before, During and After School, “contains a list of resources that capture the best available evidence and recommendations on strategies from Active Living Research to promote physical activity throughout the day both inside and outside of the classroom.”

Resources include briefs on recess and after-school programs, and tools to use to assess how well a school is oinding to support physical activity: http://bit.ly/QFSQgM  [Wellness and Prevention Health Reform Digest, Sept. 28, 2012]

Educators are focusing on how to effectively train physicians and health researchers to provide high quality, equitable care in light of widespread disparities.

Reducing inequities in healthcare will require broadening medical training to include health disparities education and research beyond the current focus on race and ethnicity to consider determinants such as socioeconomic status, environmental conditions, gender identity, sexual orientation, behavioral choices, and access to medical care.

http://bit.ly/NREklF

Regular mammography screening can help narrow the breast cancer gap between black and white women, according to a retrospective study published in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment.

Earlier studies have shown that black women are more than twice as likely to die of breast cancer compared to white women. Black women with breast cancer reach the disease’s late stages more often than white women, and their tumors are more likely to be larger and more biologically aggressive.

But according to the study, when women of both races received regular breast cancer screening — a mammogram within two years of breast cancer diagnosis — there was no difference in the rate of how many of them presented in the disease’s later stages.

bit.ly/RiEqme

According to a new study from the Saint Louis University School of Public Health, many U.S. schools are not prepared for bioterrorism attacks, outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases, or pandemics, despite the recent 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic that resulted in more than 18,000 deaths worldwide.

During National Preparedness Month, this study serves as an important reminder that schools need to have plans for disasters and emergencies too. Read more on the results of the study: http://bit.ly/UrkQ5I [ASPH Friday Letter, Sept. 21, 2012]

Suicide has now passed traffic accidents as the leading casue of injury-related death in the U.S. The new study was published online September 20,and will appear in the November 2012 issue of the  American Journal of Public Health, based on data collected from the National Center of Health Statistics to determine the cause of injury deaths from 2000 – 2009.

More at: http://1.usa.gov/PfvNX4  [Health Day, Sept. 20, 2012]

See also “First Look” highlights from the November issue at: http://bit.ly/RbUOFd .

September 12, 2012 (9/12/12)  marked “the first-ever Global Female Condom Day, and women and men around the world are … speaking out for increased recognition of a prevention method that is too often overlooked,” according to a statement in USAID’s ‘Impact Blog’. “Female condoms offer women — and men — dual protection from unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV”.

More information at: http://1.usa.gov/PzEzhL and http://bit.ly/PzEMBL [Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report, Sept. 13, 2012]

A recent survey by the American Red Cross shows that about 20% of surveyed U.S. adults have used smartphone applications in emergency or disaster situations. According to the survey, mobile apps are the fourth most popular source of emergency information behind TV news, local radio stations and online news websites. Read more at: http://bit.ly/StuXp0 [iHealthBeat, Sept. 11, 2012].

The Red Cross has recently released its own Hurricane App for iPhone and Android smartphones which includes features to assist families in creating emergency plans and monitoring conditions before and during a storm track: http://rdcrss.org/RXKTVu [National Preparedness Month via American Red Cross].

The Common Patient Assistance Program Application (CPAPA), announced by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius at the International AIDS Conference in July, went into effect on September 12th. This single common application allows uninsured individuals living with HIV to use one application to apply for multiple assistance programs that together provide an entire course of antiretroviral therapy. This initiative aligns with the goals of the President’s National HIV/AIDS Strategy by increasing access to lifesaving drugs for eligible patients, and by helping more patients receive effective treatment for HIV.

For more information and an application: http://1.usa.gov/PzDF4S [HHS News Release, Sept. 12, 2012]