The risks are especially high among the Hmong, whose cervical cancer rates are some of the nation’s highest.
Tag » health
May 22, 2013
Hmong Health Study Defies Expectations
More cancer screening, less male influence found
May 3, 2013
Learning to Fly
More parents provide support for their adult children
For many first-year college students, going to a new school represents “leaving the nest.” They are now responsible for housing, bills and their own education. But according to Heidi Igarashi , a research assistant at Oregon State University, most are still in their parents’ nest and will be for several more years. “Parents used to [...]
January 23, 2013
The Hidden Dangers of Flame Retardants
Chemicals may harm brain development in young children
Your old sofa, as comfy as it is, could be a hazard to your children’s health.
January 18, 2013
Student Researcher Aims to Give Kids a Boost in School
Sara says, "jump!"
Playing games may be fun and exciting for young children, but researchers have found they also can be academically beneficial. Human Development and Family Studies Ph.D. student Sara Schmitt is finding out just how much. “One of the primary studies I’ve been involved in here at Oregon State is trying to develop a screening tool [...]
January 18, 2013
Long Life and Naked Mole Rats
An undergraduate researcher searches for the key to long life
At 7 a.m., Minhazur Sarker is the first person to arrive in Tory Hagen’s lab on the third floor of the Linus Pauling Science Center. Hagen, a renowned researcher with the Linus Pauling Institute, studies the human healthspan. The research that takes place in his lab is focused toward a lofty goal: promoting healthy, less [...]
November 27, 2012
‘Tis the Season
Winter brings flu — and drug awareness, too
PORTLAND – It was a nippy November day in Pioneer Courthouse Square. The city’s annual Christmas tree was going up — a giant evergreen to mark the holiday season. But that wasn’t the only super-sized object with a seasonal message. A couple of strides from the mega-tree stood a monstrous nose, a reminder that the [...]
October 12, 2012
The Ethic of Care
Respect for animals guides their treatment in teaching and research
The three rats snoozing in Cage 57 don’t know it, but they could someday help save thousands of human lives. Snuggled in their EcoFresh bedding, the rodents are digesting a meal that may hold clues to preventing colon cancer, the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. On their cage, equipped with HEPA [...]
October 12, 2012
High Grades for Animal Care
Accreditation panel praised Oregon State's laboratory-animal standards and practices
In awarding full accreditation to Oregon State University in March, AAALAC offered the following remarks to Rick Spinrad, vice president for research. “The Council commends you and your staff for providing and maintaining an excellent program of laboratory animal care and use.” Especially noteworthy, the council said, was the high level of administrative commitment to [...]
October 12, 2012
Doctor at the Top
How lambs, preemies, “death cap” mushrooms and research pigs steered a stellar career
A human life can pivot on the quirkiest of convergences. In the life of Helen Diggs, it was the accidental nexus of five unfortunate hikers, a bagful of poisonous mushrooms and a few heroic pigs that set change in motion. It all started early one morning in 1988 when Diggs, then a young veterinarian, heard [...]
October 12, 2012
A Whole Lot of Seriousness
With lives on the line, there’s no room for nonchalance
“Nothing is more important in an animal study than the animal itself,” says Steve Durkee. His tone is reminiscent of Moses handing down the stone tablets. Just like Moses, Durkee is not kidding around. The righteous idealism that fed Durkee’s Greenpeace activism in his “younger, wilder days” still beats in his chest as administrator of [...]
October 12, 2012
Drug Test
Chemists' prototype fingers fake medicines
By some estimates, a third to half of the artesunate, an anti-malarial drug, in some countries is counterfeit. The World Health Organization has called for faster, more accurate tests, and now a team of Oregon State University chemists has stepped up with an innovative approach.
August 24, 2012
Beyond Junk Food
The science of flavor could lead to a better diet
Did you ever wonder why so many people are attracted to junk food? Why ice cream, french fries and soda pop so often win out over brown rice and broccoli? It’s not actually a conspiracy by fast-food companies to bewitch people into eating things that aren’t good for them. Well, not completely. It’s largely due [...]
July 11, 2012
The Milky Way
Mais oui! Rachel Miller puts French ice cream to the taste and texture test.
When Rachel Miller was shadowing a pie scientist in her hometown of Spokane, Washington, no one — not her teachers, not her parents, and certainly not she herself — could have predicted that her high school job shadow would lead to possibly the coolest summer internship in the universe: tasting ice cream in France. OK, [...]
June 27, 2012
Labor of Love
Master's student aims to solve health-care puzzle
The resilience of the women was surprising, as was their appreciation for just being heard. After all, they are at the bottom of the social hierarchy in one of the world’s poorest countries. No one had shown much interest in their stories until an Oregon State University student showed up last winter. Bonnie Ruder, a [...]
May 30, 2012
Life-Saving Science
At a recent meeting of the American Meteorological Society in New Orleans, I participated in a discussion of early warning systems that give the public time to take cover from tornadoes and to prepare for hurricanes. Today, we have hours or days to get out of harm’s way. Contrast that with the hurricane in Galveston, [...]
May 30, 2012
Battling the Superbugs
Science wages war on bacteria that are resisting modern drugs
This story has echoes of heroes tramping the Earth (or the galaxy) on a quest to defeat the forces of darkness. Along the way, the travelers encounter strange creatures with remarkable powers. They endure harrowing tests of mental strength and technological prowess. In the end, they prevail, bringing down the enemy and discovering a truth [...]
May 29, 2012
Infectious Science
The National Institutes of Health is supporting OSU researchers with $4.5 million spread across 16 active projects. Among them: Jon Furuno, College of Pharmacy, studies the incidence and severity of MRSA in hospitals and long-term care facilities. Margaret Dolcini, Department of Public Health, studies the behaviors and attitudes of urban African-American youth at risk of [...]
May 25, 2012
Resistance Times Ten
Pathogens resistant to one or more drugs are on the rise. Below are 10 diseases associated with antimicrobial resistance identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 1. Anthrax. Occurs rarely in humans. Caused by exposure to infected animals or animal products. Also has been used in [...]
November 28, 2011
Vital contributions
When Angelica Grizzle started college, her idea of research was scientists in lab coats looking into microscopes. When she found out that there were opportunities for undergraduate students to work with young kids on school readiness research, she jumped at the opportunity. Grizzle says the research seed was planted during her first year at Oregon [...]
November 16, 2011
Natural compounds, chemotherapeutic drugs, may become partners in cancer therapy
Chlorophyllin shows promise in killing colon cancer cells.
Research in the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University suggests that some natural food compounds, which previously have been studied for their ability to prevent cancer, may be able to play a more significant role in treating it – working side-by-side with the conventional drugs that are now used in chemotherapy. A study published [...]
October 28, 2011
24/7 Checkup
Sensors could transmit vital signs around the clock
A new chapter in high-tech medicine is being written by electrical engineers at Oregon State University. A team led by Patrick Chiang has confirmed that an electronic technology called “ultrawideband” could lead to the development of sophisticated “body-area networks,” systems of wearable sensors and communication devices designed to track an individual’s health. Such networks would [...]
October 27, 2011
Chemistry for Life
The foundation for OSU's new science center was built a century ago
In 2011, the first Baby Boomer turned 65 — the leading edge of a wave that is going to change the country. By 2030 one in every five Americans will be older than that. People are already living longer, taking time to travel and to enjoy their families. Think gourmet cooking classes, fishing trips and [...]
October 26, 2011
What’s in a Name?
In a new college of public health, community partnerships are key
In “Romeo and Juliet,” Shakespeare famously penned, “What’s in a name?” I’ve been asked that many times since our college changed its name in July. It may not have meant much to Juliet in the case of her beloved, but for the College of Public Health and Human Sciences, it speaks to the very essence [...]
October 26, 2011
Heading for Health
Research puts exercise and healthy food on the map
A woman hesitates to leave her home for fear of falling and breaking her hip. A child, enjoying fries and a soft drink in the backseat of the car, learns habits that may endanger his long-term health. A man with kidney problems faces a future hooked up to a dialysis machine in a clinic for [...]
October 26, 2011
Co-conspirators in Melanoma
Researchers discover "partners in crime" in deadly skin disease
Americans spend billions to beautify their outermost organ — to make it softer and younger, to erase wrinkles, conceal freckles, fake a tan, flaunt a tattoo. In our obsession with skin’s cosmetic qualities, it’s easy to forget the role it plays as nature’s biohazard suit. It defends our bodies against a barrage of environmental and [...]
October 25, 2011
Is There a Pill for That?
How the Internet is changing the way Americans seek health care
Instead of blindly following “doctor’s orders,” patients can power up their iPad, Google their symptoms and join a chatroom for a different kind of “expert” opinion — that of ordinary people who have “been there, done that.” In this brave new world of “e-health,” there are bounteous benefits, says Kristin Barker, a sociologist at Oregon State University.
October 21, 2011
High to Moderate Levels of Stress Lead to Higher Mortality Rate
A new study concludes that men who experience persistently moderate or high levels of stressful life events over a number of years have a 50 percent higher mortality rate. In general, the researchers found only a few protective factors against these higher levels of stress – people who self-reported that they had good health tended [...]
September 14, 2011
Nature-Made Medicine
Linus Pauling pioneered research on micronutrients and health
“Orthomolecular medicine is the use of the right molecules or orthomolecular substances that are normally present in the human body in the amounts that lead to the best of health and the greatest decrease in disease. It is the most effective prevention in the treatment of disease.” — Linus Pauling, 1983 Linus Pauling spent [...]
July 6, 2011
Bone Builders
step! run! jump! lunge!
It may sound like the Olympics, but you don’t have to go to extremes to get benefits that could last a lifetime. Regular exercises can raise or maintain bone mass in children and adults, reducing fracture risks as they age. Those are the conclusions of studies by Kathy Gunter and her team of undergraduate and [...]
