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UC Berkeley researchers found lead, cadmium, chromium, aluminum and five other metals in a sample of 32 different lipsticks and lip glosses commonly found in drugstores and department stores. Some of the metals were detected at levels that could raise potential health concerns.
Tag: public health
Berkeley SHIP 2013-14 details announced
May 16, 2013:
Chancellor Birgeneau recently announced that Berkeley would leave UC SHIP and return to a campus-based student insurance plan for the next academic year. Details of the campus plan, to be implemented in August, can be found in this post from University Health Services.
Racial minorities live on the front lines of heat risk, study finds
May 14, 2013:
Some racial groups are more likely to bear the brunt of extreme heat waves because of where they live, finds a new UC Berkeley study. The study highlight racial disparities at a time when the frequency and intensity of extreme heat waves is expected to increase with climate change.
Cal Day launched graduating senior’s Berkeley experience
April 19, 2013:
Senior Ahn-Thi Le’s UC Berkeley journey began with Cal Day, when she fell in love with the campus. Now, after following a path that took her to India to work with rural artisans and to a place in the CellScope initiative improving health care in Vietnam, Le is about to graduate.
Bakar Fellows Program: Mining the proteome
April 3, 2013:
“We need to learn not only what is encoded in the genome – the blueprint of life – but how that actually translates into protein function in health and disease,” says Amy Herr, a Berkeley associate professor of bioengineering. Her research is supported by the campus’s Bakar Fellows Program, which helps early-career faculty pursue innovative research with commercial promise.
Research News Briefs
February 28, 2013:
Research News Briefs: Economic paper says social pressure affects women more than men when it comes to altruism / Neighborhoods teeming with liquor stores linked to big jump in binge drinking
Researchers find minimal state cost from Medicaid expansion in California
January 7, 2013:
California has the opportunity to significantly increase health insurance coverage at minimal cost to the state budget, according to a joint study by UC Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education and the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.
Banguns initiative calls for change, accountability
December 21, 2012:
UC Berkeley political scientist Steve Fish is helping to launch an initiative called Banguns in response to the Sandy Hook massacre. Those signing the initiative pledge to vote for, or financially support, only those elected officials who actively support effective new gun-control legislation
‘Great Lung Run’ honors Berkeley rower
December 20, 2012:
When their teammate Jill Costello was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2009, the UC Berkeley Women’s crew committed themselves to the fight against the disease. On Dec. 1, “Team Jill” joined Kelcey Harrison in the last few miles of her four-month cross-country run, which raised money and awareness in Costello’s memory.
Study finds elevated levels of formaldehyde, other contaminants, in day care centers
October 25, 2012:
A study of 40 child-care facilities in California found that most had levels of formaldehyde and a few other contaminants that exceeded exposure guidelines. The study by UC Berkeley researchers is the first to provide a detailed analysis of environmental contaminants and exposures for children in day care centers.
Food Day report: Minimum-wage hike would raise food prices pennies, help millions
October 24, 2012:
A new report released today, national Food Day 2012, says that a proposal pending in Congress to raise the minimum wage would increase retail food prices for American consumers by about 10 cents a day, while helping nearly 8 million food workers and 21 million other workers. Campus celebrates Food Day.
BPA linked to thyroid hormone changes in pregnant women, newborns
October 4, 2012:
A new UC Berkeley study adds to growing concerns about the health effects of bisphenol A (BPA), a compound commonly found in the lining of tin cans, hard plastics and certain store receipts. Researchers have linked prenatal exposure to BPA to changes in thyroid hormone levels in pregnant women and newborn boys.
Where are the ‘job creators’? A Labor Day conversation
August 30, 2012:
Where you live has a lot to do with whether you’re employed, and how, says Enrico Moretti, author of The New Geography of Jobs. The UC Berkeley economist shares insights on employment, salaries, tax cuts and growing inequalities based on location.
Dr. Warren Winkelstein Jr., epidemiologist who led seminal AIDS, air pollution studies, dies at 90
July 31, 2012:
Dr. Warren Winkelstein Jr., pioneering epidemiologist and former dean of UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health, died Sunday, July 22. He was 90. His career spanned six decades and included seminal contributions to the understanding of the transmission of HIV/AIDS, how air pollution affects health, heart disease in women and other health issues.
Aspiring oral surgeon promotes “Super Star Smiles” for children
April 16, 2012:
UC Berkeley integrative biology major Hường Trần says she is “paying it forward” with a program taking dental-health education into classrooms for needy children.
Tag, you’re infected! This game might save lives
April 4, 2012:
Researchers have put a new twist on the game of tag by having players pass notes around to “infect” each other. The game, developed by Steve Bellan, a UC Berkeley ecologist, and Juliet Pulliam, a University of Florida biologist, is proving to be a popular tool for helping epidemiologists study outbreaks of infectious diseases like cholera, AIDS and malaria.
UC Berkeley leads $4 million program to train slum health researchers
April 4, 2012:
The Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded $4 million to UC Berkeley to lead a program to train and educate researchers, educators and professionals who can tackle global health challenges specific to slum dwellings. Joining UC Berkeley are researchers from Florida International, Stanford and Yale universities.
Comerio leads national roundtable on integrated disaster recovery
March 19, 2012:
Northern California experts, including UC Berkeley architecture professor Mary Comerio, are heading up a national roundtable on improving responses after major disasters.
What is public health? New student blog fosters conversation
March 12, 2012:
Grad-student fellows at the School of Public Health’s Center for Health Leadership have launched a new blog, “Public Health Is,” chockablock with information, recipes and opportunities for dialogue.
On-site worker rescue plan urged for confined spaces
February 13, 2012:
Many employers rely upon public fire departments to rescue workers in confined spaces. That is a mistake, according to a UC Berkeley analysis of hundreds of worker deaths over 13 years in the United States. Companies need to station trained, rescue personnel on site so they can pull workers out within moments in an emergency, the study concludes.
School of Public Health launches first online degree program
December 5, 2011:
UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health has launched the campus’s first online degree program in an effort to address the nation’s shortage of trained public health professionals. Students enrolled in the new program, to begin Spring 2012, will be able to earn a master of public health (M.P.H.) degree by completing 85 percent of their coursework online and attending three on-campus sessions totaling 15 days over the first two years.
Wood smoke from cooking fires linked to pneumonia, cognitive impacts
November 10, 2011:
UC Berkeley-led researchers have found a dramatic one-third reduction in severe pneumonia diagnoses among children in homes with smoke-reducing chimneys on their cookstoves. Reducing wood smoke could have a major impact on the burden of pneumonia, the leading cause of child mortality in the world, the researchers said. A separate pilot study also found a link between prenatal maternal exposure to woodsmoke and poorer performance in markers for IQ among school-aged children.
Findings offer new clues into the addicted brain
October 30, 2011:
What drives addicts to choose drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, gambling, overeating or kleptomania — despite the risks? Campus neuroscientists have pinpointed the locations in the brain where calculations are made that can result in addictive and compulsive behavior. Their astonishing findings could lead to improved treatments for many addictions and disorders.
Prof’s memoir traces trajectory from ‘useless boy’ to public-health pioneer
October 5, 2011:
In a recently published autobiography, “Memoirs of a Useless Boy,” S. Leonard Syme, professor emeritus of epidemiology and community health, describes how his difficult childhood in Manitoba, Canada led ultimately to his pioneering work in the new field of social epidemiology. In the process, he sheds light on what allows some children from disadvantaged backgrounds to survive and live fulfilling lives.
New research points to lessons from Dutch cannabis system
September 13, 2011:
The Netherlands’s system of quasi-legal retail marijuana sales – steadily evolving since 1976 – may have modestly increased the number of marijuana users, but does not seem to have intensified their use of marijuana or the likelihood that they will move on to harder drugs, says a new UC Berkeley study in the journal Addiction.
School of Public Health hosts 7th annual Volunteer Mobilization Day
August 30, 2011:
Incoming public health graduate students began their training by spending spent the afternoon of August 23 performing public service at nonprofit organizations throughout Berkeley as part of the School of Public Health’s annual Volunteer Mobilization Day.
Flame retardants linked to lower birthweight babies
August 30, 2011:
A new study led by UC Berkeley researchers links prenatal exposure to flame retardant chemicals commonly found in homes to lower birthweight babies. For every tenfold increase in levels of PBDEs in a mother’s blood during pregnancy, there was a corresponding drop of 115 grams in her baby’s birthweight, the study found.
Forum on breaking the cycle of violence to draw experts, producer of “The Interrupters” documentary film
August 22, 2011:
New ways to prevent or reduce community violence will be the topic of a Tuesday, Sept. 6 public forum with University of California, Berkeley, experts in education, public health and social welfare joining local leaders and the producer of a critically acclaimed documentary about breaking the cycle of violence.
Berkeley public health projects part of UC initiative to address critical state issues
August 4, 2011:
Researchers from UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health are studying the conditions of low-wage workers in Chinatown as well as the impact on health from the use of greener cleaning products as part of a new UC-funded multi-campus research program. The Center for Collaborative Research for an Equitable California is one of three dozen UC multi-campus programs focusing on critical issues in the state.
