Read article – A new study from the Geisel School of Medicine, the National Cancer Institute, and the state health departments in New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont, recently found that drinking water from private wells in northern New England may increase the risk of bladder cancer. For the past 50 years, rates of bladder cancer in men and women in northern New England have been about 20 percent higher than those in the rest of the country. The study finds the high cancer rates correlate with high rates of arsenic in private wells.

Read article – Continued coverage of comments by Joy Gabrielli, a clinical child psychologist and postdoctoral research fellow, who was the lead author of a study that found a correlation between problem drinking at a young age and use of product and brand placement in popular TV shows. “Given the significant health implications of underage drinking, the Federal Trade Commission needs to place more emphasis on monitoring and limiting alcohol brand placement of alcohol in media,” says Gabrielli.

Read article – Quotes Joy Gabrielli, a clinical child psychologist and postdoctoral research fellow, who was the lead author of a study that found a correlation between problem drinking at a young age and use of product and brand placement in popular TV shows. “Parents should be aware that it is highly likely their children will be exposed to alcohol brand placements if they watch TV shows rated TV-PG or higher, and that this could affect their drinking behavior,” says Gabrielli.

Read article – In an opinion piece, Keith Loud, chair and associate professor of pediatrics, argues that a healthcare model proposed by a columnist working for The Boston Globe presented an attractively simple free-market solution to our health care reform dilemma, without a realistic mechanism for implementation. He also says the writer was too quick to dismiss a feasible financing model — single-payer health care.

Read article – Quotes James Leiter, professor of physiology and neurobiology and of medicine, about recent research he led that investigated the role of serotonin on breathing responses in sleeping infants. The findings offer a new avenue of research into sudden infant death syndrome. “This is the first time, I think, that animal studies have taken the lead in SIDS research, so I found the work quite rewarding. But there is always more to do,” says Leiter.

Read article – In an opinion piece in the NYT’s Well blog, Tim Lahey, associate professor of medicine, microbiology and immunology, and of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, writes about about new technology being made available to young people to improve access to H.I.V. testing. This technology includes free phone apps that harness GPS technology to locate nearby H.I.V. testing facilities. “They need evidence-based sex education, supportive parenting and better access to the H.I.V. testing information that could save their lives,” says Lahey.

Read article – Quotes Norman Paradis, professor of medicine, from an opinion piece published in The Conversation about the claim that the blood-testing company Theranos can produce cheaper, faster, less scary blood tests, as well as the assumption that succeeding in this quest would improve public health.

Read article – Coverage of study led by Margaret Karagas, chair and professor of epidemiology and professor of community and family medicine, which found that babies fed with rice cereals and other rice-based food products are likely to have higher concentrations of inorganic arsenic in their urine compared with babies who are not. The study appeared in JAMA Pediatrics.

Read article – Cites comments by Elizabeth Talbot, associate professor of medicine, who participated in a roundtable discussion on Friday with some of the state’s top health experts to discuss the Zika virus and assess the level of risk to New Hampshire residents. Talbot traveled to West Africa in late 2014 to help protect humanitarian workers battling the Ebola epidemic, and said like Ebola, fears of the Zika virus affect the overall sense of safety even in areas where the disease is not present.

Read article – Lisa Schwartz, professor of medicine, community and family medicine, and of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, is quoted about her work with Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs on investigating the benefits and harms of sleeping pills. “But those benefits aren’t as great as many people assume, and the drugs have important harms,” says Schwartz.