In the News

Prescribed Opiates Draw Drug Dealers to NH, Hassan Says

New Hampshire Union Leader – Article mentions that Seddon Savage, adjunct associate professor of anesthesiology and director of the Dartmouth Center on Addiction Recovery and Education, recently participated in the Catholic Medical Center’s Summit on Management of the Opiate-dependent Patient and Optimal Pain Treatment where she addressed starting or continuing opioid therapy safely and assessing and managing aberrant medication-taking behavior.

Children Exposed to Arsenic Before Birth are More Prone to Respiratory Infections

I4U News – Quotes Margaret Karagas, chair and professor of epidemiology and professor of community and family medicine, who is the senior author on a study examining the effects on arsenic exposure on children before birth. The study found that children of pregnant women who were exposed to arsenic are more prone to infections. The article also notes that the study was led by Shohreh Farzan, a post-doctoral fellow in the department of epidemiology.

Moms Manipulated into Buying Their Kids Unhealthy Food, Study Says

CNN – Additional coverage of comments by Jennifer Emond, instructor in epidemiology, about her recent research findings that fast food ads featuring toys may influence the entire family to eat more frequently at fast food restaurants. “It is a dual-pronged approach where food manufacturers are targeting kids to pester (their parents) for these products, and then manufacturers are marketing to parents to get them to think these products are healthy and not to feel guilty about buying them,” says Emond.

Why Did the Death Rate Rise Among Middle-Aged White Americans?

The New Yorker – Cites comments by Ellen Meara, associate professor of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice and adjunct associate professor of economics, and Jonathan Skinner, the James O. Freedman Presidential Professor in Economics, and professor of community and family medicine and of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice at Geisel. They co-authored a commentary on a paper by Princeton economists that showed that middle-aged white Americans are dying in much larger numbers than they used to.

The Type of TV Ads That Drive Family Visits to Fast Food Restaurants

Yahoo News via Reuters – Continued coverage of research conducted by Jennifer Emond, instructor in epidemiology, which found that children who watch TV shows with ads for kids’ fast food meals that include toys are more likely to influence the entire family to eat more frequently at fast food restaurants. “We have to be realistic that children will watch TV,” says Emond. “But parents have many options for commercial-free programming, which are great options for parents to have more control over how marketers reach their children.”

Charts that Show Startling Rise in Death-Rate of Large Section of Middle-Aged White Americans

The Independent – The article quotes Jonathan Skinner, the James O. Freedman Presidential Professor in Economics, and professor of community and family medicine and of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice at Geisel, who reviewed and co-authored a commentary (with Ellen Meara, associate professor of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice and adjunct associate professor of economics) that appears with a recent study that found a large segment of white middle-aged Americans has suffered a startling rise in its death rate since 1999.

Slime Cities

Society for Science – Article quotes George O’Toole, professor of microbiology and immunology, about bacteria living in tiny “cities,” called biofilms, that can rot teeth or rust metal. “You’re actually more bacteria than person,” says O’Toole.