Study

Pacific Covid-19 survivors in New Zealand wanted for new study

The study, which is led by Victoria University, will ask nearly 8,700 people over the age of 16, what it was like to live with Covid-19.     

Pacific team leader Tuiloma Lina Samu is making sure people are able to take part in the survey in many Pacific languages. 

“If you are willing to take part, you can go through an interview with our Pacific researchers to fa’amatala, to go deeper into what you experienced when you went through Covid, as well your family members.”

Study indicates Vanuatu-made modern reusable nappies overwhelmingly popular

According to the results, 96 percent of participants liked the reusable nappies manufactured by social enterprise Mamma’s Laef Vanuatu.

Eighty-five percent of the participants said they would buy them.

The most likely reason that people wouldn’t buy them is the higher upfront cost of Mamma’s Laef nappies compared to single-use nappies. However, participants acknowledged that reusable nappies are much cheaper over the long term.

NZ Pacific family study reaches turning point

The Pacific Island family study follows the lives of around 1400 Pacific babies born at south Auckland's Middlemore Hospital.

Auckland University of Technology's Dan Tautolo said the longitudinal study consisted of annual interviews with parents as well as the participants.

Dr Tautolo says 2018 was a big year for the study as it had entered a key phase of the children entering early adulthood and for many leaving high school.

This STD is becoming 'smarter' and harder to treat

"The bacteria that cause gonorrhea are particularly smart. Every time we use a new class of antibiotics to treat the infection, the bacteria evolve to resist them," said Teodora Wi, a human reproduction specialist at the WHO, in a news release.

Three superbugs -- bacteria that cannot be killed by the best available drug -- were detected in Japan, France and Spain, according to the WHO.

"We need to be more vigilant now," Wi told reporters in a phone briefing.

Drinking more coffee leads to a longer life, two studies say

The findings have resurfaced the centuries-old conversation on coffee's health effects.

One study surveyed more than 520,000 people in 10 European countries, making it the largest study to date on coffee and mortality, and found that drinking more coffee could significantly lower a person's risk of mortality.

Heartburn drugs tied to increased risk of early death, study says

This study did not examine over-the-counter proton-pump inhibitors or particular brands of prescription-strength drugs.

The drugs, known as PPIs, suppress excess acid in the stomach. Generally, prescription formulas are taken by patients with severe conditions for long periods, while lower-dose over-the-counter formulas are approved for only short-term use by the US Food and Drug Administration.

The researchers note that their study does not prove cause and effect.

Head-to-head comparison

Washing hands in cold water 'as good as hot'

The small study of 20 people found using water at 15C (59F) left hands as clean as water heated to 38C (100F) .

The report, in the Journal of Food Protection, suggests this could help cut electricity bills in restaurants.

NHS advice recommends that people wash their hands in either cold or warm water.

'Bug removal'

In this study, scientists at Rutgers University-New Brunswick wanted to find out if popular assumptions about the benefits of warm or hot water and official guidance on hot water - given to the food industry in the US - held true.

Study links college students' grades to sleep schedules

The study, published Monday in the journal Scientific Reports, says college students who did not go to bed or wake up at consistent times every day were more likely to have lower grades.

For the study, 61 students from Harvard College kept online diaries of their sleep schedules for 30 days. Researchers identified two groups: regular sleepers, or those who went to bed and woke up about the same time every day, and irregular sleepers, who had different sleep patterns every day.

Modern HIV drugs can add 10 years to life

The paper, published Wednesday, found that 20-year-olds who started with antiretroviral therapy in 2010 are predicted to live up to 10 years longer than those who first underwent similar treatment in 1996 -- when it first became widely available.

Researchers at Bristol University in the UK said the improvements are due to fewer side effects and less toxic drugs with greater options for patients who are infected with drug-resistant HIV strains.

Antenatal depression twice as likely for Pacific women

The Growing up in New Zealand study surveyed 5,664 women and tracks the development of New Zealand children from before birth till they are young adults.

An investigator for the study, Karen Waldie, says it is difficult to pinpoint why Pacific women are more susceptible to antenatal depression.

"A lot of the factors that came out in analyses had to do with things that you would think would be protective for that group, things like family cohesion and neighbourhood support but for Pacific people that doesn't hold true"