Howard Hughes Medical Institute Gives $600 Million To Research

New York (ChattahBox) - The Howard Hughes Medical Institute has launcehd a $600 million research fund to try and help discover new medical breakthroughs.

They will be putting the $600 million into high-risk medical fields which could end up resulting in major medical breakthroughs. These fields will span across all types of medicine.

The money will be disbursed to 56 scientists from more than 12 American universities and research institutions.

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute was named after the American aviator and filmmaker. He has since passed away but the institute has lived on, striving towards advancements in medicine.

Kids Exposed To Lead Likely To Be Criminals As Adults

Los Angeles (ChattahBox) - Two new studies have revealed that children who are exposed to lead face an increased risk of taking part in criminal behavior as adults.

The studies were published on Tuesday in the medical journal PLoS Medicine, linking lead exposure in kids to criminal activity as adults, as well as decreased brain volume.
Researchers from the University of Cincinnati carried out the first study which found that kids exposed to lead are more likely to be arrested for criminal activity as adults.

These crimes included violent activity and impacted kids most during fetal stages, and early childhood.

The other study was done at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and linked lead exposure to decreased brain volume as adults.

Men were found to be affected more than women by the lead exposure.

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States In The U.S. Ranked On How They Handle Child Health Care

Boston (ChattahBox) - The Commonwealth Fund has released a new report, ranking states in the U.S. based on child health care, with Iowa coming in first.

The report looked at child health care among states in the U.S. and saw that states varied a great deal in terms of how well they perform.

They looked closely at cost of health care, mortality rates, number of kids uninsured, etc.
The top state in the U.S. for child health care was Iowa, with Oklahoma ranked in last place.
Rounding out the top 5 were Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, and Iowa.

The range from top to bottom is very large as 94% of children in Massachusetts received recommended vaccinations from ages 19 months to 35 months. This compared to only 67% of children in Texas.
In terms of the number of children without health insurance, Michigan was at only 5%, while Texas was at 20%

The bottom states were made up of Oklahoma, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arizona.

New Bug Repellents Prove More Effective Than DEET

Washington (ChattahBox) - Researchers have found that new bug repellents are more effective than even DEET in terms of controlling the bug population to fight the West Nile virus and other mosquito-borne diseases.

Research on the new bug repellents was led by Ulrich R. Bernier of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s mosquito and fly research unit in Gainesville, Florida.
They have discovered new bug repellents which are more effective than even DEET. These new repellents work for 40 to 50 days, compared to around 17 for DEET.

DEET was originally developed for military use in 1946, and proved to be unsafe for people, especially children and pregnant women, which turned many away from it.
More research is needed to see if these new bug repellents irritate the skin or cause any other safety problems to humans.

Within four or five years, these repellents could help fight not only West Nile, but also Lyme disease, fever, malaria, and dengue fever.

The study has been published in the May 26 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences