News in brief - Oct. 13, 2003

Killers of American doctor in Yemen sentenced to death - Half-hour of recreation reduces risk of diabetes at any weight - Investment in tobacco-control programs rubs out cigarette sales - Grants to support research on drug-resistant bacteria

Killers of American doctor in Yemen sentenced to death

Ali al-Jarallah, a Muslim extremist, was convicted last month of planning the December 2002 attack on Jibla Baptist Hospital in Yemen that resulted in the death of Martha C. Myers, MD. He was given the death penalty for this incident and for assassinating a Yemeni politician, according to wire reports.

Abed Abdul Razak Kamel, who actually carried out the attack that also injured pharmacist Donald Caswell and killed hospital director William Koehn and purchasing officer Kathleen Gariety, was convicted and sentenced to death in May.

The attack initially left a rural region in one of the poorest countries in the world without medical care. The hospital reopened in February.

Dr. Myers was buried in Yemen soon after her death, but she has received several honors posthumously. In June, the Woman's Missionary Union launched an award in her name to be given to women who are positive role models for girls and influence the lives of others through missionary or civic work. Dr. Myers was also named an honorary alumna of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Mo.

Half-hour of recreation reduces risk of diabetes at any weight

Thirty minutes of moderate physical activity can prevent diabetes, and this effect is independent of a person's weight, according to a study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology this month.

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health studied more than 1,700 American Indians who were from tribes with high rates of the disease but who did not have the condition themselves. By the end of the six-year study, more than 300 had developed type 2 diabetes. However, development of the disease was less likely in those who exercised at least 30 minutes a day.

"This suggests that adopting and maintaining a program of regular physical activity similar to what the surgeon general's recommendations suggest can play a significant role in preventing type 2 diabetes," said Andrea Kriska, PhD, lead author on the paper and associate professor of epidemiology at the university.

Investment in tobacco-control programs rubs out cigarette sales

A study in the September Journal of Health Economics concludes that states that spent more on comprehensive tobacco-control programs enjoyed a decrease in tobacco sales at a rate two times greater than demonstrated for the nation overall. Between 1990 and 2000, sales fell an average of 43% in four key states -- Arizona, California, Massachusetts and Oregon -- all of which made substantial investments in their anti-smoking programs. This amount compared with a 20% decrease for all states combined. Program funding levels accounted for a substantial portion of this difference, with increasing expenditures producing bigger and faster declines in sales, according to the study.

This study is the first analysis to include cigarette sales data from all states and to isolate the impact of tobacco-control program expenditures by controlling for changes in cigarette excise taxes, cross-border cigarette sales, and other state-specific factors, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Previous research has suggested that cigarette excise taxes lead to the most immediate decline in cigarette sales, but their effect eventually erodes. While the new research confirms the importance of tax increases, it also demonstrates that investments in tobacco-control programs have a lasting impact.

According to the CDC, effective state-based programs should include some or all of the following components: community and school programs and policies, counter-marketing campaigns, cessation programs including telephone quit-lines, program monitoring and evaluation, staffing and management.

Grants to support research on drug-resistant bacteria

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention awarded grants totaling $3 million to support research into community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. During the next three years, the grants will support examinations of issues including the bacterium's genetic characteristics, characteristics of patients' illnesses and outcomes, and the mechanisms of infection and disease. "Controlling the spread of MRSA is a high priority in our efforts to prevent antimicrobial resistance," said CDC Director Julie Gerberding, MD, MPH. "We are committed to supporting [this research]."

The grants will support the following projects: At Columbia University, New York, investigators will examine MRSA isolates using a variety of molecular techniques, including studying the isolates' virulence. Researchers at Harbor-UCLA Research and Education Institute will evaluate risk factors for community-acquired MRSA among adults and children, characterize isolates through molecular typing and analyze clinical characteristics associated with the infection. At the University of California, San Francisco, physicians will collect MRSA isolates and related patient information to study evolutionary relationships among MRSA isolates. And at the University of Chicago, MRSA isolates will be analyzed using a variety of molecular techniques and assessed for virulence.