The health problems of Indigenous peoples around the world are intimately tied to a number of unique factors, such as colonization, globalization, migration, and loss of land, language and culture. These factors remain even after the "typical" social problems facing the poor, such as inadequate housing, unemployment, and low education levels are addressed, according to Dr. Malcolm King, lead author of a paper to be published tomorrow in the Lancet, a prestigious UK medical journal.

The onset of beautiful summer weather brings many of us outdoors to enjoy all the abundant recreational opportunities in our area. Unfortunately, summer weather also can expose us to some of the health risks that arrive with the season. One of those risks comes in the form of the deer tick - a very small, hard to see bug that is all too common everywhere in Wisconsin. These poppy seed sized ticks carry the bacteria that cause Lyme disease, which can be serious if undetected and untreated.

Following are some useful facts and advice about avoiding tick bites and Lyme disease:

There is a risk that patients who had surgery at Audubon Ambulatory Surgery Center in Colorado Springs and Rose Medical Center in Denver may have been exposed to hepatitis C.

Kristen Diane Parker is a former surgery technician who worked at Rose from Oct. 21, 2008 until April 13, 2009. She went to work for the Audubon surgery center shortly after being fired from Rose and worked there from May 4 until Monday June 28, 2009.

A new imaging technique can monitor, in living mice, the HER2 protein found in above-normal amounts in many cases of breast cancer as well as some ovarian, prostate and lung cancers. This new approach, once validated in mice and pending further experiments, could provide a real-time noninvasive method for identifying tumors in humans who express HER2 and who would be candidates for targeted therapy directed against this protein.

The Texas Department of State Health Services is reminding swimmers and skiers to take precautions to avoid infection from Naegleria fowleri, an ameba assumed to be present in all rivers, lakes, ponds, tanks and streams.

The ameba can cause primary amebic meningoencephalitis, or PAM, an infection of the brain. Though PAM is rare, it is almost always fatal.

The ameba thrives in warm, stagnant water but may be present in any body of fresh water. A combination of lower water levels, high temperatures and stagnant or slow-moving water may produce higher concentrations of the ameba.

The Southern Nevada Health District reported Clark County?s first human case associated with West Nile virus for 2009. The patient, a 61-year-old woman, contracted the mild form of the illness, West Nile fever. In another component of its West Nile surveillance program, the health district?s vector control program has detected West Nile virus in a cluster of mosquitoes in the 89119 zip code.

Over the last five days, the Middlesex-London Health Unit has received reports of three children with E. coli O157:H7. To receive three laboratory confirmed cases of E. coli O157:H7 in such a short timeframe is unusual. In two of these cases, the common food consumed was kofta (spiced ground beef) purchased on June 14 and 15 from the Westmount Halal Food Store located at 490 Wonderland Road South. The source of the third child's infection is currently unknown. This child's family also eats halal food but did not purchase any food from the Westmount Halal Food Store.

Vegetarians are 12 per cent less likely to develop cancer than meat eaters, according to new research published in the British Journal of Cancer.

In a study of more than 61,000 people, Cancer Research UK scientists from Oxford followed meat eaters and vegetarians for over 12 years, during which 3,350 of the participants were diagnosed with cancer.

They found that the risk of being diagnosed with cancers of the stomach, bladder and blood was lower in vegetarians than in meat eaters.

A minimally invasive procedure to treat tendonitis in the rotator cuff of the shoulder provides immediate symptom relief to the patient, according to a study published in the July issue of Radiology. The study found that ultrasound-guided nonsurgical therapy significantly reduces pain from calcific tendonitis of the rotator cuff and restores lasting mobility after treatment.

A 30-minute non-surgical treatment for Barrett's esophagus, a pre-cancerous condition caused by gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), is now available at Yale-New Haven Hospital. Called HALO ablation therapy, the endoscopic procedure destroys pre-cancerous and unwanted tissue by using heat energy, known as radiofrequency ablation, to burn away the diseased cells in the esophageal lining.

The Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) is reporting the first human case of West Nile virus infection in Arkansas this year. In Arkansas for 2008 there were 9 confirmed cases in humans and no deaths. Nationally, there were 1,356 reported cases in humans and 44 deaths from West Nile Virus infection in 2008.

As warm weather arrives in Connecticut, the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) urges the public to take steps to prevent Lyme disease.

?With the summer here, many people will be spending their time outdoors, increasing their risk for Lyme disease? said DPH Commissioner Dr. J. Robert Galvin. ?By taking a few relatively simple precautions, people can still enjoy the outdoors and decrease their chances of being infected.?

The Utah Department of Health (UDOH) wants to remind everyone to ?Fight the Bite!? when spending time outdoors this holiday weekend. As you spend more time outside, the risk of getting mosquito bites increases, therefore increasing your risk of West Nile virus (WNV) infection. One way to help ?Fight the Bite!? is to control mosquitoes in your own backyard.

Governor David A. Paterson has proclaimed June as Rabies Awareness Month in New York State to remind all New Yorkers to take the necessary precautions to protect themselves against rabies exposure from stray and wild animals.

Specific variations or mutations in a particular can gene raise a man?s risk of familial, or inherited, testicular germ-cell cancer, the most common form of this disease, according to new research by scientists at the National Institutes of Health. This is only the second gene to be identified that affects the risk of familial testicular cancer, and the first gene in a key biochemical pathway.