(The Root) Research is poking holes in another stereotype, but this time the news is bad for African-American boys. A recent study has uncovered new data on young black males' susceptibility to engage in self-harming behavior, commonly called "cutting." Turns out that, contrary to conventional wisdom, it's not just for white girls.
Black Boys at Risk for ‘Cutting’ Behavior? (Epoch Times) Asian-Americans are the fastest-growing community in the United States and their businesses are more likely to create jobs than any other, but they are largely ignored by government and political parties, according to recent research.
The Asian-American population grew 46 percent, to over 17 million, between 2000 and 2010—faster than any other group, including Latinos, the 2010 U.S. Census reported.
Asian-American entrepreneurs are also great drivers of the economy, owning more than 1.5 million businesses, employing around 3 million people, and turning over an annual payroll of nearly $80 billion.
This success, however, tends to overshadow real needs that exist in Asian-American communities.
Growing Asian-American Communities Underrepresented(WNYC News) The Food and Drug Administration is considering a petition that could benefit Hispanic women by allowing the addition of folic acid, or folate, to the corn flour — a staple in many Latino foods — to help reduce birth defects.
Pregnant Hispanic women are more likely to have children with neural tube defects than other women, new research suggests
“Most of the Hispanic women … don’t eat the wheat flour products that the more acculturated Hispanic women and the non-Hispanic white women are prone to eat,” said Dr. Alan Fleischman, a pediatrics professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Instead, they eat foods made from masa corn flour, the main ingredient in tortillas and tamales.
(The Root) Poor black youths targeted by tobacco ads: U-T San Diego reports that tobacco marketing is targeting California's low-income and African-American youths, according to researchers who examined advertising throughout the state. Academic researchers funded by the state's Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program found that there was greater visibility of menthol-cigarette advertising at retailers near high schools where there are larger African-American student populations.
Poor Black Youths Targeted by Tobacco Ads (Los Angeles Times) African American women in six U.S. cities are becoming infected with HIV at a rate five times the national average for black women, and closer to the rates of some African countries, according to a new study.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University and around the country who made the findings suspected the rates were relatively high in these "hot spots" that have battled the epidemic for decades, but the numbers still came as a surprise in a field that tends to focus more on black and gay men.
HIV among black women in 6 cities far exceeds national average
(Futurity.org) For a study published online in American Journal of Public Health, pediatricians responded to case scenarios involving medical treatments for white and African American patients for four common pediatric conditions. Those doctors who show an implicit preference for European-Americans tended to prescribe better pain-management for white patients than for African American patients.
“We’re talking about subtle, unconscious attitudes that are pervasive in society. Because these are unconscious attitudes, doctors aren’t aware that their racial attitudes may affect their treatment decisions,” says Janice Sabin, a research assistant professor in the department of biomedical informatics and medical education at the University of Washington.
Bias may mean fewer pain meds for black kids (Health.com) Certain hairstyling practices can result in serious hair and scalp diseases for some black women, an expert warns.
“Hair is an extremely important aspect of an African American woman’s appearance,” Dr. Diane Jackson-Richards, director of Henry Ford Hospital’s Multicultural Dermatology Clinic in Detroit, said in a hospital news release. “Yet many women who have a hair or scalp disease do not feel their physician takes them seriously. Physicians should become more familiar with the culturally accepted treatments for these diseases.”
Hair Care Can Pose Health Risks for Black Women(Medical News Today) A UCLA-led group of researchers tracing disparities in life expectancy between blacks and whites in the U.S. has found that white males live about seven years longer on average than African American men and that white women live more than five years longer than their black counterparts.
But when comparing life expectancy on a state-by-state basis, the researchers made a surprising discovery: In those states in which the disparities were smallest, the differences often were not the result of African Americans living longer but of whites dying younger than the national average. And, interestingly, the area with the largest disparities wasn't a state at all but the nation's capital, Washington D.C.
Life Expectancy Disparities Revealed By Study (CNN Op-Ed, Maria Cardona) Amid all the jockeying of the primary debates, President Barack Obama's 2013 budget was a breath of fresh air that underscored the priorities we should have as a nation. Sure, politicos may call it a campaign document, but even if you view it as only that, it is a much needed reminder of just what we should be focusing on.
For Latinos, there is plenty in this budget, especially coming on the heels of the president's State of the Union speech a couple of weeks ago, to remind us that there is still reason to be hopeful. Obama's call for greater income equality on taxes, his focus on job creation, including focusing on key elements of his American Jobs Act (supported by 78% of Latinos), his renewed call for DREAM Act legislation in the State of the Union, and yes, his commitment to environmental and public health protections, as well as for the expansion of a clean energy economy.
Why the environment is a Latino issue(UPI) The number of U.S. adults getting cancer screening tests is not meeting targets, especially among Asian and Hispanic Americans, federal health officials found.
A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, found in 2010, breast cancer screening rates were 72.4 percent, below the Healthy People 2020target of 81 percent; cervical cancer screening was 83 percent, below the target of 93 percent; and colorectal cancer screening was 58.6 percent, below the target of 70.5 percent.
Screening rates for all three cancers were significantly lower among Asians — 64.1 percent for breast cancer, 75.4 percent for cervical cancer and 46.9 percent for colorectal cancer — compared to other groups, the study found.
Hispanics were less likely to be screened for cervical cancer (78.7 percent) and colorectal cancer (46.5 percent, when compared with non-Hispanics at 83.8 percent and 59.9 percent, respectively, the report said.
Racial, ethnic disparities in cancer tests
EthnicMajority Website
