A study in this month's issue aims to quantify the combined impact of four key healthy behaviors on mortality in men and women in the United Kingdom: not smoking; not being physically inactive; drinking alcohol moderately; and, as represented by our image, having a blood vitamin C level consistent with a fruit and vegetable intake of five servings a day (Khaw, et al. e12). The estimated impact of 14 additional years of life as a result of these behaviors suggests that modest and achievable lifestyle changes can have a marked effect on the health of populations. However, as this month's editorial discusses with reference to previous PLoS Medicine papers on urban safety and physical activity in the United States (Bennett, et al. e306) and food insecurity and high-risk sexual behaviour in Botswana (Weiser, et al. e260), individuals in isolation often cannot make the lifestyle changes they want, and a set of complex processes govern the translation of research into public health outcomes.
Image Credit: Image by Umberto Salvagnin (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaibara/)
Editorial
From Theory to Practice: Translating Research into Health Outcomes
PLOS Medicine: published January 8, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050015
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In the Era of Systematic Reviews, Does the Size of an Individual Trial Still Matter?
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Neglected Diseases
Plague: Past, Present, and Future
PLOS Medicine: published January 15, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050003
Perspectives
Model-Based Insights into Multi-Host Transmission and Control of Schistosomiasis
PLOS Medicine: published January 22, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050023
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Market Failure and the Poverty of New Drugs in Maternal Health
PLOS Medicine: published January 22, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050022
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Research in Translation
Incorporating Molecular Tools into Early-Stage Clinical Trials
PLOS Medicine: published January 22, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050021
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Why Pakistani Medical Graduates Must Remain Free to Emigrate
PLOS Medicine: published January 29, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050002
Research Articles
Combined Impact of Health Behaviours and Mortality in Men and Women: The EPIC-Norfolk Prospective Population Study
PLOS Medicine: published January 8, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050012
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Multi-Host Transmission Dynamics of Schistosoma japonicum in Samar Province, the Philippines
PLOS Medicine: published January 22, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050018
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PLOS Medicine: published January 15, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050016
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Key Role for Clumping Factor B in Staphylococcus aureus Nasal Colonization of Humans
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A Prevalent Variant in PPP1R3A Impairs Glycogen Synthesis and Reduces Muscle Glycogen Content in Humans and Mice
PLOS Medicine: published January 29, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050027
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Corrections
Correction: Understanding the Slow Depletion of Memory CD4+ T Cells in HIV Infection
PLOS Medicine: published January 29, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050011
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Correction: Health Is Still Social: Contemporary Examples in the Age of the Genome
PLOS Medicine: published January 29, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050010