Human Services News

Stress, anxiety, fatigue and other psychosocial characteristics may influence the food choices women make during pregnancy, according to a study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The study is the first to examine the affect of psychosocial factors on diet during pregnancy. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:24 PM

American Indians and Alaska Native veterans have higher mortality rate after surgery than Caucasians

Contributing to growing literature on marked racial and ethnic disparities in US healthcare, a study led by Dartmouth Medical School has concluded that American Indians and Alaska Natives have a greater chance of death within 30 days of surgery and suffer more from several preoperative risks compared to Caucasian patients. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:23 PM

'Make Wal-Mart Care About Health Care' Campaign Launches Nationwide; Civic, Community Leaders Hold Press Conferences in 8 States, Demand Wal-Mart Provide Health Care for Workers, Stop Relying on Taxpayers

Tomorrow, June 1, at 9 a.m., at the New Hampshire State House Steps, Main Street, civic and community leaders will hold a press conference at the state capital to launch a nationwide campaign to "Make Wal-Mart Care About Health Care." The press ... Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:06 PM

Study Finds Physician Supply Increases in States With Caps on Malpractice Lawsuit Awards, With the Greatest Impact in Rural Areas

States that have capped malpractice lawsuit awards have seen a larger growth in the number of practicing physicians than those states without such caps, according to a new study from HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:04 PM

Children in foster care may be underaccounted for in the Medicaid program

The currently accepted statistics for numbers of children who live in foster care and are eligible for Medicaid may seriously underestimate the actual figure, according to a new analysis by pediatric researchers at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The study also reinforces previous findings that significant numbers of children in foster care are failing to receive needed health care services. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 10:49 PM

Planned Parenthood Is Told to Show Children's Files

Planned Parenthood of Indiana has to show state investigators the medical records of some of its youngest patients, a judge ruled on Tuesday. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 10:46 PM

Public Health Institute, W.K. Kellogg Foundation Develop New Program Evaluation Approach; Free Download Now Available

From washingtonpost.com - US government, national security, science and national news and headlines.:

Designed to help leadership programs focus on evaluation, "EvaluLEAD: A Guidebook for Shaping and Evaluating Leadership Development Programs" is now available at www.wkkf.org (under evaluation/publications and resources) or www.evalulead.net. Developed by the Population Leadership Program and the Sustainable Leadership Initiative at the Public Health Institute, in partnership with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, EvaluLEAD is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 10:02 PM

A Bane Amid The Housing Boom: Rising Foreclosures

PHILADELPHIA -- To walk Thayer Street in northeast Philadelphia is to count, door by door, the economic devastation afflicting a working-class neighborhood. On a single block, 18 of the 42 brick rowhouses have gone into foreclosure in the past three years. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 9:49 PM

Teenage depression can be enduring, but is more often short-lived

Teenage depression is widespread and can become a life-long illness, but is more often transitory, said UCLA Psychology Professor Constance Hammen. Adolescent depression can be as high as 20 percent or higher, said Hammen, who has studied depression for more than 30 years. Most of the depressions will be short-lived, but of those who have adolescent depression, perhaps 40 percent will have recurring depression, and many of those will likely be life-long. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 9:36 PM

Message Is Clear in N.Va.: IM 'Threats' Can Bring Teens Trouble in an Instant (washingtonpost.com)

washingtonpost.com - The pranks teenagers play on each other are almost rites of passage -- making crank phone calls, scrawling scary messages on lockers and toilet-papering a friend's yard are usually seen as harmless adolescent mischief and come with few repercussions. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 9:33 PM

May 27, 2005

Hunger-Free Communities Act of 2005

Senator Richard Durbin (D- IL) introduced the Hunger-Free Communities Act of 2005 today to increase federal funding available to local organizations working to reduce hunger in communities nationwide and establishing an ambitious commitment to end hunger in the United States by 2015. The bill has bipartisan support with Senators Richard Lugar (R- IN), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), and Gordon Smith (R-OR) as cosponsors.
According to the USDA, hunger and food insecurity in the United States has increased for the fourth straight year. In 2004, more than 36 million Americans -- including 13 million children -- lived with hunger or on the brink of hunger.

The Hunger-Free Communities Act preserves current funding levels for federal food programs and protects nutrition and hunger-relief initiatives. Additionally, it directs the Census Bureau to collect annual data on food insecurity in the United States and the United States Department of Agriculture to prepare annual reports on the status of efforts to eliminate domestic hunger and recommendations for reducing hunger.

Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 10:41 PM

Witnessing gun violence increases likelihood that a child will also commit violent crime

In a study designed to isolate the root causes of violent behavior, Harvard Medical School researchers found that young teens who witnessed gun violence were more than twice as likely as non-witnesses to commit violent crime themselves in the following years. The study will appear in the May 27 issue of Science. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 10:30 PM

Pre-K students expelled at more than three times the rate of K-12 students

Pre-K students are expelled at a rate more than three times that of children in grades K-12, according to a primary study by researchers at Yale on the rate of expulsion in prekindergarten programs serving three- and four-year-olds. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 10:27 PM

The rising stakes of job loss

In a sharp break from historical precedent, long-term joblessness has stubbornly persisted in this recovery, despite the falling unemployment rates. Read EPI's Briefing Paper, The Rising Stakes of Job Loss, for a full analysis. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 1:14 AM

May 26, 2005

School Law Spurs Efforts to End Minority Gap

Educators across the nation are putting extraordinary effort into improving the achievement of minority students. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:17 PM

Resistance training benefits older Hispanic adults with type 2 diabetes

While adults with diabetes are often told to lose weight to benefit their health, new information from researchers at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University suggests that resistance training, even without weight loss, may offer similar benefits. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 10:52 PM

Association between depression severity and poor glycemic control among Hispanics with diabetes

In a study of more than 200 Hispanics with diabetes, researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and College of Physicians and Surgeons found a significant association between depression severity and poor glycemic control (PGC). The findings also confirm that less than one-half of the diabetes patients with moderate or severe depression received mental health treatment in the previous year. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 10:49 PM

Conference Call Briefing: New Study Finds Medicaid Beneficiaries Facing Rapidly Rising Out-Of-Pocket Health Care Costs

WHAT: Conference Call Briefing: New Study Finds Medicaid Beneficiaries Facing Rapidly Rising Out-Of-Pocket Health Care Costs Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 10:45 PM

Research shows women's weight gain brings loss of income, job prestige

An increase in a woman's body mass results in a decrease in her family income and a decline in her occupational prestige, according to research conducted by New York University sociologist Dalton Conley and Rebecca Glauber, an NYU graduate student. The study was sponsored by the Cambridge, MA-based National Bureau of Economic Research. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 10:34 PM

Exposure to gun violence boosts odds of teens acting violently

Annual Conference on Criminal Justice Research and Evaluation

Exposure to gun violence makes adolescents twice as likely to perpetrate serious violence in the next two years, according to a University of Michigan researcher. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 10:29 PM

New Directory on Drug and Alcohol Abuse Treatment Programs Nationwide

From: Mathematica Policy Research

Clinicians, administrators, and policymakers in the substance abuse treatment field have a newly updated directory to help them in seeking treatment facilities for their clients. The publication, National Directory of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Treatment Programs 2005, is based on an annual census of all known facilities in the United States, both private and public, that provide substance abuse treatment. Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., conducted the census, known as the National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services (N-SSATS) for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

As part of the census, over 16,500 substance abuse treatment facilities across the country were contacted and asked to provide data on the types of treatment programs they offer and the number of people they treat, along with information on facility characteristics. Over 96 percent of the facilities responded. Taken as a whole, about 80 percent reported providing outpatient treatment services, 28 percent provided residential treatment services, and about 7 percent provided hospital inpatient treatment.

The directory is available online at http://findtreatment.samhsa.gov and searchable by geographic location and type of treatment service provided.

Free printed copies can be obtained from the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information, (800) 729-6686.

Posted by Michael at 1:12 PM

Annual Conference on Criminal Justice Research & Evaluation

Join 1,000 of your professional colleagues at NIJ's Annual Conference on Research and Evaluation. This year's focus is Evidence-Based Policies and Practices.

Learn what works, what doesn't, and what the latest research shows as promising. Hear what criminal justice practitioners around the country are doing to make their systems more effective with evidence-based programs. Talk to policymakers about how your research can make their work more productive.

This year, you are invited to a new event - an informal conversation with colleagues and speakers on the hotel's beautiful outdoor terrace overlooking the Nation's Capital on Monday evening, July 18th.

Also new this year, NIJ is offering a special promotion to attract first-time attendees and to encourage researchers to bring along their practitioner/policymaker partners. See the registration page for details on how to take advantage of half-price registration fees.

Posted by Michael at 12:40 PM

Retirement Income and Social Security

"Retirement Income," EPI's major follow-up study to its 2002 report "Retirement Insecurity," argues that a truly accurate assessment of Americans' retirement adequacy must consider all forms of wealth, including private pensions, housing, and financial assets in addition to Social Security, and how they have changed over time for different groups. This latest study finds that Social Security is more necessary than ever--not only is the program nearly universal, but its value has risen faster than other forms of retirement savings for households that need additional retirement benefits the most. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 2:40 AM

Does a family dinner guarantee slimmer kids?

One trend that has paralleled the rise of obesity in the last two decades has been the decline in frequency of children eating dinner with their families. Elsie Taveras, instructor in the Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, and colleagues surveyed the frequency of family dinner among more than 14,400 9- to 14-year-olds and incidence of overweight. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 2:37 AM

Making Progress Toward Graduation

From MDRC:

Talent Development, a high school reform initiative, produced substantial positive effects on attendance, academic course credits earned, tenth-grade promotion, and algebra pass rates for students in very low-performing schools in Philadelphia. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 12:24 AM

Students Learn Meaning of Memorial Day; National History Day Helps Educate Students

For many Americans, Memorial Day is a three-day beach weekend. However, students across America are finding out the true meaning of Memorial Day through National History Day (NHD).
NHD is a year-long history education program culminating in an annual contest where students present projects in the form of documentaries, exhibits, performances and papers. More than a student competition, the program is an exciting academic experience that helps students learn about historical issues, ideas, people, and events.

By participating in NHD, students become experts in their field of research, and many interviewed veterans who shared personal stories and fascinating insights on the men and women that died in service to our country.

Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 12:19 AM

Study shows even limited training improves communication with patients from other cultures

Simple classroom lectures about different religious holidays, such as the Muslim tradition of fasting during Ramadan, or Spanish language lessons focused on common medical terms really work to help physicians and nurses connect with patients from different cultures and improve patient satisfaction, according to a pair of reports from Johns Hopkins researchers. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 12:12 AM

What types of physicians are best to treat patients with HIV?

Physicians with expertise or a specialty in HIV deliver better quality of care to patients with active HIV, reports Bruce Landon, Harvard Medical School associate professor of health care policy, and colleagues in the May 23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 12:08 AM

A 'mind-reading' mum - rich or poor - is key to baby's progress

For a mother, being able to 'read' her baby's emotions or state of mind can be more important for the child's development than who she is and what she has, according to important new research sponsored by the ESRC. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 12:06 AM

Children develop cynicism at an early age

By the time children are in second grade, they know to take what people say with a grain of salt, particularly when the statement supports the speaker's self-interest.
The first part of the two-part study included 20 children each in kindergarten, second grade and fourth grade. The children were told very short stories in which characters made statements about the outcomes of contests that were in or against their self-interest. Children of all ages believed true statements more than clear lies. However, when characters made statements involving their self-interest about very close contests, children evaluated the statements in very different ways. Children in kindergarten were more likely to believe statements aligned with self-interest than statements going against self-interest, but by second grade they were much more savvy and they recognized that self-interest statements might not be accurate. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 12:05 AM

Decision to Cut Funding for North Carolina's Successful Youth Tobacco Prevention Ad Campaign is a Giant Step Backwards for the Health of North Carolina's Kids

The following is a statement by Matthew L. Myers, president, Campaign for Tobacco- Free Kids, on the decision to cut funding for North Carolina's youth tobacco prevention ad campaign:
The citizens of North Carolina should be outraged that, just weeks after learning that North Carolina's tobacco prevention ad campaign, Tobacco Reality Unfiltered (TRU), is working to protect kids from tobacco, the Health and Wellness Trust Fund Commission and Governor Mike Easley suddenly reversed course and reduced planned funding for the campaign. These cuts are a win for the old time tobacco company special interests at the expense of North Carolina's children. Tobacco prevention, including programs like the TRU campaign, is a smart and fiscally responsible investment that reduces smoking, saves lives and saves money by reducing smoking-caused health care costs. The decision to cut funding for this program is shortsighted and will cost the state thousands of lives and millions of dollars in healthcare costs for years to come. We urge Governor Easley and the Health and Wellness Trust Fund Commission to consider the health of North Carolina's kids and restore funding for this critical program that is working to protect them from tobacco.

Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 12:04 AM

Emory study finds health care use, work productivity linked to health levels

While most American adults may not be patently sick, a vast majority of them still lack full health and vitality. This state of "incomplete" health has resulted in a loss of productivity in the workforce, and potentially increases health care costs in the long term, according to a new Emory University study published in the May issue of the Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 12:02 AM

Facial trauma may cause significant social and behavioral problems

Patients disfigured in traumatic incidents are much more likely to suffer post traumatic stress disorder, unemployment, marital problems, binge drinking and depression. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 12:00 AM

May 25, 2005

International adoptees have fewer behavior problems than domestic adoptees

Most international children who are adopted are well-adjusted and have fewer behavioral problems than children who are adopted domestically, according to an article in the May 25 issue of JAMA. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 9:25 PM

UCLA study tackles aging issues of adults with developmental disabilities

Some 4.5 million Americans have a developmental disability. As people live longer, adults with developmental disabilities are no exception, yet their conditions also bring aging-related challenges. A new study by UCLA and Casa Colina Centers for Rehabilitation reports that a geriatric evaluation and follow-up visits by a nurse practitioner can detect and reduce health problems in this population that often go unaddressed by the healthcare system. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 3:05 AM

May 24, 2005

Ebbing and Flowing: Some Gains, Some Losses as SCHIP Responds to Third Year of Budget Pressure

State policymakers are using the flexibility built into Title XXI to manage their SCHIP programs through changing times, cutting or expanding as fiscal conditions permit. This conclusion is based on our third annual survey of SCHIP directors in the 13 ANF states, which explored how child health insurance policies were shifting in response to ongoing budget pressures during 2004. On the plus side, several states took action to reverse previous cuts; for example, every ANF state that enacted an enrollment cap in 2003 lifted it in 2004. However, states kept many of their prior years' cuts in place during '04, and some imposed new restrictions. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:13 PM

Medicare Basics, From (Part) A to D

From The Kaiser Family Foundation:

This Alliance for Health Reform and Kaiser Family Foundation briefing aims to answer questions on the Medicare program. Who does Medicare serve and what services does it provide? How is the program financed? What is the difference between Medicare fee-for-service and Medicare Advantage? What are the basics of the new Medicare drug benefit? What is "Medigap"? How has Medicare attempted to control costs?
Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:02 PM

Taxes and Marriage for Cohabiting Parents

Provisions in the federal income tax code that treat married couples as one tax unit and cohabiting couples as two tax units result in both marriage penalties and bonuses. This analysis uses data from the 2002 National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) to show the extent to which low-income, cohabiting parents face marriage penalties and bonuses under 2003 tax law and 2008 tax law, when current marriage related provisions from the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA) phase-in completely. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 10:45 PM

Children living near major roads at higher asthma risk

Children living close to a major road are significantly more likely to have asthma than children who live farther away, according to a study presented today at the American Thoracic Society International Conference on May 23 in San Diego. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 3:56 AM

Breastfeeding as good for children's blood pressure as exercise and salt restriction

Breastfeeding is as good for children's blood pressure as exercise and dietary salt restriction, finds a study in Archives of Disease in Childhood. And the longer the period of breastfeeding, the lower the blood pressure reading, the research shows. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 3:54 AM

May 23, 2005

Medicare Will Revise Guide to New Benefits for 2006

From NYT > Health:

The Bush administration is revising a preliminary draft of the 2006 Medicare handbook - the main tool for educating beneficiaries - after discovering that many statements in the document were inaccurate, misleading or unclear, even to people who have worked on the program for decades.
Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 1:38 AM

Trumpeting vaccination may only entrench opposition

Extolling the safety and benefits of childhood vaccinations may only serve to strengthen and entrench the positions of those philosophically opposed to them, says new research led by University of Toronto scientists. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 1:30 AM

Eight aspects of early life put UK children at risk of obesity

Three year old children who spend more than eight hours watching television per week are at an increased risk of obesity, finds a study published online by the BMJ this week. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 1:26 AM

Study depicts peril, hope for children of jailed mothers

For a young child whose mother is imprisoned, life's prospects are predictably grim. But a new study, the first empirical examination of the attachment relationships of young children whose mothers are in prison, suggests that simple interventions may prevent a downward social spiral for a rapidly growing and vulnerable population. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 1:25 AM

Conn. Nears Strict School Junk Food Ban (AP)

AP - Lawmakers want to make sure Connecticut students aren't part of the Pepsi Generation. Connecticut is on the verge of adopting the most far-reaching ban in the country on soda and junk food in public schools, in an effort to curb rising rates of childhood obesity. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 1:20 AM

Mo. Foundation Invites Regional Tobacco Proposals

From Substance Abuse Funding News:

The Missouri Foundation for Health is accepting proposals for its Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Initiative. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 12:58 AM

May 22, 2005

Celebrities Protest APA's Plan to Screen (test) All 52 Million School Children for Mental 'Disorders'

Chapin Hall: Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth: Outcomes at Age 19 - Executive Summary

Celebrities, civic and state leaders, parents and children take to the streets of Atlanta today in a march to protest the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) plans to screen all 52 Million US school children for "mental disorders," an initiative they say will swell the already epidemic numbers of children being prescribed mind-altering drugs, despite the lack of medical or scientific evidence establishing the validity of psychiatry's "disorders."
The protestors say there are already over 8 million U.S. children taking cocaine-like stimulants, and antidepressants that cause suicide and hostility. The APA's plans for universal mental screenings of children could more than quadruple this number to 40 million in the next decade.

Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 9:22 PM

May 20, 2005

Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth

This is the second report from the Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth, a longitudinal study of youth aging out of foster care and transitioning to adulthood in Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois. It is based on survey data collected during follow-up interviews with 603 of the 736 youth from whom baseline data were collected.

Results suggest that youth making the transition from foster care to young adulthood face a number of significant challenges, including educational deficits, mental health problems, economic insecurity, victimization, and early child-bearing. They fare worse than their same-age peers across a variety of domains and are much more likely to have been involved with the criminal justice system. At the same time, many of the young adults continue to have strong ties to family and perceive relatively high levels of social support.

Posted by Michael at 12:59 PM

AAAS urges US to continue collecting job data on women workers

The American Association for the Advancement of Science on Wednesday (18 May) urged the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to continue the collection of employer job counts of female workers, saying such data are crucial to understanding links between gender, income and productivity. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 12:52 PM

Mobilizing Communities for Children of All Abilities

Playgrounds have become a commonplace feature of community life in America, but it is rare to find a playground that is barrier-free, built so children with and without disabilities can experience the learning and development play provides. Approximately ten percent of children in the United States have a disability that separates them from using most public playgrounds alongside their peers and siblings. This exclusion from play impacts children with and without disabilities into adulthood, setting the stage for ongoing separation and exclusion. For its 75th Anniversary, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation has created a statewide effort to help Michigan communities build integrated, universally accessible playgrounds, and to demonstrate the value of allowing children of all abilities to play, learn, and develop together. The Able to Play Project seeks to build barrier-free playgrounds in up to 20 communities across Michigan, slated for completion in 2005. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 12:47 PM

Those Who Outgrow Foster Care Still Struggle, Study Finds

Nationally each year, some 20,000 youths who were once removed from their homes because of abuse or neglect leave their second home - the child welfare system - because they get too old for it. In some states, they are allowed to stay on until they turn 21, but in many more places, they "age out" when they turn 18.
And that, the authors of a new study to be released on Thursday by the Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago say, can have devastating consequences. The study, which is believed to be the broadest of its kind in 20 years, looked at a rarely examined group - more than 600 young people, mostly 19 years old and in Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin, who recently left foster care or will soon do so.
Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:49 AM

Eight aspects of early life put children at risk of obesity

Three year old children who spend more than eight hours watching television per week are at an increased risk of obesity, finds a study published online by the BMJ this week. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:35 AM

May 19, 2005

Teen Safe Driving Program Puts High School Student Leaders Behind the Wheel

For teen drivers, summer can be a deadly time. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics show that more teens die in car crashes during the summer months (June-Sept.) than any other time of the year. And with fatal driving deaths on the rise ... Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:11 PM

Managing maternal depression during pregnancy presents significant challenge to clinicians

Women who take antidepressants during the final trimester of pregnancy increase the risk of "neonatal behavioral syndrome," a constellation of symptoms and behaviors related to drug withdrawal or side effects, University of Pittsburgh researchers conclude in a review of medical literature. Such findings reveal a challenge for clinical management of depression during pregnancy, Eydie Moses-Kolko, M.D., and her colleagues write in the May 18 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 10:57 PM

Summit to Explore Strategies for Economic, Social Inclusion for Low-Income, Working Families in America

Over 1,000 people from across America have registered to attend the Advancing Regional Equity: The Second National Summit on Equitable Development, Social Justice, and Smart Growth at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, in Philadelphia, May 23-25.
"The people coming to the summit," says Angela Glover Blackwell, founder and CEO of PolicyLink, summit co-sponsor, "are ready to share experience, knowledge, and information to help build true inclusion in America by challenging 50 years of neglect and sprawling development patterns that have been supported by vast public and private investments."

Summit participants include foundation executives, nonprofit leaders, community organizers, business leaders, developers, academics, and advocates who are determined to make equality, social justice, and smart growth accessible in America's cities, suburbs, and rural communities, and Blackwell continues, "who are ready to deliver on a truly inclusive agenda, one that is rooted in lessons learned from hard work in neighborhoods all across America."

Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 10:13 PM

'NCLB - Let's Get It Right'; Union Announces National Campaign to Educate Public and Elected Leaders on Improving the NCLB Law

The American Federation of Teachers today announced the launch of a national education and advocacy campaign aimed at improving the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) federal education law. The campaign includes extensive radio and print advertising and a coordinated mobilization of AFT members at the national and grassroots level.
"The stakes are too high. We can't wait for the 2007 reauthorization of this law to begin talking about how to fix it," said AFT President Edward J. McElroy. "The problems with NCLB go far beyond its deplorable underfunding, and we are serious about getting NCLB right."

Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 9:52 PM

Boosting Income and Contribution Limits For Pension Savings Would Swell Deficits, Do Little For Middle-Class Families

From Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas has suggested that new tax cuts to promote retirement savings should be considered as part of the effort to reform Social Security. Chairman Thomas has expressed interest in a range of proposals.
Most such proposals would be very costly, especially in future decades when the baby boomers will retire in large numbers and the nation faces deficits of unprecedented magnitude. In addition, most such proposals would provide the bulk of their tax benefits to high-income households that do not need help putting away enough money for retirement, while doing little or nothing to assist low- and moderate-income households to save more for retirement.

Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 8:26 PM

May 18, 2005

Preserving the Strengths of the Housing Choice Voucher Program

The Housing Choice Voucher program plays a critical role in our nation's housing policy. One of its greatest strengths is that it allows families to choose the type of housing and neighborhood that best meets their needs. Social science research clearly shows that living in a distressed, high-poverty neighborhood undermines the well-being of families and the long-term life chances of children. When families are able to move to healthier communities, their lives improve measurably. The proposed State and Local Housing Flexibility Act of 2005 threatens to restrict choice and mobility for voucher families. The current voucher program certainly does not work perfectly, and a growing body of experience points to promising strategies for addressing its weaknesses. None of these strategies is likely to be pursued under the administration's proposal. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 10:53 PM

Two Fronts in the War on Poverty (washingtonpost.com)

washingtonpost.com - BALTIMORE -- Jacquelyn D. Cornish keeps several postcards on her desk at the Druid Heights Community Development Corp., which has marshaled millions in government money in a decades-long effort to renovate houses and rebuild a proud community ravaged by drug addiction, crime and poverty. The cards are from agents looking to buy homes, a small but promising sign that the organization's work is making a difference in this tough corner of west Baltimore. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 9:56 PM

Research shows upbringing affects discipline choices

Parent's upbringing plays a large role in how they decide to discipline their own children, according to new research at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. Results from a survey of 2,100 parents nationwide were presented today at the Pediatric Academic Society annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 9:55 PM

Judges think children more honest but less reliable than adults, says Queen's study

Judges perceive child witnesses as being more honest than adults when testifying in court, but recognize that children's limited memory and communication skills, and greater suggestibility may make them less reliable than adults. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 9:54 PM

Boys, too, suffer long-term consequences of childhood sexual abuse

Children of both genders are frequently victims of sexual abuse, and the long-term consequences are nearly identical in men and women, according to a broad-based new report in the June 2005 issue of American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 9:53 PM

New Government Report Backs CDF in Questioning Reliability and Validity of NRS Test Given to Children in Head Start

Today the Government Accountability Office confirmed what the Children's Defense Fund and other early childhood experts have maintained for the past two years, that the National Reporting System is not a reliable or valid method to assess the progress of young children. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released these findings in a new report titled, "Head Start, Further Development Could Allow Results to Be Used for Decision Making."
In 2003, with only 18 months of development, the Bush administration implemented The National Reporting System (NRS), an initiative to systematically test the early literacy, language, numeracy skills of all four and five year old children enrolled in Head Start. The test was controversial from its onset, with more than 400,000 young children mired in the politics of this detrimental test.

Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 9:36 PM

HUD Inspector General Confirms Breakdown in Lead Safety and Healthy Homes Grants Process

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) issued an interim audit report on May 16, 2005, detailing problems with the Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control' s (OHHLHC) FY 2004 grant administration process. The OIG issued the report before completing its full audit because it found significant conditions that warrant immediate management attention.
In the report, the OIG found that OHHLHC inappropriately awarded its FY04 grants. While the OIG's full audit continues to delve more deeply into the problems, the OIG recommends that the Department "take immediate action to ensure the FY 2005 grant award process is completed according to the notice of funding availability requirements and HUD's established grant processing procedures."

Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 9:34 PM

Over-feeding in infancy might set the stage for childhood obesity

The way obese women feed and interact with their children early in infancy might lay the foundations for obesity later in childhood. A small pilot study published this month in Nutrition Journal found that obese women fed their children more energy- rich food, and spent less time feeding and interacting with them than normal weight women. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 9:33 PM

Policy Brief: All Together Now: State Experiences in Using Community-Based Child Care to Provide Pre-Kindergarten

From Center for Law and Social Policy:

by Rachel Schumacher, Danielle Ewen, Katherine Hart, and Joan Lombardi. This brief is based on the 61-page report of the same name, which was commissioned by the Brookings Institution. It studies the emergence of the mixed delivery model, in which pre-kindergarten is delivered in community-based settings and schools.
This policy brief, the fifth in the Child Care and Early Education Series, describes principal approaches to state implementation of the mixed delivery model but does not provide examples of state policies. See the full report for details about state policy choices. 8 pages. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 9:14 PM

Unemployment rate and long-term unemployment continue to diverge

The unemployment rate and long-term unemployment (i.e., the share of those unemployed for more than six months) have historically run parallel courses. But in this recovery, the relatively low unemployment rate hasn't been matched by declines in long-term unemployment, which is about 60% higher than the norm. Get the facts at a glance in this Snapshot. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 8:42 PM

May 17, 2005

SEDAPA Awards for Drug Abuse Awareness

From Substance Abuse Funding News:

The Science and Education Drug Abuse Partnership Awards encourage alliances to develop model programs for raising awareness and generating interest in the science and biology of drug-abuse addiction. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:26 PM

New Jobs in Recession and Recovery: Who Are Getting Them and Who Are Not?

Recent employment gains by immigrants did not lead to declines among native-born Americans, visiting fellow Harry Holzer pointed out in testimony before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims.
Over the long term, immigration has modest negative effects on less-educated workers but other positive effects on the economy--and the latter will grow much stronger after baby boomers retire. Workers are thus best served by policies designed to stimulate job growth in the short term, and their own skills and incomes over the long term, rather than by policies to curb immigration drastically. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:10 PM

Research Finds a High Rate of Expulsions in Preschool

Typical 3-year-olds just out of diapers are plenty old enough to be expelled, the first national study of expulsion rates in prekindergarten programs has found. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 10:46 PM

Popular Teens Show Healthy Personality Traits, But Are Vulnerable to Negative Peer Pressure

From washingtonpost.com - US government, national security, science and national news and headlines.:

Being a popular teenager can be a risky business. On one hand, they have a lot of friends. On the other hand, they're particularly vulnerable to their friends leading them astray.
That was one of several conclusions drawn by a team of researchers led by Joseph P. Allen, professor of psychology at the University of Virginia. The research results of "The Two Faces of Adolescents' Success With Peers: Adolescent Popularity, Social Adaptation, and Deviant Behavior," will be published in the May/June 2005 issue of "Child Development" to be released on May 17.

The good news is that the popular teens in the study showed strong family attachments and a healthy sense of personal identity. The bad news is that their ability to get along well with others makes them particularly susceptible to following friends into such risky activities as shoplifting or smoking marijuana.

Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 10:37 PM

Gates Foundation Adds $250 Million to Health Program

From NYT > Health:

The new money brings to $450 million the amount that Bill Gates has committed to his "Grand Challenges in Global Health" program, an effort to find solutions to health problems. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 10:35 PM

ACLU Sues HHS Over Abstinence Aid

The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit yesterday against the Department of Health and Human Services, accusing the Bush administration of spending federal tax dollars on an abstinence education program that promotes Christianity. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 10:34 PM

Minority youths self-esteem grows, not shrinks over time

A new study published in the latest issue of the Journal of Research on Adolescence focused on Black, Latino, and Asian American students from lower and working class families at a public high school in New York City. The researchers found that on average the self-esteem of these students increased. And contrary to other common assumptions, both boys and girls experienced similar trajectories.
"Black adolescents reported higher self-esteem, while Asian American adolescents reported lower self-esteem, compared to their Latino peers," the authors state. Latinos experienced the sharpest increase over time creating self-esteem that was comparable with their Black peers. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 10:17 PM

Children's peer group influences ethnic/racial prejudice

Children's tendency to show ethnic/racial prejudice is greater when their friends exclude individuals on the basis of race and when their peer groups feel threatened by outsiders. This research, which explored the attitudes, beliefs and behaviors that young children show towards those of other groups, showed that children spontaneously compared the perceived status of different groups. Also, when changing groups, children were more willing to move to the group with members of the same race. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 10:12 PM

The dark side of adolescent popularity

For teenagers, popularity itself has a downside. A recent study that followed 185 eighth graders for a year observed that over time, popular adolescents showed greater increases in levels of delinquency and drug use. In other words, the more popular the teen, the more likely he or she was to get in trouble. This means that a teenager's much sought after popularity may have some negative consequences in the long run. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 10:11 PM

New research finds children understand the emotional benefits of following the rules

In this study, children between the ages of 4 and 7 increasingly predicted feeling negative or mixed emotions when they break a rule, and feeling positive or mixed emotions when they follow a rule. Children of all ages felt especially good about abiding by rules if they remembered the rules themselves, rather than having a parent order it. These findings have implications for theory of mind, as well as practical implications for educators and parents. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 10:10 PM

Teen's ability to multi-task develops late in adolescence

New research shows that the part of the brain responsible for multi-tasking continues to develop until late adolescence. Using behavioral tests, children ages 9 to 20 were assessed in terms of functioning of the frontal cortex, the part of the brain that controls several aspects of behavior. Among other results, it was found that the type of thinking demanding a high level of multi-tasking skill continues to develop until ages 16 to 17. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 10:09 PM

Children of incarcerated mothers exhibit poor attachment to caregivers, mothers

This is the first study to empirically demonstrate that children of incarcerated mothers generally have insecure relationships with their mothers and caregivers. Of the 54 children studied whose mothers were in prison, 63 percent had insecure relationships with their mothers and caregivers. Children were more likely to have secure relationships with their caregivers if they were living in a stable environment. These findings highlight the need for stable, continuous placements for children with incarcerated mothers. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 10:07 PM

Maladapted children change goals during conflicts

From washingtonpost.com - US government, national security, science and national news and headlines.:

New research on how children's goals change when in conflict showed that aggressive and submissive children who had problems with their peers exhibited several antisocial changes to their goals. These children showed an increased desire to retaliate and a decreased desire to attain relationship-oriented objectives (such as trying to stay friends with the other child). The implications of this study include a need for social skills interventions for peer-rejected children. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 10:06 PM

Childhood Cancer Survivors Face Risks

Two-thirds of children who are cured of cancer in childhood end up with at least one long-term health problem arising from their treatment. One-third have severe complications such as mental retardation, lung damage or congestive heart failure. In all, they are four times as likely to have serious... Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 10:02 PM

May 16, 2005

Gates Foundation Puts $2.3B Into Education

AP - Bill Gates raised some hackles with his withering assessment of American high schools, but at least the billionaire founder of Microsoft is putting his money where his mouth is. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has invested $2.3 billion since 2000 in new visions of education, with smaller schools and more personalized instruction to prepare young people for the working world and post-high school learning. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 6:43 PM

Type 2 diabetes may begin with Grandma's diet

An innovative study published online in The Journal of Physiology in Press provides the first evidence that the insulin resistance typical of type 2 diabetes can be "programmed" across two generations by poor nutrition during a grandmother's pregnancy and lactation. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 6:39 PM

The effects of prenatal cocaine exposure

Cocaine abuse is becoming increasingly prevalent among women of childbearing age, and is associated with numerous adverse perinatal outcomes. New research, published in The Journal of Physiology, by Professor Lubo Zhang and his research team from Loma Linda University School of Medicine in California presents the exciting novel finding that cocaine exposure in utero has lasting and lifelong adverse effects on the heart in adulthood, particularly if you are male! Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 6:02 PM

Investigating the appropriateness of current alcohol-use disorder criteria for adolescents

The same alcohol-use disorder criteria are currently used for both adults and adolescents, despite concerns about the appropriateness of these criteria for adolescents.
New findings suggest that "tolerance" and "time spent" using/obtaining/recovering from alcohol may be over-diagnosed in adolescents. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 5:57 PM

Integrated chemical-dependency and mental-health treatment best for adolescents

Adolescents with alcohol- and drug-use disorders often have co-occurring mental-health disorders. "Dual-diagnosis" patients - those with co-occurring substance-abuse and mental-health problems - tend to have less successful chemical-dependency (CD) treatment outcomes.
Findings indicate that dual-diagnosis adolescents in private, managed-care CD treatment who receive psychiatric services have better CD-treatment outcomes than those not receiving these services. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 5:57 PM

Majority of parents don't actively limit children's media time

National Priorities Project:

Parents' active involvement in what their children are exposed to in the media can reduce negative effects associated with that exposure. However, according to new research at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, the majority of parents do not often use active strategies to limit media time or content. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 5:56 PM

May 13, 2005

Cuts to Community Development

The President's budget request for fiscal year 2006 proposes eliminating 18 different community and economic development programs and replacing them with one program called the 'Strengthening America's Communities Grant Program.' Under this proposal, funding for community and economic development would be cut by 30%, or $1.6 billion, nationally.

The largest program to be eliminated under this proposal is the Community Development Block Grant which currently awards $4.7 billion in support for community development to cities, counties and states across the country.

Community Development Block Grants were already cut this year (FY2005) by 5% nationally.

Cuts to Community Development

Posted by Michael at 9:32 AM

Alternatives to Strengthen Social Security: Testimony of C. Eugene Steuerle before the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means

Since Social Security was first enacted, vast changes have occurred in the economic and social circumstances of the nation. In testimony before the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means, senior fellow Eugene Steuerle addresses Social Security reform and related budget pressures. He presents an array of observations and recommendations dealing with labor force participation, inequities and inefficiencies in the Social Security program, automatic and unsustainable federal spending growth, and private retirement and employee benefit systems. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 3:27 AM

Remaking Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century: What Role for High School Programs?

Basic questions about career and technical education are on the table as part of the policy debate on how to reform K-12 education, particularly high schools. This report from JFF and the Aspen Institute Education and Society Program summarizes what we know (and don't know) about the value of high school career-focused education--and it proposes a reform agenda for high school career and technical education.

The report was prepared by JFF's Richard Kazis, with commentary by Gene Bottoms, Betsy Brand, Katherine L. Hughes, Elliott A. Medrich, Katharine M. Oliver, Governor Mark Warner, and Ross Wiener. REMAKING CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION is one of a series of DOUBLE THE NUMBERS publications from JFF. The DOUBLE THE NUMBERS Initiative is designed to deepen support for state and federal policies that can dramatically increase the number of low-income young people who enter and complete postsecondary education.

Posted by Michael at 3:22 AM

Top Health Groups Organize First National Conference on Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes Among American Indians and Alaska Natives

A coalition of leading health organizations today announced the first national conference to address cardiovascular disease and diabetes within the American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities. The AI/AN conference will focus on increasing the knowledge of healthcare providers, tribal community members and leaders, and urban community health leaders on the link between diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD) and how to integrate treatment and prevention of these closely related diseases.
More than 700 healthcare providers, tribal community members/leaders, federal and state health policy makers, and urban and community health leaders will attend the conference which will be held May 16-19, 2005 at the Adam's Mark Hotel, 1550 Court Place in Denver.

Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 3:12 AM

Barriers prevent many Hispanics from participating in research studies

Researchers found that many Hispanic people would be more willing to participate if the researcher spoke Spanish, if they felt like the process would have a health benefit to them, if the research had a direct benefit to the Hispanic community and if they could do their part on weekends rather than weekdays. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 3:01 AM

Early origins of obesity: Programming the appetite regulatory system

An article in The Journal of Physiology presents important research showing that events before birth can permanently change patterns of appetite and fat deposition in child and adult life. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 2:44 AM

Black Children More Likely to Die From Traumatic Injury Than White Children

A new study of nearly 6,000 children suggests that black youth are more than twice as likely to die from a traumatic injury as are white children.
"Trauma has a far greater impact on minority children than it does on white children," said Jonathan Groner, the study's lead author and a clinical associate professor of surgery at Ohio State University. "As a group, black children tend to have more serious injuries."

Indeed, black children are also two to three times more likely to be admitted to the hospital because of a traumatic injury.

Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 2:42 AM

NCADD: Tell Abercrombie and Fitch What You Think of Pro-Drinking T-Shirts for Teens

NCADD is looking for ideas on how to best address a new line of Abercrombie and Fitch t-shirts that promote underage binge drinking without creating the publicity bonanza the retailer craves. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 12:01 AM

May 12, 2005

Racketeering Judge Asked to Set Youth Smoking Goals, Penalties

The tobacco industry should be accountable for reductions in youth smoking as part of any judgment in the government's racketeering case against Big Tobacco, Bush administration lawyers told the judge in the case. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 12:19 AM

'Bawdy House' Law Used Against Drug Landlords

Officials in Buffalo, N.Y., are using an old law to pressure landlords to evict tenants caught dealing drugs. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 12:17 AM

May 11, 2005

University of Florida Researcher: Black Students With Exotic Names Face School Barriers

What's in a name? Quite a lot for black students with exotic names who do not make the grade in school and are often overlooked by gifted programs, a new University of Florida study finds.
Da'Quan or Damarcus, for example, are more likely to score lower on reading and mathematics tests and are less likely to meet teacher expectations and be referred to gifted programs than their siblings with more common names such as Dwayne, said David Figlio, a UF economist who did the research.

"This study suggests that the names parents give their children play an important role in explaining why African-American families on average do worse because African-American families are more inclined than whites or Hispanics to give their children names that are associated with low socio-economic status," Figlio said.

Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:38 PM

School Overcrowding in California: Report by PolicyLink and Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund Finds State Underestimates Crisis; Funding Overhaul Needed

A new report released by PolicyLink and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) finds that overcrowding in California schools is far greater than estimated. According to the report, "Ending School Overcrowding in California: Building Quality Schools for All Children," more than 1.5 million students attend critically overcrowded schools while the state's definition of critically overcrowded schools underestimates the number of students affected. According to the state, almost 1,000 California schools - serving more than 1 million children - were considered Critically Overcrowded Schools (COS) in 2002. Ninety percent of students attending COS schools are students of color, nearly two-thirds of whom are Latino. Passage of several bills currently pending in the legislature would help alleviate the school overcrowding problem.
Overcrowded schools have resulted in the use of lunchrooms, libraries, and an assortment of other spaces as classrooms. Attempts to alleviate overcrowding include the use of "temporary" measures such as reorganizing - even shortening - school years, busing children to other neighborhoods, and using portable classrooms. "Overcrowded classrooms make it difficult to learn," says Matt Varela, an eleventh grade student enrolled in Crescent View High School, in Fresno, California about his experiences at an overcrowded school. "It seemed," he continues, "that every time I needed help and raised my hand the teachers would look past me, because there were too many students. In my English class, a few of my classmates had to take a test while standing because there were no seats available."

Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:34 PM

Study: Americans willing to pay more for greater vaccine coverage

A new national web-based study from the University of Michigan Health System found that about 80 percent of adults would be willing to pay an additional $3 to $6 each month in health plan premiums to have their health insurance automatically cover newly recommended vaccines. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:21 PM

Speaker Hastert Joins Shadegg to Introduce Health Care Choice Act; Bill Will Lower Health Insurance Costs, Reduce Number of Uninsured

Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) will join House Republican Policy Chairman John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Jim DeMint, (R-S.C.) tomorrow at a press conference to support Shadegg's Health Care Choice Act. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:05 PM

New Panel Will Study Medicaid With Eyes Toward Big Changes

The Bush administration will create an advisory panel to recommend big changes in Medicaid eligibility and benefits and in the financing of the program. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:02 PM

Federal Intervention: The Answer to School Finance Litigation, Says Rep. Chaka Fattah

Lawsuits challenging state methods of funding public schools have been brought in 45 of the 50 states. Courts across the nation have ruled that poor and at-risk children are being deprived of a quality education. Today, the Kansas State Supreme Court is hearing ... Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 10:32 PM

Children's Defense Fund: House-Passed 'Gangs' Bill Will Increase Youth Violence

Full_SHADAC.pdf (application/pdf Object)

The Children's Defense Fund (CDF) expresses deep dismay as the U.S. House of Representatives today passed H.R. 1279, a regressive and draconian "gangs bill." The bill has met a chorus of opposition from experts, lawmakers and advocates who argue ... Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 10:31 PM

Characteristics of the Uninsured: A View from the States

Characteristics of the Uninsured: A View from the States has been published by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

This report is a snapshot of the uninsured in the U.S. The report documents rates of people without health insurance across states with respect to: households with at least one child, workforce participation, ethnic composition, healthcare access, health status by race, percent of state population, and the total number of uninsured. The report details the percentage of adults (insured and uninsured) without a personal doctor or health care provider.

Posted by Michael at 8:28 PM

Strategy to Increase Postsecondary Success for Underrepresented Students

Add and Subtract: Dual Enrollment as a State Strategy to Increase Postsecondary Success for Underrepresented Students

This policy primer for states provides an overview of dual enrollment and a rationale for its expansion and guidelines (including funding models) for states wishing to implement dual enrollment for a wider range of students. Brief case studies highlight substantial dual enrollment programs that serve a wide range of students and offer lessons for an expanded mission for dual enrollment.

ADD AND SUBTRACT is one of a series of DOUBLE THE NUMBERS publications from Jobs for the Future. DOUBLE THE NUMBERS, a JFF initiative, is designed to deepen support for state and federal policies that can dramatically increase the number of low-income young people who enter and complete postsecondary education.

Posted by Michael at 8:16 PM

Uptick in jobs not reaching young college graduates

Although payrolls increased by 274,000 jobs in April, the labor market remains tough for today's young college graduates. It has been 20 years since young college graduates have experienced employment rates as low as those in 2003 and 2004.
This month's JobWatch details the employment situation of this group and analyzes the decreasing rate of employer-provided health insurance that these grads are faced with when they do find work. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 3:28 AM

New White House Document Shows Many Low-Income Beneficiaries Would Face Social Security Benefit Cuts Under President's Plan

From Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

The President’s Social Security proposals have been widely reported as protecting benefits for the bottom 30 percent of the population, people earning less than $20,000 today. A document that the White House gave reporters in a press briefing on May 4, however, contains charts showing the bottom 20 percent of beneficiaries losing benefits, on average, under its plan.
Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 3:18 AM

U.S. Provides Rules to States for Testing Special Pupils

Some state education officials and advocates for special-education students quickly criticized the requirements as too stringent. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 3:01 AM

New HHS Guide Helps Nurses Encourage Patients to Quit Smoking

In recognition of National Nurses Week, May 6 - 12, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services today is releasing a new tool that will give nurses evidence-based information that they can use to help their patients quit smoking. The pocket guide, Helping ... Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 2:37 AM

Lag-time often occurs before new treatments for pediatric HIV infection are used

There often is a short lag between the release of a new treatment for pediatric HIV infection and its implementation in the community, according to a study in the May 11 issue of JAMA. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 2:26 AM

Earlier treatment of perinatal HIV associated with decreased HIV progression, better outcomes

In a study in the May 11 JAMA, earlier treatment of children with HIV infection with ART is associated with less HIV progression and improved survival rates. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 2:15 AM

Children with high blood lead levels often do not receive follow-up tests

Only about half of children who had an abnormal blood lead level screening had follow-up blood testing, according to an article in the May 11 issue of JAMA. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 2:14 AM

Kids at risk for lead poisoning don't get necessary testing

In the first population-based study of its kind, researchers from the University of Michigan Health System's Child Health Evaluation and Research Unit found that only 53.9 percent of children in Medicaid with elevated blood lead levels identified through screening got the necessary follow-up testing to prevent lead poisoning, and of those children, nearly half still had elevated blood lead levels. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 2:13 AM

Asymptomatic HIV-infected newborns may benefit from early drug treatment, Stanford study shows

Identifying and treating HIV-infected newborns is a race against the clock, according to a study from the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. Researchers found that HIV-infected infants treated with one or two antiretroviral drugs within two months of birth were less likely to develop AIDS by their third birthday than were infants who were 3 or 4 months old when treatment was initiated. Infants who received a combination of three antiretroviral drugs did even better. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 2:11 AM

Should the mental health evaluator decide child custody?

It's a controversial debate, with some arguing that the lack of empirical data in mental health evaluations should be evidence enough to keep them from influencing custody disputes. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 2:10 AM

Purdue study finds races react differently to dietary salt, calcium

African-American and Caucasian adolescent girls handle sodium and calcium differently, which may help explain why the races have different rates of hypertension and osteoporosis, according to research at Purdue University. Nutrition researchers discovered Caucasian girls lose more calcium in their urine than African-American girls, but both races lose calcium at an accelerated rate when they consume a high-salt diet. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 2:08 AM

Type 2 diabetes is increasing among children all over the world

A review article in the May issue of The Journal of Pediatrics reports that the rate of type 2 diabetes among children worldwide appears to have increased significantly over the last 15 years. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 2:07 AM

Soft drinks consumption may increase the risk of childhood obesity

Excessive consumption of sugar sweetened drinks may be a key factor in the rise of childhood obesity. A commentary in the May issue of The Journal of Pediatrics reviews research to provide perspective about the role of soft drinks. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 2:06 AM

May 10, 2005

Indian Health Care in the 21st Century: A Case Study in Disparities

From The Kaiser Family Foundation:

The Kaiser Family Foundation, in conjunction with the Morris K. Udall Foundation and the American Public Health Association hosted an event on May 9, 2005 which focused on key Indian health issues, including the availability of mental health services, the adequacy of federal funding, and priorities for Indian health.
Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 1:00 AM

Admissions for Drug Treatment Up for Older Adults