Human Services News

June 30, 2008

Preventing Panhandling

From Urban Institute:

This guide is designed to equip local merchants and retailers with problem solving strategies aimed at reducing panhandling in and around their properties.

Focusing heavily on the value of partnerships with law enforcement, the guide walks readers through the process of understanding their panhandling problem; collecting crime data; identifying potential strategies; and measuring the impact of those strategies.

Several promising strategies to reduce panhandling are described, including: providing informational brochures about available social services to panhandlers; requiring all vendors to have permits; initiating civilian patrols to monitor and discourage activity; and prohibiting the sale of single servings of alcohol through a city ordinance.

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Posted by Michael at 6:36 PM | TrackBack

Eating junk while pregnant can harm your baby

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

We all know that smoking and drinking when pregnant can harm the baby, but new research published in The Journal of Physiology suggests that poor diet may also cause long-lasting, irreversible damage in offspring from heart disease to diabetes.

Stéphanie Bayol and Neil Stickland at the Royal Veterinary College, London fed female rats a "junk food" diet of crisps, cheese, muffins and other processed foods throughout pregnancy and lactation.

The offspring, who were overweight at birth, were born with a taste for junk-food themselves.

But even when fed a healthy diet, the junk-food babies had a host of medical problems that lasted beyond adolescence into adulthood.

The rats had raised cholesterol and triglyceride levels -- both associated with heart disease.

The female offspring were particularly badly affected, expressing high levels of glucose and the appetite-promoting hormone leptin making them very prone to obesity.

"It seems that a mother's diet whilst pregnant and breastfeeding is very important for the long term health of her child," says Dr Bayol.

"This does not mean that obesity and poor health is inevitable and it is important that we take care of ourselves and live a healthy lifestyle.

But it does mean that mothers must eat responsibly whilst pregnant."

But will these results translate to humans?

"Humans share a number of fundamental biological systems with rats, so there is good reason to assume the effects we see in rats may be repeated in humans," he says.

"Our research certainly tallies with epidemiological studies linking children's weight to that of their parents."

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Posted by Michael at 6:14 PM | TrackBack

Nonprofit Job Growth in Maryland Outpaces Private Sector; Nonprofit Organizations Provide Nearly 1 Out of Every 10 Jobs in the State

From Ascribe Newsfeed:

Nonprofits in Maryland are growing their workforces nearly three times faster than the state's for-profit sector, according to a recent Johns Hopkins University study.

Employment in the state's nonprofit sector increased by 2.9 percent during 2006, the latest year for which such data are available.

By comparison, employment in the state's business sector grew by only 1.1 percent.

"Not only do nonprofits provide critical services and opportunities for cultural expression, but they also play a key role in the state's economy," said Lester Salamon, director of the Center for Civil Society Studies within the university's Institute for Policy Studies and a leading expert on nonprofits.

Nonprofit job growth is especially critical given the recent employment declines in other parts of the U.S. economy."

"This growth continues a long term trend," said Nancy Hall, senior advisor at the Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations.

- Nonprofit job growth was especially strong in the Washington suburbs (3.8 percent) and the Baltimore suburbs (3.1 percent).

This reflects a continuing suburbanization of nonprofit jobs in the state, with nonprofits in the Washington and Baltimore suburbs employing well over half of all nonprofit workers in the state.

While the hospital field experienced slightly lower than average job growth, nonprofit hospitals still added 14,449 net jobs over this seven-year period.

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Posted by Michael at 6:00 PM | TrackBack

Education Development Center to Share Open Source Math Curricula on Curriki; Collaboration Offers Teachers New Ways to Use Educational Tools

From Ascribe Newsfeed:

To start, Curriki will make available EDC's standards-based middle-grades algebra course, allowing teachers to not only access the free curricula, but to add to it or adapt it for use in their classrooms.

Starting today, educators will be able to use EDC's online mathematics course Building Algebraic Thinking in the Middle Grades on the Curriki site (http://www.curriki.org/).

It was designed and developed by mathematics and curriculum specialists at EDC and funded by the National Science Foundation as part of a research initiative to explore the comparative benefits of online professional development.

"Our collaboration with Curriki will allow EDC to make more widely available our research-based curricula and programs in mathematics, science, literacy, and other areas," said EDC President and CEO Luther Luedtke.

In addition to facilitating the sharing of courses in the United States, EDC and Curriki are also working together internationally on several initiatives with the goal of greatly expanding access to high-quality research-based educational content.

Launch dates for initiatives involving the Ministries of Education in Indonesia, India, Yemen, Senegal, and Mali are expected later this year.

"We're so pleased to join with EDC, an organization known for its high-quality materials and its knowledge of the realities of the classroom," said Curriki Executive Director Dr. Barbara "Bobbi" Kurshan.

About EDC: Education Development Center, Inc. is one of the world's leading nonprofit education and health research organizations.

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Posted by Michael at 6:00 PM | TrackBack

Great Tips for Finding the Best Child Care Program

From Ascribe Newsfeed:

As parents with young children, finding the best possible child care program can be a daunting task. This is the time of year many parents are looking for programs starting in the fall. But what to do?

To the rescue comes the Center for Young Children - a laboratory preschool - at the University of Maryland. Director Francine Favretto - who is also a member of the Department of Human Development adjunct faculty in the College of Education - asked her staff for the 10 best suggestions parents can use when searching for a great child care programs.

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Posted by Michael at 5:58 PM | TrackBack

June 29, 2008

Report urges new approach to adult education, workforce development

Charles Stewart Mott Foundation:

A new report suggests that the U.S. is losing valuable ground as a world leader in education and workforce development, and is at risk of being left behind in the global economy.

"Reach Higher, America: Overcoming Crisis in the U.S. Workforce" notes that soaring dropout rates among high school students and diminished literacy skills among adults are contributing to an increasingly ill-prepared labor market.

"Reach Higher, America" points to job readiness among U.S workers as a growing concern.

Many careers that offer growth potential -- such as healthcare, advanced manufacturing, and alternative energy -- require employees to have increased competency in reading and writing, and at least some education or training beyond high school.

However, studies show that one in three young people in this country drop out of high school before earning their diploma, while nearly 30 million adults lack basic literacy skills.

The study's director notes that there are an estimated 150 million workers ages 16 years and older in the U.S., many of whom require adult education and workforce development services.

The report points to community colleges, which provide a third of the country's adult instructional services, as vital educational forces that can help shape the nation's labor market.

The Mott Foundation helped fund the "Reach Higher, America" report through a two-year, $200,000 grant in 2006 to the Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy, which administers the commission.

Posted by Michael at 4:32 PM | TrackBack

Innovative Ways to Help Teens Struggling With Drugs, Alcohol and Crime

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation:

A national group of project directors today called on communities across the nation to better help teens beat drugs, alcohol and crime using a groundbreaking approach tested at 10 pilot sites.

They have issued a national report which shares a six-step model to bring about change, reveals a road map for communities to plan for innovation, and offers step-by-step instructions and examples on how to implement this new way of helping teens in trouble.

The project directors oversee Reclaiming Futures initiatives funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Together, they have authored the report, How to Implement a Model to Get Youth Off Drugs and Out of Crime, based on six years of creating and testing new ways to help teens that enter the juvenile justice system and previously received little or no care for their drug or alcohol problems.

The report describes how judges, probation officers, treatment specialists, families and community members can take steps right now to improve the future of these youths.

"We have learned that there are concrete steps that can be taken to bring communities together to change the way they help teens in the system with drug and alcohol issues," said Benjamin Chambers, project director for Reclaiming Futures Multnomah Embrace in Portland, Ore., who helped write the report.

About Reclaiming Futures Reclaiming Futures is an initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) that offers a new approach to helping teenagers caught in the cycle of drugs, alcohol and crime.

About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country.

Posted by Michael at 2:12 AM | TrackBack

June 26, 2008

More than Two-thirds of Mississippi Voters Support Raising Tobacco Tax to Fund Medicaid

From PR Newswire:

A new poll released today shows that Mississippi voters overwhelmingly support a significant increase in the state's tobacco tax to fund vital Medicaid programs and help reduce smoking among kids.

Nearly seven out of 10 Mississippi voters (69 percent) support a $1 per pack increase in the state's tobacco tax to fund Medicaid and reduce tobacco use, particularly among kids.

The survey of 500 registered likely Mississippi voters was released by Communities for a Clean Bill of Health, a statewide coalition of health organizations and individuals that includes the Mississippi affiliates of AARP, American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, Children's Defense Fund, the Mississippi Health Advocacy Program, and the Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi.

In addition, a tobacco tax increase was far more popular with voters than increasing other taxes, such as the state income or sales tax, which was strongly supported by fewer than two out of 10 voters.

In addition, when asked to choose between the two options to help address the Medicaid funding shortfall, an overwhelming 80 percent of voters preferred the $1 per pack tobacco tax increase, with just 8 percent preferring the hospital tax.

Again, this strong preference crosses party lines as a majority of Democrats, Republicans and Independents are more likely to support the candidate who supports the tax.

In fact, a candidate who supports the cigarette tax increase will win handily over one who opposes it, regardless of which party's candidate supports the tax.

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Posted by Michael at 11:20 PM | TrackBack

Poor and uninsured patients more likely to experience racial discrimination

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

A new study in Health Services Research tried to disentangle the impact of a patient's racial and ethnic background, being poor and having no health insurance on the likelihood they would report having experienced racial or ethnic bias in the healthcare they received.

First, they found that uninsured Black and Hispanic patients were more likely to report experiencing racial and ethnic bias.

Results of the study showed that Blacks and Non-English speaking Hispanics were eight times more likely to report that they had experienced racial and ethnic bias in healthcare than Whites.

Good communication between doctors and patients seemed to protect against perceptions of racial discrimination.

Quality physician-patient communication was associated with a 71 percent decrease in the odds of reporting racial and ethnic bias during healthcare visits.

It affects even individuals who explicitly disavow racial stereotypes, including some physicians and other healthcare providers," the authors conclude.

Irena Stepanikova, PhD, of the University of South Carolina and Karen S. Cook, PhD, of Stanford University analyzed data from the 2001 Survey on Disparities in Quality of Healthcare, a nationally representative telephone survey of Black, Hispanic, and White adults who had a regular physician.

Irena Stepanikova, Ph.D., is affiliated with the University of South Carolina and can be reached for questions at irena@sc.edu.

Wiley-Blackwell was formed in February 2007 as a result of the acquisition of Blackwell Publishing Ltd. by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., and its merger with Wiley's Scientific, Technical, and Medical business.

Together, the companies have created a global publishing business with deep strength in every major academic and professional field.

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Posted by Michael at 11:17 PM | TrackBack

Treatment for cigarette, alcohol and drug use in pregnancy improves outcomes for mom and baby

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Pregnant women who receive treatment for substance abuse early in their pregnancy can achieve the same health outcomes as pregnant women with no substance abuse, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published online in the Journal of Perinatology.

The study, which is the largest to date, examined 49,985 women in Kaiser Permanente's prenatal care program and found that integrating substance abuse screening and treatment into routine prenatal care helped pregnant women achieve similar health outcomes as women who were not using cigarettes, alcohol or other drugs.

The study compared 2,073 pregnant women who were screened, assessed and received ongoing intervention during pregnancy through the Early Start program at 21 Kaiser Permanente Northern California outpatient obstetric clinics from 1999 to 2003 to women in three other groups: 156 women who were screened but did not accept assessment or treatment; 1,203 women were screened, assessed and received brief intervention only; and a control group of 46,553 women who showed no evidence of substance abuse.

The women who went through the Early Start program had the same statistical risks of stillborn, preterm delivery, placental abruption as the control group of women who did not use any cigarettes, alcohol or drugs during their pregnancy.

My message to all pregnant women, as well as women who are trying to conceive, is to stop all alcohol, cigarette and drug use."

The program, which is in place in 40 Kaiser Permanente outpatient obstetric clinics in Northern California and being rolled out in other Kaiser Permanente facilities nationwide, screens nearly 40,000 women annually.

Kaiser Permanente's research program works with national and local health agencies and community organizations to share and widely disseminate its research data.

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Posted by Michael at 11:11 PM | TrackBack

Researchers study hidden homicide trend

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Gun-related homicide among young men rose sharply in the United States in recent years even though the nation's overall homicide rate remained flat, according to a study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Between 1999 and 2005, homicide involving firearms increased 31 percent among black men ages 25 to 44 and 12 percent among white men of the same age.

"The recent flatness of the U.S. homicide rate obscures the large increases in firearm death among males ages 25-44, especially black males," said Susan Baker, MPH, co-author of the study and a professor with the Bloomberg School's Center for Injury Research and Policy.

The researchers found significant increases in the rate of firearm homicide for white males ages 25 to 34 and for black males ages 25 to 44.

"The increases in firearm homicide we measured were almost twice as high among blacks as among whites and they were mostly concentrated in central metropolitan and fringe metropolitan areas," said Webster, ScD, MPH, co-director of the Bloomberg School's Center for Gun Policy and Research.

"Further research is needed to ascertain the causes for recent increases in firearm homicides involving men living in urban area.

The research was supported by the National Center for Injury Research and Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through grants to the Center for Injury Research and Policy.

"Hidden Homicide Increases in the U.S., 1999-2005" was written by Guoqing Hu, PhD; Daniel Webster, ScD, MPH; and Susan P. Baker, MPH.

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Posted by Michael at 11:02 PM | TrackBack

Improving the Use of Medicines for Older People in Long-Term Care: Contrasting the Policy Approach of Four Countries

From The Commonwealth Fund:

Compared with Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, U.S. nursing homes have been more successful in preventing or reducing the unnecessary use of psychotropic medications, but less so in promoting best practices of overall appropriate medication use, finds a Commonwealth Fund-supported review of nursing home medication policies in four nations.

Of the four countries, the United States has "led the way in implementing intense regulation and oversight of care provisions in nursing homes," concluded a multinational research team led by Carmel M. Hughes, Ph.D., a former Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellow based at Queen's University in Belfast.

The focus on preventing or reducing poor practices has not encouraged appropriate drug use, for example, in heart failure or Parkinson's disease, or in other conditions known to be undertreated in nursing homes.

U.S.: The regulatory system, implemented to reduce unnecessary psychotropic medication, may issue sanctions for facilities not meeting regulations and other indices of care.

Australia: Australia established an "ambitious and comprehensive framework" for improving use of medicines across the whole community.

Medication reviews and guidelines for medication management in nursing homes have been incorporated into accreditation standards.

Because of a lack of data, measurement has not been possible.

While national minimum standards regarding medication have been adopted, these are seen as a code of practice lacking statutory force.

New Zealand: Medication policy has been focused on rationalizing drug expenditures.

Nursing home standards, including pharmaceutical review for long-term care residents, were released by the health ministry, but funding and other issues have made such reviews sporadic.

While certain antipsychotic and other drugs are restricted to specialist prescribing, use of psychotropic drugs has been high historically.

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Posted by Michael at 11:01 PM | TrackBack

A Year Into the Mortgage Meltdown, New Report Analyzes Housing Market Crisis and Federal Response

From Demos:

With millions of American families facing foreclosure and the U.S. Senate moving toward approval of a compromise bill, the public policy center Demos takes stock of the housing market crisis and the federal response to date.

"The damage has been as bad as anyone imagined so far," writes Demos senior fellow James Lardner.

The market, Lardner finds, could continue further on a downward spiral and pull much more of the economy down with it.

The Demos report praises the thrust of legislation approved by the House and moving toward passage in the Senate, which this Tuesday held a key procedural vote to limit debate on the bill.

Moodys.com chief economist Mark Zandi, Demos president Miles Rapoport, and Federal Home Loan Bank of New York President Alfred DelliBovi, who was Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under George H.W. Bush, also provided comments on the report as panelists at the National Press Club event.

While there are some who claim that this would be an unfair bailout of irresponsible lenders and borrowers, the Demos report outlines how key federal officials and agencies took steps that actually helped unscrupulous lenders at the expense of responsible lenders and borrowers.

"Assisting homeowners and the mortgage market in the short run is only the first thing that needs to be done," said Miles Rapoport, President of Demos.

"For the long term, we need a set of rules for the mortgage and financial industry that give people confidence that this will never happen again."

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Posted by Michael at 2:13 AM | TrackBack

June 25, 2008

Pediatrics review of underage drinking prevention programs led by Iowa State researcher

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Underage drinking is a national concern that led the US surgeon general to issue a "Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking" last year.

Now, a new report by an Iowa State University researcher assesses the effectiveness of underage drinking prevention programs and provides a better idea of how to achieve key goals outlined by the surgeon general.

Lead author Richard Spoth, director of the Partnerships in Prevention Science Institute (PPSI) at Iowa State, along with co-authors Mark Greenberg and Robert Turrisi of Penn State, published "Preventive Interventions Addressing Underage Drinking: State of the Evidence and Steps Toward Public Health Impact" in the May issue of Pediatrics -- the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Among the interventions that were listed as "Most Promising" for youths 10 to 15 years of age, were three from the Midwest -- the Midwestern Prevention Project/Project STAR, which involved 42 public middle and junior high schools and 3,412 students from Kansas City and Indianapolis; Project Northland, which involved 24 school districts in northeastern Minnesota; and ISU Extension's Strengthening Families Program: For Parents and Youth 10-14, which involved 36 public schools and 1,650 students in rural Iowa.

"This review indicated that a number of preventive interventions significantly reduced the rate of alcohol use in studied underage populations, as well as bolstered protective factors among children that reduce risks for alcohol use," the authors wrote.

The program review responds to the surgeon general's 2007 Call to Action.

It was also written as a companion piece to a review by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Underage Drinking Initiative Steering Committee on the causes and consequences of underage drinking for three developmental periods -- less than 10 years of age, 10 to 15 years of age, and 16 to greater than or equal to 20 years of age.

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Posted by Michael at 10:27 PM | TrackBack

Corporate Voices for Working Families Endorses Proposed Legislation to Expand EITC Education

From PR Newswire:

Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) proposed legislation today to educate employees about the availability of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

Corporate Voices for Working Families, a nonprofit corporate membership organization in Washington, D.C., endorses this proposed legislation and views it as an extension of its ongoing work to help low-wage employees take advantage of a host of federal benefits available to them.

"Corporate Voices for Working Families has launched an aggressive campaign to assist companies in educating working families about the Earned Income Tax Credit and we welcome this legislation as an important step in educating employees about the Earned Income Tax Credit," Donna Klein, president and CEO of Corporate Voices for Working Families, said.

For the past five years, Corporate Voices for Working Families has printed and distributed an Employer Guide: Educate Your Employees About the Benefits They've Earned.

The guide provides detailed information about the Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, SCHIP and other federal and state supports.

Program (SCHIP), Food Stamps, Low Income Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) centers.

-- Corporate best practices on how to best use the Employer Guide to help employees access these programs.

-- Calendar of important dates to remember when filing for these benefits.

-- Facts on the "Stored Value Card," often referred to as the pre-paid debit card.

About Corporate Voices for Working Families: Corporate Voices for Working Families is the leading national business membership organization representing the private and public sectors on public policy issues involving working families.

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Posted by Michael at 10:27 PM | TrackBack

Columbia Business School's Institute for Not-for-Profit Management Provides Scholarships for New York Times Company's Nonprofit Excellence Award Winners

From Ascribe Newsfeed:

The Institute for Not-for-Profit Management (INM), part of Columbia Business School Executive Education will provide scholarships to the four organizations honored by the 2008 New York Times Company's Nonprofit Excellence Awards, announced June 24, 2008.

For the second consecutive year, the scholarships granted to the winning organizations can be used for any INM program in management or leadership.

This year's winning organizations, Community Health Action of Staten Island, Harlem RBI, Inc., Ifetayo Cultural Arts, located in Brooklyn, and the Institute for Family Health, which serves the greater New York area, will each be able to send an executive manager to participate in one of the 2008-2009 INM programs.

The scholarships are in addition to the cash awards granted by the New York Times.

"We are proud to join the New York Times and the other Nonprofit Excellence Awards supporters in honoring these outstanding organizations.

Each awardee has demonstrated exemplary leadership within the nonprofit sector in New York City," says INM director Francine Lynch.

Columbia's nondegree open enrollment programs address individual development needs in leadership and strategy, marketing, and finance, providing executives with an understanding of powerful new academic approaches and their application to achieve results.

We provide direct, immediate access to mainstream national media for 600 colleges, universities, medical centers, public-policy groups and other leading nonprofit organizations.

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Posted by Michael at 10:21 PM | TrackBack

Implicit political attitudes can predict future voting behavior

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

In many political elections, undecided voters come to a decision about who they will vote for only a few days before the vote, if not the very same day of the election.

A new study in the journal Political Psychology reveals that people's future voting decisions are to a significant degree determined by their current automatic mental associations, even when individuals consciously believe that they are still undecided.

Researchers led by Luciano Arcuri of the University of Padua in Padua, Italy surveyed 74 participants about their voting choices one month before an election time.

They then administered the Implicit Association Test as an instrument for the detection of automatic, unconscious attitudes and for the forecast of voting behaviors.

A clear relation emerged between the implicit attitudes of undecided voters and their subsequent voting behavior.

Voters, who on conscious level hadn't made up their minds, did have evaluations towards candidates they were not aware of but that will predict their vote.

Participants were asked to send back a questionnaire after the election reporting their voting choice.

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Posted by Michael at 10:20 PM | TrackBack

Hurried doctor visits may leave patients feeling forgetful

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

A University of Rochester Medical Center study disclosed that doctors don't often take the steps necessary to help patients recall medical instructions.

The study, published online in this month's Journal of General Internal Medicine, investigated how frequently physicians repeat themselves, write down information, summarize instructions or take other steps to help patients remember the doctor's advice.

The results suggest that doctors do not use these tools effectively or consistently.

In fact, not one of the 49 doctors who took part in the study summarized their treatment recommendations.

"It's common for patients to forget half of what they're told in a medical visit," said the study's lead author, Jordan Silberman, a second-year University of Rochester medical student.

Researchers sent unannounced standardized patients (actors trained for this study) into primary care physician practices across Rochester, N.Y., with hidden recording devices.

About half of the physicians repeated their recommendations, but some only repeated about 10 percent of the information.

Very few of the doctors made sure the patient understood by asking him or her to repeat it back to the doctor -- a technique cited in research literature as one of the best ways to help patients recall medical advice.

For example, Silberman said, the doctor might say, "We've talked about a lot of things today and I want to make sure you understand everything.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality funded the study, which was conducted at the Rochester Center to Improve Communication in Health Care, part of the URMC Department of Family Medicine.

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Posted by Michael at 10:19 PM | TrackBack

FHA AND MINNESOTA HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY SIGN AGREEMENT TO HELP MORE MINNESOTANS ACCESS SAFER GOVERNMENT-INSURED MORTGAGES

From HUD Press Releases:

HUD's Federal Housing Administration and the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency (HFA) today announced a first-of-its-kind agreement to promote safer, affordable government-insured mortgages.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) forges a working relationship and commitment by the federal and state government to help Minnesotans continue to access safer and more secure FHA-insured mortgages.

"For many years, people in the industry and in state government have expressed the need for a clear, mutually-agreed upon memorandum of understanding between FHA and states for the financing of single family properties," said HUD's Assistant Secretary for Housing-Federal Housing Commissioner Brian D. Montgomery.

"This MOU will help people in need right now by harmonizing the work of FHA and the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, and by making FHA loans more available to those who qualify for them."

As the housing market changes and credit contracts, the MOU between FHA and the Minnesota HFA will establish a partnership committed to increasing access to FHA-insured mortgages throughout the state.

Specifically, the MOU allow FHA and Minnesota Housing to schedule statewide training and information sessions for lenders, realtors and housing counselors designed to increase familiarity and availability of FHA-insured loans.

"We have an obligation to do everything possible to help people keep their home or to buy a new home they can afford.

This MOU will help people in need right now by harmonizing the work of FHA and the state housing finance agency, and by making FHA loans more available to qualified borrowers," Montgomery stated.

Since September 2007, FHA has insured nearly 250,000 refinanced loans nationwide.

In July 2008, FHA will expand its FHASecure refinancing product to more homeowners past due on their mortgages using a fair, flexible premium structure.

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Posted by Michael at 10:18 PM | TrackBack

HUD ACCEPTS $350 MILLION MISSISSIPPI PLAN TO PRODUCE THOUSANDS OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING UNITS FOR WORKING FAMILIES

From HUD Press Releases:

U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steve Preston today accepted a $350 million plan by the State of Mississippi to produce thousands of affordable housing units for working families who continue to experience a chronic housing shortage in the State.

Mississippi's Long Term Workforce Housing Plan will provide grants and loans to local communities, nonprofit organizations and private developers to produce approximately 12,000 affordable homes in Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, and Pearl River counties.

Mississippi's final plan was provided to HUD for its review on May 30th.

The funding to support the plan is part of $5.4 billion in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) assistance the Department allocated to Mississippi following the Hurricanes of 2005.

"It's been nearly three years since Hurricane Katrina wiped out much of the housing stock in South Mississippi and working families continue to struggle to find a decent home," said Preston.

The Mississippi plan accepted today is designed to ensure that significant portions of affordable units are created within mixed-income neighborhoods to assist working families.

The State intends to create these mixed-income communities by fostering market rate rental units in properties that will also serve a range of low-income households or by supporting single-family homes in the developments with a range of affordable housing.

Last September, Mississippi issued a Request for Proposal that sought qualified individuals and non-profits and for profit entities to develop Long Term Workforce Housing programs.

HUD is the nation's housing agency committed to increasing homeownership, particularly among minorities; creating affordable housing opportunities for low-income Americans; and supporting the homeless, elderly, people with disabilities and people living with AIDS.

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Posted by Michael at 10:18 PM | TrackBack

Savings help the medicine go down

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

A new study of state-subsidized pharmacy assistance programs showed that providing prescription drug coverage for low-income seniors reduces Medicaid and Medicare costs.

Moreover, needy seniors enrolled in the programs were able to cut their dose skimping and nursing home admissions in half, according to the Brandeis University research.

In 2002, Illinois and Wisconsin implemented state pharmacy assistance programs with joint federal funding.

Senior citizens with incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level, but not eligible for Medicaid, could join.

The Brandeis study evaluated whether these "SeniorCare" programs increased access to prescription drugs and reduced Medicaid enrollment, said lead author Donald Shepard, a health economist at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis.

The study matched 7,699 Illinois and 1,798 Wisconsin so called "buy-in" beneficiaries to similar Ohio controls because the states share many similarities.

Since Illinois already had a different prescription program in place its SeniorCare program did not reduce the number of seniors enrolling in Medicaid, but it did reduce how many were admitted to nursing homes and how much enrollees spent on drugs.

For example, in the first year of the Illinois program, nursing home entry was 2.4 percent, compared to 4.4 percent for the Ohio controls.

Likewise, Medicaid spending averaged $631 over Illinois SeniorCare members, versus $1,605 for Ohio controls, a savings of 61 percent.

The study showed that these savings fell slightly short of the state's first-year program costs of $1,394 per enrollee.

"Needy elders in both states benefited from the outreach, public subsidies and straightforward design.

Medicare Part D plans with similar features might well reduce nursing home admissions and achieve Medicaid savings nationally."

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Posted by Michael at 10:12 PM | TrackBack

Kids connect alcohol odors with mom's emotions

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

How children respond to the smell of alcoholic beverages is related to their mothers' reasons for drinking, according to a new study from the Monell Chemical Senses Center.

When asked to choose between the odor of beer and an unpleasant odor, children of mothers classified as 'Escape drinkers' were more likely than children of Non-escape drinkers to choose the unpleasant odor.

"Children's responses to odors provide us with a window into their emotions," says study lead author Julie Mennella, PhD, a Monell biopsychologist.

"When given a choice between beer and pyridine -- the smell of rotten eggs -- children of mothers who drink to relieve tension and worry choose pyridine as smelling better.

In the study, which appears in the journal Alcohol, 145 children between the ages of 5 and 8 years were presented with seven pairs of odors.

Mennella notes that because odor information travels directly to areas of the brain that deal with non-verbal aspects of emotion and memory, studying children's responses to odors provides insights into their emotional worlds.

Because of this, children of Escape drinkers were exposed to alcohol odors more often.

These children also experienced alcohol in a different emotional context, as the questionnaires revealed that their mothers were more tense and more likely to worry and feel guilty about their drinking.

"Even before their first taste, young children are learning about alcohol and about why their parents drink.

Using a multidisciplinary approach, scientists collaborate in the areas of: sensation and perception, neuroscience and molecular biology, environmental and occupational health, nutrition and appetite, health and well being, and chemical ecology and communication.

For more information about Monell, visit www.monell.org.

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Posted by Michael at 10:10 PM | TrackBack

Low childhood IQ linked to type of dementia

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Children with lower IQs are more likely decades later to develop vascular dementia than children with high IQs, according to research published in the June 25, 2008, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

The most common type of dementia after Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia occurs when blood flow to the brain is impaired.

For another group of controls, the researchers made sure that the cases and controls came from families where the fathers had similar types of occupations.

"These results point to the importance of reducing the vascular risk factors that can lead to strokes and dementia," said study author John M. Starr, FRCPEd, of the University of Edinburgh.

Starr said the findings support the hypothesis that low childhood IQ acts as a risk factor for dementia through vascular risks rather than the "cognitive reserve" theory.

This theory speculates that greater IQ and education create a buffer against the effects of dementia in the brain, allowing people with greater cognitive reserve to stay free of signs of dementia longer, even though the disease has started affecting their brains.

The American Academy of Neurology, an association of more than 21,000 neurologists and neuroscience professionals, is dedicated to improving patient care through education and research.

A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as epilepsy, dystonia, migraine, Huntington's disease, and dementia.

For more information about the American Academy of Neurology, visit www.aan.com.

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Posted by Michael at 10:09 PM | TrackBack

Cities Consider Copying Children's Charity in Harlem

Baltimore Sun:

It's 7:30 a.m., and Altheo Serrao's family has just arrived in Harlem from Staten Island, a two-hour journey by bus, ferry and subway.

They do this every school day to be part of a program that isn't available anywhere else in New York City - or, for that matter, anywhere else in the country.

The zone takes on the same kinds of seemingly impossible urban problems that Baltimore and so many other cities face: poverty, crime, troubled schools, overwhelmed parents.

Conceived by Canada, 56, a children's advocate who grew up surrounded by poverty and violence in the South Bronx, the Harlem Children's Zone was born out of his frustration with well-meaning nonprofits that were too narrow in their focus.

He pitched the idea - blanket a swath of Harlem with all manner of children's services - to Rheedlen board member Stanley Druckenmiller, a friend from Bowdoin College and billionaire hedge-fund manager.

Zone employees say they know how important it is to keep kids busy and off the streets.

Many of the programs stretch from early-morning hours until well into the evening, as late as 8 or 9 p.m., and run through the summer.

The charter schools also have an open-door policy, serving as safe places for kids any time a staff member is present.

Serrao, a petite woman capable of lugging four-book-filled backpacks at once (she is a nursing student at a Harlem community college), volunteers in the mornings, helping teachers prepare for the day.

Permission to reprint an article that appeared in the Baltimore Sun.

Posted by Michael at 12:19 AM | TrackBack

June 24, 2008

Binge drinking due to 'copying' behavior

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

The rise in binge drinking in the young is a "fashion phenomenon" where drinkers are copying their associates' behaviour, new research has shown.

A study conducted at Durham University's Institute of Advanced Study and Volterra Consulting UK shows that social networking is a key factor in the spread of the rapid consumption of large amounts of alcohol -- binge drinking - which is blamed for serious anti-social and criminal behaviour.

Researchers say the findings have major implications for Government policy makers charged with tackling the problem, which has longer-term and costly health implications for the nation.

The research team, which estimates there are least one million binge drinkers in the 18-24 year old population participating in 1.5 million binge drinking events each week, used complex modelling techniques and interviews with 504 18-24 year olds to draw their conclusions.

Binge drinkers were defined as participants who got drunk on three or more drinks (women) or on four or more drinks (men) at least once a week, or having ten or more drinks but not necessarily getting drunk at least once a week (both men and women).

Binge drinkers were more likely to describe their associates, particularly their friends, as fellow binge drinkers.

For example, 85 per cent of the binge drinkers thought that all, almost all or most of their friends are binge drinkers, compared to 41 per cent of non-binge drinkers who described all, almost all or most of their friends as binge drinkers.

Lead author, Paul Ormerod, of Durham University's Institute of Advanced Study and Volterra Consulting UK, said: "Binge drinking has become widespread among young people in Britain.

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Posted by Michael at 11:16 PM | TrackBack

Assessing domestic violence in custody disputes critical to assure safety in parenting plans

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Custody disputes among separated spouses can become especially difficult when there are allegations of domestic violence.

As part of a special issue on domestic abuse, a new article in Family Court Review addresses the need for a new approach to developing parenting plans after separation when domestic violence is alleged.

Assessing the level of risk of domestic violence may help match the family to appropriate services and interventions.

The level of potency, or the degree of severity and risk of serious injury, is the foremost dimension to be assessed and monitored so that protective orders can be issued and other immediate safety measures taken.

"Judges and professionals working in the family justice system need to be thorough in their assessment of domestic violence as a critical factor in determining the best parenting plan after separation for the safety of adult victims and their children," the authors conclude.

Family Court Review is published in cooperation with the Center for Children, Families and the Law at Hofstra University School of Law.

For over four decades, Family Court Review has served as an interdisciplinary communication forum for all concerned with the improvement of all aspects of the family court system.

Wiley-Blackwell was formed in February 2007 as a result of the acquisition of Blackwell Publishing Ltd. by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., and its merger with Wiley's Scientific, Technical, and Medical business.

Together, the companies have created a global publishing business with deep strength in every major academic and professional field.

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Posted by Michael at 11:16 PM | TrackBack

'Neglected infections of poverty' in US disable hundreds of thousands of Americans annually

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

An analysis published June 25th in the open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases highlights that diseases very similar to those plaguing Africa, Asia, and Latin America are also occurring frequently among the poorest people in the United States, especially women and children.

These diseases --- the "neglected infections of poverty" --- are caused by chronic and debilitating parasitic, bacterial, and congenital infections.

While most Americans have never heard of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), the analysis estimates that these infections occur in hundreds of thousands of poor Americans concentrated primarily in the Mississippi Delta (including post-Katrina Louisiana), Appalachia, the Mexican borderlands, and inner cities.

"The fact that these neglected infections of poverty represent some of the greatest health disparities in the United States, but they remain at the bottom of the public health agenda, is a national disgrace," says Peter J. Hotez, MD, PhD, author of the analysis and President of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, Executive Director of Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases, and Walter G. Ross Professor and Chair of the Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine department at George Washington University.

Hotez notes that the common features of these neglected infections include their highly disproportionate health impact on minorities and people living in poverty; their chronic, largely insidious, and disabling features; and their ability to promote poverty because of their impact on child development, pregnancy outcome, and productive capacity.

Neglected infections of poverty are understudied and not well known even by physicians and public-health experts.

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Posted by Michael at 11:03 PM | TrackBack

Leading Civil Rights Organizations United in Opposition to NCLB Recess Until Reauthorization Act

From PR Newswire:

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Recess Until Reauthorization Act (H.R. 6239) was not offered as an amendment to the fiscal 2009 appropriations bill for the education, labor, and health and human service departments, thanks in part to the strong opposition of many of the Nation's most important civil rights organizations.

The proposed bill would suspend school improvement requirements and send a discouraging message -- that it is acceptable for some children to continue attending substandard schools, the majority of which serve minority and low-income students.

"It is a victory that this amendment, which runs counter to the intent of federal policies to improve deficient schools, was not considered by the appropriations subcommittee last week.

We will continue to stand united in opposing any future attempts by Congress to approve this devastating legislation," said Peter Zamora, Washington, DC, regional counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF).

"With its passage, teachers, school administrators, and community leaders working hard to improve the situation in their classrooms would be placed in 'suspended animation.'

Joining MALDEF in opposing H.R. 6239 are fellow members of the Campaign for High School Equity: the National Indian Education Association, Southeast Asia Resource Action Center, Alliance for Excellent Education, National Urban League, and the National Council of La Raza.

These groups agree that the law, as proposed, abandons the focus on improving education for low-income and minority students and codifies the status quo.

Founded in 1968, MALDEF, the nation's leading Latino legal organization, promotes and protects the rights of Latinos through litigation, advocacy, community education and outreach, leadership development, and higher education scholarships.

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Posted by Michael at 12:15 AM | TrackBack

University of Minnesota study uncovers the educational benefits of social networking sites

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers at the University of Minnesota have discovered the educational benefits of social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook.

The same study found that low-income students are in many ways just as technologically proficient as their counterparts, going against what results from previous studies have suggested.

The study found that, of the students observed, 94 percent used the Internet, 82 percent go online at home and 77 percent had a profile on a social networking site.

When asked what they learn from using social networking sites, the students listed technology skills as the top lesson, followed by creativity, being open to new or diverse views and communication skills.

Data were collected over six months this year from students, ages 16 to 18, in thirteen urban high schools in the Midwest.

"What we found was that students using social networking sites are actually practicing the kinds of 21st century skills we want them to develop to be successful today," said Christine Greenhow, a learning technologies researcher in the university's College of Education and Human Development and principal investigator of the study.

Greenhow said that the study's results, while proving that social networking sites offer more than just social fulfillment or professional networking, also have implications for educators, who now have a vast opportunity to support what students are learning on the Web sites.

"Now that we know what skills students are learning and what experiences they're being exposed to, we can help foster and extend those skills," said Greenhow.

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Posted by Michael at 12:14 AM | TrackBack

Engaging teachers means engaged students

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

To encourage and help teachers become more involved and enthusiastic about "inclusive teaching", the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) recently funded an action research based project.

Action research can be explained as making changes and studying the impact of those changes in order to bring about an environment where students feel included in their learning process.

Dr Davies explained "Good action research can enable teachers to see their pupils differently and be a step towards creating a richer pupil--teacher relationship, which challenges the limitations of current teaching methods.

For this to happen, there needs to be a model of action research which involves teachers developing shared ownership of an issue, taking action and paying attention to the consequences for pupils' engagement."

As part of the ESRC's Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP), the project sought to explore how this approach could be used to assist teachers to put into practice the principle of 'inclusion' i.e. to increase the participation and achievement of pupils who may be marginalised as a result of circumstances such as disability, ethnicity, gender and social disadvantage.

The starting point for the TLRP project is that many secondary school teachers are unfamiliar with action research, and may be reluctant to become involved because it can be perceived as unfamiliar and too difficult.

the role of school leaders and educational psychologists as the research facilitators is crucial to the success of using action research to stimulate inclusive teaching.

The project involved asking questions about the engagement of young people in their learning and then taking appropriate action in terms of the organisation of schools, subjects and lessons.

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Posted by Michael at 12:12 AM | TrackBack

Teagle Foundation Announces Over $3.5 Million in New Grants: Spotlight on Improving Student Learning at the Undergraduate Level

From Ascribe Newsfeed:

Today, the Teagle Foundation announced 30 new grants totaling over $3.5 million to fund projects involving more than 45 colleges, universities and other institutions in higher education.

Fifteen of the grants aim to develop models for advancing student engagement and learning through processes of systematic improvement.

"These grants recognize that liberal arts colleges are poised and ready to develop ways of systematically improving undergraduate learning and engagement," said W. Robert Connor, President of the Teagle Foundation.

The Foundation's Outcomes and Assessment initiative is based on the belief that nothing has more potential to affect students' educational experiences than programs that build on the information gained through appropriate and systematic assessment of what they learn.

The Teagle Awards for Systematic Improvements in Student Learning were developed to assist liberal arts colleges in cultivating exemplary and imaginative programs that advance the way students learn in the classroom.

Teagle's Fresh Thinking initiative encourages sustained analysis of ideas and issues that can help strengthen and define the goals of liberal education.

Teagle's College-Community Connections program supports partnerships between community-based organizations in New York City and area colleges and universities.

These partnerships enable the development of academic programming for young people to better help them prepare for college.

We provide direct, immediate access to mainstream national media for 600 colleges, universities, medical centers, public-policy groups and other leading nonprofit organizations.

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Posted by Michael at 12:06 AM | TrackBack

June 23, 2008

'Feeling fat' is worse than being it

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

The quality of life of adolescents who think they are too fat is worse than for adolescents who really are obese.

In the course of the KiGGS study, almost 7000 boys and girls aged between 11 and 17 years were weighed and asked about their self-assessment, ranging from "far too thin" to "far too fat."

As a result of their analysis, the scientists established that about three quarters of adolescents are of normal weight.

Almost 55% of the girls, but just under 36% of the boys thought that they were "too fat," although only about 18% of the adolescents were actually overweight.

The quality of life is lower in obese adolescents.

However, this correlates to a large extent with self-evaluation.

If adolescents think they are "far too fat," they forfeit a lot of their quality of life, whatever their actual weight.

On the other hand, if they consider their weight "just right," their quality of life is the same as if they were of normal weight, even if this is not true.

The proportion of adolescents who think they are overweight has been increasing more rapidly in recent years than the proportion of those who really are overweight.

In an accompanying editorial, Johannes Hebebrand points out that adolescents are exposed to considerable social pressure to be thin.

He thinks that it is remarkable that as many as 40% of the subjects thought that their weight was right, in spite of the ideal of slimness and the stigma of being overweight.

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Posted by Michael at 11:57 PM | TrackBack

Elderly's restless nights helped by ancient martial art

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

More than half of all older adults complain about having difficulties sleeping.

Those who do usually turn either to medications, which can lead to other health problems, or behavior therapies, which are costly and often not available close to home.

Now, UCLA researchers report that practicing tai chi chih, the Westernized version of a 2,000-year-old Chinese martial art, promotes sleep quality in older adults with moderate sleep complaints.

At the beginning of the study, participants were asked to rate their sleep based on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, a self-rated questionnaire that assesses sleep quality, duration and disturbances over a one-month time interval.

The study found that the tai chi chih group showed improved sleep quality and a remission of clinical impairments, such as drowsiness during the day and inability to concentrate, compared with those receiving health education.

"Poor sleeping constitutes one of the most common difficulties facing older adults," said lead study author Dr. Michael Irwin, the Norman Cousins Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and director of the UCLA Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology.

And for those who do seek help, the usual remedy is a sedative.

But sedatives can cause side effects, according to Irwin.

"It's not uncommon for older adults to experience daytime confusion, drowsiness, falls and fractures, and adverse interactions with other medications they may be taking," he said.

And while most health professionals generally agree that physical exercise enhances sleep quality, given the physical limitations of the elderly, rigorous exercise might not be an option.

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Posted by Michael at 11:51 PM | TrackBack

Study evaluates factors associated with racial disparities in colon cancer screening

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Blacks and Hispanics appear less likely to undergo colorectal cancer screening than whites because of socioeconomic, health care access and language barriers, according to a report in the June 23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

However, other factors may contribute to screening disparities experienced by Asians.

Colorectal cancer screening rates lag behind those for other cancer screening tests, according to background information in the article.

"Such disparities in screening may contribute to the higher colorectal cancer incidence and mortality [death] rates observed in racial/ethnic minorities relative to non-Hispanic whites," the authors write.

A total of 22,973 adults age 50 and older answered questions about demographics, colorectal cancer screening behaviors and other social and health care factors.

Overall, 54.1 percent of the participants were screened for colorectal cancer using either colonoscopy or fecal occult blood testing (FOBT).

After adjusting for other factors associated with screening behavior---including demographics, socioeconomic variables, language spoken at home, health care access and self-rated health---disparities between blacks, Hispanics and whites disappeared, the authors note.

"Beyond socioeconomic factors, which disproportionately affect minorities, these findings suggest the effect of access and, for Hispanics, language-appropriate care on colorectal cancer screening uptake," they write.

"Less acculturated Asian individuals in the United States may have core health beliefs and values that differ from those in the 'Western' health model, leading them to decline FOBT or endoscopy offered in the absence of worrisome symptoms.

The findings suggest that different types of programs may improve screening rates in separate minority groups, the authors conclude.

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Posted by Michael at 11:42 PM | TrackBack

New Reading First Data From States Shows Impressive Gains in Reading Proficiency

From Education Newsfeed:

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today announced new data from the states showing impressive gains for Reading First students.

The achievement data submitted by state education agencies (SEAs) and compiled and analyzed by the Education Department's contractor, American Institutes for Research, showed improvement in nearly every grade and subgroup, including English language learners and students with disabilities.

Last week, the House Appropriations Subcommittee for Labor, Health and Human Services and Education stripped funding for this important program from their 2009 funding bill.

"Reading First has done so much to crack the code on how to get kids to read," said Secretary Spellings.

"It would be tragic to cut the nation's only reading program when so many policymakers and teachers know it's working to increase achievement."

Reading First builds on a solid foundation of scientifically based research and provides struggling students in the nation's highest need schools with the necessary resources to make significant progress in reading achievement.

In Grade 1, 44 of 50 SEAs reported increases in the percentage of students proficient in reading comprehension.

Thanks to Reading First, schools and teachers finally have the technical knowledge and the practical training to ensure every child, including English language learners and students with disabilities, gets the help he or she needs to excel in reading.

In April of this year, an IES Reading First Interim Impact Study did not find significant gains in comprehension by students in Reading First schools; however, that study measured Reading First schools against other schools in Reading First districts---schools that may have implemented the same reforms.

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Posted by Michael at 11:40 PM | TrackBack

HealthGrades releases Fifth Annual Women's Health in American Hospitals study

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

The Fifth Annual HealthGrades Women's Health in American Hospitals study analyzes the quality of care at U.S. hospitals in 17 states for treatment of heart disease and stroke among women and for women giving birth, with ratings for individual hospitals posted to www.HealthGrades.com.

The study also identifies those hospitals performing in the top 10 percent in the nation in the area of women's health and maternity care.

The best-performing hospitals had almost 51 percent fewer maternal complications among women who had vaginal births compared to poor-performing hospitals.

The best-performing hospitals had almost 76 percent fewer maternal complications among women who had C-sections compared to poor-performing hospitals.

Overall, risk-adjusted mortality for cardiovascular disease for women improved on average almost 15 percent from 2004 through 2006.

The best-performing hospitals had almost 40 percent lower risk-adjusted mortality for treatment of cardiovascular disease than the poor-performing hospitals and 22 percent lower risk-adjusted mortality than average-performing hospitals.

To assess maternity care program performance, HealthGrades studied overall maternal complications rates for vaginal, C-section, and patient-choice C-sections (non-clinically indicated C-sections) as well as neonatal mortality.

To be included in the analysis, hospitals had to have a program to perform open heart surgery and transfer out less than 10 percent of their stroke patients.

Ratings for individual hospitals, as well as the full study, were posted today to HealthGrades' consumer Web site, www.healthgrades.com.

On HealthGrades.com consumers can compare the quality of hospitals in a state or metropolitan area by procedure/diagnosis and by HealthGrades award category.

HealthGrades recognizes the top 10 percent of hospitals nationwide for clinical outcomes with its Specialty Excellence Award for Maternity Care and Specialty Excellence Award for Women's Health.

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Posted by Michael at 11:35 PM | TrackBack

Bright Futures and Issues in Children's Health Care

From The Commonwealth Fund:

The March 2008 issue of Pediatric Annals includes three articles that focus on the implications of Bright Futures---updated health supervision guidelines for children from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

Bright Futures was created in 1990 by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau to emphasize the psychosocial aspects of health and the social and emotional functioning of child and family.

In fact, according to a recent report, only 38 percent of children receive recommended well-child care.

Families of children, especially children with chronic illnesses, report their care is largely uncoordinated, and communication and support are inadequate.

There is growing agreement that decisions regarding medical treatments should be based on high-quality evidence of their effectiveness, produced by randomized controlled trials (RCTs).

Key elements of care, including health promotion, are not easily evaluated through RCTs because they depend on long time horizons and rely heavily on the input of family and community.

This can put pediatricians in a bind, write Robert D. Sege, M.D., Ph.D, and Edward De Vos, Ed.D., of Boston University, in "Care for Children and Evidence-based Medicine," which was supported by The Commonwealth Fund.

Bright Futures---which is "evidence-informed," if not "evidence-driven," note the authors---attempts to bridge this gap, although the link between care and outcomes remains indirect.

RCTs provide optimal study designs for interventions aimed at preventing or treating specific diseases in individual children.

Motivated by the Bright Futures guidelines to revisit the history of preventive care in pediatrics, the authors of "Well-Child Care: Looking Back, Looking Forward" conclude that while much has been accomplished, more must be done to translate best practices across increasingly diverse communities and practice environments.

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Posted by Michael at 11:32 PM | TrackBack

Family stress and child's temper extremes contribute to anxiety and depression in children

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Small children who grow up in a family where the mother has psychological distress, the family is exposed to stress or is lacking social support, are at higher risk of developing anxious and depressive symptoms in early adolescence.

Girls are more vulnerable than boys, and very timid or short-tempered children are more vulnerable than others to develop emotional problems.

This is shown in a new doctorate study from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH).

Anxiety and depression are two of the most common mental problems for children and adolescents.

Contributing factors to the development of symptoms of anxiety and depression while growing up is the key focus in the doctorate project by Evalill Karevold at the NIPH.

Karevold has followed more than 900 families from when the children were 18 months old through to adolescence (data from the NIPH's TOPP-study).

The findings are based on maternal and child report of the child's symptoms of anxiety and depression, plus reports from the mother about risk and protective factors in the family environment.

Maternal distress symptoms, family stress and lack of social support in their children's growing-up environment in pre-school age leads to an increase in anxiety and depression symptoms when these children reach 12-13 years old.

Another discovery shows that shy children generally have a higher risk of developing anxiety and depression than children who are not shy.

Having pre-school aged children is believed to be a particularly vulnerable period to be exposed to maternal symptoms, so it is especially important to identify and help mothers who are struggling with anxiety and depression as early as possible.

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Posted by Michael at 11:21 PM | TrackBack

Mothers' influence is decisive in tots' first year

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

The way mothers interact with their babies in the first year of life is strongly related to how children behave later on.

Both a mother's parenting style and an infant's temperament reliably predict challenging behavior in later childhood, according to Benjamin Lahey and his team from the University of Chicago in the US.

The researchers looked at whether an infant's temperament and his mother's parenting skills during the first year of life might predict behavioral problems, in just over 1,800 children aged 4-13 years.

The researchers looked at how much mothers stimulated their baby intellectually, how responsive they were to the child's demands, and the use of spanking or physical restraint.

Child conduct problems in later childhood included cheating, telling lies, trouble getting on with teachers, being disobedient at home and/or at school, bullying and showing no remorse after misbehaving.

The results indicate that both maternal ratings of their infants' temperament and parenting styles during the first year are surprisingly good predictors of maternal ratings of child conduct problems through age 13 years.

Another observation the researchers made was that early spanking predicted challenging behavior in Non-Hispanic European American families, but not in Hispanic families.

According to the authors, these findings support the hypothesis that "interventions focusing on parenting during the first year of life would be beneficial in preventing future child conduct problems. Greater emphasis should be placed on increasing maternal cognitive stimulation of infants in such early intervention programs, taking child temperament into consideration."

Temperament and parenting during the first year of life predict future child conduct problems.

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Posted by Michael at 11:19 PM | TrackBack

Scientifically valid prevention programs cut rates of juvenile delinquency

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Seventh-grade students in U.S. communities that have set up scientifically validated programs to reduce juvenile delinquency have a significantly smaller chance of engaging such behavior than do children in towns that have not adopted such programs.

"This finding is very important because early initiation of delinquent behavior in children before the age of 14 is a predictor of later substance abuse, chronic criminal behavior and mental health problems," said J. David Hawkins, lead author and director of the study.

The study is being conducted by the UW's Social Development Research Group, a part of the School of Social Work, with funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institute of Mental Health and the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention.

At the start of the study, all fifth-grade students in the 24 cities filled out questionnaires that included questions about delinquent behavior, asking for example whether they had stolen anything worth more than $5, purposely damaged or destroyed property that didn't belong to them or attacked someone with the intent of causing seriously harm.

One city in each pair was randomly chosen to test Communities That Care and received training over the first year in how to implement it and build a supportive community coalition.

"Communities That Care is designed to empower communities to collect and use data on the risks their children face, and also on strength of the community, and then use this information to choose prevention and early intervention programs that have been tested and shown to be effective," said Hawkins.

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Posted by Michael at 11:18 PM | TrackBack

Initiative Seeks to Address Local Information Needs Engaging Community Foundations

Knight Foundation:

A $24 million initiative by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation will engage community foundations in a grant-making challenge to find creative uses of media and technology to help keep communities informed and their citizens engaged.

The challenge is premised on two strongly held beliefs: 1) in a democracy, information is essential for a community to function properly; it is a core need, and 2) since community foundations are established to meet core community needs, they are logical partners in meeting the information needs of communities.

Knight will make $20 million available over five years to match funding for the best of these ideas.

Once the winners are chosen, teams of "circuit riders" -- specialists who bring access to resources and expertise -- will be available to help community foundations address their information-needs opportunities.

The project includes a Media Learning Seminar on Feb. 16-17, 2009 to help community foundations learn about the information needs of communities in a democracy.

The first such seminar of this kind was held in February 2008 when Knight and the Council on Foundations co-hosted a gathering in Miami.

The initiative is the fourth in a series of Media Innovation Initiatives created by Knight to address the information needs of communities in a democracy.

The Knight Center for Digital Excellence, a nonprofit consultancy, helps communities across the United States ensure digital access for every citizen (www.knightcenter.info).

Posted by Michael at 9:40 AM | TrackBack

June 20, 2008

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings Joins Former Governor Jeb Bush for National Summit on Education Reform

From Education Newsfeed:

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today delivered the keynote address at Excellence in Action: A National Summit on Education Reform at the Walt Disney Contemporary Resort in Florida.

Your continued commitment to the students and parents of our nation would make a mother proud, and I know she is.

All of us have played a role in creating a movement to inject standards, accountability and competition into our education system...

first at the state level, and then nationwide.

With President Bush, we've had a friend in reform, an ally in accountability and a champion for choice.

Our job is to make sure improving our schools remains a top priority for the next administration and beyond.

We are also exposing a dysfunctional system that often stifles talent instead of nurturing it, that rewards ineffective teachers but offers few incentives to improve, that is often more inclined to deny problems than to solve them.

The spirit of this conference, and our mission to champion, is to question the fossilized traditions, mythologies and habits that obstruct progress for students and teachers.

Because we believe that effort without achievement is not enough, we must question our means of measuring success, our methods of delivering instruction, even our definitions of what it takes to create a successful student.

We have a federal program proposed by President Bush called the Teacher Incentive Fund---with 100 million dollars, which the President wants to double.

But as you know, when it comes to education policy, the devil is in the details.

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Posted by Michael at 10:54 PM | TrackBack

States Chosen to Work with National Technical Assistance Center to Implement and Scale-Up Evidence-Based Practices

From Education Newsfeed:

The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) today announced that its national technical assistance center has selected six states with which it will work to expand promising, evidence-based practices for K-12 students.

Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and Oregon, which will join forces with the center to actively increase effective, evidence-based practices in those states.

The national technical assistance center, officially known as the "State Implementation and Scaling-up of Evidence-based Practices Center (SISEP)," was created last fall at the University of South Florida in Tampa with a $999,490 grant from the Office of Special Education Programs.

"SISEP represents a significant step in growing our knowledge base about what it takes to implement and scale up evidence-based practices," said Tracy Justesen, assistant secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.

The purpose of SISEP is to promote student academic achievement and behavioral health by supporting implementation and scaling-up of evidence-based practices in education settings.

It will work with the selected states to increase their capacity to carry out implementation, organizational change, and systems transformation strategies to maximize achievement outcomes of all students in each state.

An extensive selection process was involved, including a formal request for participation (RFP) that sought written responses to each selection criterion and on-site visits with educators and stakeholders.

The selected states will have representatives who regularly share information about the success of those programs at meetings and conferences.

For more details about the work of the center, see its Web site at www.scalingup.org.

The center's project officers at the Office of Special Education Programs are: Jennifer Doolittle (Jennifer.Doolittle@ed.gov, 202-245-6673), and Debra Price-Ellingstad (Debra.Price-Ellingstad@ed.gov, 202-245-7481).

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Posted by Michael at 10:53 PM | TrackBack

U.S. Department of Education Awards $1.4 Million to Help Students Develop Strong Character and Good Citizenship

From Education Newsfeed:

Schools in Kansas, Florida and New York will share $1.4 million in grants designed to help them implement programs that teach the principles of character development and the responsibilities of citizenship to their students, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced today.

"In today's competitive world, our students need solid academic skills to succeed," Secretary Spellings said.

"Students also need the ability to make responsible choices, the courage to stand up for what is right and the compassion to help others.

The Partnerships in Character Education Program awards grants for up to four years to eligible state and local education agencies to design and implement character education programs that teach students core ethical concepts such as civics, citizenship, justice, responsibility and respect for themselves and others.

Grant recipients must show how they have integrated character education into classroom instruction and teacher training.

They also must involve parents, students and the community in the process.

The projects are evaluated to determine their success in helping students develop positive character, reduce discipline problems and improve academic achievement.

Projects also must increase parent and community involvement with the school.

The grants were solicited and peer reviewed using a two-step process to address the competitive preference priority for this competition.

Some evidenced based results from the Partnerships in Character Education Program grants show office referrals decreased, and students had increased civic engagements, demonstrated more social responsibility and placed more value on school compared with those students who did not participate in character education programs.

A list of the 2008 grantees is included.

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Posted by Michael at 10:20 PM | TrackBack

U.S. Mayors Economic Report Reveals Sluggish Economic and Job Growth in 2008-09

From PR Newswire:

A new economic report released Friday, June 20, during the U.S. Conference of Mayors Annual Meeting in Miami reveals that U.S. economic growth for 2008 has weakened considerably, while unemployment and consumer prices have risen sharply.

Though it remains to be seen if this ends up being classified officially as a recession, the report reveals that there is no question that the economy is suffering more than just a mid-cycle slowdown.

The economic forecast for the nation's 363 metro economies -- which are made up of cities and suburbs -- will remain sluggish at best and will slow to 1.4%, almost one-third below last year's rate of 2.0%, and half of the average growth rate for the last three years of 2.8%.

While metro areas, which are the engines that drive the nation's economy, have helped prevent a more severe downturn, there is no doubt that they are bearing a heavy burden as a result of the current economic weakness.

"When our cities and suburbs grow, the nation prospers; when they struggle, the nation struggles."

One-third (113) of U.S. metros will experience actual job declines this year.

The sluggish growth among metros in the current slowdown compounds the fact that many metros are suffering from a prolonged employment downturn.

"The nation's mayors, again, strongly urge the mortgage industry to increase and accelerate its efforts to prevent foreclosures.

New York metro ranks 12th in the world, larger than the economies of India, South Korea, or Mexico; Los Angeles ranks 18th, larger than Turkey; and Chicago ranks 20th, larger than Sweden, Belgium, or Indonesia.

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June 19, 2008

Attitude determines student success in rural schools

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

While most of the country focuses on ACT scores, student-teacher ratio and rigorous curriculum to increase student success, it may be the commitment to excellence that determines student achievement in rural schools.

This is an overlooked, yet critical, factor when considering nearly half of American school districts are in rural areas, educating nearly 21 percent of all students.

Perri Applegate, a researcher at the University of Oklahoma K20 Center, recently investigated the qualities that differentiate a high-achieving school and low-achieving rural high school, focusing on high-poverty high schools with at least 51 percent of the population eligible for free or reduced lunch.

Surprisingly, the top factors that did impact student achievement in urban high schools, ACT scores and dropout rates, did not determine student success in rural schools.

Community involvement and the school's commitment to student excellence were the determining factors in whether a rural school was high- or low-achieving.

"Rural schools in the study listed the same factors as impacting student achievement: poverty, parental support, community, extracurricular activities and a caring school culture," said Applegate.

High-achieving schools had educators that embraced the role of being a rural teacher, which typically means wearing many hats and being creative with necessary resources.

The schools had shared and supportive leadership, empowered stakeholders to take leadership roles and did not accept the idea that students were destined to fail based on their address.

Other factors included parents and community members who support the teachers, or if necessary, the school enacted programs to increase support.

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Positive school environments can help reduce student smoking

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

A survey of high-school children in Scotland has shown that pupils who experience positive and inclusive social environments in schools are less likely to take up smoking.

New research published in the open access journal BMC Public Health reveals that teachers who succeed in creating a positive environment in school may be responsible for their pupils staying smoke-free.

Marion Henderson of the Medical Research Council Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, Glasgow, led the study of 5092 pupils from 24 Scottish schools.

She explains "The social environment of schools, in particular the quality of teacher-pupil relationships, pupil's attitude to school and the school's focus on caring and inclusiveness, all influence both boys' and girls' smoking habits".

This research is especially important because the decreases in adult smoking seen in recent years have not, as yet, been matched in adolescent smokers.

Henderson describes how current school-based anti-smoking interventions are largely ineffective "Most focus on individual characteristics rather than the environment in which adolescents smoke.

'School effects' refer to school-level variations in smoking that remain once other individual influences have been taken into account, such as whether pupils smoke before joining, whether they live with both parents and their amount of personal spending money.

This provides some of the strongest evidence to date to support the Health Promoting School concept, and for the first time looks at how this differs by gender."

2. BMC Public Health is an open access journal publishing original peer-reviewed research articles in all aspects of epidemiology and public health medicine.

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Posted by Michael at 9:04 PM | TrackBack

LSU professor dissects patterns of violence in rural communities

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Matthew Lee, professor of sociology at LSU, has taken an intense look at the phenomenon of violence in rural areas.

His article, "Civic Community in the Hinterland: Toward a Theory of Rural Social Structure and Violence," will be published in the prestigious journal Criminology.

This article serves as the culmination to Lee's prestigious Career Award, presented to him by the National Science Foundation in 2003.

Rural areas traditionally known for high rates of violent crime include Mississippi's Delta Region, parts of Appalachia and Louisiana's Florida parishes.

The stability of a local population looks at factors such as home ownership versus rental rates, levels of long-term residency and turnover and strength of social networks within the community.

"Perhaps not surprisingly, places that have high levels of rental occupancy and a transient citizen base are more likely to experience increased violent crime than a community with high home ownership and a stable population base," said Lee.

Participatory civic cultures, including widespread engagement in groups such as the Elks Club, the Parent-Teacher Association or even the Girl Scouts as well as religious institutions, also bode well for a community.

According to the article, juvenile homicide rates are lower in rural communities where the rate of adherence to civic participation is high.

Finally, the presence of a robust middle-class is closely tied to the idea of locally oriented capitalism, or community-run businesses.

The economic investment into one's own community generally instigates a great deal of buy-in from the rest of the area.

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FHA REACHING OUT TO 675,000 AT-RISK HOMEOWNERS IN SECOND PHASE OF DIRECT MAIL CAMPAIGN

From HUD Press Releases:

This week, HUD's Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is mailing hundreds of thousands of letters to homeowners at risk of losing their homes through foreclosure and urging them to consider a safer, more affordable alternative to the high-cost mortgages they are currently paying.

The first round of 280,000 letters was mailed in February.

FHA's public awareness campaign will continue through September, ultimately reaching 850,000 distressed homeowners.

"This letter might be the most important piece of mail many of these families will receive all year," said HUD Secretary Steve Preston.

Bipartisan FHA Modernization legislation awaiting final action by the Senate and House of Representatives would permanently increase the loan limits to an acceptable level.

FHA-insured loans are backed by the full faith and credit of the government, which typically allows lenders to offer mortgage products at a lower, more affordable interest rate.

Finally, FHASecure, which allows borrowers who are current and delinquent on their loans to refinance with the FHA, is saving tens of thousands of families on average $400 a month compared to their exotic subprime loans.

By focusing on education and safe mortgage alternatives, though, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is working diligently to address this unacceptable foreclosure trend.

If you are facing financial difficulties due to a recent or imminent mortgage reset, or other housing-related difficulty, I urge you to contact us at 1 (800) CALL-FHA or to visit www.fha.gov.

As part of the federal government, the Federal Housing Administration wants to help you protect and preserve the American dream - your home.

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'Beyond the Mortgage Meltdown': New Report Calls for Additional Steps to Address Housing Market Crisis

From Ascribe Newsfeed:

Demos today released the following media advisory.

Press conference to announce the findings of new report, "Beyond the Mortgage Meltdown: Addressing the Current Crisis, Avoiding a Future Catastrophe" issued by Demos, a non-partisan public policy center.

Breaking a long deadlock, House and Senate leaders have united behind a version of the Dodd/Frank plan, which could help upwards of 500,000 families hold onto their homes.

With bipartisan support, the measure is expected to pass both houses of Congress before the end of June and reach the President's desk in early July.

JAMES LARDNER is a senior fellow at Demos and author of the "Beyond the Mortgage Meltdown" report.

DR. MARK M. ZANDI is Chief Economist and Co-Founder of Moody's Economy.com, where he directs the company's research and consulting activities.

Moody's Economy.com is an independent subsidiary of the Moody's Corporation providing research and consulting services to businesses, governments and other institutions.

ALFRED A. DELLIBOVI is President of the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York, where he serves as CEO of a $100 billion wholesale bank serving thrifts, savings banks, commercial banks and credit unions.

On the day of the event, hard copies of "Beyond the Mortgage Meltdown" and free copies of "Up to Our Eyeballs: How Shady Lenders and Failed Economic Policies Are Drowning Americans In Debt" (uptooureyeballs.com) will be available at the press conference.

AScribe Newswire distributes news from nonprofit and public sector organizations.

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LA84 Foundation Awards $1.6 Million to 36 Sports Programs for Youth in Southern California

From Ascribe Newsfeed:

The LA84 Foundation today announced $1,596,545 million in grants to support sports programs serving more than 14,400 youth in Southern California.

LA84 Foundation believes strongly that every young person in Southern California should be able to enjoy the benefits of sports by having access to safe and adequate recreational facilities.

Among the grant recipients, Friends of Expo Center will receive $500,000 from the Foundation to help complete a multi-million dollar renovation of the recreation facilities in Expo Park.

In a precedent-setting public-private sector partnership, the Friends of Expo Center will raise the funds necessary to renovate the field, the City of LA's Department of Recreation and Parks will have the right to program the field and the state will have access to it when additional Coliseum parking is needed.

The LA84 Foundation awarded $100,000 to A Better LA, a non-profit co-founded by USC football coach Pete Carroll and Lou and Diane Tice of The Pacific Institute.

Beginning on July 4th, eight LA city parks will extend operating hours until midnight and offer a wide range of programming, including basketball, soccer and softball leagues.

A $30,000 grant will go to Special Olympics - Southern California which, in partnership with Los Angles Unified School District (LAUSD), is offering track and field, soccer and basketball curricula at 14 LAUSD schools for children who are intellectually challenged.

Now in its third year, the program will serve 500 youth, more than triple the number of participants it had at its inception.

The Foundation awarded $10,000 to Riding Emphasizing Individual Needs and Strengths (REINS), a therapeutic horsemanship program in San Diego County that provides physical, mental and emotional therapy through carefully supervised horseback riding to 150 youth with a wide range of disabilities.

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Alliance for Children and Families Receives $50,000 Grant to Support Civic Engagement Efforts

From Ascribe Newsfeed:

The Alliance for Children and Families, Milwaukee, has begun a project to help further develop the capacity of human service agencies through civic engagement practices.

The project is funded by a $50,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation of Battle Creek, Mich.

"We are excited to have this support from the Kellogg Foundation and pleased with its confidence in us," says Peter Goldberg, president and CEO of the Alliance.

According to Goldberg, the grant strengthens the Alliance's efforts to provide members with training, tools, and resources for building effective community coalitions that advocate for meaningful social change.

Some key project activities include the development of civic engagement institutes and an interactive online learning community where Alliance members can access information, resources, and technical assistance on effective practices and replicable models for implementing social change.

In addition, the Alliance will seek to better engage its members' board of directors in supporting strategic civic engagement initiatives.

To help launch this effort, the Alliance's magazine, Alliance for Children & Families, will include articles and information emphasizing the role of nonprofit boards in the democratic process.

As part of the Kellogg Foundation grant, Goldberg and Linda Nguyen, director of civic engagement at the Alliance, will serve with other representatives during the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Civic Engagement Learning Year.

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RAND Study Shows Creative Collaborative Approaches Work to Maintain, Extend Arts Education in Six U.S. Urban Areas

From Ascribe Newsfeed:

Amid cutbacks in school arts education funding, public and private organizations in six urban regions have collaborated to expand access to arts learning for children in and outside of public school, according to a RAND Corporation study issued today.

The initiatives - in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles County, New York City and Alameda County in Northern California - have experienced varying degrees of progress, the study finds.

"Arts education in public schools has been a low priority for the last 30 years," said Susan Bodilly, director of RAND Education and the study's lead author.

"But the results of our study demonstrate that, with the right leadership and the collaborative efforts of public and private organizations, children can enjoy the many benefits of arts education."

"We believe every child - and our broader society - benefits from high-quality arts learning and that arts education deserves a secure place in our communities," said Edward Pauly, director of research and evaluation at The Wallace Foundation.

"Arts learning can enhance a child's ability to 'learn how to learn'; it can develop skills of persistence and teamwork; it can enhance the school experience for students - sustaining their interest and enthusiasm for learning; and it can nurture empathy and foster imagination through experiences that the arts uniquely provide."

Rather than follow the traditional approach of hiring a teacher to serve as a part-time coordinator, the districts either had, or were in the process of securing, a senior full-time coordinator.

The Foundation maintains an online library of research reports and other publications that may be downloaded free of charge at http://www.wallacefoundation.org.

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Rice U study finds that consumers may fare better with peer-to-peer online lending Web sites

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

A new study conducted by Associate Professor of Management Paul Dholakia at Rice University's Jones Graduate School of Management shows that online peer-to-peer lending Web sites may be more attractive to Americans than traditional financial institutions.

Prosper.com, and other companies like it, allows people to lend and borrow money at more attractive interest rates than they find at a bank.

The study also found that decisions made by lenders about whom to give loans to are much less likely to be influenced by race or gender.

Online lending sites enable individuals to lend and borrow money directly, without the involvement of any financial institution.

By fusing elements of social-networking sites, like Facebook, and auction sites, like eBay, peer-to-peer lending sites allow people who have money to loan to bid on requests from those who need cash for a variety of reasons.

On the one hand, he said, plenty of research points to the fact that despite people's best intentions, stereotypes often influence decision-making.

And since potential borrowers often share lots of personal information, including photos, lenders would usually be aware of a borrower's race and gender.

On the other hand, many economists believe that people are rational decision-makers and therefore more inclined to give weight to information such as a borrower's credit and debt-to-income ratio, all of which is available on the auction sites.

"Since people are investing their own money, they should tend to behave more rationally and seek a return on their investment that takes into account factors other than race and gender," Dholakia said.

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Posted by Michael at 8:12 PM | TrackBack

Claims linking health problems and the strength of cannabis may be exaggerated

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Claims that a large increase in the strength of cannabis over the last decade is driving the occurrence of mental health and other problems for users are not borne out by a study of the worldwide literature, say researchers at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre and the National Drug Research Institute, both from Australia. Read more from this post.

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June 18, 2008

Income inequality continues staggering 25-year growth trend

From Economic Policy Institute:

Inequality in the United States continues to worsen.

Huge gains at the top of the income scale have been fueled by, among other things, a surging inequality in wages.

The ratio of the wage income of the top 1% of earners to that of the bottom 90% more than doubled between 1979 and 2006, increasing from a ratio of 9.4-to-1 to 19.9-to-1.

In contrast there was relatively little change in the earnings disparity from 1947 to 1979, when wages at all levels of the economy grew apace.

But when it comes to the wage income of the highest of the high earners, the staggering gap has become a chasm: in 2004 the upper one-tenth of 1% earned 70.4 times as much as the average person in the bottom 90% of the income scale.

In other words, in 1979 it took the highest-paid earners 12.4 days to make what most other earners did in a year, but by 2004 that feat was accomplished in a mere 3.7days.

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Posted by Michael at 11:57 PM | TrackBack

The James Irvine Foundation Announces $22 Million in New Grants; Grants Expand 'Multiple Pathways' Programs for College Students, Spur Innovations in Art Making, Support Community Foundation Growth

From Ascribe Newsfeed:

The Board of Directors of The James Irvine Foundation has approved 34 grants totaling nearly $22 million in support of the Foundation's mission of expanding opportunity for the people of California to participate in a vibrant, successful and inclusive society. (For a list of approved grants, visit Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:55 PM | TrackBack

People with lower incomes, lower education levels have higher death rates

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Researchers have long suspected that socioeconomic factors like education level and income also might affect survival rates following heart attack.

In the June issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Mayo Clinic researchers present new data suggesting that people with lower incomes and education levels are more likely to die after heart attack than more affluent, educated people.

These factors include behaviors such as smoking or inactivity, and a variety of physical characteristics, including high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol and obesity.

Researchers recorded the years of schooling completed (self-reported by the patients via a questionnaire) and neighborhood income (obtained by linking the participant address to the 2000 U.S. Census Bureau data) for each participant.

Sixty-seven percent were survivors among those who had fewer than 12 years of education; 81 percent survived among people with 12 years of education; and 85 percent survived among people with greater than 12 years of education.

Mayo researchers believe that the association observed for education could be related to education's positive effect on factors that include job opportunities, income, housing, access to nutritious foods and health insurance.

"As recently reported, education is strongly associated with health literacy, which in turn affects one's ability to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions."

Mayo researchers also point out that more specific mechanisms linking low socioeconomic status to survival following heart attack could also be related to the greater difficulty that poorer individuals with lower education levels have in attending cardiac rehabilitation programs and adhering to medications and lifestyle recommendations.

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Posted by Michael at 11:54 PM | TrackBack

Study finds quality of California preschools falls short

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

More than half of California's preschoolers attend center-based early care and education programs, but the children who have the most to gain from preschool frequently are those least likely to participate in the programs, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

Researchers found that children from lower-income families, children whose mothers have less education and Latino children are significantly less likely than others to attend center-based early care and education programs, even though they are among the groups that consistently show a lack of readiness for school.

While research has demonstrated that high-quality preschool can help children prepare for kindergarten and later grades, RAND researchers found that the quality of preschools in California is mixed.

Most center-based programs meet quality benchmarks for class size and child-staff ratios.

But only one in four children participates in a classroom that provides instruction that promotes thinking and language skills, key features that prepare children for kindergarten.

The findings are from the latest report in an ongoing research project intended to outline the adequacy and effectiveness of preschool education in California.

More than 70 percent of the center-based programs evaluated by the RAND research team met quality benchmarks for class size and child-teacher ratios, but other quality benchmarks were achieved less often.

While two-thirds of children attended a program where teachers had an associate degree, only one in four children were taught by teachers with a bachelor's degree in the early childhood field or a related discipline.

Public preschool program such as the California State Preschool and public prekindergarten programs were more likely to meet some of the quality benchmarks than private centers.

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Study finds Children's Hospital patient safety program improves caregiver/family communications

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Condition Help, a patient safety program launched more than two years ago at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, has significantly improved communication between caregivers and patients and improved patient and family satisfaction, a review of the program has found.

Children's Hospital became the first pediatric hospital in the nation working with the Josie King Foundation to launch a patient safety initiative that gives parents round-the-clock access to medical intervention.

Condition Help gives patients and/or parents of patients the ability to call a hotline phone number to have their child evaluated by a special medical team if they feel their child's immediate health is in danger or their concerns aren't being addressed.

"The goal of this program has been to empower families because no one knows a child better than his or her parents.

Our review found that Condition Help has enhanced patient safety at Children's by providing yet another safeguard against mistakes, and that it has improved the health care environment for patients, families and clinicians," Dr. Dean said.

The establishment of "family-centered rounds," in which patients and families participate in medical rounds with physicians, nurses and other staff.

Improvement in communication among families, staff on inpatient units and the Pediatric Radiology Department, which has led to a dramatic decrease in time delays for patients in need of a diagnostic scan.

Pain management is now discussed with the family immediately after a procedure, any time a change to the plan must occur, and when the patient is transferred or discharged.

Caregivers actively involve the patient and family in the plan throughout the entire hospitalization.

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Stress during childhood increases the risk of allergies

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Moving house or the separation of parents can significantly increase the risk of children developing allergies later on.

These are the results from a long-term study correlating life-style, immune system development and allergies, led by the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research in Leipzig (UFZ), the Helmholtz Zentrum München and the "Institut für Umweltmedizinische Forschung" (IUF) in Duesseldorf.

The researchers had examined blood samples taken from 234 six-year old children and discovered increased blood concentrations of the stress-related peptide VIP (vasoactive intestinal polypeptide) in connection with moving house or the separation of parents.

The neuropeptide VIP could take on a mediator role between stress events in life and the regulation of immune responses, researchers write in the scientific journal Pediatric Allergy and Immunology.

Dramatic life events like the death of a family member, serious illnesses of a family member or the separation of parents, but also harmless events like for example moving house are suspected of increasing the risk of allergies for the children affected.

The immune system obviously plays a mediator role between stress on the one hand and allergies on the other.

Since these mechanisms had hardly been understood before, researchers attempted to identify stress-related factors showing an influence on the immune system, in the context of an epidemiological study (LISA).

At the same time as the blood tests, researchers together with colleagues from the Institute for Social Medicine at the University of Lübeck also analysed the most diverse social factors in the children's environment, in order to find out which factors are causing stress-related regulation deficiencies of the immune system.

At the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) scientists research the causes and consequences of far-reaching environmental changes.

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Early Head Start Participants, Programs, Families, and Staff in 2006

From Center for Law and Social Policy:

. This fact sheet reviews the 2006 Program Information Reports (PIR) data for the Early Head Start program, which serves children under age 3 and pregnant women. In 2006, Early Head Start continued to provide vital services to a diverse group of low-income children and families, most of which included at least one working parent. Most children received medical, dental, and disability screenings and follow-up services when necessary. Pregnant women also received prenatal and postnatal health care, dental care, and mental health care. Families also accessed services at high rates; 84 percent of families accessed at least one social service. However, just 2.4 percent of eligible children receive Early Head Start services. 2 pages. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:52 PM | TrackBack

Minimally-invasive weight loss surgery improves health and morbidly obese teens

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Teenagers' obesity-related medical complications improve just six months after laparoscopic gastric banding surgery, according to outcomes data presented this week. The preliminary results by physician-scientists from Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian and Columbia University Medical Center were presented on June 17 at the Endocrine Society's 90th Annual Meeting in San Francisco. Read more from this post.

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'Startling New Reality' of Cybercrime Revealed in Rochester Institute of Technology Research; Children Frequently Utilize Technology to Prey on Friends and Classmates Online

From Ascribe Newsfeed:

There's a new cyber enemy for parents to worry about - and it's not the stereotypical middle-aged stranger that has long been feared.

A Rochester Institute of Technology study of more than 40,000 adolescents reveals that 59 percent of cyber victims, in grades 7-9, say their perpetrators are a "friend" that they know personally.

"Most people have long thought the perpetrators of cybercrime to be some 'boogey man' holed up in his attic, searching the Internet for children to prey on," says Sam McQuade, who led the research effort and is the graduate program coordinator in RIT's Center for Multidisciplinary Studies.

The survey was administered to students in Kindergarten through 12th grade, varying by grade level, in 14 different school districts.

One in 10 second- and third-graders report having been "mean to someone" online, while one in five report that someone online has been mean to them."

Twenty-one percent of 10th- through 12th-graders admitted using a computer or electronic device to cheat on a school assignment within the last school year.

Forty-eight percent of kindergarteners and first-graders reported viewing online content that made them feel uncomfortable.

That's why The Cyber Safety and Ethics Initiative is comprised of representatives from higher education, K-12 education, community groups and members of the business community.

AScribe Newswire distributes news from nonprofit and public sector organizations.

We provide direct, immediate access to mainstream national media for 600 colleges, universities, medical centers, public-policy groups and other leading nonprofit organizations.

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Head Start Participants, Programs, Families, and Staff in 2006

From Center for Law and Social Policy:

. This fact sheet reviews the 2006 Program Information Report (PIR) data for all Head Start programs, including preschool, Early Head Start, Migrant and Seasonal Head Start, and American Indian and Alaskan Native programs. In 2006, Head Start continued to provide vital services to a diverse group of low-income children and families. Most children received medical, dental, and disability screenings and follow-up services when necessary. Data show that increasingly, children in Head Start are receiving health insurance through public programs, even though 70 percent of families included at least one working parent. In addition, Head Start teacher education levels continued to rise, while salaries decreased 2 percent from the previous year after inflation adjustment. 2 pages. Read more from this post.

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Season-Ending TV Show to Spotlight Youth Volunteer Service and Its Impact on Developing Active and Responsible Citizens

From Education Newsfeed:

The U.S. Department of Education's monthly TV show, "Education News Parents Can Use," concludes its 2007-08 season by examining how student service activities and volunteer efforts build good character, inspire civic responsibility and promote academic learning.

What can be done in school, the home and community to inspire a sense of civic pride among young people?

What is the USA Freedom Corps and how does it develop a culture of service in America?

Where can I find more information on community and faith-based organizations dedicated to advancing the president's goals of volunteerism and service to country?

Among the guests will be Kristin McSwain, director of AmeriCorps, the largest program of the federal Corporation for National and Community Service, harnessing the talents of more than 70,000 each year.

Also appearing, Kristen Allcorn, a recent graduate of Smith-Cotton High School in Sedalia, Mo., and founder of The Community Café, a table-service soup kitchen that has served more than 15,000 meals to needy residents since December 2006.

In addition, Scott Peterson will discuss his work as executive director of The Prudential Spirit of Community Award program, an international effort to promote greater community involvement and volunteerism by young people.

Stephanie Wu, senior vice president of Boston-based City Year, will talk about equipping young people with the skills and opportunities to change the world.

Virgil Gulker, founder of KIDS HOPE USA, will describe his innovative intra-church mentoring program that has trained staff in nearly 700 churches in the U.S. and Australia to engage their membership in "one-to-one" relationships with at-risk elementary children.

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HHS Takes Action to Help Medicare Beneficiaries and Providers in Iowa and Indiana

From HHS News and Events:

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt today declared a public health emergency in the flood-stricken states of Iowa and Indiana.

The action gives HHS' Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) Medicare beneficiaries and their health care providers greater flexibility in meeting emergency health needs.

"The flooding in Iowa and Indiana is devastating to each individual and to their communities," Secretary Leavitt said.

"This designation will allow HHS to immediately assist our beneficiaries and providers in the areas where hospitals and other health care delivery systems have been disrupted.

Because of flood damage to local health care facilities, many beneficiaries have been evacuated to neighboring communities, where receiving hospitals and nursing homes may have no health care records, information on current health status or even verification of the person's status as a Medicare beneficiary.

CMS is assuring those facilities that in this circumstance, the normal burden of documentation will be waived and that they can act under a presumption of eligibility.

The agency will make certain that health care providers that provide items and services in good faith are exempt from sanctions from noncompliance with otherwise applicable requirements, provided there is no fraud or abuse.

This will assist those beneficiaries who left prescriptions in evacuated homes or lost their prescription during the evacuation.

CMS is working with the health insurance industry to ensure there are no barriers to this service for those in plans.

The End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) network has been activated, and CMS may grant further waivers if needed.

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STATEMENT BY HUD SECRETARY STEVE PRESTON ON THE HOPE NOW ALLIANCE'S NEW MORTGAGE ASSISTANCE GUIDELINES

From HUD Press Releases:

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steve Preston released the following statement today regarding the HOPE NOW Alliance's adoption of new guidelines to help homeowners more quickly obtain the assistance they need to avoid foreclosure.

The new uniform guidelines will enable servicers working with HOPE NOW to reach homeowners more quickly about the status of their applications, and whether they have been approved for assistance.

"I applaud HOPE NOW for committing to a service standard that will provide homeowners in need with greater certainty and reliability.

With today's announcement, families worried about how they are going to make their next mortgage payments can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that their servicers are working to give them both clear and timely assistance.

HOPE NOW's commitment and creativity has helped 1.6 million Americans, and today's actions will help many more families be able to receive the assistance they need to stay in their homes.

I strongly encourage Congress to send the President a good FHA Modernization bill and GSE reform measure that do not include other provisions that may have unintended consequences for homeowners and our overall economy."

HUD is the nation's housing agency committed to increasing homeownership, particularly among minorities; creating affordable housing opportunities for low-income Americans; and supporting the homeless, elderly, people with disabilities and people living with AIDS.

The Department also promotes economic and community development and enforces the nation's fair housing laws.

More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet at www.hud.gov and espanol.hud.gov.

For more information about FHA products, please visit www.fha.gov.

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Posted by Michael at 1:09 AM | TrackBack

June 17, 2008

Report Reaffirms Academic Gains for DC Opportunity Scholarship Participants

From Education Newsfeed:

While the report found no statistically significant difference in test scores overall between students who were offered a scholarship and students who were not offered a scholarship, achievement trends are moving in the right direction.

"The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program is a lifeline of hope and opportunity for these low-income students who are striving for a better future for themselves and their families," said U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings.

"The academic gains indicated in the report show that students have chosen to work hard, and their families have chosen to make the commitment to support them in their new schools.

While it reflects the reality that this program is still in its early stages, this report also tells me that no one in a position of responsibility can sever this lifeline right now and leave these kids adrift in schools that are not measuring up-not when they have chosen to create a better future for themselves."

The program allows low-income families in our nation's capital to ensure their children receive the quality education they deserve.

In 2008, these families received $14.8 million in scholarships to cover tuition, fees and transportation expenses to attend the participating private elementary or secondary school of their choice.

If Congress were to discontinue funding for the program and scholarship recipients were forced to return to D.C. public schools, 86 percent of those students would be attending schools that did not meet "adequate yearly progress" in 2006-2007.

The report studies five key outcomes of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program: school differences; academic achievement; parental perceptions of school satisfaction and safety; student reports of school satisfaction and safety; and the impact of using a scholarship.

For more information about the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, please visit http://www.ed.gov/programs/dcchoice/index.html.

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Posted by Michael at 12:05 AM | TrackBack

June 16, 2008

Plight of the Uninsured

From The Commonwealth Fund:

A June 12, 2008 New York Times editorial focused on a Commonwealth Fund study published in Health Affairs that found an estimated 25 million adults in the United States are underinsured. Also see a NewsHour analysis on the study, featuring an interview with lead author Cathy Schoen.

For many years now, the problem of the uninsured has been growing. Today, some 47 million Americans have no health insurance.

Now researchers are focusing again on another significant issue: the underinsured, those who have insurance coverage, but still struggle to pay their medical bills.

Last year, 25 million Americans, 1 in 5 under the age of 65, were underinsured, up from 16 million in 2003, according to a new report by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit foundation that studies health policy issues.

The report was released today in the journal Health Affairs.
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Posted by Michael at 11:41 PM | TrackBack

30 Applicants for Electronic Health Record Demonstration Project

From HHS News and Events:

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt today applauded the more than 30 communities that have applied for a new demonstration project that will provide Medicare incentive payments to primary care physician practices that use certified electronic health records (EHR) to improve the quality of patient care.

It shows the great appetite for programs that offer incentives to physicians who efficiently use EHRs to improve the quality of care they provide to their patients," Secretary Leavitt said.

Additional bonus payments will be available, based on a standardized survey measuring the number of EHR functionalities incorporated by the physician practice.

In recent months, Secretary Leavitt, Deputy Secretary Tevi Troy, and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Acting Administrator Kerry Weems have visited communities across the U.S. to promote participation in the demonstration project.

During the visits, communities were also encouraged to enhance existing or planned private sector projects related to health information technology and quality reporting initiatives.

"By implementing this demonstration in a dozen health markets across the country, we'll help move this nation toward a system that delivers better quality health care at lower cost for more Americans," Acting Administrator Weems said.

The EHR demonstration project is a major step toward the President's goal of most Americans having access to a secure, interoperable electronic health record by 2014.

For more information about the EHR demonstration project, visit http://www.cms.hhs.gov/DemoProjectsEvalRpts/downloads/2008_Electronic_Health_Records_Demonstration.pdf.

These include: adopting interoperable health information technology; measuring and publishing quality information to enable consumers to make better decisions about their providers and treatment options; measuring and publishing price information to give consumers information they need to make decisions on purchasing health care; and promoting incentives for high-quality, efficient delivery of care.

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Posted by Michael at 11:35 PM | TrackBack

HHS Secretary Announces 12 Communities Selected to Advance Use of Electronic Health Records in First Ever National Demonstration

From HHS News and Events:

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt today named 12 communities that will participate in a national Medicare demonstration project that provides incentive payments to physicians for using certified electronic health records (EHR) to improve the quality of patient care.

"The use of electronic health records, and of health information technology as a whole, has the ability to transform the way health care is delivered in our nation," Secretary Leavitt said.

This project is designed to demonstrate these benefits and help increase the use of this technology in practices where adoption has been the slowest -- at the individual physician and small practice level."

They demonstrated active collaboration among stakeholders, including physicians and other providers, health plans, employers, government and consumers; existing or planned private sector initiatives related to health information technology and quality reporting; and adequate size to recruit a sufficient number of primary care physician practices.

It is my hope that those communities not selected and others that were not yet prepared to apply will continue working together to improve health care -- and consider creating their own incentive-based projects to advance the use of EHRs."

In a community where health care providers and payers have already achieved significant coordination in applying for the Medicare demonstration, it may be possible to design independent incentive programs even without Medicare's participation."

Over the five-year demonstration project, financial incentives will be provided to as many as 1,200 primary care physician practices in the selected communities that use certified EHRs to improve quality as measured by their performance on specific clinical quality measures.

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Posted by Michael at 11:34 PM | TrackBack

BUSH ADMINISTRATION RENEWS EFFORT TO ADDRESS RISKY LOANS ON GOVERNMENT-BACKED MORTGAGES

From HUD Press Releases:

The Bush Administration today renewed its efforts to address risky government-backed seller-funded downpayment assistance loans that are significantly more likely to lead to foreclosure.

HUD's Federal Housing Administration (FHA) will reopen the public comment period on a proposed rule that would ban seller-funded downpayment assistance on mortgage transactions insured by the FHA.

The proposed rule will be re-published in the Federal Register and comments will be accepted for 60 days following publication.

This year, as a result of its annual re-estimate, FHA had to book an additional of $4.6 billion in unanticipated long-term losses, mostly due to the increased number of certain types of seller-funded loans in the FHA portfolio.

We are concerned about this business because the substantial losses affect FHA's bottom line and FHA's ability to serve American citizens who need access to prime-rate home loans," Montgomery stressed.

That, I think, would have a far-reaching impact on the economy: it would severely reduce the number of new homeowners each year; and it would also sharply reduce the need for the services required to build and maintain homes.

Specifically, it would prohibit downpayment assistance provided before, during, or after closing of the sale by the seller, any other person or entity that financially benefits from the transaction, or any third party or entity that is reimbursed directly or indirectly by any of the parties benefiting from the sale.

The rule would clarify that downpayment funds for FHA-insured mortgages cannot be derived from sellers - directly or indirectly - or any other party that stands to benefit from the transaction financially.

"The IRS, GAOÂ and our own Inspector General have previously expressed concerns with these circular financing schemes.

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Posted by Michael at 11:31 PM | TrackBack

Financial Help among Family and Friends in Vulnerable Neighborhoods : Part 1: Who Gives?

From Urban Institute:

Financial assistance from family and friends is an important resource for lower-income families dealing with difficult economic circumstances.

This fact examines what percent of respondents in low-income neighborhoods gave financial help, either to family and friends or to other people they live with, in the last 12 months.

This does not differ substantially when we examine immigrant and U.S.- born groups as a whole.

Among U.S.-born respondents, approximately two-fifths of whites, blacks, and Asian Americans gave financial help to family and friends.

U.S.-born Hispanics gave financial help at a substantially lower rate (30 percent).

Not surprisingly, the groups differ substantially in whether the financial assistance given is to those within the U.S. or out of the country.

Only 10 percent of U.S.- born respondents who gave financial assistance sent it outside of the country, as compared with 83 percent of immigrant respondents.

Respondents of from Africa and the West Indies (combined), Southeast Asia, and Latin America sent over threefourths of their financial assistance to family and friends outside of the country (75, 83, and 88 percent respectively).

Respondents from Europe and Canada (combined) and China and India (combined) have lower rates of sending help outside of the country than other immigrant groups (49 and 56 percent respectively).

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Posted by Michael at 11:21 PM | TrackBack

Financial Help among Family and Friends in Vulnerable Neighborhoods : Part 2: Who Receives?

From Urban Institute:

In the second fact we examine what percent of respondents in low-income neighborhoods received financial help in the last 12 months from families and friends or from other people they live with.

Overall, 25 percent of respondents received financial help from families and friends. This figure differs substantially by nativity. Moreover, the patterns of receiving help from family and friends are fairly similar across race and ethnic groups for U.S.-born respondents, whereas the percent of immigrant respondents who received help from family and friends differed sizably among region of origin.

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Posted by Michael at 11:20 PM | TrackBack

Why Not a "Super Simple" Saving Plan for the United States?

From Urban Institute Latest ReportsSearch:

Despite decades of significant tax subsidies for pensions and retirement accounts, most Americans retire with little or no pension saving. This paper suggests that it is possible to create a "Super Simple" saving plan that would provide a basic, low-cost, easily administrable plan with the potential to increase significantly the retirement assets available to moderate- and middle-income individuals. This plan follows the lead of a new system about to be implemented in the United Kingdom, which features automatic contribution for employees who do not opt out, a significant government match, and simplification of existing rules amongst other elements. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:19 PM | TrackBack

Do Welfare and IDA Program Policies Affect Asset Holdings?

From Urban Institute Latest ReportsSearch:

This brief presents an empirical analysis of how asset tests affect families asset holdings. The findings suggest that more lenient asset tests and more generous IDA program rules can lead families to increase their asset holdings. Relaxed vehicle asset limits, for example, are associated with increased vehicle ownership. Since people often need a reliable car to get to work, this finding suggests that exempting at least one vehicle in all states may increase employment and job stability among low-income families. The findings also suggest that restrictions on withdrawals and incentives built into restricted asset accounts and IDA programs may provide families with motivation to build assets. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:19 PM | TrackBack

Portraits of the Assets and Liabilities of Low-Income Families

From Urban Institute Latest ReportsSearch:

Nearly one quarter of low-income families do not have a checking or savings account, more than one-third do not own cars, 60 percent do not own a home, and 90 percent have no retirement account. In contrast, the typical middle-income family has checking or savings accounts, retirement accounts, owns a car and a home. This brief synthesizes current research on the assets and liabilities of low-income families into a variety of portraits and provides suggestions for future research and policy. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:18 PM | TrackBack

Children's Savings Accounts: Why Design Matters

From Urban Institute Latest ReportsSearch:

One way to achieve an ownership society is to endow all children with savings accounts starting at birth. This report shows that specific design features of a children's savings account program will impact the distribution of wealth. For example, non-taxability of account earnings distributes significantly more benefits to higher-income groups than to lower-income groups. Also, because many families experience mobility over their lifetimes, a significant portion of benefits conditioned on low annual income will accrue to middle- and higher-income families. Regardless, these accounts could be important in getting children banked and teaching them the value of saving and compound interest. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:17 PM | TrackBack

Unemployment and Unemployment Protection in Transition

From Urban Institute Latest ReportsSearch:

This paper examines developments in aggregate income and the labor market of the 28 countries from Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union (CEE-FSU) in the period from 1990 to 2006. Income, employment, unemployment and labor market support services are examined in tabulations and time series regressions. Comparisons are made with developments in major countries from other regions of the world. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:16 PM | TrackBack

The Challenges of Prisoner Reentry: Facts and Figures

From Urban Institute Latest ReportsSearch:

This fact sheet points out the main challenges former jail and prison inmates have in returning to society. The consequences of their employment problems and recidivism are experienced not just by the former inmates but also by their families, which are predominantly low-income and include over 3 million children. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:16 PM | TrackBack

Welfare Rules Databook: State TANF Policies as of July 2006

From Urban Institute Latest ReportsSearch:

The Welfare Rules Databook, provides tables containing key Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) policies for each state as of July 2006, as well as longitudinal tables describing selected state policies from 1996 through 2006. The tables are based on the information in the Welfare Rules Database (WRD), a publicly available, online database tracking state cash assistance policies over time and across the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The Databook summarizes a subset of the information in the WRD. Users interested in a greater level of detail are encouraged to use the full database, available at http://anfdata.urban.org/wrd. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:15 PM | TrackBack

Welfare Rules Databook: State TANF Policies as of July 2004

From Urban Institute Latest ReportsSearch:

The Welfare Rules Databook, provides tables containing key Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) policies for each state as of July 2004, as well as longitudinal tables describing selected state policies from 1996 through 2004. The tables are based on the information in the Welfare Rules Database (WRD), a publicly available, online database tracking state cash assistance policies over time and across the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The Databook summarizes a subset of the information in the WRD. Users interested in a greater level of detail are encouraged to use the full database, available at http://anfdata.urban.org/wrd. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:14 PM | TrackBack

Welfare Rules Databook: State TANF Policies as of July 2005

From Urban Institute Latest ReportsSearch:

The Welfare Rules Databook, provides tables containing key Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) policies for each state as of July 2005, as well as longitudinal tables describing selected state policies from 1996 through 2005. The tables are based on the information in the Welfare Rules Database (WRD), a publicly available, online database tracking state cash assistance policies over time and across the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The Databook summarizes a subset of the information in the WRD. Users interested in a greater level of detail are encouraged to use the full database, available at http://anfdata.urban.org/wrd. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:14 PM | TrackBack

Measuring Trends in Income Variability

From Urban Institute Latest ReportsSearch:

Using PSID data from 1968 to 2005, we find that the volatility of family income has increased over time (a trend that is robust to a large variety of modeling choices) but the trend in individual income volatility is less clear. Measurement error cannot fully account for these facts, but the increasing covariance of individual incomes within the family (driven by increases in the correlation of head and spouse earnings, due largely to the increased proportion of families with two earners) can. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:13 PM | TrackBack

Health Insurance Coverage of Young Adults : Issues and Broader Considerations

From Urban Institute Latest ReportsSearch:

Nearly one in three young adults ages 19 to 26 lacks health insurance coverage. This age group is at high risk of lacking insurance coverage because of low access to employer-sponsored insurance and subsidized public coverage. Given that so many uninsured young adults are low-income, significant public subsidies will be needed to address their uninsurance problem. Some policy options available include public program expansions, tax credits, direct subsidies, or individual mandates. Ultimately, decisions about allocating greater public subsidies for covering young adults or imposing mandates should be made in the context of considerations about broader health care reform. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:12 PM | TrackBack

The Distribution of Federal Taxes, 2008-11

From Urban Institute Latest ReportsSearch:

Overall, the federal tax system is highly progressive. On average, households with higher incomes pay taxes that are a larger share of their income. The tax cuts passed since 2001 have reduced progressivity with the notable exception of the 2008 stimulus package. Almost all provisions of the tax cuts are set to expire by the end of 2010. Barring legislative action, effective tax rates will rise across the income spectrum in 2011 with the largest increases in the upper income classes. This paper summarizes the Tax Policy Center's latest estimates of the distribution of federal taxes for 2008 through 2011. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:12 PM | TrackBack

HUD ANNOUNCES DISASTER ASSISTANCE FOR THREE MIDWEST STATES

From HUD Press Releases:

WASHINGTON - U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steve Preston today announced HUD will speed federal disaster assistance to dozens of storm-ravaged counties in Iowa, Indiana and Wisconsin and provide support to homeowners and low-income renters forced from their homes following severe storms, tornadoes, and flooding. This assistance includes foreclosure relief for families whose homes are insured through HUD's Federal Housing Administration (FHA). Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:09 PM | TrackBack

Welfare Time Limits

From MDRC:

Time limits became a central feature of federal policy in the landmark 1996 welfare law, which created the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant.

Under contract to the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, The Lewin Group and MDRC have conducted a comprehensive review of what has been learned about time limits.

The review, which updates a 2002 study, includes analysis of administrative data reported by states to ACF, visits to several states, and a literature review.

Federal law affords states great flexibility in setting time-limit policies.

The federal 60-month limit does not apply to state-funded benefits; also, states may use federal TANF funds to support up to 20 percent of the caseload beyond 60 months.

Thus, states may set a 60-month time limit, a shorter limit, or no time limit, and they may choose to exempt families from time limits.

About 44 percent of TANF households are not subject to federal or state time limits because they are "child-only cases" --- typically, children living with a relative or families in which the parent is not eligible for benefits.

Nationally, at least a quarter million TANF cases have been closed due to reaching a time limit since 1996, although about one-third of these closures have occurred in New York, which routinely transfers cases to a state and locally funded program that provides the same amount of benefits as TANF.

Many of the families whose TANF cases were closed due to time limits are struggling financially and report being worse off than they were while on welfare.

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Posted by Michael at 11:04 PM | TrackBack

June 15, 2008

2008 KIDS COUNT Data Book Released June 12

Annie E. Casey Foundation:

National trends in child well-being taken together have improved slightly since 2000, according to a report released today by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Five areas of improvement: child death rate, teen death rate, teen birth rate, high school dropout rate, and teens not in school and not working; One area had no change: infant mortality rate; and Four areas have worsened: low-birthweight babies, children living in families where no parent has full time year round employment, children in poverty, and children in single parent families.

Casey's KIDS COUNT Data Book's essay, "A Road Map for Juvenile Justice Reform," discusses developments in the nation's juvenile justice systems, highlighting recent research and reforms that provide the basis for a fundamental, urgently needed transformation.

In 2006, the estimated daily count of detained and committed youth in the custody of juvenile justice facilities was 92,854.

In the same year, two out of three (66 percent) of all youth in custody were there due to a non-violent offense and the ratio of rates of youth of color to white youth in custody was 3 to 1.The essay makes the case for keeping youth out of the adult justice system, reducing incarceration, ensuring safe institutions, and eliminating racially disparate treatment.

More than two decades of research from scholars has expanded the understanding of causes of delinquency and the developmental pathways that lead young people into and out of delinquency.

As a result, there are several lessons that states and the nation must consider in order to move forward, such as giving families a critical role in resolving delinquency and reforming practices that blur or ignore the well-established differences between youth and adults.

Posted by Michael at 12:33 AM | TrackBack

June 13, 2008

AARP Disappointed by U.S. Senate Vote to Block Medicare Improvement Bill

From PR Newswire:

Today a minority of the U.S. Senate blocked critical legislation to protect and improve Medicare for the 44 million Americans who depend on it.

The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act, which would have improved Medicare's prevention, mental health, and low-income programs and instituted a national program for electronic prescribing, was blocked by a group of Senators during a procedural vote.

"While we are disappointed by today's outcome, we applaud Senator Durbin for voting to improve Medicare and bring this bill to the floor for an up-or-down vote," said Bob Gallo, Illinois State Director for AARP.

"This bipartisan legislation would have helped more Americans afford their health care bills while bringing our doctors' offices and pharmacies into the 21st century with e-prescribing.

AARP has been advocating for several months to ensure that people in Medicare do not face an unfair increase in their premiums when Congress addresses physician payment cuts.

AARP has also been advocating for improvements to Medicare, particularly the low-income programs, including raising asset limits, simplifying the application process and improving collaboration between Medicare and the Social Security Administration to screen people who may be eligible for low-income help and not know it.

AARP notified the 110th Congress that it was tracking roll call votes on key legislation important to its 39 million members and reporting the outcomes of these votes back to its members.

ATTENTION NEWS DESKS: AARP is recording House and Senate roll call votes on key issues throughout the 110th Congress, and informing its nearly 40 million members of the results of these key votes.

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Posted by Michael at 12:15 AM | TrackBack

NIH study concludes next week's summer chorus camp for seniors improves quality of life

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Encore Creativity for Older Adults and St. Mary's College of Maryland (SMCM) will co-host Encore's first Summer Chorale Camp Tuesday, June 17, through Saturday, June 21, at SMCM.

Encore executive director Jeanne Kelly helped lead a study about senior citizens, aged 65-103, that revealed a positive connection between regular artistic activity and improved physical and mental health.

Participants' age ranged from 65-103, and they were divided into two groups---the control group and those who participated in cultural programs like Encore.

Compared to the control group, the study concluded that participants in cultural programs saw a decrease in doctor's visits, prescription and over-the-counter medication use, and a decrease in falls.

Senior campers will have the opportunity to work with Jeanne Kelly, founder and director of Encore, as well as other faculty members.

The curriculum includes movement classes, full choral rehearsals, free time to explore Historic St. Mary's City, vocal technique classes, sectionals and sight reading classes, and another full rehearsal.

Evenings consist of dinner in the SMCM dining hall and entertain-ment, including the Friday evening River Concert Series.

Encore Chorale Camp participants will attend concerts performed by guest artists.

The first concert features the West Shore Piano Trio on Tuesday, June 17, at 7:30 p.m. in Montgomery Hall.

Encore is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing an excellent and accessible artistic environ-ment for older adults, 55 and over, regardless of experience or ability, who seek arts education and per-formance opportunities under a professional artist.

St. Mary's College of Maryland is ranked one of the best liberal arts colleges in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, The Princeton Review, Newsweek and Kiplinger's.

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Posted by Michael at 12:00 AM | TrackBack

June 12, 2008

Study pinpoints strategies that protect older adult's physical health

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Researchers are now backing up this counsel in the lab; showing just how "raging" against threats to one's health is critical to good health and survival in late life.

The existing research on longevity supports the notion that one should become actively involved in one's health in an effort to prevent further decline.

Such strategies include investing time and energy in dealing with even minor health issues, seeking help when health problems are encountered, and believing that one can overcome health problems when they arise.

Carsten Wrosch of Concordia University in Montreal and Richard Schulz of the University of Pittsburgh decided to look at the long-term health impacts of these strategies.

The results, appearing in the June issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science are revealing.

Among older adults who experienced many daily physical symptoms, those who did not invest in counteracting these challenges developed approximately one additional chronic health problem and one additional functional limitation two years later.

In contrast, no physical health declines were observed among older adults who were actively engaged in overcoming these health threats.

The researchers also found that the effect on changes in chronic health problems were partly mediated by an impaired diurnal cortisol rhythm, a biological process that is widely thought to be a key factor in the association between stressful experiences and physical health problems, in older adults.

The authors note that these active control strategies may not be as effective when used in the later stages of physical decline and that these findings point to a small window of opportunity in postponing long-term health declines and mortality.

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Posted by Michael at 11:59 PM | TrackBack

Even before tomato warning, many Americans lacked confidence in the food safety system

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

A new national study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health Project on the Public and Biological Security finds that, in spite of a number of food safety incidents in recent years, most Americans remain confident that the food produced in the United States is safe.

Nine in ten Americans had heard about food being recalled in the last two years.* About eight in ten (82%) specifically remember the ground beef recall, 74% the spinach recall, and 55% the peanut butter recall.

In addition to protecting themselves during food recalls, Americans take action to protect themselves from potentially unsafe food when eating out.

Of the 59% of Americans who ever read restaurant inspection notices in their local newspapers, 88% reported they avoid those restaurants that have been cited for violations.

The poll, conducted before the recent FDA warning about the salmonella threat posed by some fresh tomatoes, found that a substantial proportion of Americans know what salmonella is and worry about it.

While majorities knew that cooking food thoroughly would protect against salmonella (68%) and E. coli (61%), 41% of respondents incorrectly believed that cooking could protect against botulism, and a third that cooking could protect against mad cow (32%).

When asked about some of the places where they might get their food, strong majorities of Americans considered food to be at least somewhat risky if it came from street vendors and pushcarts (88%), buffet restaurants (76%), salad bars (74%) or fast food restaurants (72%), while food from school cafeterias (48%), home kitchens (44%), or farmer's markets (44%) were considered risky by the lowest number of Americans.

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Posted by Michael at 11:58 PM | TrackBack

New research shows how aging brain brings a healthy dose of perspective

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Edmonton, Alberta - A University of Alberta researcher in collaboration with researchers from Duke University has proven that wisdom really does come with age, at least when it comes to your emotions.

A study conducted by Dr. Florin Dolcos, assistant professor of psychiatry and neuroscience in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, identified brain patterns that help healthy older people regulate and control emotion better than their younger counterparts.

During the study, younger and older participants were asked to rate the emotional content of standardized images as positive, neutral or negative, while their brain activity was monitored with a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine, a high-tech device that uses a large magnet to take pictures inside the brain.

The scans showed increased interactions between the amygdala, a brain region involved in emotion detection, and the anterior cingulate cortex, a brain region involved in emotion control.

According to Dr. Dolcos, "These findings indicate that emotional control improves with aging, and that it's the increased interaction between these two brain regions that allows healthy seniors to control their emotional response so that they are less affected by upsetting situations."

The study, published in the journal Neurobiology of Aging, was performed under the co-ordination of Dr. Roberto Cabeza and in collaboration with Ms.

"If we can better understand how the brain works to create a positivity bias in older people, then we can apply this knowledge to better understand and treat mental health issues with a negativity bias, such as depression and anxiety disorders, in which patients have difficulty coping with emotionally challenging situations," Dolcos said.

The Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta is a leader in educating and training exceptional practitioners and researchers in the highest international standards.

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Posted by Michael at 11:57 PM | TrackBack

Rejected Lawsuit Against Ohio for Noncompliance With Federal Voter Registration Law Appealed in U.S. Court of Appeals

From Ascribe Newsfeed:

The lawsuit was filed for noncompliance with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA), Section 7, requiring that voter registration opportunities must be offered in public assistance agencies.

The lower court dismissed the case in August 2007 after holding that no state official could be held responsible for the widespread and systematic failure to provide voter registration services at public assistance offices as required by federal law, and that decision is being appealed by counsel from voting rights groups Demos, The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and Project Vote.

In support of the appeal, the Justice Department's civil rights division submitted a "friend-of-the-court-brief" to the federal appeals court, asserting that both state officials have a clear duty to ensure voter registration opportunities are available and urging the court to reverse the lower court's decision.

Today's oral argument before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals is necessary to reinstitute the lawsuit compelling Ohio's full compliance with federal law.

This morning, we have argued an appeal in federal court because Ohio is unwilling to rectify its violation of the voting rights of thousands of eligible Ohio citizens in failing to offer the voter registration opportunities required by the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.

Put frankly, state officials are content to let the problem fester, as the state continues to ignore clear mandates in federal law, and while hundreds of thousands of low-income citizens remain outside the political process.

"The law very clearly makes it the state's responsibility to provide the opportunity to register to vote at public assistance offices.

AScribe Newswire distributes news from nonprofit and public sector organizations.

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Posted by Michael at 11:49 PM | TrackBack

$33.6 Million Grant to Help Create More Charter Schools in Florida

From Education Newsfeed:

U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Raymond Simon today announced the award of a $33.6 million grant to Florida to help it create more quality charter schools and increase school choices that parents have to provide to their children.

Florida is one of five states receiving the competitive grants through the Department's Charter Schools Program (CSP), which supports states' efforts to plan, design, implement and disseminate information about charter schools.

The other states receiving grants are Oregon, New York, Utah, and Idaho.

Florida has a strong record of support for charter schools.

More than 350 charter schools serve more than 100,000 students across the state, and Florida is now poised to focus on scaling up the best models.

In awarding grants, the Department must give preference to states that provide chartering agencies that are not a local education agency, such as a state chartering board, that have demonstrated progress in increasing the number of high-quality schools that are held accountable for reaching clear and measurable objectives, and that give public charter schools a high degree of autonomy over their budgets and expenditures.

Charter schools are independent public schools designed and operated by parents, educators, community leaders, education entrepreneurs and others with a contract, or charter, from a public agency, such as a local or state education agency or an institution of higher education.

Exempt from many statutory and regulatory requirements, charter schools receive increased flexibility in exchange for increased accountability for improving academic achievement.

The first U.S. charter school opened in 1992.

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Posted by Michael at 11:48 PM | TrackBack

SeniorNet, H.R.C. Foundation Bring Seniors in Chula Vista, Calif., Across 'Digital Divide' With Free Computer Access, Instruction

From Ascribe Newsfeed:

SeniorNet, the world's leading nonprofit technology educator of older adults, with funding from the H.R.C. Foundation and in partnership with the Metropolitan Area Advisory Committee (MAAC) Project, a multi-purpose social service agency that promotes self-sufficiency for low and moderate income families and communities of Southern California, today said it will open a new SeniorNet Computer Learning Center to bring free computer access and education to low-income, Latino seniors in Chula Vista, Calif.

The Grand Opening event and Open House will take place on June 17th, 2008 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the MAAC Project 'Seniors On Broadway' affordable housing community, at 845 Broadway, Chula Vista, CA 91911.

All press and community members are invited to attend.

The opening of this scholarship-based SeniorNet Learning Center is part of a three-year grant from the H.R.C. Foundation to bridge the 'Digital Divide' by bringing the life-changing benefits of computer access and education to seniors of all backgrounds and ethnicities that are living in urban, underserved communities across the U.S. The H.R.C. Foundation is a private family foundation that funds programs for low-income children and families as well as older adults.

"SeniorNet is grateful to the H.R.C. Foundation and is proud to partner with the MAAC Project to bring technology into the lives of seniors living in the Chula Vista community," said Kristin Fabos, SeniorNet Executive Director.

In addition to computer access and education at the SeniorNet Computer Learning Center, the development offers seniors the opportunity to be involved in an intergenerational learning program with the students at the Chula Vista Elementary Charter School, located next door.

AScribe Newswire distributes news from nonprofit and public sector organizations.

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Posted by Michael at 11:47 PM | TrackBack

Building buff brains: Remedial instruction can close gap between good, poor readers

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Just as a disciplined exercise regimen helps human muscles become stronger and perform better, specialized workouts for the brain can boost cognitive skills, according to Carnegie Mellon scientists.

Their new brain imaging study of poor readers found that 100 hours of remedial instruction --- reading calisthenics, of sorts, aimed to shore up problem areas --- not only improved the skills of struggling readers, but also changed the way their brains activated when they comprehended written sentences.

Carnegie Mellon researchers say poor readers initially have less activation in the parietotemporal area of the brain, which is the region responsible for decoding the sounds of written language and assembling them into words and phrases that make up a sentence, than do good readers.

However, remedial instruction increases the struggling readers' activation to near normal levels.

"This study demonstrates how the plasticity of the human brain can work for the benefit of remedial learning," says neuroscientist Marcel Just, director of Carnegie Mellon's Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging (CCBI), and senior author of the new study currently available on the Web site of the journal Neuropsychologia.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), CCBI Research Fellows Ann Meyler and Tim Keller measured blood flow to all of the different parts of the brain while children were reading and found that that the parietotemporal areas were significantly less activated among the poor readers than in the control group.

There is a persistent but incorrect belief that dyslexia is primarily caused by difficulties in the visual perception of letters, leading to confusions between letters like "p" and "d".

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Posted by Michael at 11:45 PM | TrackBack

The Evaluation of Enhanced Academic Instruction in After-School Programs

From MDRC:

With the press to improve the achievement of children, educators are increasingly turning to after-school programs as a venue to provide supplemental academic support.

The U.S. Department of Education's 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) program, established in 1999, provides approximately $1 billion to states each year, with the primary purpose of providing opportunities for academic enrichment to help students meet state and local standards in core content areas.

Findings from a previous national evaluation of the 21st CCLC program indicate that, on average, program grants awarded between 1999 and 2002 had a limited impact on elementary school students' academic achievement.

A possible factor is the finding that most academic activities at the evaluation sites consisted of only homework sessions in which students received limited additional academic assistance.

Therefore, the low levels of formal academic assistance offered in these programs and the programs' limited academic effects highlighted the need for improved academic instruction in after-school settings.

In response, the Institute of Education Sciences funded the development and evaluation of instructional resources for reading and math that could be used in after-school programs for elementary school students.

This study tests whether such instructional approaches produce better academic outcomes than regular after-school services that consist primarily of help with homework or of locally assembled materials that do not follow a structured curriculum.

There are positive and statistically significant impacts for the enhanced math program on student achievement, representing 8.5 percent more growth over the school year for students in the enhanced program group, as measured by SAT 10 total math scores.

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Posted by Michael at 11:44 PM | TrackBack

Insomnia in parents can result in sleep problems, suicidal behavior among their offspring

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

A history of chronic insomnia in parents is not only associated with elevated risk for insomnia but also with elevated risks for use of hypnotics, psychopathology and suicidal behavior in adolescent offspring, according to a research abstract that will be presented on Thursday at SLEEP 2008, the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS).

The study, authored by Xianchen Liu, MD, PhD, of the University of Pittsburgh, focused on 798 teenagers (450 boys and 348 girls), with an average age of 14.4 years, who completed a sleep and health questionnaire.

According to the results, compared with adolescents of parents without insomnia, participants of insomnia parents were more than twice more likely to report insomnia, daytime fatigue, and use of hypnotics.

"These results suggest that a history of chronic insomnia in parents is not only associated with elevated risk for insomnia, but also with elevated risks for a wide range of mental health problems, substance use, and suicidal behavior in adolescent offspring," said Dr. Liu.

"Family sleep interventions may be important to enhance sleep quality and decrease risks for sleep disturbance, psychopathology and suicidal behavior in adolescents.

Insomnia is a classification of sleep disorders in which a person has trouble falling asleep, staying asleep or waking up too early.

Avoid foods or drinks that contain caffeine, as well as any medicine that has a stimulant, prior to bedtime.

The annual SLEEP meeting brings together an international body of 5,000 leading researchers and clinicians in the field of sleep medicine to present and discuss new findings and medical developments related to sleep and sleep disorders.

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Posted by Michael at 11:42 PM | TrackBack

REM sleep associated with overweight in children and adolescents

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Short sleep time is associated with overweight in children and adolescents, a core aspect of which may be attributed to reduced REM sleep, according to a research abstract that will be presented on Thursday at SLEEP 2008, the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS).

After adjustment for demographics, pubertal status, ethnicity, and psychiatric diagnosis, one hour less of total sleep increased the odds of overweight by about two-fold, one hour less of REM sleep increased the odds by about three-fold, REM density and activity below the median increased the odds by two- and three-fold, respectively.

"Given the fact that the prevalence of overweight among children and adolescents continues to increase, and chronic sleep insufficiency becomes more and more prevalent in the modern society, family and school-based sleep interventions which aim to enhance sleep hygiene and increase sleep duration may have important public health implications for the prevention and intervention of obesity and type-two diabetes in children and adolescents," said Dr. Liu.

Studies have linked sleep deprivation among children and adolescents to increased incidence of obesity and cardiovascular disease, and can also result in behavioral problems, lead to poor academic performance and affect relationships with their peers.

Avoid foods or drinks that contain caffeine, as well as any medicine that has a stimulant, prior to bedtime.

Set aside 10 to 30 minutes to get your child ready to go to sleep each night.

The annual SLEEP meeting brings together an international body of 5,000 leading researchers and clinicians in the field of sleep medicine to present and discuss new findings and medical developments related to sleep and sleep disorders.

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Posted by Michael at 11:41 PM | TrackBack

Delaying school start time by one hour positively affects adolescents' cognitive performance

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Delaying an adolescent's school start time by one hour has a positive effect on his or her cognitive performance, according to a research abstract that will be presented on Thursday at SLEEP 2008, the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS).

The study, authored by Orna Tzischinsky, PhD, of Emek Yezreel College in Israel, focused on 47 eighth graders from two classes, who were divided into experimental and control groups for a two-week period.

On the fifth day of each week, the students performed a cognitive test.

According to the results, during the first week, the experimental class woke up 51 minutes later on average than the control class, while during the second week, the experimental and the control class woke up at the same time.

Bedtime and sleep efficiency remained the same during both weeks.

"The results demonstrate that longer sleep duration positively affects cognitive functioning."

It is recommended that adolescents get nine hours of nightly sleep.

Avoid foods or drinks that contain caffeine, as well as any medicine that has a stimulant, prior to bedtime.

Make your bedroom quiet, dark and a little bit cool.

The annual SLEEP meeting brings together an international body of 5,000 leading researchers and clinicians in the field of sleep medicine to present and discuss new findings and medical developments related to sleep and sleep disorders.

More than 1,000 research abstracts will be presented at the SLEEP meeting, a joint venture of the AASM and the Sleep Research Society.

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Posted by Michael at 11:40 PM | TrackBack

Poor sleep linked to suicidal behavior among children and adolescents with depressive episodes

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

A research abstract that will be presented on Thursday at SLEEP 2008, the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS), finds a link between poor sleep and suicidal behavior among children and adolescents with depressive episodes.

The study, authored by Maria-Cecilia Lopes, MD, PhD, of Sao Paulo University in Brazil, focused on 303 individuals with pediatric bipolar disorder and pediatric unipolar disorder during depressive episodes.

Poor sleep was more frequent among those with pediatric bipolar disorder and pediatric unipolar disorder, and this was clearly detected by the presence of initial insomnia and sleep maintenance insomnia.

Surprisingly, there was a significant association between suicidal behavior and the presence of sleep complaints in both groups.

The proportion of subjects who reported suicidal behaviors with sleep complaints was higher among bipolar than unipolar patients.

The presence of sleep complaints during depressive episodes in pediatric bipolar and unipolar disorders must lead to a search for suicidal behavior, said Dr. Lopes, adding that there are clinical neurobiological issues about these findings that need to be clarified.

Avoid foods or drinks that contain caffeine, as well as any medicine that has a stimulant, prior to bedtime.

Set aside 10 to 30 minutes to get your child ready to go to sleep each night.

Parents should consult with their child's pediatrician or a sleep specialist.

The annual SLEEP meeting brings together an international body of 5,000 leading researchers and clinicians in the field of sleep medicine to present and discuss new findings and medical developments related to sleep and sleep disorders.

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Posted by Michael at 11:40 PM | TrackBack

Open Society Institute Launches Campaign to Promote Black Men and Boys' Achievement

From Ascribe Newsfeed:

The Open Society Institute's U.S. Programs today announced a new campaign to address the exclusion of African American men and boys from the economic and political mainstream in the United States.

Today's announcement comes on the heels of a growing body of research revealing that the isolation and negative outcomes for African American men and boys is more extreme than previously acknowledged.

For example, more than 50 percent of all African American boys do not finish high school and a mere 18 percent of black males aged 18 to 21 are enrolled in college.

"The promise of America will only be achieved by reversing the outcomes that prevent black men and boys from realizing their potential," said Shawn Dove, manager of OSI's Campaign for Black Male Achievement.

"Nothing defeats the spirit of open society more than marginalizing a group of people," said Dove, a community leader with more than two decades of experience in youth development, education, and organizing.

Dove joins the campaign after serving as one of the founding directors of New York City's Beacon School movement in the early 1990s; initiating a public awareness and recruitment initiative called the Male Mentoring Project in response to the lack of African American and Latino male mentors for New York City's boys; and founding Proud Poppa, a community empowerment publication for African American fathers.

AScribe transmits news releases directly to newsroom computer systems and desktops of major media organizations via a supremely trusted channel - The Associated Press.

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Posted by Michael at 11:37 PM | TrackBack

New Ford Foundation Grant Supports Effort to Reduce Mortgage Foreclosures Nationwide

Ford Foundation

New technology that allows credit counselors to significantly speed up loan modifications and other solutions for homeowners caught in the nation's mortgage crisis has spurred a $2 million investment from the Ford Foundation.

The grant will support the Consumer Credit Counseling Service (CCCS) of Greater Atlanta, which has piloted a new software platform that lets credit counselors eliminate lengthy delays faced by homeowners in urgent need of modified mortgages.

The foundation's grant to CCCS is the first in series of major investments to address the impact of the foreclosure crisis on homeowners and communities.

"Keeping American homeowners in their homes is an urgent priority for us," said Frank DeGiovanni, director of economic development at the Ford Foundation.

"Preventing foreclosure is beneficial to borrowers and lenders alike, yet confusion, delay and distrust on both sides have often stood in the way of sensible loan modifications.

CCCS of Greater Atlanta is committed to expanding the new software platform to additional nonprofit counseling agencies that staff the Homeownership Preservation Foundation's HOPE hotline.

"The Ford Foundation's grant will help us expand the reach of this new work, ensuring that more borrowers have access to high-quality credit counseling services," said Suzanne Boas, president of CCCS of Greater Atlanta, one of the highest performing nonprofit credit counseling facilities in the country.

For more than half a century The Ford Foundation has been a resource for innovative people and institutions worldwide, guided by its goals of strengthening democratic values, reducing poverty and injustice, promoting international cooperation and advancing human achievement.

Posted by Michael at 11:05 AM | TrackBack

June 11, 2008

Save $1 billion and 800 lives

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

The economic burden of alcohol abuse costs each Canadian $463 per year.

In fact, the direct health care costs for alcohol abuse in Canada exceed those of cancer.

Released today by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), the Avoidable Cost of Alcohol Abuse in Canada 2002 report estimates that, even under very conservative assumptions, implementing six reviewed interventions would result in cost savings of about $1 billion per year and a savings of about 800 lives, close to 26,000 years of life lost to premature death and more than 88,000 acute care hospital days in Canada per year.

This pioneering study is Canada's first systematic estimate of the avoidable costs of alcohol abuse, and the first study of its kind worldwide.

To calculate the avoidable burden and avoidable costs of alcohol abuse in Canada for 2002, CAMH Senior Scientist Dr. Jürgen Rehm and his team estimated the potential economic impact of increasing alcohol taxation, lowering the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) legal limit from 0.08 per cent to 0.05 percent, zero tolerance BAC for all drivers under age 21, increasing the legal minimum drinking age from 19 to 21 years of age, a Safer Bars intervention, and brief interventions (routine screening with concise advice for problematic alcohol users by primary care physicians or other health professionals).

Implementing all six interventions would decrease productivity losses by more than $561 million or 58 per cent of the total avoidable cost due to alcohol, decrease health care costs (saving almost $230 million or 24 per cent), and lower criminality costs by almost $178 million or 18 per cent.

The most effective intervention to reduce avoidable costs in health care, criminality and productivity losses was the brief interventions (saving almost $602 million per year, 62 per cent of total savings), followed by increasing alcohol taxes (saving more than $211 million per year, 22 per cent of total savings).

The most effective intervention for preventing drinking and driving incidents in Canada was lowering the BAC level, which would result in a 19 per cent reduction.

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Posted by Michael at 10:29 PM | TrackBack

Normal sleep linked to successful aging

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

A research abstract that will be presented on Wednesday at SLEEP 2008, the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS), finds a link between normal sleep and healthy aging.

Items related to less daytime napping and fewer complaints of sleep maintenance insomnia best predicted successful aging.

Increased severity of sleep disturbance also predicted lower self-rated "successful aging" and a greater difference between perceived and actual age, and this result again remained significant after controlling for depressive symptom severity.

"Our findings that reports of better sleep are related to successful aging reinforce the idea that good sleep is of utmost importance for good health," said Dr. Ancoli-Israel.

"Health care professionals need to ask their patients -- of all ages -- about sleep and help those with poor sleep to find ways for improvement."

A study of adults over 65 found that 13 percent of men and 36 percent of women take more than 30 minutes to fall asleep.

Nighttime sleep schedules may change with age too.

Not sleeping well can lead to a number of problems.

Older adults who have poor nighttime sleep are more likely to have a depressed mood, attention and memory problems, excessive daytime sleepiness, more nighttime falls and use more over-the-counter or prescription sleep aids.

Those who have trouble sleeping are advised to see a sleep specialist at a facility accredited by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM).

The annual SLEEP meeting brings together an international body of 5,000 leading researchers and clinicians in the field of sleep medicine to present and discuss new findings and medical developments related to sleep and sleep disorders.

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Posted by Michael at 10:14 PM | TrackBack

Mayo Clinic study reveals rural, unmarried women at higher risk for depression

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Mayo Clinic research suggests unmarried women living in rural areas have lower self-rated health status than their married counterparts.

This lower health status often includes greater instances of self-assessed feelings of depression.

They suggest that primary care physicians should take a proactive role in addressing health concerns of single women.

"We tend to focus on disease, but as the World Health Organization notes, good health includes physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease," says James Rohrer, Ph.D., of Mayo Clinic's Department of Family Medicine and lead author of the study.

Researchers used a cross-functional survey to gather self-ratings of overall health among female primary care patients aged 18 years and older who live in cities with a census of approximately 3,000.

The study analyzed marital status and self-assessed mental health as potential risk factors for poor overall self-rated health among female primary care patients.

While the data were finalized in 2000, Dr. Rohrer notes that current economic concerns may exacerbate the risk.

"If the economy worsens, we will see a significant impact on visits to primary care physicians and nurses.

Screening can be followed-up with self-help materials, support groups and medication if deemed appropriate by the physician.

Other study authors are Matthew Bernard, M.D., Department of Family Medicine; Norman Rasmussen, psychologist, Departments of Family Medicine and Psychiatry and Psychology; Halina Woroncow, M.D., Kasson Clinic, Department of Family Medicine, all of Mayo Clinic Rochester; and Yan Zhang, Ph.D., Department of Family Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center.

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Posted by Michael at 10:06 PM | TrackBack

UT Southwestern investigators test groundbreaking depression research in real-world setting

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

UT Southwestern Medical Center psychiatry researchers have taken what they learned from their groundbreaking research on treating depression and are applying it to real-world clinical settings.

The Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression (STAR*D) study was the largest ever on the treatment of major depressive disorder and is considered a benchmark in the field of depression research.

The six-year, $33 million study initially included more than 4,000 patients from clinics across the country.

STAR*D provided evidence for step-by-step guidelines to address treatment-resistant depression and found that half of depressed patients became symptom-free or had major improvement after the first two treatments with medication.

"This is exciting because although this project incorporates elements of STAR*D and cutting-edge algorithms developed and refined by UT Southwestern researchers over decades, it moves way beyond that," said Dr. Trivedi.

"This computerized system gives doctors assistance at the time that they are seeing the patient," Dr. Trivedi said.

A. John Rush, professor of clinical sciences and psychiatry at UT Southwestern, only about 50 depression patients from each test-site clinic were selected to participate.

"Studying depression in a very small setting with an isolated patient population was important as we sought to answer certain essential questions, but it is different from the regular practice of doctors and patients," Dr. Trivedi said.

The number of patients could reach 8,000, depending on how many are scheduled for treatment with Centerstone, a nonprofit provider of community-based behavioral health services that has partnered with Dr. Trivedi.

The work is funded by a $1.2 million grant over three years awarded by the Agency for Health Care Research Quality for an information technology initiative.

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Posted by Michael at 10:05 PM | TrackBack

Staying Sharp Into Your Sixties, Seventies, and Beyond: The Art & Science of Successful Aging - A PENN Medicine Media Seminar

From Ascribe Newsfeed:

As a nation we are living longer than ever before, but are we living better?

This special media seminar, being held in conjunction with the Institute on Aging of the University of Pennsylvania, invites you to discover the latest research and treatment strategies that help older Americans negotiate the medical and social challenges for successful aging.

However, the logistical and geographical barriers can be knocked down.

- Where the Next Generation of Treatments Will Come From: What limitations face big pharma and the biotech companies as they race to find new treatments for diseases of aging and how is academic based research already poised to fill the gap.

PENN Medicine consists of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System.

Penn's School of Medicine is currently ranked #3 in the nation in U.S. News & World Report's survey of top research-oriented medical schools; and, according to most recent data from the National Institutes of Health, received over $379 million in NIH research funds in the 2006 fiscal year.

The University of Pennsylvania Health System includes three hospitals - its flagship hospital, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, rated one of the nation's "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S. News & World Report; Pennsylvania Hospital, the nation's first hospital; and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center - a faculty practice plan; a primary-care provider network; two multi-specialty satellite facilities; and home care and hospice.

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Posted by Michael at 10:03 PM | TrackBack

Adopting American Habits and Behaviors May Be Harmful to Immigrant Health

From Ascribe Newsfeed:

NORTHAMPTON, Mass., June 11 (AScribe Newswire) -- Immigrants who move into neighborhoods settled largely by others from their country of origin may stave off the pounds that newcomers typically gain after migrating to the United States, according to a new Smith College-led study.

Those living in predominantly immigrant neighborhoods have lower body mass index (BMI) scores ­ the standard measure of a person's body fat ­ than Hispanics whose neighborhoods have greater integration with the American culture.

The data, collected at community-based health centers and hospitals between January 2000 and December 2002, was used to calculate each person's BMI.

For Hispanics, whether the neighborhood is largely English speaking or not is an important predictor of body size.

The less English spoken in a neighborhood, the less weight gain occurs, according to researchers, whose findings appear in a recent issue of the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity.

This is not the case for other ethnic categories represented in the study ­ Asian Americans, African Americans and Caribbean Americans ­ for whom neighborhood immigrant composition is not connected to body size.

Scholars theorize this weight gain as due, in part, to acculturation ­ the adoption of U.S. diet and physical activity habits," said Park.

We provide direct, immediate access to mainstream national media for 600 colleges, universities, medical centers, public-policy groups and other leading nonprofit organizations.

AScribe transmits news releases directly to newsroom computer systems and desktops of major media organizations via a supremely trusted channel - The Associated Press.

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Posted by Michael at 10:02 PM | TrackBack

New research links smoking and body mass index to hearing loss

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Smoking and body mass index (BMI) are risk factors in the development of age-related hearing loss, says one of the largest-ever studies into risk factors for hearing loss -- but alcohol has a protective effect.

The study¹ has just been published online in Springer's Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology (JARO).

The results are also being presented at the International Society of Audiology Congress in Hong Kong today.

Led by Erik Fransen in Professor Guy Van Camp's research team at the University of Antwerp, the study found that smoking, being over-weight and occupational noise are risk factors in the most common type of hearing loss.

In contrast, moderate alcohol consumption (at least one drink a week) was seen to have a protective effect.

This large European study involved nine audiological centers in seven countries.

The effects of smoking and alcohol consumption have been studied in the past, but previous research results were not conclusive.

The new research also confirms that exposure to noise contributes to hearing loss in later life - exposure to excessive noise is the major avoidable cause of permanent hearing loss worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

Occupational noise, smoking and a high body mass index are risk factors for age-related hearing impairment and moderate alcohol consumption is protective.

2. This study was supported by grants from the European Community, the British Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), the Flemish Organization for Scientific Research (FWO-Vlaanderen) and the University of Antwerp.

The full-text article is available to journalists as a pdf.

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Posted by Michael at 10:01 PM | TrackBack

Strong associations between disturbed rest/activity rhythms and mortality rates in older men

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

A research abstract that will be presented on Wednesday at SLEEP 2008, the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS), is the first to report strong associations between disturbed rest/activity rhythms and mortality rates in older, community-dwelling (non-institutionalized) men.

The study, funded by the National Institute on Aging and authored by Misti L. Paudel, of the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities in Minneapolis, focused on 3,053 community-dwelling men aged 67 years and older.

Rest/activity biological rhythms were obtained, and specific measures of these rhythms included the time of the peak of the rest/activity rhythm (acrophase), the height of the rest/activity rhythm (amplitude) and the robustness or strength of the rest/activity rhythm (F-value).

The results showed that men with the lowest amplitude (i.e., lowest quintile) had higher mortality rates than men with the highest amplitude (i.e. highest quintile).

"The association between rest/activity rhythm disruptions and mortality has been studied in cancer patients and older, institutionalized adults with Alzheimer disease," said Paudel.

More research is needed in order to understand the physiologic and biological mechanisms underlying these associations, as well as the contribution of poor health."

Avoiding substances that disturb your sleep, like alcohol or caffeine.

Those who have trouble sleeping are advised to see a sleep specialist at a facility accredited by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM).

The annual SLEEP meeting brings together an international body of 5,000 leading researchers and clinicians in the field of sleep medicine to present and discuss new findings and medical developments related to sleep and sleep disorders.

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Posted by Michael at 9:59 PM | TrackBack

US still leads the world in science and technology

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Despite perceptions that the nation is losing its competitive edge, the United States remains the dominant leader in science and technology worldwide, according to a RAND Corporation study issued today.

An inflow of foreign students in the sciences -- as well as scientists and engineers from overseas -- has helped the United States build and maintain its worldwide lead, even as many other nations increase their spending on research and development.

"Much of the concern about the United States losing its edge as the world's leader in science and technology appears to be unfounded," said Titus Galama, co-author of the report and a management scientist at RAND, a nonprofit research organization.

U.S. investments in research and development have not lagged in recent years, but instead have grown at rates similar to what has occurred elsewhere in the world -- growing even faster than what has been seen in Europe and Japan.

For instance, the European Union and China each are graduating more university-educated scientists and engineers every year than the United States.

Continue to improve K-12 education in general, and science and technology education in particular.

The RAND report was sponsored by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel & Readiness and conducted within the Forces and Resources Policy Center of the RAND National Defense Research Institute, a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, the Unified Combatant Commands, the Department of the Navy, the Marine Corps., the defense agencies and the defense Intelligence Community.

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Posted by Michael at 9:57 PM | TrackBack

Study finds virginity pledges may help postpone intercourse among youth

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Despite perceptions that the nation is losing its competitive edge, the United States remains the dominant leader in science and technology worldwide, according to a RAND Corporation study issued today.

An inflow of foreign students in the sciences -- as well as scientists and engineers from overseas -- has helped the United States build and maintain its worldwide lead, even as many other nations increase their spending on research and development.

"Much of the concern about the United States losing its edge as the world's leader in science and technology appears to be unfounded," said Titus Galama, co-author of the report and a management scientist at RAND, a nonprofit research organization.

U.S. investments in research and development have not lagged in recent years, but instead have grown at rates similar to what has occurred elsewhere in the world -- growing even faster than what has been seen in Europe and Japan.

For instance, the European Union and China each are graduating more university-educated scientists and engineers every year than the United States.

Continue to improve K-12 education in general, and science and technology education in particular.

The RAND report was sponsored by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel & Readiness and conducted within the Forces and Resources Policy Center of the RAND National Defense Research Institute, a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, the Unified Combatant Commands, the Department of the Navy, the Marine Corps., the defense agencies and the defense Intelligence Community.

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Posted by Michael at 9:52 PM | TrackBack

Young children in mostly Caucasian countries obtain more sleep than those in Asian countries

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Young children in predominantly Caucasian countries obtain more overall sleep, have earlier bedtimes, and are less likely to room-share than young children in predominantly Asian countries. These results indicate substantial differences in sleep patterns in young children throughout the world. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 9:49 PM | TrackBack

Sex offenders register provides limited protection for children

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

The UK's Sex Offenders Register is failing to protect vulnerable children, according to a psychologist at the University of Liverpool.

Researchers say that while police are using their resources to combat Internet sex offences - which are much easier to secure convictions for - the majority of men alleged to have directly sexually abused a child are still avoiding prosecution.

This, says Professor Kevin Browne, is leaving vulnerable children open to unmonitored paedophile predators.

Adequate police resources are being used to detect Internet sex crimes where computer evidence of men downloading child pornography is easy to obtain and easier to secure a conviction for.

But UK research shows that only six per cent of those arrested are linked to the much more severe sexual assaults on children.

The problem is that with a conviction rate of less than 10 per cent for alleged contact sex offences, more than 90 per cent of men at risk of molesting children are essentially at large and unmonitored.

"Official statistics put the number of child victims of sexual abuse in England at two in every 10,000 but an NSPCC survey of young adults' childhood experiences shows the figure to be a lot higher at 11 children in every 100.

"Most men who directly assault children do so in secret which makes contact sex offenders difficult to convict and without more police resources to tackle this problem the Sex Offenders Register will remain of limited use for the protection of children.

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Posted by Michael at 9:45 PM | TrackBack

Carnegie Mellon brain imaging study illustrates how remedial instruction helps poor readers

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Just as a disciplined exercise regimen helps human muscles become stronger and perform better, specialized workouts for the brain can boost cognitive skills, according to Carnegie Mellon scientists.

Their new brain imaging study of poor readers found that 100 hours of remedial instruction --- reading calisthenics, of sorts, aimed to shore up problem areas --- not only improved the skills of struggling readers, but also changed the way their brains activated when they comprehended written sentences.

Carnegie Mellon researchers say poor readers initially have less activation in the parietotemporal area of the brain, which is the region responsible for decoding the sounds of written language and assembling them into words and phrases that make up a sentence, than do good readers.

However, remedial instruction increases the struggling readers' activation to near normal levels.

"This study demonstrates how the plasticity of the human brain can work for the benefit of remedial learning," says neuroscientist Marcel Just, director of Carnegie Mellon's Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging (CCBI), and senior author of the new study currently available on the Web site of the journal Neuropsychologia.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), CCBI Research Fellows Ann Meyler and Tim Keller measured blood flow to all of the different parts of the brain while children were reading and found that that the parietotemporal areas were significantly less activated among the poor readers than in the control group.

There is a persistent but incorrect belief that dyslexia is primarily caused by difficulties in the visual perception of letters, leading to confusions between letters like "p" and "d".

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Posted by Michael at 9:44 PM | TrackBack

1 out of 4 obese school-aged children suffers metabolic syndrome

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

One out of every four obese school-aged children (6 to 12 years old) develops an illness typically associated with adults that are nearly 40 years old, metabolic syndrome, due to one clear reason: child obesity.

It has been revealed in a study carried out by the department chair of the Institute of Food Nutrition and Technology of the University of Granada, Ángel Gil Hernández, who warns that this syndrome provokes arterial hypertension in children, insulin resistance, and, in the long term, type two diabetes, an illness associated with numerous cardiovascular pathologies and whose treatment will mean an elevated cost for the Spanish Health Service in the future.

The appearance of cardiovascular illnesses associated with obesity and diabetes will mean a grave problem in only a few years, postulates Gil Hernández.

The "ill-fated combination" of inadequate nutrient intake and a sedentary lifestyle, or cases of physical inactivity, can be found among the causes of child obesity ("one of the pandemics of the 21st century").

"Contrary to what most parents believe", affirms the university chair, "physical exercise is the key to combat obesity, child or adult: we could say that, along with the genetic predisposition, 70% of our figures are owed to exercise and only the remaining 30% correspond to diet".

Gil Hernández recalls a Spanish saying that asserts that the secret of a good diet is "a little food and lots of foot".

Ángel Gil Hernández is the UGR Professor with more articles published in nutrition journals with a high-impact rate.

Among other scientific journals, his papers have been published in Clinical Science, British Journal of Nutrition, and International Journal of Obesity.

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Posted by Michael at 9:43 PM | TrackBack

Frequent self-cutting linked to risky sexual behavior in teens

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Teens who repeatedly cut themselves are more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior, increasing their chances of possibly contracting HIV, according to a study in the June issue of the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics.

Researchers from the Bradley Hasbro Children's Research Center in Providence, R.I. report that frequent self-cutters -- teens who have cut themselves more than three times -- used condoms less consistently, were more likely to share cutting instruments, and had less self-restraint.

The study is the first to examine whether these teens engage in the same level of risk behaviors as those who've only experimented with cutting once or twice.

"This study sheds some much-needed light on the relationship between frequency of self-cutting and sexual risk, which could prove critical, given the rising rates of self-injury among adolescents," says lead author Larry K. Brown, M.D., of the Bradley Hasbro Children's Research Center (BHCRC).

"The associations between frequent cutting, sexual risk and low self-restraint provide clues to the forces that underlie this repeated behavior and point us in the right direction for future research to better understand this troubling and self-destructive phenomenon," adds Brown, who's also a professor of psychiatry and human behavior at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.

Nearly three-quarters of these frequent cutters were teenage girls but more than a quarter were non-white -- a surprising finding, given the study population.

Bradley Hospital, located in Providence, R.I., is a teaching hospital for The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and ranks in the top third of private hospitals receiving funding from the National Institutes of Health.

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Posted by Michael at 9:42 PM | TrackBack

Foreclosure Crisis Hits Rural America

Housing Assistance Council:

How is the mortgage foreclosure crisis affecting rural America?

How can community organizations help lower income rural families keep their homes?

Articles in the spring issue of the Housing Assistance Council's Rural Voices magazine explain the problem's rural impact and describes programs that have helped rural families keep their homes.

"Like other housing-related issues, foreclosure and subprime lending are often assumed to be urban problems, but they exist in rural places also," noted Moises Loza, HAC's executive director.

"Rural, urban, and suburban areas need assistance now and preventive measures for the future."

In articles written by housing practitioners at the local, state, and national levels, Rural Voices covers the subject from several angles.

A housing counseling center's staff describes the issue in Washington state and resources available for homeowners.

The National Consumer Law Center provides tips for organizations creating foreclosure prevention counseling programs.

"It is important to remember," Loza said, "that homeownership is still an important and attainable goal for many low-income families.

Improving housing conditions for rural Americans requires quality, affordable mortgage products that result in sustainable homeownership as well as housing counseling programs to educate buyers."

Rural Voices, the quarterly magazine of the Housing Assistance Council, is available on HAC's website, www.ruralhome.org.

Print subscriptions by mail are also available; one subscription per organization is free, and additional subscriptions are $16 per year.

HAC helps local organizations build affordable homes in rural America by providing below-market financing, technical assistance, research, training, and information services.

HAC's programs focus on local solutions, empowerment of the poor, reduced dependency, and self-help strategies.

Posted by Michael at 11:38 AM | TrackBack

June 10, 2008

Insured But Poorly Protected: Number Up 60 Percent in 4 Years

From The Commonwealth Fund:

The number of underinsured adults---those with health insurance all year, but also very high medical expenses relative to their incomes---rose by 60 percent between 2003 and 2007, from 16 million to more than 25 million, according to a new Commonwealth Fund study released today as a Health Affairs Web Exclusive.

Middle and higher income families were hit the hardest by the steep increase: underinsured rates nearly tripled for those with incomes above 200 percent of the federal poverty level, which is an annual income of $40,000 or higher for a family.

Trends Among U.S. Adults, 2003 and 2007," Commonwealth Fund authors Cathy Schoen, Sara Collins, Jennifer Kriss and Michelle Doty use 2007 national survey data to provide a national estimate of the number of adults who are underinsured, updating a 2003 study.

The analysis finds that 25.2 million insured adults ages 19-64 were underinsured based on their out-of-pocket health care costs relative to their incomes.

Both underinsured and uninsured adults were significantly more likely to go without needed health care and to struggle with medical bills than people with adequate health insurance.

The underinsured were almost as likely as the uninsured to face financial stress related to medical bills.

The authors conclude that benefit designs that reduce cost-sharing for high-value, cost-effective care and lower cost-sharing for families with low and modest incomes will be necessary to achieve quality care and better health outcomes rather than just coverage.

Health Affairs, published by Project HOPE, is the leading journal of health policy.

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Posted by Michael at 10:46 PM | TrackBack

Decline in cigarette smoking offset by increase in cigars, snuff and other tobacco products

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

While trends in cigarette smoking and sales have declined in the U.S. for the past decade, sales of non-cigarette tobacco products have been on the rise.

Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health, led by Professor Greg Connolly, director of the Tobacco Control Research Program at HSPH, and Hillel Alpert, research associate in the program, sought to compare trends in sales of all tobacco products in the U.S. and found that 30% of the recent decline in cigarette sales may be offset by the robust sale of small cigars, snuff and roll-your-own products.

The major factor in the apparent switch to non-cigarette products by smokers appears to be price -- with the federal tax on other forms of tobacco 1/10th that of cigarettes -- and the heavy attention given to campaigning against cigarette use but not against other forms of tobacco products in recent years.

"Tobacco kills, no matter if it's in a cigarette, a cigar, a snuff can or a roll-your-own," said Connolly.

"Lower federal and state taxes on these non-cigarette products is keeping tobacco addiction "affordable" and encouraging preventable disease and death.

All forms of tobacco should be taxed equally, and state campaigns to curb tobacco use should address this loophole for death."

During the same interval sales of other tobacco products increased by 1.10 billion cigarette pack equivalents (CPE's) an estimate based on the products' tobacco and nicotine content (714 million moist snuff, 256 million roll-your-own tobacco, 130 million small cigars).

Programs and projects range from the molecular biology of AIDS vaccines to the epidemiology of cancer; from risk analysis to violence prevention; from maternal and children's health to quality of care measurement; from health care management to international health and human rights.

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Posted by Michael at 10:45 PM | TrackBack

How Many Are Underinsured? Trends Among U.S. Adults, 2003 and 2007

From The Commonwealth Fund:

The number of underinsured U.S. adults---that is, people who have health coverage that does not adequately protect them from high medical expenses---has risen dramatically, a Commonwealth Fund study finds.

As of 2007, there were an estimated 25 million underinsured adults in the United States, up 60 percent from 2003.

While low-income people remain vulnerable, middle-income families have been hit hardest.

For adults with incomes above 200 percent of the federal poverty level (about $40,000 per year for a family), the underinsured rates nearly tripled since 2003.

Respondents were identified as underinsured if they spent 10 percent of more of their income (or 5 percent if they were low-income) on out-of-pocket medical expenses, or if they had deductibles that equaled 5 percent or more of their income.

Adding these two groups together, 75 million adults---42 percent of the under-65 population---had either no insurance or inadequate insurance in 2007, up from 35 percent in 2003.

Barely half of those with incomes of 200 percent to 299 percent of the poverty level were insured all year with adequate coverage.

About half of the underinsured (45%) and uninsured (51%) reported difficulty paying bills, being contacted by collection agencies for unpaid bills, or changing their way of life to pay medical bills.

Underinsured adults were more likely than those with adequate insurance to report benefit limits---for example, restrictions on the total amount a plan would pay for medical care or on the number of physicians' visits allowed.

Having a policy with substantial cost-sharing relative to income can undermine access to care and erode family finances.

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Posted by Michael at 10:45 PM | TrackBack

Sleep problems linked to obesity, lower quality of life in school-aged children

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

A research abstract that will be presented on Tuesday at SLEEP 2008, the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS), finds an increased prevalence of sleep problems among school-aged children who are obese and an association between increased weight and lower quality of life.

According to the results, children who were obese had poorer scores for sleep onset delay, sleep-disordered breathing, sleep duration, and daytime sleepiness, compared to children who were overweight or healthy weight.

Weight category was a significant predictor of parent-reported physical, psychosocial, and total quality of life scores, as well as child-reported physical functioning scores.

"In this study, sleep and weight each contributed unique variance for quality of life scores, thus indicating the need to evaluate daytime functioning in children with both obesity and sleep problems," said Davis.

Obesity can increase children's risk for developing obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a sleep-related breathing disorder that causes your body to stop breathing during sleep.

Set aside 10 to 30 minutes to get your child ready to go to sleep each night.

Keep your children from TV programs, movies, and video games that are not right for their age.

The annual SLEEP meeting brings together an international body of 5,000 leading researchers and clinicians in the field of sleep medicine to present and discuss new findings and medical developments related to sleep and sleep disorders.

More than 1,000 research abstracts will be presented at the SLEEP meeting, a joint venture of the AASM and the Sleep Research Society.

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Posted by Michael at 10:43 PM | TrackBack

U. S. Secretary of Education Approves Additional Growth Model Pilots for 2007-2008 School Year

From Education Newsfeed:

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today announced approval of two high-quality growth models, which follow the bright-line principles of No Child Left Behind.

Michigan is immediately approved to use the growth model for the 2007-2008 school year.

Missouri's growth model is approved on the condition that the state adopt a uniform minimum group size for all subgroups, including students with disabilities and limited English proficient students, in Adequate Yearly Progress determinations for the 2007-2008 school year.

"Once states had developed the framework to take a snapshot of student skills each year, as the law requires, I invited them to join me in combining those static measurements to demonstrate progress over time.

"Michigan and Missouri proposed models that will support educational innovation while continuing to hold schools accountable for the goal of every student performing at or above grade level by 2014.

The Department used a rigorous peer review process to ensure that the selection process was fair and transparent for all participating states.

A panel of nationally recognized experts reviewed and made recommendations on states' proposals, choosing Michigan and Missouri for approval.

Include assessments, in each of grades 3 through 8 and high school, in both reading/language arts and mathematics that have been operational for more than one year and have received approval through the NCLB standards and assessment review process for the 2005-06 school year.

Include student participation rates and student achievement as separate academic indicators in the state accountability system.

The peer reviewers, who represent academia, private organizations and state and local education agencies, reviewed each proposal based on the Peer Review Guidance (http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/growthmodelguidance.doc) issued by the U.S. Department of Education as a road map for developing the models.

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Posted by Michael at 10:39 PM | TrackBack

Children in non-English-speaking households face many health disparities, researcher concludes

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Children in U.S. households where English is not the primary language experience multiple disparities in health care, a UT Southwestern Medical Center researcher has found.

In a study available in June's online issue of Pediatrics, Dr. Glenn Flores, professor of pediatrics at UT Southwestern and lead author, used statistics from the National Survey of Children's Health to examine whether disparities exist for non-English primary language (NEPL) children in medical and dental health compared to households where English is the primary language.

"Although 55 million Americans speak a language other than English at home, there has been little research on health disparities and NEPL children," said Dr. Flores, who holds the Judith and Charles Ginsburg Chair in Pediatrics at UT Southwestern.

Conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, the survey used nationwide random sampling of households with children ages 18 and under.

One child from each household was selected as the survey subject with 102,353 interviews of household caregivers completed in 2003 and 2004 in both English and Spanish.

The researchers found that children in households where English is not the primary language are significantly more likely than children in English-speaking households to be poor and Latino or Asian/Pacific Islander.

Nonfinancial-related barriers appeared also to hamper NEPL children's access to care.

He says improved access to medical interpreters, better cultural competency training and more family-centered health care systems could eliminate barriers to care.

In a previous study, Dr. Flores surveyed hospitals in New Jersey to assess current language services and identify policy recommendations on meeting the needs of patients with limited English proficiency.

A substantial majority of the hospitals' representatives surveyed stated that third-party reimbursements for interpreter services would benefit their hospitals.

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Posted by Michael at 10:39 PM | TrackBack

Senior Pet Health Programs Help Older Pets Lead Longer, Healthier Lives

From Ascribe Newsfeed:

Being proactive and taking an active role in health management of your older pet will help assure your cat and dog lead a full and high-quality life as long as possible. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 10:37 PM | TrackBack

Opting out revolution a myth: Study shows steep employment gains for women, mothers

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Contrary to the popular perception of a so-called "opting out revolution," new sociological research from the June issue of the American Sociological Review reveals that professional women's employment rates have continually pushed higher over time, and that the employment gap between mothers and childless women is shrinking. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 10:29 PM | TrackBack

Diverse Bipartisan Group Launches Campaign for 'Broader, Bolder' Policies to Improve Education, Bridge Achievement Gaps

From Ascribe Newsfeed:

A new task force of national policy experts with diverse religious and political affiliations, in public policy fields including education, social welfare, health, housing, and civil rights today launched a campaign calling for a "Broader, Bolder Approach to Education" to break a decades-long cycle of reform efforts that promised much and have achieved far too little.

As the Task Force's ads in today's New York Times and Washington Post note, "Some schools have demonstrated unusual effectiveness.

But even they cannot, by themselves, close the entire gap between students from different backgrounds in a substantial, consistent and sustainable manner on the full range of academic and non-academic measures by which we judge student success."

The timing of the release of a "Broader, Bolder Approach" comes after months and months of gridlock in Washington tied to the reauthorization of NCLB.

The statement signed by more than 60 leaders provides a fresh way of thinking about education and youth development policy for governors, state legislators, and a President and Congress who are now running for election in November.

"Our 'Bold Approach' identifies critical community support systems that can effectively work to narrow the disheartening achievement gap that exists in America."

The Task Force drafted a statement adopted unanimously to articulate the theme that the nation has erred by attempting to rely on school improvement alone to raise the achievement of disadvantaged children.

We provide direct, immediate access to mainstream national media for 600 colleges, universities, medical centers, public-policy groups and other leading nonprofit organizations.

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Posted by Michael at 10:29 PM | TrackBack

RAND Study Finds Virginity Pledges May Help Postpone Intercourse Among Youth

From Ascribe Newsfeed:

Making a virginity pledge may help some young people postpone the start of sexual activity, according to a new RAND Corporation study. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 10:28 PM | TrackBack

Excessive drinking and relapse rapidly cut in new approach

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Boosting the level of a specific brain protein quickly cut excessive drinking of alcohol in a new animal study at UCSF, and also prevented relapse -- the common tendency found in sober alcoholics to easily return to heavy drinking after just one glass. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 12:11 AM | TrackBack

Reduced sleep on school nights begins in early adolescence

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

The trend for delays and reductions of school-night sleep begins early in adolescence, even with delayed school start times. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 12:05 AM | TrackBack

College students involved in extracurricular activities are more likely to have sleep deprivation

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

College students involved in extracurricular activities are more likely to have sleep deprivation and be sleepy during the daytime, which can negatively affect their academic performance. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 12:04 AM | TrackBack

Sleep variables affecting school performance are different with each educational level

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

While disordered sleep has a negative effect on a student academically, the sleep variables affecting school performance are different by educational level. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 12:04 AM | TrackBack

June 9, 2008

Consumer Reports: Patients 'Overdose' on Debt As Lenders, Doctors, and Hospitals Push Risky Credit to Pay for Medical Care

From PR Newswire:

CR's July report, "Overdose of Debt," explains how credit cards and finance lines that are "interest free" can easily reach exorbitant rates up to 27.99 percent retroactively - and they're being pitched to consumers with high pressure sales pitches, often catching them off guard in their doctors' offices or at the hospital.

The rise in doctors promoting cards and loans with unconscionable finance terms, says Consumer Reports, is cause for concern, blurring traditional lines of responsibility.

With consumers already sagging under record debt loads and soaring out-of-pocket medical costs, consumers likely will come under more pressure to pay for these expenses with credit cards or loans.

What they may not understand, according to CR, is that many of these financing schemes carry dangerous pitfalls.

Lenders tout their offers as a way for patients to cover medical needs or elective procedures and they push risky credit for everything from cancer care to root canals to botox treatment.

Meanwhile, the cards and financing are promoted to doctors, dentists, and veterinarians as a way to make more money and get paid promptly.

In addition, CR reports, hospitals are checking credit scores of patients and some are even offering their own cobranded credit cards.

But for consumers, these financing plans can turn out to be the medical equivalent of subprime mortgages, according to medical and credit experts CR spoke to.

When hospitals persuade patients to pay for care with a credit card or loan, patients lose their power to bargain for discounts or even obtain charity care.

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Posted by Michael at 11:55 PM | TrackBack

Racial disparities in diabetes outcomes widespread across individual physicians

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

"Many studies have described racial differences in diabetes care across the American health care system, but there is very limited information regarding the potential role of individual physicians," says Thomas Sequist, MD, MPH, primary care physician at Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates and lead author of the study.

"This study suggests that the problem of racial disparities in diabetes care is pervasive in physician practices, and not limited to a small cluster of physicians providing particularly low quality care."

A related study published in the May 2008 issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine, also led by Sequist, found that 88 percent of physicians surveyed acknowledged the existence of racial disparities in diabetes care within the U.S. health care system.

This discrepancy illustrates the need for widespread interventions, including those that increase awareness of the importance of racial disparities within the local health care environment.

Previous studies have examined the role of hospitals, health plans, and geography as mediators of racial disparities, but little is known about the role of variation among individual physicians.

Sequist's Archives study included 90 primary care physicians caring for at least five white and five black adults with diabetes across 13 ambulatory centers.

The study found that white patients were significantly more likely than black patients to achieve control of three critical health measures for diabetes patients: hemoglobin A1c, LDL cholesterol, and blood pressure.

"Racial disparities in diabetes outcomes are spread across entire health care systems, requiring the implementation of system-wide solutions," said John Ayanian, MD, MPP, co-author of the study and professor of medicine and health care policy at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital.

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Posted by Michael at 11:47 PM | TrackBack

UVA researchers make pivotal breakthrough in alcohol addiction treatment

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Remarkably, and for the first time, addiction experts led by a University of Virginia Health System team report the results of a clinical trial whereby an effective therapeutic medication, topiramate, not only decreases heavy drinking but also diminishes the physical and psychosocial harm caused by alcohol dependence.

Study results, published in the June 9 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, indicate that topiramate was more efficacious than placebo in decreasing body mass index (BMI) and all liver enzymes including the log plasma ã-glutamyl-transferase ratio, which is the objective marker of heavy drinking.

Topiramate was considerably more efficacious than placebo in reducing both systolic and diastolic blood pressure by a mean difference of 9.70 mm Hg and 6.74 mm Hg, respectively.

Topiramate also significantly lowered plasma cholesterol levels by an average of 16.4 mg/dL compared with a reduction of 5.7 mg/dL with placebo.

Notably, these combined effects suggest that topiramate may decrease the risk of heart disease in alcohol dependent individuals.

"Many alcoholics have hypertension, and some receive anti-hypertensive medication, which can complicate their treatment for alcoholism," explains Johnson.

By decreasing liver enzymes and cholesterol levels, topiramate also may reduce the risk of fatty liver disease, which leads to cirrhosis -- a common consequence to end-stage liver disease leading to death in alcoholics.

Additionally, topiramate significantly contributed to a decline in obsessive thoughts and compulsions about using alcohol.

Topiramate also had a greater quality of life improvement than placebo in general activities, leisure activities and household duties, as well as a reduction in sleep disturbances.

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Posted by Michael at 11:44 PM | TrackBack

HUD's Efforts to Eliminate Downpayment Assistance Will Hurt Qualified Homebuyers

From PR Newswire: Government and Policy:

These programs operate in accordance with current law and HUD guidelines and have helped more than one million low and moderate income HUD-approved families and individuals buy their own homes.

"In addition to jeopardizing homeownership opportunities for qualified low to moderate income homebuyers, the Administration's position does not comport with the facts.

"First, the Administration fails to disclose that losing one third of the FHA's business that uses downpayment assistance will deny annually over one hundred thousand qualified moderate income, minorities, first-time homebuyers and women-headed households from becoming homeowners.

The absence of so many first time homebuyers will further increase new home inventory, slow down home sales, increase the risk of foreclosures and further de-stabilize the housing market.

"Second, the Administration failed to disclose today that FHA loans with downpayment gift letters over the long term will result in an $11 billion increase to FHA, which is three times the required amount for solvency, according to HUD's own actuarial review.

"Third, the Administration fails to recognize the consensus and desires of a bipartisan coalition in Congress, tens of thousands of members of the public and various leaders of the housing sector, including the Mortgage Bankers Association, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National Association of Counties, and the National Association of Homebuilders.

AmeriDream has provided more than 250,000 gifts to HUD-approved aspiring homeowners, approximately 80% of whom were first-time homebuyers.

AmeriDream also has helped educate 60,000 homebuyers through homebuyer education courses, helped 1,200 homeowners retain their homes when confronted with mortgage difficulties, and committed over $30 million to affordable housing development in local communities.

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Posted by Michael at 11:36 PM | TrackBack

Study shows how cocaine impairs fetal brain development

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Exposure of the developing brain to cocaine can cause neurological and behavioral abnormalities in babies born to mothers who use the drug during pregnancy. In a study research published in this week's PLoS Medicine, Chun-Ting Lee and colleagues at the National Institutes of Heath -- who note that cocaine use occurs in several hundred thousand pregnancies per year in the United States alone -- investigated the mechanism of cocaine's effect on fetal brain development. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:33 PM | TrackBack

Internet, tolerance spark change in urban gay communities

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Gay communities -- such as clubs, bars, events and neighborhoods -- appear to be changing worldwide in light of several key factors, including Internet dating and achievement of civil rights, according to new University of Minnesota research.

In 2007, about 30 HIV prevention experts, researchers, and gay community leaders from 17 cities spanning 14 different countries completed surveys about changes in their communities.

Most cities identified that while the gay population in their cities appeared stable or growing, the physical gay community infrastructure appeared in decline.

On almost all measures, we're seeing the same trend: decreasing number of gay bars/clubs, decreased attendance at gay events, less volunteerism in gay or HIV/AIDS organizations and, less gay media, resulting in an overall decline in gay visibility," said Simon Rosser, Ph.D., principal investigator on the study and professor in the School of Public Health's Division of Epidemiology and Community Health.

"The biggest reason for these changes, we think, is the Internet.

The study is published online and will be featured in an upcoming print issue of the journal AIDS Care.

Societal oppression, lack of rights, and the HIV epidemic were powerful reasons why gay men came together as a community in inner cities, which eventually became gay-identified neighborhoods, Rosser said.

In the past, gay community organizing and HIV/STD prevention for gay men often involved recruitment and education in gay bar/clubs and through gay media.

Since many cities gay bars and media are decreasing, it's time to reevaluate how to promote HIV prevention, Rosser said.

Meanwhile, cases of HIV/AIDS are increasing among gay men.

Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:31 PM | TrackBack

Ongoing study continues to show that extra sleep improves athletic performance

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Extending their sleep to 10 hours per day enabled Stanford swimmers to improve their 15-meter sprint times, reaction times, turn times and kick strokes. Alertness and mood also improved. Results agree with data obtained from athletes on other Stanford sports teams in this ongoing study. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:28 PM | TrackBack

Expert task force calls for new broader, bolder approach to education policy

From Economic Policy Institute:

A new task force of national policy experts with diverse religious and political affiliations, in public policy fields including education, social welfare, health, housing, and civil rights today launched a campaign calling for a "Broader, Bolder Approach to Education" to break a decades-long cycle of reform efforts that promised much and have achieved far too little.

As the Task Force's ads in today's New York Times and Washington Post note, "Some schools have demonstrated unusual effectiveness.

But even they cannot, by themselves, close the entire gap between students from different backgrounds in a substantial, consistent and sustainable manner on the full range of academic and non-academic measures by which we judge student success."

The timing of the release of a "Broader, Bolder Approach" comes after months and months of gridlock in Washington tied to the reauthorization of NCLB.

The statement signed by more than 60 leaders provides a fresh way of thinking about education and youth development policy for governors, state legislators, and a President and Congress who are now running for election in November.

"Our 'Bold Approach' identifies critical community support systems that can effectively work to narrow the disheartening achievement gap that exists in America."

The Task Force drafted a statement adopted unanimously to articulate the theme that the nation has erred by attempting to rely on school improvement alone to raise the achievement of disadvantaged children.

We provide direct, immediate access to mainstream national media for 600 colleges, universities, medical centers, public-policy groups and other leading nonprofit organizations.

Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:28 PM | TrackBack

Insured but poorly protected: 25 million adults are underinsured

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

The number of underinsured adults -- those with health insurance all year, but also very high medical expenses relative to their incomes -- rose by 60 percent between 2003 and 2007, from 16 million to more than 25 million, according to a new Commonwealth Fund study released today as a Health Affairs Web exclusive. Middle and higher income families were hit the hardest by the steep increase. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:27 PM | TrackBack

Women who gain excessive weight during pregnancy

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Children of mothers who gain more than the recommended amount of weight during pregnancy are more likely to be overweight at age seven, say researchers from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, in a study published today in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Children of mothers who are obese prior to pregnancy and gain excessive weight are at the greatest risk for overweight. Read more from this post.

Posted by Michael at 11:26 PM | TrackBack

Mom's Behavior Key to Dad's Involvement in Child Care

From Ascribe Newsfeed:

Mothers play an important role in determining how much fathers get involved in taking care of their infants, according to new research.

A study of 97 couples found that fathers were more involved in the day-to-day care of their infants when they received active encouragement from their wife or partner.

In fact, this encouragement was important even after taking into account fathers' and mothers' views about how involved dads should be, the overall quality of the couple's parenting relationship, and how much mothers worked outside the home.

In addition, fathers' beliefs about how involved they should be in child care did not matter when mothers were highly critical of fathers' parenting.

"Mothers are in the driver's seat," said Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan, co-author of the study and assistant professor of human development and family science at Ohio State University.

They were asked how often the mother responded to the father's parenting behaviors with encouragement (for example, telling the father how happy he makes the child) or criticism (for instance, by looking exasperated or rolling her eyes).

Couples also completed questionnaires that examined how much the fathers were involved in child care, and how well the couple got along when dealing with the baby.

Finally, the researchers videotaped the couple interacting together with the baby to see how involved fathers were in taking care of the baby and how competent they were in caring for the infant.

While some scholars have suggested that such "gatekeeping" occurs, the research hadn't been done to confirm it.

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June 7, 2008

Bush Budget Spends 100 Times More to Regulate Unions

From Economic Policy Institute:

President Bush's Fiscal Year 2009 budget request for the Department of Labor is dramatically out of balance.

President Bush requested $58 million for Office of Labor Management Standards (OLMS), which oversees 23,000 unions and union locals with 13 million members.

He requested only $193 million for the Wage and Hour Division, which oversees 7.4 million employers and protects 150 million employees by enforcing a host of labor standards, including child labor laws, overtime rules, and the Family and Medical Leave Act, among others.

The Wage and Hour Division budget is only $26.08 per employer (see Chart).

President Bush wants to spend almost 100 times more per union to make sure they comply with the law than to make sure employers comply with the law.

This enormous imbalance is especially difficult to defend because unions make data collection cheap and easy for the government by reporting their financial information directly to the OLMS, whereas employers do not report anything to the Wage and Hour Division, which has to visit each employer individually to enforce the laws it administers.

Staff at OLMS has been increased 9%, from 290 positions to 317, while the Wage and Hour Division staff has been cut 21%, from 1,528 positions to 1,208, continuing a 30-year downsizing trend.

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STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT ON THE SENATE CONFIRMATION OF STEVE PRESTON AS SECRETARY OF HUD

From HUD Press Releases:

I am pleased that the Senate unanimously confirmed Steve Preston to serve as Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Steve is a strong leader whose understanding of our financial markets and strong management skills make him highly qualified to serve in this important position.

He will aggressively work to ensure that the Department remains focused on its mission of making housing more affordable and helping Americans keep their homes.

Steve is also a consensus builder who will build on our efforts to work with Congress on responsible legislation addressing our Nation's housing policies.

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PREPARED REMARKS FOR HUD SECRETARY AT HIS SWEARING-IN CEREMONY

From HUD Press Releases:

It is a profound privilege to serve our country as Secretary for Housing and Urban Development, and to be a voice for the people helped by this agency.

Thank you, Mr. President, for your confidence and trust.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is appropriate that we gather here.

Dr. Weaver said that we cannot treat people like they are facts or statistics.

Instead, he asked the people who work here to look behind the data, to see the values and the concerns and the hopes and the lives of the families we serve.

We help provide millions of Americans with affordable and public housing.

We know that homeownership can be a source of pride, a stake in the community, a place to grow up and grow old together, and a source of wealth creation.

HUD will be central to restoring financial stability.

In fact, just in the last year, thanks to changes made by you, Mr. President, FHA is increasingly a pathway for hundreds of thousands of families to a more affordable, secure mortgage.

While we are all committed to addressing the immediate challenges in the housing market, we must also think of the future.

We must provide a longer-term foundation for reform in the institutions that give homeowners access to capital to make the American Dream possible, while also generating enduring confidence in our financial markets.

As we confront these challenges, we are blessed with talented and committed employees at HUD.

I look forward to working with you and our partners in the Administration.

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Empowering Young Women Around the Globe

From Ascribe Newsfeed:

NORTHAMPTON, Mass., June 6 (AScribe Newswire) -- More than 65 young women from countries around the world will be asked to explore, examine and challenge their potential to contribute to a global society when they gather at Mount Holyoke and Smith colleges June 10-13, for the 2008 Women's Education Worldwide (WEW) Student Leadership Conference.

Building on other leadership conferences offered by the WEW, the conference will offer a chance for the student leaders enrolled at women's colleges in nations from Australia to Zimbabwe to come together for a series of interactive leadership workshops.

Elizabeth Cole, professor of women's studies and African American studies at the University of Michigan, will open the conference at 7 p.m., Tuesday, June 10, at Mount Holyoke with a keynote address about the global concepts of feminism and the role of women as leaders in societies around the globe.

The conference is designed to empower students to see themselves as agents of positive change and the workshops, led by faculty and staff from Mount Holyoke, Smith and Wellesley colleges, will offer skills in how to plan and achieve their project goals.

"The WEW conference will create an encouraging and collegial environment for students to explore, challenge, and re-design their views of women as leaders and their potential for contributions in a global society," said conference co-organizer Julianne Ohotnicky, Smith College dean of students.

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June 5, 2008

Medicare Part D: Simplifying the Program and Improving the Value of Information for Beneficiaries

From The Commonwealth Fund:

Many Medicare beneficiaries signed up for the new Part D benefit during the program's first two years.

Subsequently, a significant majority of them reported that the benefit was too complicated, and some observers suggest that the complexity may have thwarted some beneficiaries from finding the plan that was best for them.

Meanwhile, more than 4 million of those eligible failed to enroll at all.

Although some degree of standardization may occur naturally as the market evolves, steps can be taken to simplify the program and make it easier for beneficiaries to make good choices among plans---and for them to enroll in the first place.

This issue brief considers specific options for simplifying Part D in several areas: standardizing the benefit descriptions and procedures used by plans and the Medicare program; further standardization of the plan's benefit parameters, particularly the rules for cost-sharing; and changes to the rules governing plan formularies.

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On the Road to Universal Coverage: Impacts of Reform in Massachusetts at One Year

From The Commonwealth Fund:

Massachusetts' ambitious health care reform plan has produced dramatic improvements in insurance coverage, finds a Commonwealth Fund--supported study in Health Affairs.

In the first year, the rate of uninsured working-age adults in the state dropped by almost half, from 13 percent to 7 percent.

This study reports the results of two rounds of interviews with adults ages 18 to 64 in Massachusetts---one conducted in fall 2006, just before implementation, and one in fall 2007, approximately one year after the reform efforts began.

For adults with incomes below 300 percent of the federal poverty level, the uninsured rate dropped by nearly 11 percent-age points, from 24 percent uninsured in fall 2006 to 13 percent a year later.

For lower-income individuals---those with incomes below 100 percent of poverty, and therefore eligible for fully subsidized coverage---the rate dropped by more than two-thirds, down to 10 percent uninsured in fall 2007.

For higher-income adults, the drop was smaller (2 percentage points) but still significant; 97 percent of higher-income adults (those with incomes at or above 300% of poverty) were insured in fall 2007.

Among all adults, 7 percent reported that the man-date had influenced their coverage decision, with more low-income adults than high-income adults reporting it had influenced their decision.

A major concern about the plan was that the expansion of publicly subsidized programs would "crowd out" existing employer coverage---that is, fewer employers would offer coverage to their workers because it was offered elsewhere, or workers would drop employer coverage to take up public coverage.

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Initiating drinking at younger age heightens women's risk for alcohol dependence

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Women born after 1944 began drinking alcohol at younger ages than their elders, and that appears to have put them at greater risk for alcoholism, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

On average, women born before 1944 began drinking at age 20.

Those born after that started drinking alcohol at age 17, and they had a 50 to 80 percent greater risk for alcohol dependence, the researchers found.

The new research, published in the August issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and currently available at OnlineEarly, focuses on the ages at which men and women began to drink.

"In our previous work, we found that women born after 1944 had a substantially higher risk for alcohol dependence compared to those born prior to that," Grucza says.

Grucza says there has been controversy in the field of alcohol research over whether starting to drink at a younger age actually increases risk of alcohol dependence or whether that younger age at first drink is a marker for other risk factors, such as family environment, impulsivity, or other genetic traits and/or environmental factors that can influence risk.

This study was supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.

The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching, and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked third in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.

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Teenagers attending college less likely to engage in risky sexual behavior

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Adolescents attending college six months after completing high school are significantly less likely to engage in risky sexual behavior than those who do not go to college, according to the first study to directly compare the two groups.

The University of Washington study, published in this month's issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health, also compared risky sexual behavior of teens living at home and those who established their own residences and found no significant differences between the groups, said Jennifer Bailey, a research scientist with the UW's Social Development Research Group and lead author of the paper.

The study found that college students were more likely to always use a condom and less likely to engage in casual sex or high-risk sex than teens who did not attend a two- or four-year college.

For this study, casual sex was defined as having sex with someone not considered to be a boyfriend or girlfriend, having sex with someone they had known for less than two weeks or having more than one sexual partner in the previous month.

Criteria for high-risk sex included casual sex and inconsistent condom use, as well as having sex with a man who had sex with other men or having sex with a partner who was HIV positive or who was an intravenous drug user.

The kids who were doing risky sexual behavior in high school are continuing to do it.

Thirty-five percent of the teenagers in our study who weren't in college reported inconsistent condom use.

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HUD APPROVES DEMOLITION OF DUNBAR VILLAGE ONE YEAR AFTER VICIOUS ATTACK

From HUD Press Releases:

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today gave the West Palm Beach Housing Authority (WPBHA) approval to demolish 13 buildings at the notorious Dunbar Village public housing complex in West Palm Beach.

The 36 apartments that will come down are in the complex where a mother and her then 12-year-old son were violently attacked in June 2007.

"While demolishing this housing will not erase the horrible act that took place in this community, we hope it illustrates the housing authority and HUD's commitment to redevelop affordable housing in a safe neighborhood for families," said Paula Blunt, General Deputy Assistant Secretary for HUD's Office of Public and Indian Housing.

This initial request to dispose of units at Dunbar Village is part of an overall plan the housing authority has to redevelop the 246-unit complex built in 1940.

The buildings that were approved for demolition today have become structurally obsolete, with eroding foundations, with grade dropping 12 or more inches.

Over the years, crime and violence have also plagued the community.

Annually, HUD receives numerous applications from public housing authorities across the country requesting approval to demolish or dispose of public housing units, building or land.

It reviews the applications to determine if they meet HUD's criteria for demolition or disposal, which includes that the properties' physical condition, location and other factors that make it unsuitable for housing purposes with no reasonable cost-effective modification.

HUD is the nation's housing agency committed to increasing homeownership, particularly among minorities; creating affordable housing opportunities for low-income Americans; and supporting the homeless, elderly, people with disabilities and people living with AIDS.

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Visiting the South's 'Stroke Buckle' Increases Risk of Stroke Death

From Ascribe Newsfeed:

It might not only be the state of your health but also the state you visit that increases the chances of dying from a stroke, a new University of Florida study finds.

Simply traveling to a region in the coastal Southeast raises the odds of a visitor succumbing to a stroke, while residents who leave the area reduce their chances of suffering the same fate, said Ilan Shrira, a University of Florida psychologist.

"For decades the coastal plains of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia have had a high incidence of stroke deaths compared to the rest of the country," he said.

The "stroke buckle" is so named because it is located within the larger and more commonly known "stroke belt," eight states in the southeastern United States that have a stroke death rate nearly one and a half times that of the rest of the country, Shrira said.

Among the many explanations proposed for the existence of the stroke belt and stroke buckle are poorer health care, infectious agents, genetic predispositions and environmental toxins in the water or soil, Shrira said.

"Most investigations into disease and death look at individual-level factors such as genes, diet, exercise and the like," Shrira said.

AScribe transmits news releases directly to newsroom computer systems and desktops of major media organizations via a supremely trusted channel - The Associated Press.

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Posted by Michael at 6:17 PM | TrackBack

UNC to study link between sustainable farming and health

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

A team of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers has received a grant to study the public health impact of moving toward a local, sustainable food system.

The team will establish a Gillings Innovation Laboratory (GIL) through the UNC School of Public Health.

The project will be the eighth laboratory established through a generous gift to the School by Dennis and Joan Gillings.

"The result is not only damaging to our health and the environment but also devastating to the economic base of rural communities," Ammerman said.

The rural communities in which these farmers live are also facing manufacturing layoffs and plant closures -- another blow to the local economy.

Collaborators include the School of Public Health's departments of health policy and administration and environmental sciences and engineering; the College of Arts and Science's departments of anthropology and city and regional planning; the schools of Medicine and Government; the Renaissance Computing Institute; the Center for Sustainable Community Design; and the Office of Economic and Business Development.

Those groups include the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Program, the U.S. arm of the Rural Advancement Foundation International, the Orange County Economic Development Commission and the NC Office of Environmental Defense.

Also involved is the NC Department of Health and Human Services Department of Public Health, the Wayne County Community Food Systems Initiative and the UNC Center for Integrating Research and Action, with regional partners in the southeastern, northeastern and Appalachian regions.

As a supplement to this Gillings Innovation Laboratory, UNC's Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity has funded Ammerman's team to conduct an economic and policy analysis specific to the loss of black-owned farmland.

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Bailing out on America

From Economic Policy Institute:

An Economic Policy Institute analysis of competing bids for military air refueling tankers finds a significant difference in U.S. job creation between proposals by Boeing Company and Northrop Grumman/Airbus.

Boeing would likely create at least twice as many US jobs as NG/Airbus under the $35 billion contract, according to EPI economist Robert Scott.

In addition, the contract will give the winning bidder sizable advantages in future competitions.

The Air Force expects to replace its entire fleet of aging tankers at an ultimate cost of $100 billion.

The initial contract award in February was controversial because European-based Airbus was the subject of an ongoing trade case before the World Trade Organization, brought by the U.S. government, for receiving illegal subsidies.

Boeing protested the award and it is currently under review by the Government Accountability Office, which could force a new round of competition.

Air Force officials have stated that employment effects were not considered in awarding the contract.

As Scott noted, "There are few, if any, other major countries that do not take into account the location of production and employment in military procurement decisions."

Based on publicly-available information, Scott found that Boeing would create 28,707 jobs per year at full production, at least twice as many U.S. jobs as NG/Airbus, which would support an estimated 14,353 jobs if it were to win the contract.

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank that researches the impact of economic trends and policies on working people in the United States and around the world.

EPI's mission is to inform people and empower them to seek solutions that will ensure broadly shared prosperity and opportunity.

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Posted by Michael at 6:12 PM | TrackBack

Non-whites receive harsher sentences for inflicted traumatic brain injury of children

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Non-white defendants are nearly twice as likely to receive harsher prison sentences than white defendants in North Carolina criminal cases stemming from inflicted traumatic brain injury of young children.

Inflicted traumatic brain injury is a specific form of child abuse, which includes but is not limited to shaken baby syndrome.

"We expected to find that whether or not the child died would be the factor most predictive of the punishment that was imposed," said Dr. Desmond K. Runyan, the study's senior author, professor and chair of the social medicine department in UNC's School of Medicine.

Runyan is also a professor in the pediatrics department and an adjunct professor in the School of Public Health's epidemiology department.

Defendants whose race was defined as non-white (which included African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans) were 1.9 times more likely than white defendants to receive a severe sentence.

For the purposes of the study, severe sentences were defined as 90 days in prison or longer.

Runyan said the study raises serious questions of public health and social policy, including whether or not harsh prison sentences for the perpetrators of traumatic brain injury in young children is the most beneficial way for society to deal with this problem.

Forty-one of the defendants pleaded either guilty or no contest to the charges and 10 defendants went to jury trial.

Several other potential predictive factors of sentencing outcomes were examined, including perpetrator age, gender, relationship of the perpetrator to the child and whether or not the child died, but none were found to be statistically significant.

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Posted by Michael at 6:10 PM | TrackBack

Congressional Action Needed to Ensure Low-Income Adults Receive Critical Employment and Training Services Under the Workforce Investment Act

From Center for Law and Social Policy:

The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) authorizes the nation's federally funded workforce development system, which provides critical employment and training services to individuals and employers.

However, since the enactment of WIA, the share of low-income adults receiving intensive and training services has steadily declined.

This paper provides an analysis of the structural issues within the law that are contributing to these declines and offers recommendations on how Congress can reverse these trends by reinvesting in workforce development and transforming WIA through reauthorization.

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Posted by Michael at 6:09 PM | TrackBack

1 in 5 adolescents are not sufficiently protected against meningitis C

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

One in five adolescents aged 11áy years appear to have inadequate protection against meningitis C and a booster dose of vaccine may therefore be needed to sustain protection amongst teenagers, according to a study published on bmj.com today.

Adolescents always used to be considered a group at high risk of contracting meningitis C, but in 1999?

the government ran a mass meningitis C immunisation campaign vaccinating everyone aged 1á~ years, and the number of cases dropped dramatically.

Since then the vaccine has been part of the routine infant immunisation programme.

Yet studies have shown that the vaccine's effectiveness in infants drops considerably over time as the level of their antibodies fall.

Researchers from the University of Oxford examined whether children aged 6Æ years when they were vaccinated as part of the national campaign, are still sufficiently protected.

The researchers suggest that one possible cause is maturation of the immune system at around the age of ten.

A meningitis booster jab was introduced for 12 month old children in 2006, but it is currently unknown how effective this will be at providing long-term immunity.

However, it is known that over the next five years, a group of children who did not receive a booster, and will therefore not have sufficient levels of antibodies to protect them, will be entering adolescence.

The researchers say that over 20%, 'a significant minority', of those aged 11áy years have inadequate protection against meningitis C and a booster dose of vaccine may be needed to sustain protection against meningitis C amongst teenagers.

These findings emphasise how important age at vaccination is for protection and persistence with conjugate vaccines, say Lucieni Conterno and Paul Heath in an accompanying editorial.

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Posted by Michael at 6:09 PM | TrackBack

June 4, 2008

Eating and weight gain not necessarily linked, study shows

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

The finding in the much-studied roundworm opens the possibility of identifying new targets for drugs to control weight, the researchers say.

The discovery reveals that the neurotransmitter serotonin, already known to control appetite and fat build-up, actually does so through two separate signaling channels.

One set of signals regulates feeding, and a separate set of signals regulates fat metabolism.

The worm, known scientifically as Caenorhabdtis elegans, shares half of its genes with humans and is often a predictor ofhuman traits.

The signaling pathways are composed of a series of molecular events triggered by neurons in the brain that ultimately "instruct" the body to burn or store fat.

If the "separate-channel" mechanism is also found in humans, weight-loss drugs might be developed to attack just the fat-deposition channel rather than the hunger-dampening pathway that has met with limited success, says Kaveh Ashrafi, PhD, assistant professor of physiology at UCSF and senior author on the scientific paper reporting the study.

The research is being reported online June 3 by the journal "Cell Metabolism" and in the print edition June 4.

The scientists studied more than 250 genes to identify those that underlie serotonin's effects on fat and feeding.

It is widely believed that environments that encourage excessive food intake and little physical activity promote development of obesity.

However, extensive studies have revealed that body weight is not merely a passive consequence of environmental conditions but that a physiological system coordinates the complex mechanisms that regulate food intake and energy expenditure, Ashrafi says.

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Programs succeed in reducing risky sex among HIV-positive minority men

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Research has shown that HIV-positive African American and Hispanic men who were sexually abused as children are particularly vulnerable to engaging in high-risk sex and experiencing depressive symptoms.

Now, a new study by UCLA's Center for Culture, Trauma and Mental Health Disparities has found that interventions that address the life experiences of these men --- including their early sexual experiences --- in addition to risk and general health issues can contribute significantly toward preventing high-risk behavior and reducing depression rates.

The success is largely due to the social support found within these programs, researchers say.

And while brief interventions may be effective in the short term, periodic "boosters," or additional sessions, may be needed to reinforce positive changes over time, according to the study authors.

"Usually, what you find after people complete interventions is that their behaviors have improved," said Dr. John Williams, assistant professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA and the study's lead researcher.

For this study, researchers recruited 137 HIV-positive gay and bisexual African American and Hispanic men who had a history of childhood sexual abuse.

Participants were generally middle-aged, poor, had little formal education and were predominately single, lacking long-term partners and family support.

Researchers found that men from both intervention groups reduced risky behaviors and their number of sexual partners and also experienced a decrease in depressive symptoms.

The social support the participants found in these groups, where they were able to share their experiences --- including those concerning childhood sexual abuse --- likely contributed to this outcome, Williams said.

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Posted by Michael at 8:55 PM | TrackBack

Nearly 1 in 5 teenagers admit eating problems, but anxiety is a bigger problem than appearance

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Eighteen per cent of school children who took part in two health surveys carried out a year apart admitted they had eating problems, according to research published in the latest Journal of Advanced Nursing.

Students who had ongoing eating problems were more likely to report multiple psychological problems and health complaints.

"For example we noticed that students who reported suffering from anxiety earlier in adolescence were 20 times more likely to have ongoing eating problems" says Lea Hautala from the Adolescent Psychiatry Clinic at the University of Turku, Finland.

"Students who had previous problems with anxiety were much more likely to suffer sustained eating problems, while those who didn't have previous psychological problems only experienced temporary eating problems and dissatisfaction with their appearance.

70% of students with persistent problems reported one or more health problems (abdominal pain, dizziness, fatigue, headache and insomnia), compared with only 40% of the students with no eating disorders.

This was much higher than the 8% and 18% reported by students without eating problems.

Despite this, when the researchers looked at the height and weight records kept by the school nurses, they found that even students with persistent eating problems were more likely to be normal weight than over or underweight.

Edited by Professor Alison Tierney, it is published 24 times a year by Blackwell Publishing Ltd, part of the international Blackwell Publishing group.

Wiley-Blackwell publishes approximately 1,400 scholarly peer-reviewed journals and an extensive collection of books with global appeal.

For more information on Wiley-Blackwell, please visit www.blackwellpublishing.com or http://interscience.wiley.com.

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Posted by Michael at 8:49 PM | TrackBack

Study finds link between amphetamine abuse and heart attacks in young adults

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

Young adults who abuse amphetamines may be at greater risk of suffering a heart attack, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found.

In the study, available online in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, researchers examined data from more than 3 million people between 18 and 44 years old hospitalized from 2000 through 2003 in Texas and found a relationship between a diagnosis of amphetamine abuse and heart attack.

Individual case reports have suggested a link between heart attack and amphetamine abuse, but this is believed to be the first epidemiological study of a large group of people on the issue, said Dr. Arthur Westover, assistant professor of psychiatry at UT Southwestern and the study's lead author.

"Most people aren't surprised that methamphetamines and amphetamines are bad for your health," Dr. Westover said.

"But we are concerned because heart attacks in the young are rare and can be very debilitating or deadly."

Dr. Haley holds the U.S. Armed Forces Veterans Distinguished Chair for Medical Research, Honoring America's Gulf War Veterans.

Doctors recognizing an amphetamine-caused heart attack might choose not to administer a beta-blocker medication, a common treatment for heart attack, because it could interact with methamphetamine to make the heart attack worse.

"We're talking about a state that is near the middle of prevalence of methamphetamine use in the United States, so it's possible that the number of heart attacks in young adults in other states with a much higher prevalence of amphetamine abuse may be higher as well," said Dr. Westover, who is a National Institutes of Health Multidisciplinary Clinical Research Scholar at UT Southwestern.

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$24 Million in Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools Grants Awarded to 34 States

From Education Newsfeed:

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced today the award of $24 million in grants to 92 school districts in 34 states to help them enhance and fortify their readiness and emergency management plans.

"Nothing is more important to Americans than the safety of their children," Spellings said.

"These grants will support that effort by helping more school districts strengthen their crisis planning and better coordinate with the entire community to ensure the safety of our schools and students."

The Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS) discretionary grant program provides funds for local education agencies (LEAs or school districts) to improve and strengthen their emergency management plans.

For a school district to qualify for a grant, its improved plan must address all four phases of emergency management: Prevention-Mitigation, Preparedness, Response and Recovery.

Plans also must commit school districts to coordinate with officials in law enforcement, local government, public safety, public health and mental health; train school officials in emergency management; and provide a method for communicating emergency and reunification procedures to parents and guardians.

Funds may be used to coordinate with local emergency responders, including fire, police, and health and public health agencies; conduct drills and exercises; purchase emergency supplies and equipment; and to train staff and students on emergency response procedures.

The grants are housed within the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, which supports efforts to create safe schools, respond to crises, prevent drug and alcohol abuse, ensure the health and well being of students, and teach students good citizenship and character.

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Posted by Michael at 8:39 PM | TrackBack

Racial disparities in the outcomes of patients with chronic kidney disease abound

From EurekAlert! - Breaking News:

A number of biological, societal, and health care--related issues contribute to disparities in the outcomes of US patients with kidney disease, according to two articles appearing in the July 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN).

The articles indicate that immediate and substantial efforts on a number of fronts are needed to provide better health care for affected Americans.

The recently published government document, Health United States 2007, reported that black patients with end-stage renal disease (USRD) make up 33% of all patients on the kidney transplant waitlist but only 13% of the general population.

Also, black patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) accelerate faster to ESRD than white patients and are significantly more likely to develop ESRD and to do so at an earlier age than white patients.

Patient and societal factors include: lack of trust by patients, cultural and communication barriers, and residential segregation that clusters minorities in communities with lower quality health care resources.

In a separate article in the same issue of JASN, Dr. Neil Powe of the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore, MD, also addresses health disparities in kidney disease in the United States.

Is it biological (for example, genetic), non-biological (for example, lack of optimal care or poverty), or a combination of both?

Dr. Powe also urges physicians, other providers, and health care delivery organizations to work to eliminate disparities as a way to improve the quality of care for all patients.

Finally, Dr. Powe says that changes are needed regarding the nation's health policy.

The ASN Public Policy Board supports legislation that expands CKD education, access to dialysis care, and outreach to communities with high rates of CKD.

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Posted by Michael at 8:38 PM | TrackBack

Helping Community College Students Cope with Financial Emergencies

From MDRC:

Lumina Foundation for Education created the Dreamkeepers and Angel Fund Emergency Financial Aid Programs to assist community college students who are at risk of dropping out because of unexpected financial crises.

Eleven community colleges are participating in Dreamkeepers; 26 Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) are participating in Angel Fund.

The colleges are responsible for designing the programs and raising funds, both to sustain their programs and to continue receiving matching funds from the initiative.

Students at the TCUs most often needed funds for transportation, and also frequently requested help with child care, housing, and utilities.

Some colleges require detailed applications, reviewed by senior administrators or a small committee; others empower one individual or frontline staff to make aid decisions.

Dreamkeepers aid recipients are more likely than other students at their colleges to be older students, parents, first-year students, enrolled full time, enrolled in vocational study, and recipients of financial aid.

At some Dreamkeepers colleges, women and African-American students are more likely than other demographic groups to receive emergency assistance.

The Angel Fund colleges, however, tend to have limited fundraising capacities and remain concerned about meeting their fundraising requirement over the remaining years of the program.

For colleges interested in starting similar programs, this report suggests several key challenges to address: defining what constitutes a financial emergency, building a flexible administrative structure that safeguards funds yet quickly responds to student needs, ensuring that all eligible students are aware of the program and have equal opportunities to access funds, finding sources of funding, working with technical assistance providers, and using data to evaluate programs.