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July 31, 2008Drug has potential to prevent alcoholics from relapsingFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: An experimental drug that blocks the euphoric feelings associated with drinking may prevent alcoholics from relapsing. The finding, the result of a mouse study at Oregon Health & Science University, could lead to human clinical trials within the next year. "We showed we could block behavior in mice that resembles this increased euphoria even after the animals had been given a lot of alcohol," said Tamara Phillips, Ph.D., professor and vice chair of the behavioral neuroscience department at OHSU and a research scientist at the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center. This change in the brain does not subside after people quit drinking. So when they begin consuming alcohol again, "they get a bigger jolt," Phillips said. Phillips and her team determined that a brain receptor called CRF1 appears to be involved in this heightened pleasure sensation. They compared the responses of normal mice and mice bred without the CRF1 receptor to chronic doses of alcohol. Mice without the CRF1 receptor did not experience the euphoric jolt the normal mice demonstrated. Before testing for the euphoric response, the researchers gave the mice an experimental drug called CP 154,526 -- developed by Pfizer -- which prevents CRF from reaching the brain receptor. Phillips' study recently was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences. "I think if you block this receptor, you might be able to decrease drinking in response to PTSD," Phillips said. It serves patients from every corner of the state, and is a conduit for learning for more than 3,400 students and trainees. Posted by Michael at 6:07 PM | TrackBack Alcohol binges early in pregnancy increase risk of infant oral cleftsFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A new study by researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health, shows that pregnant women who binge drink early in their pregnancy increase the likelihood that their babies will be born with oral clefts. The researchers found that women who consumed an average of five or more drinks per sitting were more than twice as likely than non-drinkers to have an infant with either of the two major infant oral clefts: cleft lip with or without cleft palate, or cleft palate alone. "Prenatal exposure to alcohol, especially excessive amounts at one time, can adversely affect the fetus and may increase the risk of infant clefts." The study included 573 mothers who had babies born with cleft lip with or without cleft palate and cleft palate only; as well as 763 mothers randomly selected from all live births in Norway. The researchers found increased risks of orofacial clefts among infants whose mothers reported binge-level drinking of an average of five or more drinks per occasion during the first-trimester compared to non-drinkers. The primary mission of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), one of 27 Institutes and Centers at the National Institutes of Health, is to reduce the burden of human illness and disability by understanding how the environment influences the development and progression of human disease. For additional information, visit the NIEHS Web site at http://www.niehs.nih.gov/. First-trimester maternal alcohol consumption and the risk of infant oral clefts in Norway: a population-based case-control study. Posted by Michael at 6:04 PM | TrackBack UNC report: Heat-related deaths in high school football players dip, but all are preventableFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: You could say two is a small number. But that's still two too many for Frederick O. Mueller, Ph.D., professor of exercise and sports science in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The figure represents the number of reported cases of heat stroke deaths among high school level football players in 2007. To Mueller, it also represents two young lives unnecessarily lost: one was 17-years-old; the other, just 16. "There's no excuse for any number of heat stroke deaths, since they are all preventable with the proper precautions," said Mueller, the author of the Annual Survey of Football Injuries, a long-running compilation of statistics that tracks major injuries and deaths in 1.8 million football players on middle school, high school, college, sandlot (organized, non-school affiliated) and professional teams. The report is produced by the UNC-based National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research, of which Mueller is director. The figures take to 33 the total number of football players who have died from heat stroke since 1995 (25 high school, 5 college, 2 professional and one sandlot). Require each athlete to have a physical and know if an athlete has a history of heat-related illness; such players are more susceptible to heat stroke. Acclimatize players to the heat slowly; North Carolina mandates that the first three days of practice be done without uniforms. Athletes should weigh in each day before and after practice and their weight charts should be checked in order to treat any who lose excessive weight each day. In all, the 2007 football season saw 13 fatalities among the estimated 1.8 million players. Posted by Michael at 6:01 PM | TrackBack Communication gap exists between seniors and surgeons, study findsFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: The decision to undergo surgery can be particularly difficult and confusing for older adults. In a study published in the July 2008 issue of the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Richard M. Frankel, Ph.D., of the Indiana University School of Medicine, and colleagues report that older patients and their surgeons do not communicate effectively when exploring surgical treatment options. The researchers audiotaped patient-surgeon consultations and later interviewed the patients regarding their concerns about surgery to find out what, if anything, they had not discussed with their surgeons. The researchers found that the older adults had raised only about half of the concerns mentioned in the subsequent interview. "Unexpressed concerns are challenging because they can lead to different expectations and understanding of the problems patients are concerned about and treatment recommendations that are poorly tailored to patient needs," said Dr. Frankel, a professor of medicine at the IU School of Medicine and a Regenstrief research scientist. He is also is a member of the Center for Health Services Outcomes Research at the Regenstrief Institute and the Center for Implementing Evidence-Based Practice at the Richard L. Roudebush Veteran's Administration Medical Center in Indianapolis. Dr. Frankel and his colleagues noted that if concerns are unexpressed, "physicians will have little chance to correct or modify them. Unfortunately unexpressed concerns may contribute to breakdowns in communication which are frustrating for both physicians and patients." The researchers found that surgeons generally do a good job of responding to patient concerns when they are raised. The authors report only one statistically significant finding when comparing concerns by race. Posted by Michael at 5:59 PM | TrackBack Watching too much TV is causing some university students to pack on the poundsFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: According to a team of University of Alberta researchers, these food advertisements have a powerful influence on its viewers, especially university students. "The transition from adolescence to adulthood has been shown to be a time for taking on many negative health behaviors including increases in smoking and alcohol use and decreases in physical activity and fruit and vegetable consumption," said Kim Raine, director of the University of Alberta's Centre for Health Promotion Studies. "In this study, we were investigating whether TV viewership and recognition of snack advertisements were associated with snack food consumption and the odds of being overweight or obese." University students who reported medium or high television viewership snacked more frequently while watching TV and recognized more advertising than students who were considered low TV viewers. Previous studies have examined food intake and caloric consumption in relation to TV viewing among adults, but few have considered the role of snacking in relation to TV viewing and body weight status among young adults. University students who watched over four hours or more of TV per day snacked more frequently while watching TV, recognized more TV advertisements and consumed more energy-dense snacks than students who viewed less than one hour of TV per day. "The link between how much a person snacks while watching TV was directly related to viewing food advertisements, specifically when choosing to eat an energy-dense snack," said John Spence, co-author of the study and U of A professor in the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation. Posted by Michael at 5:57 PM | TrackBack Whole Health Campaign Calls on Presidential Candidates, Political Parties to Make Addiction and Mental Illness a Policy Reform PriorityFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: The Whole Health Campaign (WHC), an unprecedented collaborative of more than 70 mental illness and addiction prevention, treatment and recovery organizations, is urging the presidential candidates and political parties to make mental illness and addiction issues a policy priority. "Now is the time for us to adopt health policy reform that will save tens of thousands of lives and billions of dollars, and strengthen America's families and communities," said Eric Goplerud, Ph.D, President of the American College of Mental Health Administration. The WHC is working on behalf of more than 84 million Americans with a mental health or addiction disorder to ensure that all public and private health plans provide adequate mental health and addiction treatment coverage. The campaign will support policies that promote mental health and addiction recovery as integral to overall health and endorse research, prevention, early intervention and treatment as an investment in America's future. "For the first time in American history, mental illness and addiction groups are uniting as one voice," said Ron Manderscheid, Ph.D., Director of Mental Health and Substance Use Programs at Global Health Sector, SRA International, Inc. "It's time for mental health and addiction prevention, treatment and recovery to be an integral part of America's health care system." On July 22, the WHC held a platform meeting as part of the Democratic National Committee platform development process. WHC will also submit materials through the Republican National Committee platform online process. The WHC has also developed an online petition and has collected more than 5,300 signatures supporting the inclusion of mental illness and addiction issues in health care policy reform. Posted by Michael at 5:53 PM | TrackBack Housing Stimulus Bill a Big Win for Construction IndustryFrom PR Newswire: On July 31 2008 President Bush signed the American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act (H.R. 3221) into law. The Associated Equipment Distributors (AED), an association representing construction equipment distributors, was an instrumental force in bringing a provision in the bill -- the home purchase tax credit, which provides first-time homebuyers with a tax credit of up to $7,500 -- to fruition. AED first proposed the home purchase tax credit in January, arguing that it would stimulate demand in the housing market, help eliminate excess inventory, reverse declining home prices, and restore consumer confidence. "The home purchase tax credit isn't a panacea for every woe plaguing the economy, but it should help nudge buyers off the fence, eliminate excess inventory, and ultimately get companies involved in home construction back on firmer financial footing," said AED President Toby Mack. The housing downturn has had an impact on the construction industry. In June, AED Government Affairs Committee Chairman Dale Leppo, Leppo Rents/Bobcat of Akron, testified at a House Small Business Committee hearing along with representatives from the other major trade associations involved in the home purchase tax credit campaign. Under the new law, first time homebuyers who purchase a home in the next year will receive a tax credit of 10 percent of the cost the home (up to $7,500). Taxpayers who take advantage of the credit will have to pay it back to the government in 15 annual installments. AED members sell, service and rent equipment to markets including heavy and light construction, mining, agriculture, aggregates and industrial. Posted by Michael at 5:51 PM | TrackBack U.S. Department of Education Announces $2.4 Million in Grants to 20 Institutions to Improve Special Education Teacher Training ProgramsFrom Education Newsfeed: The U.S. Department of Education today announced the award of $2.4 million in grants to 20 institutions in 15 states to help train highly qualified teachers of students with high incidence disabilities, such as learning disabilities, emotional disturbance and mental retardation. The awards, made under the Special Education Preservice Training Improvement Grants Program, are meant to improve the quality of special education teacher preparation programs and ensure that graduates meet the highly qualified teacher requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). "We consistently hear from state, local and higher education officials that personnel preparation programs for special education teachers should be restructured or redesigned for graduates of these programs to meet the highly qualified teacher requirements in IDEA," said U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. The grants announced today cover the first year of what's expected to be five-year projects overseen by the Education Department's Office of Special Education Programs. During that first year, the grant recipients will begin upgrading their teacher preparation programs with research-proven strategies designed to improve outcomes for children with high incidence disabilities. They will also coordinate their efforts with the National Center to Enhance the Professional Development of School Personnel by using the center's Web-based training modules. Use field-based training opportunities in high-poverty communities and in schools not making adequate yearly progress under the No Child Left Behind Act. CA---Los Angeles---Loyola Marymount University, Teresa Jimenez, $122,265. CO---Greeley---University of Northern Colorado, Harvey Rude, $99,932. FL---Orlando---University of Central Florida, Mary Little, $110,744. IL---Joliet---University of St. Francis, Srimani Chakravarthi, $100,832. KS---Lawrence---University of Kansas Center for Research, Sean Smith, $117,904. ME---Gorham---University of Southern Maine, Catherine Fallona, $127,543. Posted by Michael at 5:47 PM | TrackBack Biological fathers not necessarily the best, social dads parent well tooFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A new study in the Journal of Marriage and Family examined differences in the parenting practices of four groups of fathers according to whether they were biologically related to a child and whether they were married to the child's mother. Researchers found that married social fathers exhibited equivalent or higher quality parenting behaviors than married and cohabiting biological fathers. Married social fathers were more engaged with children, took on more shared responsibility in parenting, and were more trusted by mothers to take care of children. Sample children were mostly born to unmarried parents and had been followed from birth to approximately age five. Media wishing to receive a PDF of this article may contact journalnews@bos.blackwellpublishing.net. Lawrence M. Berger, PhD, MSW is affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison and can be reached for questions at Lmberger@wisc.edu. Posted by Michael at 5:40 PM | TrackBack July 29, 2008Right place and right time can trigger drinkingFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Using a behavioral animal model, researchers of a new study, scheduled for publication in the August 1st issue of Biological Psychiatry, have found that the physical surroundings where alcohol cues are experienced can greatly influence the ability of those cues to trigger relapse. Specifically, Chaudhri and colleagues taught rats to learn that a brief tone signaled when a small amount of alcohol would be available in a fluid receptacle for them to drink. This learning occurred in a distinctive environment consisting of a particular appearance, smell, and lighting. They were then put into a second, unique context with a different appearance, smell, and lighting, and were repeatedly exposed to the tone but never given alcohol. If used in the clinic, this technique of extinguishing responses to alcohol cues in multiple contexts could greatly increase the efficacy of current behavioral treatments for alcoholism. Additional research will clearly need to be undertaken to determine the effectiveness of such a technique, but these findings indicate that it may a promising addition to addiction therapies. The authors are all affiliated with the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center, University of California at San Francisco, Emeryville, California. Posted by Michael at 10:09 PM | TrackBack Columbia's Institute for Not-for-Profit Management to Host Fall Information SessionsFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: The Institute for Not-for-Profit Management (INM) at Columbia Business School Executive Education will host two information sessions in the fall, on Tuesday, September 9 and Thursday, November 6. Each will be held from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. in Warren Hall on the Columbia University campus (corner of West 115th St. and Amsterdam Ave.). INM staff, faculty and graduates will discuss 2009 programs, review the program and tuition assistance application process and answer questions. Anyone with a vested interest in professional development within the not-for-profit community is encouraged to attend. The Institute for Not-for-Profit Management builds managerial capacity in not-for-profit organizations. "INM has been teaching nonprofit professionals for over 30 years," said Francine Lynch, INM Director. "Through our programs, participants learn how to better meet the challenges of today's competitive and dynamic nonprofit environment." To RSVP for the information session, please visit the INM Web site (http://www.gsb.columbia.edu/execed/inm), e-mail (http://inm@columbia.edu), or call (212-854-6018). 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. Through Columbia's Institute for Not-for-Profit Management (INM), participants can enroll in programs that build organizational capacity and leadership in the not-for-profit and public sectors. For more information, please visit http://www.gsb.columbia.edu/execed/inm. AScribe transmits news releases directly to newsroom computer systems and desktops of major media organizations via a supremely trusted channel - The Associated Press. Posted by Michael at 10:03 PM | TrackBack APHA Urges House to Protect Health of Americans by Passing Tobacco LegislationFrom PR Newswire: The American Public Health Association strongly urges U.S. House members to vote in support of pending legislation that would give the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to regulate tobacco products. Although tobacco use is responsible for more than 400,000 deaths each year and costs more than $155 billion each year in medical expenses and lost productivity, tobacco products remain virtually unregulated. Despite decades of evidence of their damage, tobacco companies have marketed their deadly products to our children, deceived consumers about the harm their products cause, and failed to take any meaningful action to make their products less harmful or less addictive. The Family Smoking and Tobacco Control Act would finally end the special protection enjoyed by the tobacco industry and protect our children and the nation's health instead. The legislation meets the high standard established by the public health community for tobacco regulation and will give the FDA authority to effectively regulate the manufacturing, marketing, labeling, distribution and sale of tobacco products. We call on our leaders to show their commitment to protecting the health of our nation, and particularly our children, by voting in favor of this legislation. Posted by Michael at 10:00 PM | TrackBack Study suggests 86 percent of Americans could be overweight or obese by 2030From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Most adults in the US will be overweight or obese by 2030, with related health care spending projected to be as much as $956.9 billion, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 9:53 PM | TrackBack This old healthy houseFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: The age of your neighborhood may influence your risk of obesity, according to a new study from the University of Utah. The study, to be published in the September issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, linked the body mass index (BMI) of nearly a half million Salt Lake County residents to 2000 Census data. The study found that residents were at less risk of being obese or overweight if they lived in walkable neighborhoods---those that are more densely populated, designed to be more friendly to pedestrians and have a range of destinations for pedestrians. The study found that neighborhoods built before 1950 tended to offer greater overall walkability as they more often were designed with the pedestrian in mind, while newer neighborhoods often were designed to facilitate car travel. Demographer Ken Smith, co-author of the study and professor of family and consumer studies at the University of Utah, says that although individuals clearly make personal decisions that influence their weight, neighborhood characteristics also play a potentially important role in affecting residents' risk of obesity. The study found that a man of average height and weight (6 feet, 200 pounds) weighed 10 pounds less if he lived in a walkable neighborhood versus a less walkable neighborhood. How this growth occurs will have a significant impact on the environment and on the health of the people living in it, Smith says. "We have the opportunity, using evidence-based data on community design, to create neighborhoods that encourage less car driving, benefiting residents' health and wallets and shrinking our own carbon footprint," says Smith. Posted by Michael at 9:49 PM | TrackBack N.Y. research team discovers how antidepressants and cocaine interact with brain cell targetsFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: In a first, scientists from Weill Cornell Medical College and Columbia University Medical Center have described the specifics of how brain cells process antidepressant drugs, cocaine and amphetamines. These novel findings could prove useful in the development of more targeted medication therapies for a host of psychiatric diseases, most notably in the area of addiction. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 9:42 PM | TrackBack Mason study shows most health department directors see climate change as looming health threatFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A new study from George Mason University reveals that while a majority of U.S. health department directors believe their city or county will have serious public health problems as a result of climate change within the next 20 years, very few of them have planned or implemented activities to detect, prevent or adapt to these health threats. Edward Maibach, professor and director of the Center for Climate Change Communication and lead author of the study, wanted to understand how directors of local public health departments view, and are responding to, climate change as a public health issue. "Our research shows that most, if not all, local health departments are going to require assistance in making climate change adaptation and prevention a priority and must take action now to ensure climate change does not become an increasing global threat." The study "Climate Change and Local Public Health in the United States: Preparedness, Programs and Perceptions of Local Public Health Department Directors," which will be published this week in the journal Public Library of Science ONE, reveals that the majority of health department directors believed that threats such as heat waves or heat-related illnesses, reduced air quality and reduced water quality or quantity were most likely to become more common or severe as a result of climate change. Most survey respondents felt that the personnel in their health department -- and other key stakeholders in their community -- had a lack of knowledge about climate change, that little help was currently available from state and federal public health officials, and that they needed additional funding, staff and staff training to respond effectively to climate change. "The reason why so many Americans view climate change as a threat to other species rather than as a threat to people may be in part because health professionals have been largely silent on the issue," says Maibach. Posted by Michael at 9:41 PM | TrackBack The kids most likely to go armedFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: The analysis was carried out by Emmanuel Rudatsikira, from the Loma Linda University, California, and his colleagues. They showed that the variables most associated with the carrying of weapons were being male and being a member of certain self-selected racial groups. The authors point out that, "We do not believe that there are any inherent genetic differences that determine race and that affect the way that adolescents behave. We take the view that racial categorization has facilitated the distribution of social and economic resources (housing, school districts, wealth, social networks) that may consequently influence adolescent behaviors and perceptions toward violent behavior". The authors state that as the poor are likely to live in violent neighbourhoods, they would be more likely to feel unsafe and therefore carry weapons to school, "We would have expected that minorities such as African Americans, being largely disadvantaged in the United States, would be more likely to bear weapons." Rudatsikira suggests some explanations for this apparent discrepancy "If black students felt less threatened at school, it's less likely they'll carry weapons. Posted by Michael at 9:36 PM | TrackBack HUD CHARGES WISCONSIN LANDLORDS WITH DISCRIMINATING AGAINST FAMILIES WITH CHILDRENFrom HUD Press Releases: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced today that it has charged the owners and property manager of a Wisconsin rental property with housing discriminating for refusing to rent certain apartments to families with children. HUD alleges that the Joseph Peltz Trusts Numbers 1 and 2 and Rebecca Peltz, owners of an eight-unit apartment building in West Allis, and the on-site property manager, Crystal Sahr, unlawfully required tenants with children to rent apartments on the building's first floor or excluded them entirely. The Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful for a housing provider to refuse to rent to families because they have children or impose different terms or conditions on families with children. When Sahr inquired about who would occupy the apartment, Brawley informed her that it would be for her and two children. One tester contacted Sahr to inquire about the unit and volunteered that her two sons would occupy the apartment with her. Sahr allegedly added, "We've had kids here for years," but because they were losing tenants, "as families with kids move out, we didn't rent to families with kids anymore." The HUD charge will be heard by a United States Administrative Law Judge unless any party to the charge elects to have the case heard in federal district court. If an administrative law judge finds after a hearing that discrimination has occurred, he may award damages to each complainant for actual loss as a result of the discrimination, as well as damages for emotional distress, humiliation, and loss of civil rights. Posted by Michael at 9:35 PM | TrackBack HUD REPORTS DROP IN THE NUMBER OF CHRONICALLY HOMELESS PERSONSFrom HUD Press Releases: That's according to a new report released today by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that points to a 15 percent average yearly reduction in chronic homelessness since 2005. For the first time ever, HUD's Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress is also able to report on the scope of homelessness in America over a full-year period. In an address before the National Alliance to End Homelessness, HUD Secretary Steve Preston said, "We can all be encouraged that we're making progress in reducing chronic street homelessness in America and with more resources and better reporting, we can continue this trend. HUD defines a chronically homeless person as a disabled individual who has been continuously homeless for more than one year or has experienced at least four episodes of homelessness in the past three years. In January 2007, more than 3,800 cities and counties counted the number of homeless persons on the street and in emergency shelters on a single night. However, comparing the number of chronically homeless individuals from year to year should be done with caution. Declines can be attributed to several factors including increased funding from HUD and other sources for permanent supportive housing, improved data collection and reporting, and variation in the number of communities reporting these data on an annual basis. Quantifying homelessness is extremely challenging and, in the past, has been limited mostly to single-night counts. HUD and the Department of Veterans Affairs have also renewed the HUD-VA Supportive Housing Program (HUD-VASH) to provide permanent supportive housing for an estimated 10,000 homeless veterans nationwide. Posted by Michael at 9:34 PM | TrackBack STATEMENT BY THE PRESS SECRETARYFrom HUD Press Releases: At the beginning of his Administration, President Bush set a goal to end chronic homelessness in America. Today, Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Preston reported that the Administration has continued to make progress on this goal. The Department of Housing and Urban Development's Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress reports that chronic homelessness decreased an average of 15% per year between 2005 - 2007 and demonstrates that targeted, focused resources can achieve measurable results. Since the President took office, HUD has awarded approximately $10 billion to support local housing and service programs that help more Americans move off the streets and into safe, stable homes. The President has requested $1.6 billion for HUD's homeless programs for the FY 2009 budget, representing a 60 percent increase in funding over 2001 levels. He calls upon Congress to swiftly pass this legislation to ensure that the Federal Government continues to make progress on reducing homelessness in our country. President Bush also appreciates the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness'leadership in convening 20 federal agencies to work together, using increased federal resources to reach the most vulnerable and disabled of our neighbors and end their homelessness. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Peake continues to do an excellent job in leading the Council and specifically strengthening the VA's support for projects that serve and target homeless veterans. VA expects to spend more than $300 million this year in programs to assist homeless veterans. The President will continue to direct his Administration to make measurable progress on the streets and in the shelters of our communities to build on this momentum. Posted by Michael at 9:34 PM | TrackBack Gaining advantages from childhood experienceFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A recent study by Dr. Akaysha Tang's research team from the University of New Mexico Psychology Department (http://atlab.unm.edu) and collaborators at Rockefeller University examined how early life experience influences social skills and ability to handle stressful situations using a rat model. In this study, Dr. Tang and colleagues examined whether rats that experienced greater novelty by spending three minutes a day away from their familiar home environment during infancy had a greater ability to compete against other rats for exclusive access to chocolate reward compared to their siblings that stayed in the home environment during infancy. Another question asked by Dr. Tang and colleagues was whether the differences between siblings depended on the care received from their mothers during infancy. They measured how much mother rats licked and groomed their pups after the novelty exposure procedure and how consistently they provided this care from day to day. This led to the surprising finding that the novelty-exposed rats with the most adaptive stress responses had mothers that gave highly consistent, but lesser amounts, of care. In translating possible significance of these findings to the human species, although it is sometimes assumed that the overall amount of care from the mother is one of the most important influences on her children's development, this study by Dr. Tang and colleagues provides a different view---that the consistency of maternal care may be more important than the amount of maternal care and that other sources of influences, such as environmental novelty can play an important role in shaping a child's development. Posted by Michael at 9:32 PM | TrackBack Latest State Data on Teen Birth Rates, Abstinence, and ContraceptionFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: The 2008 edition of Child Trends' annual Facts at a Glance contains a state-by-state list of teen birth rates as well as data on the percentage of teens in grades 9-12 who abstain from sex or use contraception. - Texas and New Mexico have the highest teen birth rate (62 births for every 1,000 female teens ages 15-19), followed closely by Mississippi. - 23 percent of teen births in Texas, 21 percent in New Mexico, and 21 percent in Mississippi are repeat births, compared with 11 percent of teen births in New Hampshire, 15 percent in Vermont, and 15 percent in Massachusetts. - 47 percent of high school students in Texas and 41 percent in Mississippi abstain from sex, while the rate is 55 percent of high school students in New Hampshire and 56 percent in Massachusetts (figures are not available for New Mexico and Vermont). The report, which is based primarily on Child Trends' analyses of data from the National Center for Health Statistics, also includes national and city-level trends in teen childbearing. Child Trends is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research center that studies children at all stages of development. Its mission is to improve outcomes for children by providing research, data, and analysis to the people and institutions whose decisions and actions affect children. AScribe transmits news releases directly to newsroom computer systems and desktops of major media organizations via a supremely trusted channel - The Associated Press. Posted by Michael at 9:28 PM | TrackBack July 27, 2008Anti-HIV therapy boosts life expectancy more than 13 yearsFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: The life expectancy for patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has increased by more than 13 years since the late 1990s thanks to advancements in antiretroviral therapy, according to researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia. Improved survival has led to a nearly 40 percent drop in AIDS deaths among 43,355 HIV-positive study participants in Europe and North America, bolstering the call for improved anti-HIV efforts worldwide, the study authors said. The study is published in the British medical journal The Lancet. It was compiled by The Antiretroviral Therapy Cohort Collaboration, which includes UAB, Simon Fraser University and more than a dozen other research sites around the world. The authors looked at changes in life expectancy and mortality among the 43,355 HIV patients taking a cocktail of drugs called combination antiretroviral therapy (cART). "We are now seeing the benefits of years of research, hard work and efforts to make these medications widely available. This has led to dramatic improvements in life expectancy, but patients who start cART with more advanced HIV infection do not have the same level of benefit," Mugavero said. The new Lancet study found cART yielded a 13.8-year life-expectancy increase -- from 36.1 years in study participants who began therapy during the 1996-1999 period, to 49.9 years in participants who began therapy during the 2003-2005 period. With nearly half of all patients diagnosed with advanced HIV infection, the life expectancy benefits of cART are not fully realized, said Mugavero and lead study author Robert Hogg, Ph.D., of Simon Fraser University. Posted by Michael at 6:57 PM | TrackBack Research says fat friends and poor education helps people think thinFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Research by economists at the University of Warwick, Dartmouth College, and the University of Leuven, finds that people are powerfully but subconsciously influenced by the weight of those around them. For a whole society, this can lead to a spiral of imitative obesity. The researchers will present their results on Friday July 25th at a National Bureau of Economic Research conference in Cambridge Massachusetts in a paper entitled Imitative Obesity and Relative Utility at the NBER Summer Institute on Health Economics. Using data on 27,000 Europeans from 29 countries, the researchers find that nearly half of European women feel overweight. Less than a third of males feel overweight. For any given level of Body Mass Index (BMI), somebody with a university degree feels much fatter than someone with low educational qualifications. Overall, the researchers believe that a person's "utility" (an economic term roughly meaning satisfaction levels) depends on their own weight relative to the weight of those around them. They suggest that it is easier to be fat in a society that is fat. However, the authors also found a significant gender split. Females were much more prone, for any given BMI value, to feel overweight. For European women, weight dissatisfaction and overweight perceptions depended crucially upon not just their own absolute BMI, but also upon their BMI relative to other women of exactly the same age in their country. Some have argued that obesity has been produced by cheaper food, but if fatness is a response to greater purchasing power, why do we routinely observe that rich people are thinner than poor people?" Posted by Michael at 6:52 PM | TrackBack Energy drinks linked to risk-taking behaviors among college studentsFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Over the last decade, energy drinks -- such as Red Bull, Monster and Rockstar -- have become nearly ubiquitous on college campuses. The global market for these types of drinks currently exceeds $3 billion a year and new products are introduced annually. Although few researchers have examined energy drink consumption, a researcher at the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions (RIA) has been investigating links between energy drinks and public health concerns like substance abuse and risky behaviors. Two new research reports by RIA Research Scientist Kathleen E. Miller, Ph.D., examine the relationships between energy drink consumption and risk-taking in college students as well as "toxic jock identity" -- characterized by hyper-masculinity and risk-taking behaviors among college-age athletes. Miller is a sociologist and an adjunct research assistant professor in the Department of Sociology in UB's College of Arts and Sciences. In the first set of results published online in June in the Journal of Adolescent Health, Miller identified links between energy drink consumption, risky substance use and sexual risk-taking. Frequent energy drink consumers (six or more days a month), according to Miller's findings, were approximately three times as likely than less-frequent energy drink consumers or non-consumers to have smoked cigarettes, abused prescription drugs and been in a serious physical fight in the year prior to the survey. The associations with smoking, drinking, alcohol problems and illicit prescription use were found for white but not African-American students. A total of 795 Western New York male and female undergraduate students participated in the study and 39 percent reported consuming at least one energy drink in the previous month. Posted by Michael at 6:50 PM | TrackBack Yale study shows why cigarette smoke makes flu, other viral infections worseFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A new study by researchers at Yale School of Medicine could explain why the cold and flu virus symptoms that are often mild and transient in non-smokers can seriously sicken smokers. Published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, the study also identified the mechanism by which viruses and cigarette smoke interact to increase lung inflammation and damage. Until recently, scientists haven't been able to explain why smokers have more exaggerated responses to viral infections. Smokers have been more likely than non-smokers to die during previous influenza epidemics and are more prone to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Furthermore, children who are exposed to second-hand smoke have more severe responses when infected with respiratory synctial virus. Their experiments showed that the immune systems of mice exposed to cigarette smoke from as little as two cigarettes a day for two weeks overreacted when they were also exposed to a mimic of the flu virus. "The anti-viral responses in the cigarette smoke exposed mice were not only not defective, but were hyperactive," said Elias. "These findings suggest that smokers do not get in trouble because they can't clear or fight off the virus; they get in trouble because they overreact to it." Elias and his team also defined the signaling pathway that mediates this exaggerated innate immune response. "These studies have identified molecular pathways that can explain how cigarette smoke exposure and viral infections interact to make breathing problems worse in diseases like COPD," said James P. Kiley, director, Division of Lung Diseases of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Posted by Michael at 6:49 PM | TrackBack U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings Delivers Remarks at the 2008 Higher Education Summit, "A Test of Leadership," in ChicagoFrom Education Newsfeed: U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today delivered remarks on the progress that her Commission on the Future of Higher Education helped to facilitate, as well as discussed global competitiveness and the workforce needs of the 21st Century in Chicago, Ill. Their report was a test of leadership not only for the academy, but also for my department. Take the GI Bill: millions of soldiers returning to America as civilians, looking for the opportunity to achieve the American Dream they fought so hard to protect. At first, University of Chicago President Robert Hutchins warned that by opening the ivory tower to 10 million World War II veterans, the legislation would convert colleges into "intellectual hobo jungles." The law would provide loans to more than 1.5 million college students, producing 15,000 new PhD's a year over the next 10 years. Too often, high school coursework is not rigorous or varied enough to act as a springboard to success in college. As the Secretary of Education, I'm obligated to speak for students and families, and for we federal taxpayers who are one-third investors in higher education. They rightly expect us to knock down barriers to progress - like an opaque accreditation process that often inhibits innovation instead of encouraging it, or discourages new players from entering the system. In May I saw students from more than 150 nations graduate from Miami Dade College. We see the tremendous potential of increased transparency in MIT's new free open courseware, and in Stanford's podcasts of hundreds of free courses. I have been proud to lead delegations of university presidents to nations around the world. Posted by Michael at 6:45 PM | TrackBack U.S. Department of Education Awards Oregon $9.5 Million Grant to Help Create More Charter SchoolsFrom Education Newsfeed: The U.S. Department of Education's Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement Doug Mesecar visited the Self Enhancement Inc., Academy in Portland, Ore., today to present a $9,500,000 Charter School Program grant award to the Oregon Department of Education. Susan Castillo, Oregon State Superintendent of Public Instruction, joined Mesecar for the announcement. Oregon 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 long-term objectives of Oregon's charter school program is to increase the number of high quality charter schools in Oregon that meet the needs of diverse learners and increase student achievement in meeting rigorous academic state standards. "Supporting the growth of new, high quality charter schools is critical to our efforts to improve the educational opportunities for all children," Mesecar said. These grants help states create more quality charter schools and increase school choices for parents and their children. State educational agencies with a specific statue authorizing charter schools may apply for funding. 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. Today over 4,000 charter schools serve more than one million students in 40 states and Washington, D.C. Posted by Michael at 6:42 PM | TrackBack U.S. Education Department Funds 13 Grants to Promote Student Exchanges and Partnerships Between U.S. and Brazilian UniversitiesFrom Education Newsfeed: U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today announced the award of 13 new grants totaling $364,904 to promote partnerships between universities and to increase education and training opportunities in a wide range of academic and professional disciplines for students and faculty in both countries. "Education is not something that can be done in isolation, especially in this rapidly-changing, global marketplace," said U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. "U.S.-Brazil student partnerships are a great opportunity to help students in both our countries gain the skills they need to succeed." The U.S.-Brazil Higher Education Consortia Program (the U.S.-Brazil Program) fosters partnerships through the exchange of undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and staff as part of a joint curriculum development. The U.S.-Brazil Program provides grants for up to four years to consortia of at least two academic institutions each from Brazil and the U.S. Funds cover stipends for student and faculty travel abroad as well as for curriculum development in areas such as watershed management, and weather and climate impact on agricultural and water resources. The program is jointly administered by the U.S. Department of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) and the Brazilian Ministry of Education. In August 2007, Secretary Spellings led a delegation of U.S. university presidents to Brazil and Chile to promote programs such as the U.S.-Brazil Program that foster higher education partnerships and exchanges between the U.S. and other nations. Program in Global Talent Development for Sustainable Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Fields US Lead: University of Illinois, Champaign, IL US Partner: University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN Posted by Michael at 6:42 PM | TrackBack National Fair Housing Commission to Focus on Gulf Coast Housing Crisis in the Wake of Hurricanes Katrina and RitaFrom PR Newswire: Government and Policy: Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 6:41 PM | TrackBack CCH Says Some Taxpayers Will Benefit, Some Will Pay for Housing Bailout BillFrom PR Newswire: Government and Policy: Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 6:40 PM | TrackBack Apartment Industry Commends Congress For Learning From Past Mistakes and Passing a Balanced Housing PackageFrom PR Newswire: Government and Policy: Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 6:40 PM | TrackBack Housing Stimulus Package to Stabilize Neighborhoods, Attract New Capital to Communities: LISCFrom PR Newswire: Government and Policy: Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 6:39 PM | TrackBack Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, President of The U.S. Conference of Mayors, Issues Statement on Senate Passage of Housing BillFrom PR Newswire: Government and Policy: Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 6:38 PM | TrackBack Region hit hard by 1993 floods showed economic resiliency, study indicatesFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: With the first wave of clean-up efforts behind them, residents of communities affected by this year's Midwest floods may find hope in a University of Illinois study on the economic impact of the 1993 flood that devastated much of the same region. "Viewing the regional economy as a whole suggests significant economic resiliency to the flood," according to U. of I. urban and regional planning doctoral student Yu Xiao. Her recently completed dissertation focuses on adjustments in the local labor market and overall economic impacts of the 1993 flood on 516 Midwest communities. Xiao's research also includes an in-depth case study of Grafton, Ill., a tourist town at the junction of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers that was singled out by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for its flood-mitigation and recovery efforts. Despite having the distinction of being the costliest U.S. flood of the 20th century -- resulting in $20 billion in economic losses -- the 1993 flood "caused very minimal or only temporary negative economic impacts in the year of the event, measured by gross domestic product, the unemployment rate and the number of businesses," Xiao said. While such findings may be cause for optimism for those still mired in recovery efforts resulting from this year's flooding -- as well as for those who may be impacted by future disasters -- Xiao's research revealed that there's actually more to the economic-recovery picture in many communities than what appears on the surface. "Government business assistance programs, such as the Small Business Administration loans, were infrequently used by Grafton's business owners because of the amount of paperwork required to access funds and time lags in processing applications," Xiao said. Posted by Michael at 6:36 PM | TrackBack Confidence a key to recent economic initiatives, U. of I. expert saysFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Anne Villamil says propping up faith in an economy teetering on the brink of recession is as important as more tangible initiatives such as financial lifelines for cash-strapped mortgage lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. China and Japan are the two top stakeholders in the growing U.S. foreign debt, and jitters could affect future loans, Villamil said. Japan also has a reported $56 billion stake in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which own or insure 40 percent of U.S. residential mortgages and would qualify for unlimited amounts of government credit under a House bill approved Wednesday. "When you are a debtor, as the U.S. now is and will be for some time, it is important to have a good relationship with your lenders," she said. "Were the U.S. to face difficulty finding lenders abroad, interest rates would rise and the U.S. economy would be under even more pressure." The House bill also includes $300 billion to provide affordable mortgages for struggling homeowners and a $7,500 tax credit for first-time homebuyers. Villamil says the housing market and U.S. economy continue to struggle despite aggressive moves by the Federal Reserve, Treasury Department and Congress. Overall, home prices continue to fall and default rates continue to rise. "Surging energy prices add to the strain, as do the rising levels of U.S. government debt and consumer debt," she said. Villamil is a co-editor of the Annals of Finance and an associate editor of Economic Theory, the European Economic Review, and the Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance. Posted by Michael at 6:34 PM | TrackBack Why Play a Losing Game? Carnegie Mellon Study Uncovers Why Low-Income People Buy Lottery TicketsFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: Although state lotteries, on average, return just 53 cents for every dollar spent on a ticket, people continue to pour money into them - especially low-income people, who spend a larger percentage of their incomes on lottery tickets than do the wealthier segments of society. A new Carnegie Mellon University study sheds light on the reasons why low-income lottery players eagerly invest in a product that provides poor returns. "The hope of getting out of poverty encourages people to continue to buy tickets, even though their chances of stumbling upon a life-changing windfall are nearly impossibly slim and buying lottery tickets in fact exacerbates the very poverty that purchasers are hoping to escape." The researchers influenced participants' perceptions of their relative wealth - or lack thereof - by having them complete a survey on their opinions of the city of Pittsburgh that included an item on annual income. The group made to feel subjectively wealthier was asked to report income on a scale that began with "less than $10,000" and increased in $10,000 increments, leading most respondents to be in a middle or upper tier. The group given this reminder purchased 1.31 tickets, compared with 0.54 for the group not given such a reminder. Posted by Michael at 6:30 PM | TrackBack No gender differences in math performanceFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Girls just aren't as good at math as boys. After sifting through mountains of data - including SAT results and math scores from 7 million students who were tested in accordance with the No Child Left Behind Act - a team of scientists says the answer is no. Whether they looked at average performance, the scores of the most gifted children or students' ability to solve complex math problems, girls measured up to boys. "There just aren't gender differences anymore in math performance," says University of Wisconsin-Madison psychology professor Janet Hyde, the study's leader. Though girls take just as many advanced high school math courses today as boys, and women earn 48 percent of all mathematics bachelor's degrees, the stereotype persists that girls struggle with math, says Hyde. Not only do many parents and teachers believe this, but scholars also use it to explain the dearth of female mathematicians, engineers and physicists at the highest levels. To carry out its query, the team acquired math scores from state exams now mandated annually under No Child Left Behind (NCLB), along with detailed statistics on test takers, including gender, grade level and ethnicity, in 10 states. "Boys did a teeny bit better in some states, and girls did a teeny bit better in others," says Hyde. What this suggests, says Hyde, is that if teachers are gearing instruction toward these assessments, the performance of both boys and girls in complex problem solving may drop in the future, leaving them ill-prepared for careers in math, science and engineering. Posted by Michael at 6:28 PM | TrackBack Oregon Health Care Quality CorporationFrom The Commonwealth Fund: The Oregon Health Care Quality Corporation, based in Portland, Oregon, is a nonprofit partnership that brings together physician groups, nurses, hospitals, health plans, purchasers, consumers, and policymakers in an effort to improve the quality of health care in Oregon through community-wide collaboration. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
