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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. Posted by Michael at 6:27 PM | TrackBack July 24, 2008Foundation Center Releases 'The Grantseeker's Guide to Winning Proposals'From Ascribe Newsfeed: The newest title in the Foundation Center's suite of proposal writing guides includes 35 actual proposals that received foundation funding. Designed for development officers, nonprofit board members, fundraising consultants, volunteers, and others in pursuit of foundation grants, "The Grantseeker's Guide to Winning Proposals" provides real-world proposals for general operating support, program development, staff salaries, program evaluation, and other needs. "Grantseekers often tell us that they want models of successful proposals so they can learn how to improve their odds of securing funding," said Judith Margolin, editor of the guide and the Center's vice president for planning and evaluation. The proposals were approved by a wide array of national, international, and regional grantmakers, including small family foundations and grantmaking public charities. Each proposal is accompanied by a critique from the grantmaker who awarded the grant, offering a unique insider's look at what grantmakers focus on as they make funding decisions. The Center's Web site receives more than 57,000 visits each day, and thousands of people gain access to free resources in its five regional library/learning centers and its national network of close to 400 Cooperating Collections. For more information, please visit foundationcenter.org or call 212-620-4230. AScribe Newswire distributes news from nonprofit and public sector organizations. 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 4:59 AM | TrackBack Diversity in primary schools promotes harmonyFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: For the first time, children as young as 5 have been shown to understand issues regarding integration and separation. The research, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), confirms that the ethnic composition of primary schools has a direct impact on children's attitudes towards those in other ethnic groups and on their ability to get on with their peers. Highlighting the challenges faced by immigrant children, the study also showed that those attending schools characterised by higher ethnic diversity experienced fewer peer problems and less prejudice than those attending schools that are more homogeneous. Researchers from the Universities of Sussex and Kent interviewed children from ethnic minority groups about their attitudes towards themselves, their heritage, culture and their relationships with their peers. The interviews revealed that the vast majority of children from immigrant backgrounds wanted to keep their ethnic identity including their language and religious customs but, at the same time, they were keen to adopt as many of the practices and values of the host society as possible. Professor Rupert Brown, who led the study, said: "Teachers observations revealed that children with an integrationist outlook, particularly those who were 1st generation immigrants, were more likely to be 'teary' and show other symptoms of social anxiety than children who were solely focused on their own heritage. This release is based on the findings from 'Identities in Transition: A longitudinal Study of Immigrant Children', funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and led by Professor Rupert Brown at the University of Sussex together with Professor Adam Rutland and Dr Charles Watters from the University of Kent. Posted by Michael at 3:56 AM | TrackBack Serious school failure turns out to be a real bummer for girls, but not boysFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Adolescent girls who had a serious school failure by the 12th grade -- being expelled, suspended or dropping out -- were significantly more likely to have suffered a serious bout of depression at the age of 21 than girls who did not have these problems. New research published this week in the Journal of Adolescent Health showed that girls who had early conduct problems in elementary school also were at increased risk for depression in early adulthood. However, the University of Washington study did not show any link for boys between academic, behavior or social problems and depression at age 21. "For girls there are broader implications of school failure," said Carolyn McCarty, a UW research associate professor of pediatrics and lead author of the study. The study showed that girls who were expelled from school were more than twice as likely to suffer depression -- 44 percent compared to 20 percent of girls who were not expelled. "This gender paradox shows that while school failure is more atypical for girls it appears to have more severe consequences when it does occur," said McCarty. McCarty said the study points to the need for communities to create integrated prevention programs to help children deal with academic, social and behavioral problems. "When adolescents have these kinds of problems and experiences, the response tends to be focused purely on the academic, in part because the school and mental health systems are distinct. Funding for the research came from the National Association of Schizophrenia and Affective Disorder, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Posted by Michael at 12:18 AM | TrackBack Hurricane preparedness survey: Worries about drinking water and medical careFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Three years after Hurricane Katrina devastated parts of the Gulf Coast, a new survey conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health Project on the Public and Biological Security shows that one-third (34%) of those affected by the storm report they are very prepared if a major hurricane were to strike their communities in the next six months. The top worries of respondents threatened or hit by Hurricane Katrina are that they would not have enough fresh water to drink (42% very worried) and that they would not be able to get needed medical care (41% very worried). The top concern of respondents who were not affected by Katrina is that they would have problems getting gas needed to evacuate (39% very worried). "The top concerns of people in high-risk hurricane areas---having enough fresh water, getting medical care, and obtaining gas to evacuate---are all things that public officials can plan for before the major storms of this season hit," said Robert J. Blendon, Professor of Health Policy and Political Analysis at the Harvard School of Public Health. Compared to other respondents, those coping with a chronic illness or disability in the household are less prepared for a major hurricane and are more worried about a number of storm related problems. The survey found that 14% of residents of high-risk hurricane areas live in households in which someone has a chronic illness or disability that would require them to get help in order to evacuate. Hurricane and tropical storm preparedness information including safe water, emergency supplies, and evacuation can be found at your local health department or emergency response websites or at www.cdc.gov. Posted by Michael at 12:15 AM | TrackBack Exercise could be the heart's fountain of youthFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Absence may make the heart grow fonder, but endurance exercise seems to make it younger. According to a study conducted at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, older people who did endurance exercise training for about a year ended up with metabolically much younger hearts. The researchers measured heart metabolism in sedentary older people both at rest and during administration of dobutamine, a drug that makes the heart race as if a person were exercising vigorously. At the start of the study, they found that in response to the increased energy demands produced by dobutamine, the hearts of the study subjects didn't increase their uptake of energy in the form of glucose (blood sugar). But after endurance exercise training --- which involved walking, running or cycling exercises three to five days a week for about an hour per session --- the participants' hearts doubled their glucose uptake during high-energy demand, just as younger hearts do. Soto explains that if heart muscle doesn't take in glucose in response to increased energy needs, it goes into an energy-deprived state, which may raise the risk of heart attack. But the heart uses both glucose and fatty acids for energy. And when the researchers looked at fatty acid metabolism, they found a striking difference in the results of exercise training between women and men. The study is described in an article that appeared in advance online publication on June 20, 2008 in the American Journal of Physiology. 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. Posted by Michael at 12:15 AM | TrackBack Pharmacy Study Finds Current Recommended Daily Intake of Vitamin D Not Sufficient in SeniorsFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: A new study from the University of Colorado Denver's School of Pharmacy has found that a simple educational intervention provided by a pharmacist can make a significant impact in the amount of vitamin D intake in geriatric outpatients, resulting in increased serum, or blood levels of this key nutrient. Surprisingly, the study also found that the overall increase in serum levels in the patients who received the intervention were still not in the target range, indicating that current national recommendations for vitamin D intake may be insufficient. "The educational intervention was simple to administer and can be reproduced by pharmacists in a variety of settings, including a community pharmacy or a clinical practice site," said Joseph Vande Griend, PharmD, assistant professor in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy at the UC Denver School of Pharmacy and lead author of the paper. A pharmacist reviewed the sheet with the participant during a 15-minute, one-on-one educational session about vitamin D, in which it was recommended the participant consume a total of 1,200 IU per day of vitamin D. A recommendation of 1,200 IU was chosen because the amount was estimated to increase patient serum levels to the study-defined sufficient vitamin D concentration of 32 ng/mL. The 1200 IU per day of vitamin D is also easy to obtain from over-the-counter resources; it is higher than the current Institute of Medicine recommendation (400 IU/day under age 70 and 600 IU/day over age 70) but below the upper daily intake limit (2,000 IU/day). "Many pharmacists today are focusing on research, and are making many recommendations to physicians and other health care providers to improve care of patients. Posted by Michael at 12:12 AM | TrackBack College Admissions for Fit and Value -- Not RankingsFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: The search for a college should not be a high stakes race to the finish line, but a thoughtful and enjoyable process. This is the message that Colleges That Change Lives (CTCL) will bring to 20 cities during the continuation of the eleventh annual series of national tours. The colleges and universities on the tour are featured in the book of the same name, Colleges That Change Lives by former NY Times education editor and author, Loren Pope. "Too often the focus of the college search is on ranking and ratings, which does not acknowledge the individual student profile and how they will 'fit' with the mission and identity of a campus community," says Marty O'Connell, Executive Director of Colleges That Change Lives. "The current record high numbers of applicants, coupled with narrowly focused media stories about college admissions, have led students to believe that their college choices are severely limited or unaffordable. Each program starts with a 30 minute presentation followed by a college fair, featuring admission representatives from the colleges and universities included in Pope's book. 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. We also feed news to major news retrieval database services, online publications and to developers of web sites and Intranets. Posted by Michael at 12:11 AM | TrackBack HHS Secretary Leavitt Travels to Alaska to Advance Rural Health InitiativesFrom HHS News and Events: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Mike Leavitt is visiting southern Alaska this week to strengthen efforts to enhance health care delivery to Alaska Native communities and to observe best practices in the region. The three-day trip, which begins today, includes visits to two Alaska Native villages and two regional Tribal health consortiums to better understand the challenges of access to care; meetings with Tribal leaders to discuss the health care goals of the Alaska Native people; and demonstrations of how telemedicine and telehealth are employed to increase access and quality of care to Alaska Native communities. Telemedicine is being used to exchange medical information from one site to another via electronic communications to improve patient health. Telehealth is the use of electronic information and telecommunications technologies to support long-distance clinical health care. "While Alaska faces unique access to care challenges, the health care delivery systems in place serve as model of effective telehealth and telemedicine for other rural communities," Secretary Leavitt said. This bold vision for the health care system includes advancing interoperable health information technology; measuring and publishing price information to give consumers information they need to make better decisions on purchasing health care; measuring and publishing quality information to enable consumers to make better decisions about their care; and promoting incentives for quality and efficiency of care. Alaska was one of five states which had the highest participation rates in the nation based on population. Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news. Posted by Michael at 12:11 AM | TrackBack Costs of Climate Change, State-by-State: Billions of Dollars, Says University of MarylandFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: Climate change will carry a price tag of billions of dollars for a number of U.S. states, says a new series of reports from the University of Maryland's Center for Integrative Environmental Research (CIER). The researchers conclude that the costs have already begun to accrue and are likely to endure. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 12:06 AM | TrackBack National Urban League Congratulates the Congressional Black Caucus for Its Heroic Efforts to Expand Housing Counseling ServicesFrom PR Newswire: Government and Policy: Marc Morial, President and CEO of the National Urban League, today applauded Congress, and the Congressional Black Caucus in particular, for providing resources in legislation to address the severe housing crisis that disproportionately impacts the African-American community. This landmark legislation, the "American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008," is currently under consideration by the full House of Representatives. "The National Urban League applauds the Chairman of the Financial Services Committee, Rep. Barney Frank; the Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity, Rep. Maxine Waters; the Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick; Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Charles Rangel; and the entire Congressional Black Caucus for their extraordinary leadership in crafting landmark legislation addressing the national housing crisis," Morial said. According to the National Urban League 2008 State of Black America Report, blacks hold nearly five times more installment debt than whites, and the median net worth for African Americans is $11,800, versus $118,300 for whites. The National Urban League has been in the housing counseling business for over 40 years and currently serves over 40,000 homeowners per year. Because housing counseling plays a key role in increasing financial awareness and closing the wealth gap between minority and non-minority households, Mr. Morial has recommended an expansion of housing counseling and financial literacy services in an effort to improve the financial situation for minorities with respect to securing home ownership, maintaining good credit and attaining monetary savings. Posted by Michael at 12:04 AM | TrackBack Realtors Hail Housing BillFrom PR Newswire: NAR thanked Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., and the House of Representatives for their bipartisan efforts in getting H.R. 3221 passed. "We look forward to prompt Senate action to finalize this bill, helping ensure that every American who can afford to own a home and wants to do so will have the opportunity and that everyone who responsibly owns a home is able to keep it. This bill must get to the president quickly, and we urge him to act immediately to sign it into law." NAR has expressed ongoing support for the major features in the housing package. The legislation includes Federal Housing Administration Modernization that will simplify and make FHA-backed mortgages more available while helping thousands of families refinance existing mortgages and keep their homes. Other important components of the bill that NAR supports are reform of the government-sponsored enterprises (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac), permanent increases to both GSE and FHA loan limits, a first-time home buyer tax credit and a program to expand FHA that would allow more homeowners to refinance their mortgages. "This bill would extend the tax credit availability through June 2009, which would have a further positive effect on the housing market." This and other news releases are posted on the Web site's "News media" section in the NAR Media Center. REALTOR(R) is a registered collective membership mark which may be used only by real estate professionals who are members of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS(R) and subscribe to its strict Code of Ethics. Posted by Michael at 12:03 AM | TrackBack Pelosi: 'Housing Bill Most Far-Reaching Reform of Our Nation's Federal Housing System in a Generation'From PR Newswire: Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke on the House floor this afternoon in support of the American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008. "Mr. Rangel, Mr. Frank, Mr. Neal, and Chairwoman Waters have brought us a comprehensive package on housing policy reforms that will help lift families facing foreclosure and stem the continuing drop in home values around the country. Secretary Paulson played a constructive role and helped the President reached this agreement after opposing many parts of this legislation. I'm so pleased that the White House issued the statement this morning that the President would not veto this bill. "Again in May of this year, the House passed virtually an identical GSE reform bill as part of a broader comprehensive package to address the crisis in our housing market. "Chairman Frank had the foresight to build a bipartisan consensus around a bill that addresses the difficult challenges in our housing markets and in communities across America. "On the subject of our veterans, this legislation is also helping returning veterans achieve the dream of home ownership by increasing the VA Home Loan limit for veterans in high cost areas - I'm so proud of that. "The bill does many, many other things too numerous to mention here but suffice it to say that we are addressing a crisis of historic proportions and the bill protects the futures of our families and their housing. It is what it means to the economy as we take an interest in our homes and make them habitable. Posted by Michael at 12:02 AM | TrackBack Infants and Toddlers in the Child Care and Development Block Grant Program.From Center for Law and Social Policy: What do we know about infants and toddlers in the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) program? CCDBG is the primary source of federal funding for child care subsidies for low-income working families and funds to improve child care quality. CCDBG provides child care assistance to children from birth to age 13. In fiscal year 2008, CCDBG provided $5 billion in federal funding, with states expected to contribute an additional $2 billion to draw down all federal funds. 3 Other state policies to improve the access and quality of infant care include direct contracts with child care providers and training on critical health infant/toddler caregivers. The share of children receiving CCDBG who are infants and toddlers varies from state to state. Infants and toddlers make up a third or more of all children served in CCDBG in 11 states: Iowa (33 percent), Montana (33 percent), Texas (33 percent), Wyoming (34 percent), Georgia (35 percent), Nebraska (35 percent), South Dakota (36 percent), District of Columbia (38 percent), Louisiana (38 percent), North Dakota (39 percent), and Arkansas (55 percent, see Table 1). Infants and toddlers in low-income families that receive child care assistance are more likely to be in center-based care compared to other low-income infants and toddlers. Federal CCDBG funding includes an earmark to improve the quality of care for infants and toddlers. Child Care and Development Fund: Report of State and Territory Plans, FY 2006-FY 2007, 2006, http://www.nccic.org/pubs/stateplan200607/index.html. CCDBG contains several funding streams, each with their own rules for liquidation. Posted by Michael at 12:02 AM | TrackBack Tubbs Jones Applauds Passage of Housing PackageFrom PR Newswire: Today, Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones joined with her colleagues in supporting the most comprehensive response yet to the American mortgage crisis. The American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act will help families keep their homes, aid local communities hit hard by the foreclosure crisis, and strengthen the economy and financial markets. "The housing crisis has severely impacted my Congressional District, particularly the city of Cleveland, Ohio," said Rep. Tubbs Jones. These abandoned and foreclosed properties exist in every neighborhood in Cleveland, but there are concentrations in communities in my district where the real estate market has completely collapsed. These housing stabilization funds will provide local and state governments with the resources necessary to stabilize home values and protect neighborhoods in trouble. The dire need for these funds was emphasized in recent testimony given by government officials during a June 16th congressional field hearing in Cleveland. "Additionally, sections of H.R. 1043, the Community Restoration and Revitalization Act, a piece of legislation I have introduced for the past two Congresses, was incorporated into the housing legislation. This legislation simplifies the Federal Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit ('Rehab Credit') making it easier to utilize the credit for revitalizing our nation's older neighborhoods, harnessing greater housing potential in underutilized historic and older buildings, and focusing more private sector investment in smaller, 'main street' oriented commercial structures. Since its inception, the rehab credit has been responsible for 133 residential and commercial projects in the City of Cleveland, leveraging about $760 million of private investment. Posted by Michael at 12:01 AM | TrackBack How Much More Can Consumers Be Squeezed?From Economic Policy Institute: In testimony this morning before Congress's Joint Economic Committee, Jared Bernstein, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, examines the array of economic forces and events that are squeezing most working Americans' income and living standards, and suggests some policy fixes to help ease at least some of the pain. Bernstein makes a strong case for a second stimulus package, stressing state fiscal relief and public investment in needed infrastructure to help keep more Americans working and contributing to the economy through the downturn. He also advocates strengthening oversight of the financial sector to improve stability and provide long-term protection from the kinds of bubbles that have so buffeted the US economy in recent years.These difficulties are of course real and important, given the centrality of these markets and the critical importance of free-flowing credit in our economy. Though they were highly productive over the business cycle of the 2000s---the productivity of the US labor force grew by 19%, 2000-07, their incomes failed to reflect their contributions. In fact, as my co-authors and I show in our upcoming release of the State of Working America, 2008/09, the gap between productivity growth and that of median income or compensation has never been larger. The first round of economic stimulus was designed with this in mind. Over $100 billion in payments to households were sent out in recent months, and early indicators show that some share of these payments have found their way into the economy. The other area left out of the last stimulus package was infrastructure investment, and I urge this body to strongly consider its inclusion in a second package. Now, in the wake the collapse of Bear Stearns, the Federal Reserve has accorded investment banks the same borrowing privileges of commercial banks. Clearly, this approach would result in apply some of the same regulations that apply to commercial depository institutions to non-commercial entities. This is well below the Bear Stearns or especially Fannie/Freddie reserves, which were said to be in the range of three percent or less (some reports found that Fannie and Freddie had debt to capital holding ratios of 65 to 1). Our system of borrowing, lending, and financing investments by both businesses and households is a national treasure, one which we have squandered in recent years. Risk has been consistently underpriced, contributing to bad underwriting, negligent risk management, and deeply damaging bubbles. Posted by Michael at 12:00 AM | TrackBack July 23, 2008New Hope for the Working PoorFrom MDRC: Based on the simple premise that people who work full time should not be poor, New Hope provided full-time workers with several benefits: an earnings supplement to raise their income above poverty, low-cost health insurance, and subsidized child care. For those unable to find full-time work, the program offered help in finding a job and referral to a wage-paying community service job when necessary. New Hope's designers expected that its combination of benefits and services would have the direct effects of increasing parents' employment and income and their use of health insurance and licensed child care. This report, the final one in a series, summarizes the program's implementation and effects over eight years --- the first three years while the program operated and five years after it had ended. The findings show that work supports can have a range of positive effects on low-income families and their children. Adults in the New Hope program were more likely to work than their control group counterparts, and the combination of earnings supplements and the Earned Income Tax Credit also resulted in higher incomes. New Hope affected children's environments by increasing parents' use of center-based child care --- an effect that persisted through Year 5, or two years after New Hope child care subsidies had ended. New Hope children reported being more engaged in school than control group children, and their parents were less likely than control group parents to report that their children had repeated a grade, received poor grades, or been placed in special education. Posted by Michael at 7:31 AM | TrackBack July 22, 2008$2.2 Million in Grants Awarded for Critical Foreign Language InstructionFrom Education Newsfeed: The U.S. Department of Education today announced the award of more than $2.2 million in grants to school districts in seven states to help increase the number of Americans learning foreign languages critical to national security and commerce. The funding, part of President Bush's National Security Language Initiative, is intended to address the shortage of critical foreign language speakers by supporting new and expanded programs in grades K-12. "With our increasing global economy and national security needs, it's crucial that we have as many citizens as possible who can communicate in languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Korean and Hindi," said U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. California, Culver City --- Culver City Unified School District, $293,251. Connecticut, Glastonbury --- Glastonbury Town School District, $204,636. Massachusetts, Amherst --- Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School, $291,557. Michigan, Dearborn --- School District of the City of Dearborn, $299,930. Minnesota, Minneapolis --- Minneapolis Public Schools, Special School District #1, $296,795. Tennessee, Memphis --- Memphis City Schools---World Languages Curriculum & Professional Development, $234,957. The National Security Language Initiative aims to boost the number of Americans studying Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Hindi, Farsi and others in programs from kindergarten through college. To do that, the initiative helps develop teachers in those languages and encourage students to study critical foreign languages. Besides the Education Department, other federal agencies have roles in the initiative, including the State Department, Defense Department and Office of the Director of National Intelligence. For more information on the department's Foreign Language Assistance Program, see http://www.ed.gov/programs/flapsea/index.html. For details on the National Security Language Initiative, visit http://www.ed.gov/about/inits/ed/competitiveness/nsli/index.html. Posted by Michael at 5:56 PM | TrackBack Golf Great Phil Mickelson Stresses Value of Math, Science; Demonstrates to Students How They Influence GolfFrom Education Newsfeed: In front of a temporary mini-golf course on the floor of the Education Department headquarters, Mickelson demonstrated how friction, motion and angles all contribute to the direction a golf ball rolls. On hand for a "Phil Mickelson/ExxonMobil Mini Golf Camp" at the U.S. Department of Education were U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings and about two dozen elementary students from the Quantico Marine Base, Fort Belvoir and the district. "We are grateful to Phil Mickelson and his wife Amy for helping raise public awareness about the value of students learning hands-on math and science skills," Secretary Spellings said. Fresh from competing in the British Open, Mickelson's appearance was meant to highlight the importance of math and science education in America's global competitiveness. The golfer known as "Lefty" helps sponsor the Mickelson ExxonMobil Teacher Academy which gives teachers practical, hands-on ways of making science and math interesting in their classrooms. "Amy and I are proud to partner with ExxonMobil on the Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy to help bolster teachers' knowledge of math and science and equip them with new tools to teach these subjects," Mickelson said. "Our goal for the academy is to help teachers discover new ways to teach math and science so they can inspire today's students to become tomorrow's innovators." Ken Cohen, vice president for public affairs at Exxon Mobil Corporation said, "Since its launch in 2004, the Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy has been a tremendous success. More than 1,000 teachers nationwide, with the potential to impact over 30,000 students, have had the opportunity to further develop and strengthen their math and science teaching skills at this week-long professional development program." Posted by Michael at 5:55 PM | TrackBack Why Not the Best? Results from the National Scorecard on U.S. Health System Performance, 2008From The Commonwealth Fund: Prepared for the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System, the National Scorecard on U.S. Health System Performance, 2008, updates the 2006 Scorecard, the first comprehensive means of measuring and monitoring health care outcomes, quality, access, efficiency, and equity in the United States. The U.S. now ranks last out of 19 countries on a measure of mortality amenable to medical care, falling from 15th as other countries raised the bar on performance. Despite some encouraging pockets of improvement, the country as a whole has failed to keep pace with levels of performance attained by leading nations, delivery systems, states, and regions. Hospitalizations increased among nursing home residents from 2000 to 2004, as did rehospitalizations for patients discharged to skilled nursing facilities---signaling a need to improve long-term care and transitions between health care providers. Based on areas within the U.S. that achieve superior outcomes at lower costs, it should be possible to close gaps in health care quality and access, and to reduce costs significantly. Hospital readmission rates and rates of potentially preventable hospitalizations for ambulatory care-sensitive conditions remain high and variable across the country, as do total costs for the chronically ill. The 2008 National Scorecard documents the human and economic costs of failing to address the problems in our health system. Aiming higher and moving on a more positive path will require strategies targeting the multiple sources of poor health system performance. Posted by Michael at 5:38 PM | TrackBack Long-Term Care: Preparing for the Next GenerationFrom The Commonwealth Fund: If our nation is to secure the health and quality of life of future generations of older Americans, long-term care must become a priority on the national health care agenda, along with the uninsured and overall health spending. It is of little surprise that the Commonwealth Fund/Modern Health Care Health Care Opinion Leaders (HCOL) Survey found that the three most urgent challenges facing long-term care are: securing adequate financing, improving the quality of care in long-term care facilities, and developing a workforce that is sufficient in size and skill. A 2007 U.S. Census Bureau survey of 959 Americans between the ages of 21 and 75 years found that while most Americans understand their risk of needing long-term care, they underestimate the cost and overestimate Medicare's role in paying for it. 40 percent believe that Medicare covers the cost of nursing home care for Alzheimer's disease patients (it does not). Public education campaigns on long-term care have done little to help consumers due, in part, to people's reluctance to face their own decline and the lack of accessible long-term care options. The largest proportion of leaders---approximately three-fourths---reported that they felt that the delivery of long-term services---through, for example, a medical home or care coordination services that link patients and families to available care options and follow patients across settings and providers---would most help consumers to make informed choices. The following is a look at where we stand on delivery of services, as well as quality improvement, financing, workforce, and technology within long-term care. Posted by Michael at 5:36 PM | TrackBack Adding Long-Term Care Benefit to Medicare Is Best Way to Ensure Affordability for Families, Say Health Care Opinion LeadersFrom The Commonwealth Fund: Nearly four of five (79%) respondents favor or strongly favor adding a long-term care benefit to Medicare, financed by a premium, to pay for care. More than two-thirds (69%) of respondents to the survey believe it is very important (41%) or important (28%) that the health reform plans of the presidential candidates address the quality and financing of long-term care. "As our population ages, health care opinion leaders are sounding the alarm about the significant challenges we will face financing and improving the quality of long-term care," said Commonwealth Fund President Karen Davis. A majority of health care opinion leaders say that long-term care costs should be shared by individuals and the government (55%), while one-quarter (26%) say costs should be shared by individuals, employers, and the government. Three-quarters (76%) of opinion leaders say it is urgent or very urgent to develop a sufficient supply of home- and community-based services; 67 percent say it is urgent to create and disseminate adequate information on long-term care facilities to better educate consumers and families about available options. A majority of opinion leaders (66%) are at least somewhat familiar with the culture change movement in long-term care, which is working to make resident, or person-centered care the norm and the nursing home less institutional and more home-like in order to preserve residents' rights to make decisions affecting their daily lives. Commentaries on the survey results by Nora Dowd Eisenhower, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Aging, and Carol Raphael, president and chief executive officer of Visiting Nurse Service of New York, appear in the July 21 issue of Modern Healthcare. Posted by Michael at 5:33 PM | TrackBack Robot playmates may help children with autismFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Papers delivered at three conferences in the US and Europe this summer report on new research at the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering studying interactions of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) with bubble-blowing robots. The preliminary studies, by Professor Maja Mataric and PhD student David Feil-Seifer of the USC Interaction Laboratory, confirm what has been widely reported anecdotally: that ASD children in many cases interact more easily with mechanical devices than with humans. Mataric and Feil-Seifer, both specialists in Socially Assisted Robotics (SAR), are now engaged in further research to confirm their findings, and to develop a robot "control architecture" which will tailor robot interactions to the specific needs of ASD children to help therapists treating their condition. The initial study, reported in the June Conference on Interaction Design for Children with Special Needs in Chicago, tested whether interaction as opposed to simple passive observation was going on between ASD children and a colorful bubble-blowing wheeled robot. In one, it carried on its rolling and bubble blowing on its own internal schedule, regardless of the behavior of the child. A much more extensive follow-up with more subjects is already in progress, in collaboration with Los Angeles Childrens Hospital and the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange. This architecture (the system, including robotic and non-robotic components, plus provisions for recording and analyzing the proceedings) is based on an ASD therapy format called DIR/Floortime, in which a therapist shares floor with various toys used to try to engage the child. Posted by Michael at 5:31 PM | TrackBack National Student Clearinghouse Provides Real-Time Access to Student Loan InformationFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: The National Council of Higher Education Loan Programs, Inc. (NCHELP), the Meteor Advisory Team (MAT), and the National Student Clearinghouse (Clearinghouse) today announced that colleges and students can now track and manage their federal and private student loan debt through the Meteor Network. The Clearinghouse provides colleges and students with access to 100 percent of outstanding FFELP loans and federal Direct Loans, in addition to billions of dollars in private student loans through its LoanLocator service and Meteor implementation. The Meteor Network, a shared effort of leading FFELP business partners, provides aggregated, real-time financial aid award data to student loan borrowers and schools. The Clearinghouse, a non-profit organization located in Herndon, Virginia, is the nation's trusted source for degree and enrollment information and provides reporting, verification and research services to and on behalf of more than 3,100 participating colleges and universities. Campus-based authentication provides greater access to valuable debt management, default aversion, and other tools and services by using a college's authentication process to gain access to the Meteor Network and Clearinghouse services. Sponsored by FFELP providers, and coordinated by the National Council of Higher Education Loan Programs (NCHELP), the Meteor software provides open, non-proprietary, real time access to all available aid information for a student, and aggregates it for display to students and Financial Aid Professionals. Posted by Michael at 5:30 PM | TrackBack Gray and Green together: Older adults can play role in creating healthier environmentFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Volunteering for environmental protection activities can be physically and mentally sustaining for older people, according to the latest issue of Public Policy & Aging Report (PPAR). In fact, this demographic group is in a unique position to have a noticeable impact on its surroundings. For those looking to fill meaningful roles in the community after retirement, volunteerism provides opportunities for social integration. "Citizen involvement on a large scale is needed to address pressing issues of environmental conservation and sustainability," state authors Karl Pillemer, PhD, and Linda P. Wagenet, PhD, of Cornell University. In one of this PPAR's four articles, they examine the prospects and promise for what the two call "environmental volunteerism and civic engagement" (EVCE) among older persons and point to some directions for encouraging this movement. The ongoing increase in the number of older U.S. citizens, coupled with a senior population seeking meaningful participation in society, can greatly serve environmental protection efforts. Public health research suggests there are a number of environmental problems that disproportionately compromise the health of the older population. America's elder citizens are also beginning to have a greater effect on the environment - through greater recreational travel, an increase in pharmaceutical waste, and the growth of independent and assisted living facilities. This issue of PPAR, published by The National Academy on an Aging Society, is titled "Gray and Green Together" and can be purchased at http://www.agingsociety.org. The National Academy on an Aging Society is the policy institute of The Gerontological Society of America, the nation's oldest and largest multidisciplinary organization devoted to research, education, and practice in the field of aging. Posted by Michael at 5:28 PM | TrackBack HUD FAIR LENDING PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT TO SHOWCASE IN MOVIE THEATRES ACROSS THE NATIONFrom HUD Press Releases: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced today that a public service announcement (PSA) designed to educate consumers about their fair lending rights is now running on 595 screens in 32 movie theatres in 28 cities, including 10 cities with some of nationâ¬(TM)s highest foreclosure rates. HUD's PSA featuring Dennis Haysbert, will run through July 25. The PSA is part of a national campaign the Department launched in April to raise public awareness about lending discrimination, and make consumers aware of the many resources HUD has available to educate prospective and current homeowners about how to get out of a bad loan. To view HUD's new fair lending PSA, visit HUD's website. Last year, HUD and its state and local fair housing partner agencies received more than 10,000 complaints alleging some form of housing discrimination, including complaints that alleged discrimination related to home financing transactions. In addition to the PSA appearing in theatres, HUDâ¬(TM)s national lending campaign features television and radio PSAs, a toolkit that lists resources to help consumers learn about the home buying process, and a series of town hall forums to inform the public about HUDâ¬(TM)s efforts to reduce unfair and discriminatory lending practices. People who believe they are victims of housing discrimination should contact HUD at (800) 669-9777 (voice), (800) 927-9275 (TTY). Stay on top of the most up-to-date news regarding the Fair Housing Act by signing up for the FHEO RSS Feed at www.hud.gov/offices/fheo/index.cfm. Posted by Michael at 5:27 PM | TrackBack HUD CHARGES NEVADA HOMEOWNERS' ASSOCIATION WITH DISCRIMINATING AGAINST A HOMEOWNER WITH A DISABILITYFrom HUD Press Releases: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced today that it has charged Arbors Owners' Association, Inc., of Las Vegas, NV, and its management agent, First Columbia Community Management, Inc., with violating the Fair Housing Act by allegedly refusing to provide a disabled homeowner a parking space close to his condominium. The Fair Housing Act requires housing providers to make reasonable accommodations in their rules and procedures, such as assigning a parking space, when the accommodation is necessary for a person with a disability to fully enjoy his or her home. HUD alleges that when one of Neocleous's neighbor's pipes flooded and damaged Neocleous's home and garage, he notified the Association and requested a reserved parking space close to his unit that he could use until his garage was repaired. Despite receiving a letter on Neocleous's behalf from the Bureau, the association refused to grant his request for a reserved parking space unless, among other things, he paid the cost of designating the space as reserved with signage or painting. "A person with a disability shouldn't be required to meet preconditions to be granted a reasonable accommodation," said Kim Kendrick, HUD's Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO). The 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 5:26 PM | TrackBack Century Foundation Announces New Working Group on Medicare ReformFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: The Century Foundation (TCF) today announced the formation of a new Working Group on Medicare Reform. TCF, a nonpartisan public policy research foundation, has assembled a group of prominent physicians and health care experts from around the country to assess the current state of Medicare and make recommendations to reform and strengthen one of the nation's most effective and enduring public programs. The Working Group will be directed by Maggie Mahar, a fellow at the Century Foundation, author/editor of the highly respected blog Healthbeatblog.org (http://www.healthbeatblog.org) and author of the widely acclaimed book "Money-Driven Medicine: The Real Reason Health Care Costs So Much" (Harper/Collins, 2006). She notes that a unique aspect of this panel is its composition. - identifying and rewarding hospitals that provide better outcomes and higher patient satisfaction at a lower cost while helping other hospitals meet benchmarks. "As I see it, the larger goal of Medicare reform would be to show that lower cost and higher quality do indeed go hand in hand," she said. - - - -CONTACT: For more information about the Working Group or for media interviews with Maggie Mahar, contact Christy Hicks at hicks@tcf.org or 212-452-7723. The foundation produces books, reports, and other publications, convenes task forces and working groups, and operates seven informational Web sites. Posted by Michael at 5:25 PM | TrackBack $1.5 Million Awarded to University of Illinois at Chicago for National Technical Assistance Center for Minority InstitutionsFrom Education Newsfeed: The U.S. Department of Education today announced the award of a $1.5 million grant to the University of Illinois at Chicago for a national center to help minority institutions seek funding opportunities for projects that serve students with disabilities, especially in personnel development. Using grant writing workshops, Web sites, mentoring and other techniques, the project officially known as the "National Outreach and Technical Assistance Center on Discretionary Awards for Minority Institutions" will focus its efforts on historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and other minority institutions of higher education. "By targeting minority institutions that train special education personnel, we will ultimately be lending a hand to the children with whom these future teachers and specialists will be working and thus, help close the achievement gap," said U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. To maintain communications with HBCUs and other minority institutions of higher education and provide an array of technical assistance services. To preserve the competitive status of HBCUs and other minority institutions in the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs' personnel preparation competitions. To help HBCU and other minority institution faculty improve their personnel preparation programs. The project is ultimately planned as a five-year effort with the $1.5 million grant supporting the first year's activities. Funding is being provided through the Education Department's Office of Special Education Programs under its Personnel Development to Improve Services and Results for Children with Disabilities. Posted by Michael at 5:23 PM | TrackBack McDonald's of Berkeley, Calif., Charged With Discriminating Against Workers With Developmental DisabilitiesFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: For 21 years, Lisa Craib, who has a form of autism, faithfully worked at a popular McDonald's restaurant in downtown Berkeley, Calif., becoming a familiar presence to regular customers. One day, the franchise was sold - and shortly thereafter, Ms. Craib and two other workers with disabilities were fired. A prominent "Help Wanted - Equal Opportunity Employer" sign appeared right afterwards in the window. Today, the Legal Aid Society - Employment Law Center (LAS-ELC) filed charges with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging that the McDonald's, located on Shattuck Avenue in the heart of Berkeley, unlawfully discriminated against Ms. "Our investigation shows that at least three employees with severe disabilities were fired without notice or explanation when the franchise was sold," said Claudia Center, a Senior Staff Attorney with the LAS-ELC. Prior to working at the McDonald's, Ms. Craib attended Berkeley High and community college. An award-winning horseback rider, she also was an assistant coach in the Special Olympics and helped other disabled athletes. An award-winning horseback rider, she also was an assistant coach in the Special Olympics and helped other disabled athletes. "The ADA was passed to promote the employment and integration of workers such as Lisa Craib and her coworkers," explained Ms. The Legal Aid Society - Employment Law Center, founded in 1916, protects the rights and economic self-sufficiency of low-income and disadvantaged workers and their families throughout the Bay Area, California, and nationwide. Posted by Michael at 5:18 PM | TrackBack July 20, 2008Coffee and cigarette consumption are high among AA attendeesFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: More than one million Americans currently participate in the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) program. Recent findings confirm that coffee and cigarette use among AA members is greater than among the general U.S. population. Most AA members drink coffee for its stimulatory effects; more than half smoke to reduce feelings of depression, anxiety and irritability. While AA participants are reportedly notorious for their coffee drinking and cigarette smoking, very little research has quantified their consumption of these two products. Recent findings confirm that coffee and cigarette use among this population is greater than among the general U.S. population: most AA members drink coffee and more than half smoke. "Drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes are part of the culture of AA, but we knew little about the degree to which this occurred, how much more prevalent these behaviors were compared to the general American population, or why AA participants actually drank coffee or smoked cigarettes," said Peter R. Martin, professor of psychiatry and pharmacology, director of the Vanderbilt Addiction Center at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and corresponding author for the study. Martin added that many questions remain about the effects of coffee and cigarettes on recovering alcoholics. Perhaps most interesting, how do these consummatory behaviors affect the brain and what is their role in recovery?" "I think that it is important for alcohol researchers and clinicians to know that alcoholics, even those who do not use other illicit drugs, are not just addicted to alcohol, but use other psychotropic drugs like caffeine and nicotine," said Swift. Posted by Michael at 2:32 PM | TrackBack New report warns current policies will not avert health workforce crisisFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A report from the Association of Academic Health Centers, "Out of Order, Out of Time: The State of the Nation's Health Workforce," warns that the nation is facing a health workforce crisis and is running out of time to ensure an adequate health workforce to meet needs resulting from critical socioeconomic challenges for health care. The study calls for, and provides, specific recommendations for immediate action to develop an integrated, coordinated national health workforce policy. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 2:12 PM | TrackBack Education Department and European Union Fund 16 Projects to Advance International Curriculum Development and Student ExchangesFrom Education Newsfeed: U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today announced the award of $1,279,738 for 16 projects that add a European Community-United States dimension to international curriculum development and student exchanges. The grants fund collaborative efforts between colleges and universities in the United States and Europe to develop programs of study in a wide range of academic and professional disciplines. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 2:09 PM | TrackBack Secretary Spellings Announces $18.2 Million to Enhance Libraries in Low-Income SchoolsFrom Education Newsfeed: U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today announced the award of $18,258,896 to enhance libraries in 59 low-income school districts across the United States. The grants aim to help students improve reading achievement by increasing their access to up-to-date and technologically advanced school library materials. "Reading is the foundation for all other learning, and the key ingredient for keeping students engaged and focused," Spellings said. "These grants will help school libraries keep up with the rising demands of our information age, so that they, in turn, can help students develop the critical thinking and information retrieval skills needed for success in today's world." The Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program is designed to help schools meet the reading and other literacy challenges of their students. Funds can be used to acquire books and other library holdings; improve schools' technological resources and capabilities; facilitate Internet links and other resource-sharing networks; provide professional development for library personnel; enhance opportunities for collaboration among library specialists, teachers, and administrators; and expand hours of access to library services. For more information about the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program, visit: www.ed.gov/programs/lsl. Sabine Parish School Board Eddie Jones Jr. Scranton School District Nancy Hlavaty 425 North Washington Ave. Fort Worth Independent School District Tracy Marshall 100 N. University Drive, Ste. Posted by Michael at 2:05 PM | TrackBack Ask and You're Likely to Get Help, According to Stanford Business School ResearchFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: A series of studies reveals that people tend to grossly underestimate how likely others are to agree to requests for assistance. "Our research should encourage people to ask for help and not assume that others are disinclined to comply," says Frank Flynn, associate professor of organizational behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. "People are more willing to help than you think, and that can be important to know when you're trying to get the resources you need to get a job done, when you're trying to solicit funds, or what have you." In fact, Flynn and Vanessa Lake, a Columbia University psychology doctoral student, have already had feedback to that effect on their paper, published in the July 2008 issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Participants asked to borrow strangers' cell phones in order to make calls back to the experimenter, solicited individuals to fill out questionnaires, and asked students to help them find the campus gym - a favor that required obliging students to walk with a participant for at least two blocks in the direction of the gym. The researchers found that participants consistently overestimated by 50 percent the number of people they'd have to ask to get a certain number to agree with each request. These volunteers, who receive training for endurance sports events in exchange for fundraising for the society, were asked to estimate the number of people they thought they would have to solicit to reach their fundraising goal, as well as the average donation they expected. AScribe Newswire distributes news from nonprofit and public sector organizations. Posted by Michael at 2:00 PM | TrackBack July 18, 2008Creating engaged boards key to sustaining small, medium-size nonprofitsBoardSource, a research and training organization headquartered in Washington DC, is partnering with the Flint area BEST (Building Excellence, Sustainability and Trust) Project, to develop a multi-tiered strategy aimed at generating heightened engagement and leadership among nonprofit boards that serve Flint and Genesee County, Michigan. This is the first of two articles that examine the leadership training needs of small- and medium-sized nonprofits. The second article, an interview with BoardSource CEO Linda Crompton, will appear online at mott.org the week of July 28, 2008. Speaking to an audience of more than 300 board members and staff of local nonprofit organizations, Crompton was in Flint, Michigan recently to kick-off a project that will draw upon BoardSource's national expertise to determine if intensive board training in a single community can invigorate board service and increase the effectiveness of nonprofit boards. Utilizing the knowledge of BoardSource's national consulting pool, as well as the organization's nationally-recognized trainings, BEST will target up to 50 local organizations for board assessment. "The partnership between BoardSource and BEST seemed an ideal way to explore greater learning for BoardSource while addressing a crucial need that has been identified by our local nonprofit community," Acree said. The partnership initiative is expected to leverage stronger, more engaged boards as well as a greater understanding of the stewardship, leadership and training needs of boards of small- and mid-size nonprofits. According to a recent study by the Urban Institute, there has been a major gap in the nonprofit sector's understanding of the unique governance challenges of the boards of mid-sized organizations, which make up one in five of all nonprofits registered with the Internal Revenue Service. Posted by Michael at 5:28 PM | TrackBack July 17, 2008Cancer researchers call for ethnicity to be taken into accountFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Breast cancer research needs to investigate how a person's ethnicity influences their response to treatment and its outcome, according to a new Comment piece in today's Lancet (18 July) by researchers from Imperial College London. Emerging evidence suggests that particular drugs may benefit people from one ethnic group more than others, because of differences in their genetic makeup. However, most key trials looking at treatments for breast cancer have been carried out in predominantly white populations in Europe, North America and Australasia. They suggest that clinical trials should record participants' ethnicity and analyse whether there are differences in how patients from particular ethnic groups respond to a particular therapy. The researchers highlight the example of a drug called trasztuzumab, which is commonly used to treat people with breast cancer that is HER-2 positive. The genotype in question is more common in some ethnic groups than in others, so the researchers argue that an individual's ethnicity could be a key factor in determining which treatments are most likely to benefit them. Dr Carlo Palmieri, from the Division of Surgery, Oncology, Reproductive Biology and Anaesthetics at Imperial College London and one of the authors of the piece, said: "Everyone responds differently to treatment and it's often very difficult to predict how well someone will respond to a particular drug. "There are small genetic differences between people from different ethnic backgrounds and it is really important that we find out whether these genetic differences mean that certain drugs perform well in people from certain ethnic groups but not in others. Breast cancer is predominantly a disease of the economically developed world, but rates are rising rapidly in Asian and economically developing countries. Posted by Michael at 7:11 PM | TrackBack Elderly falls cut by 11 percent with education and interventionFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Commonly viewed as an inevitable consequence of aging and often ignored in clinical practice, falls among the elderly were cut by 11 percent when researchers at Yale School of Medicine used a combination of fall prevention educational campaigns and interventions aimed at encouraging clinicians to incorporate fall-risk assessment and management into their practices. Published in the July 17 New England Journal of Medicine, the study also found that the fall prevention programs resulted in almost 10 percent fewer fall-related hip fractures and head injuries among the elderly, who receive their care from a broad range of health providers in the intervention area. The study targeted primary care physicians, rehabilitation specialists (physical and occupational therapists), home care nurses, hospital emergency room staff and other clinicians and providers. Tinetti and her team compared the rates of serious fall injury and health care related to falls among people age 70 and older in two regions of Connecticut. For four years, health care providers in the greater Hartford region were contacted as part of a multi-component program targeting poor balance, vision loss, medication use, improper footwear, and blood pressure drops upon standing. About 3,000 clinicians, administrators and policy experts in this region also received fall prevention information in the form of brochures, seminars, posters and patient education materials. We weren't expecting such great results because it can be difficult to adapt new strategies into patient care. Fall-related injuries are among the most common, disabling and expensive health conditions experienced by older adults. Falls account for 10 percent of emergency department visits and 6 percent of hospitalizations among those over age 65. Posted by Michael at 7:02 PM | TrackBack APHA Applauds New Report on Health Impacts of Climate ChangeFrom PR Newswire: In support of continued efforts to research and analyze the health impacts of climate change, the American Public Health Association (APHA) applauds today's release by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of a report that discusses the potential impacts of climate change on human health, human welfare and communities in the United States. "With growing recognition of the important connection between climate change and our health, we are pleased that a synthesis of the available data has been released," said Georges C. Benjamin, MD, FACP, FACEP (E), executive director of APHA. "It builds on the work done by APHA and all of our partners during this year's National Public Health Week, which was themed 'Climate Change: Our Health in the Balance.'" The report, entitled "Analyses of the Effects of Global Change on Human Health and Welfare and Human Systems," examines how climate change will affect important human dimensions, especially those related to human health, settlements and welfare. In regards to health, the report examines adaptation strategies aimed at responding to the challenges and opportunities posed by climate change; looks at different climate change factors and addresses the potential impacts, populations that are particularly vulnerable, research and data gaps, and discusses how some individuals and communities may be disproportionately affected by climate change. "This report joins the growing body of evidence indicating that we need to not only work to mitigate climate change, but must also invest in our public health infrastructure to ensure our ability to minimize likely impacts," Benjamin said. Posted by Michael at 6:56 PM | TrackBack Oakwood Healthcare and UM-Dearborn Develop a New Home for Educational Programs for Children, Families and Future TeachersFrom PR Newswire: Oakwood Healthcare Inc. (OHI) and the University of Michigan-Dearborn are working together to transform a vacant Dearborn building into a state-of-the-art learning center housing acclaimed clinical and educational programs for kids, families and future teachers. Oakwood and UM-Dearborn entered into a collaboration agreement in December 2006, which focused on building a comprehensive, long-term relationship to support each other's missions for education, clinical care, research and service to the community. The building will house Oakwood's Program for Exceptional Families, which provides numerous services and oversees the care of children with multiple disabilities and their families. UM-Dearborn's Child Development Center also will move into the space, allowing for larger enrollment and expanded program opportunities for children and their families, as well as for university students in teacher preparation programs. The U-M Regents approved the lease agreement at their meeting in Ann Arbor on June 19. In addition, the facility will house Oakwood's clinical learning center, designed to enhance the skills and preparation of front-line caregivers throughout the Oakwood system. "This collaboration opens the door for the education of professionals to better serve children with disabilities, and specialized clinical and research services," said Susan Youngs, MD, director of the Program for Exceptional Families. UM-Dearborn's Child Development Center (CDC) serves preschool and kindergarten children and their families in a program that also serves as a model teacher preparation and child-study facility for the University's School of Education, according to Prof. Mary Trepanier-Street, director of the program. Oakwood serves residents over a 500-square-mile area and operates four acute care hospitals, several health centers and a vast number of specialty services, including four centers of excellence. Posted by Michael at 6:55 PM | TrackBack Teen smokers struggle to kick the habit; most want to quit and can'tFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Most teenagers who smoke cigarettes make repeated attempts to quit but most are unsuccessful, according to new research from the Universite de Montreal and funded by the Canadian Cancer Society. "The study found that teen smokers make their first serious attempt to quit after only two and a half months of smoking, and by the time they have smoked for 21 months they have lost confidence in their ability to quit," says Dr. Jennifer O'Loughlin, the study's lead author and a researcher from the Université de Montréal's department of social and preventive medicine. The study, published online (today) in the American Journal of Public Health, found that teen smokers progress through stages or milestones in their attempts to stop smoking. About two years after starting to smoke cigarettes daily, teen smokers are showing full-blown tobacco dependence. The study found that more than 70 percent of the teens expressed a desire to quit, but only 19 percent actually managed to stop smoking for 12 months or more by the end of the five-year study. Girls were more likely than boys to want to quit and to attempt quitting. "This research suggests that much more needs to be done to prompt teenagers to quit in terms of programming, legislation and taxation. In particular, federal and provincial governments must get the contraband situation under control -- cheap cigarettes discourage teen smokers from quitting. "Milestones in the process of cessation among novice smokers," by Jennifer O'Loughlin published in American Journal of Public Health, was funded by the Canadian Cancer Society. Posted by Michael at 6:53 PM | TrackBack Second national scorecard on US health care system finds no overall improvementFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A new national scorecard from The Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System finds that the U.S. health care system has failed to improve overall and that scores on access have declined significantly since the first national scorecard in 2006. Despite spending more on health care than any other industrialized nation, the U.S. overall continues to fall far short on key indicators of health outcomes and quality, with particularly low scores on efficiency. As of 2007, 42 percent of all working age adults were either uninsured or underinsured---up from 35 percent in the four years since 2003. The U.S. also failed to keep up with improvements made in other countries, falling from 15th to last among 19 industrialized nations when it comes to premature deaths that could potentially have been prevented by timely access to effective health care. In addition to scoring poorly on indicators compared to other countries, performance varies greatly from state to state, region to region, and across hospitals and health plans. Even though the report finds that the health care system often lost ground or failed to improve, there is also evidence that focusing on specific areas through national initiatives can yield substantial improvement. For example, hospital standardized mortality ratios, a key indicator of patient safety, improved by 19 percent over five years, following broad public and private efforts to assess and improve hospital safety. Thirty-seven million more adults would have an accessible primary care provider, and 70 million more adults would receive all recommended preventive care. Posted by Michael at 6:49 PM | TrackBack U.S. Department of Education Awards New York $16.6 Million Grant to Help Create More Charter SchoolsFrom Education Newsfeed: New York 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. To create a continuum of K-12 high quality charter schools in New York state, the CSP grant funds will also be used with greater emphasis on secondary charter schools. "With New York's lifting of the cap on the number of charter schools, these CSP funds will be critical to the state's effort to provide more excellent options for parents. In awarding grants, the Department gives preference to states 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 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. Charter schools are operated free-of-charge to parents and are open to all students. These schools provide parents enhanced educational choices within the public school system. 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 6:39 PM | TrackBack A New Safety Net for Low-Income FamiliesFrom Urban Institute: During the 1990s, the federal government promised low-income families that work would pay. Parents moved into jobs in response to new welfare rules requiring work, tax credits and other work supports that boosted take-home pay. Many don't bring home enough to cover the everyday costs of living. Parents moved into jobs in droves in response to new welfare rules requiring work, tax credits, and other work supports that boosted take-home pay. These policy changes were enacted during one of the strongest labor markets on record. A decade later, the labor market is tepid, and policies have to be re-evaluated keeping in mind the circumstances of today's families. Some receive help from government work supports, notably tax credits, food stamps, and child care subsidies, but these supports either offer too little or go to too few families that need them to reliably close the gap between earnings and basic expenses. Low-income working families face the greatest risks in today's unpredictable economy. Most cannot save for a rainy day when earnings can't be stretched to cover even the everyday basics. Most do not receive group health insurance coverage from their employers or qualify for unem-ployment insurance if they lose their jobs. Posted by Michael at 6:33 PM | TrackBack HUD ANNOUNCES DISASTER ASSISTANCE FOR MICHIGAN STORM VICTIMSFrom HUD Press Releases: U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steve Preston today announced HUD will speed federal disaster assistance to 11 storm-ravaged counties in Michigan 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 the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) living in Allegan, Barry, Eaton, Ingham, Lake, Manistee, Mason, Missaukee, Osceola, Ottawa, and Wexford Counties (more counties may be added in the coming days/weeks). Yesterday, President Bush declared these counties eligible for certain disaster assistance. A presidential disaster declaration triggers a variety of federal assistance including grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster. "These storms, and the flooding they produced, are tearing people's lives apart and we must offer substantive relief to these families," said Preston. "To speed this recovery, we're calling for a 'foreclosure time-out' to offer FHA-insured families a little breathing room as they confront the rebuilding process." Offering states the ability to re-allocate existing federal resources toward disaster relief - HUD's Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME programs give the State the flexibility to redirect millions of dollars to address critical needs, including housing and services for tornado victims. 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. Posted by Michael at 6:29 PM | TrackBack Complex questions asked by defense lawyers linked to convictions in child abuse trialsFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Defendants in child abuse cases are more likely to be convicted if their defense lawyer uses complicated language when interrogating young victims according to new research out of the University of Toronto and the University of Southern California. The National Institute of Health funded research project conducted by Angela Evans, a PhD candidate, Kang Lee, a professor at the University of Toronto and Thomas Lyon, a professor at the University of Southern California, involved an examination of 223 transcripts from felony child sexual abuse cases in the U.S. "We looked at whether defense lawyers would ask children unnecessarily complicated questions and whether their complex questions would lead to the designed effect -- to make the witness look incompetent thus influencing the jury to decide in their client's favour," said Evans. "To our surprise, defense lawyers who use more complex questioning were 2.16 times more likely to produce a guilty verdict for their client than those who use less complex questions." An automated linguistic analysis program called Connexor Functional Dependency Grammar (FDG) parser was used to analyze the child witness's testimonies and the attorneys' statements. Such linguistic software programs have been used in the past to determine the author of text such as Shakespeare plays written under a secrete pen name. This is the first time such a linguistic program has been used in a legal context. "It's also interesting to note that the complexity of questions asked by the prosecution was not significantly related to the trial outcome," added Evans. The study findings are published in the current edition of Law and Human Behavior, an American Psychological Association Journal. Posted by Michael at 6:25 PM | TrackBack Bullying-suicide link explored in new study by researchers at YaleFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have found signs of an apparent connection between bullying, being bullied and suicide in children, according to a new review of studies from 13 countries published in the International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health. In the review, Kim and colleague Bennett Leventhal, M.D., analyzed 37 studies that examined bullying and suicide among children and adolescents. The studies took place in the United States, Canada, several European countries (including the United Kingdom and Germany), South Korea, Japan and South Africa. Not just the victims were in danger: "The perpetrators who are the bullies also have an increased risk for suicidal behaviors," Kim said. However, the way the studies were designed made it impossible for researchers to determine conclusively whether bullying leads to suicide, Kim said. In addition, the authors report that most of the studies failed to take into account the influence of factors like gender, psychiatric problems and a history of suicide attempts. Kim said her interest in bullying grew several years ago when she visited South Korea and heard several new slang terms referring to bullies and their victims. In the United States, many adults scoff at bullying and say, "Oh, that's what happens when kids are growing up," according to Kim, who argues that bullying is serious and causes major problems for children. Kim is currently studying whether being bullied actually leads to suicide, although she acknowledges it will be difficult for researchers to get a firm grasp on a cause-and-effect relationship. Posted by Michael at 6:24 PM | TrackBack McCormick Foundation Affirms Long-term Commitment to Early Childhood Education by Investing an Additional $18 Million Over 3-Year Period; Grants Affirm 15 Years of Foundation Leadership in Preparing Youngest LearnersFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: The McCormick Foundation Board of Directors at its second-quarter meeting approved more than $6.2 million in additional grants for 2008-the first installment of over $18 million to be invested through 2011. Since 1993, the Foundation has invested more than $80 million in a broad range of activities to build a system of early care and education in Illinois. 2008 Program Grant Highlights Ensuring children who benefit from a strong early education transition smoothly into a K-12 system, the McCormick Foundation granted $695,000 to the University of Illinois at Chicago's Principal Preparation program. The two-year grant will develop an early care and education module that will increase aspiring principal's abilities to initiate and support high-quality early learning environments in their schools. About the McCormick Foundation's Education Program To ensure a high-quality system of early care and education in Illinois, the McCormick Foundation's Education Program focuses on three funding priority areas: public policy, quality assurance strategies and public awareness. In 2006, the Education Program's primary public policy goal was realized when Illinois enacted "Preschool for All," making it the first state in the nation with the statutory goal of providing free, voluntary quality preschool to all three- and four- year olds whose parents choose it. About the McCormick Foundation The McCormick Foundation is a nonprofit organization committed to strengthening our free, democratic society by investing in children, communities and country. We provide direct, immediate access to mainstream national media for 600 colleges, universities, medical centers, public-policy groups and other leading nonprofit organizations. Posted by Michael at 6:23 PM | TrackBack July 15, 2008Immigrant youths explore identity in high schoolFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Children from immigrant families are assumed to give up their families' ethnic and cultural background in order to assimilate with American culture. But a new study shows that in fact, they find ways to combine their cultural heritage with their identification as members of American society, especially during the high school years. The types of labels they create and use could foreshadow the types of labels used by the larger society in the years to come. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, Wake Forest University, and Williamette University, appears in the July/August 2008 issue of the journal Child Development. The researchers studied about 380 adolescents from Asian and Latin American immigrant families in Los Angeles over the course of four years of high school. The youths chose from a long list of ethnic labels that included terms referring to national origin (such as Mexican), pan-ethnic terms (such as Asian), and terms including the word "American" (such as American or Asian American). They study also assessed adolescents' degree of attachment to their ethnic background, the amount of exploration they'd done of their cultural heritage, and their proficiency in their families' native language. Moreover, significant numbers of these adolescents change their labels from year to year, suggesting that high school is a time for youths from immigrant families to explore their identities. The study also found that first-generation teens (i.e., those who were born outside the United States) were more likely to choose a national origin label (such as Chinese) to describe themselves than were second-generation teens (i.e., those who were born in America to foreign-born parents). Posted by Michael at 11:38 PM | TrackBack Aggressive preschoolers found to have fewer friends than othersFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Preschoolers who are aggressive, angry, and inattentive tend to have fewer playmates than their non-aggressive classmates, whether they are boys or girls. In comparison, non-aggressive children do better at interactions with many peers over time. Those are the findings of new research that used an important innovation for studying children's peer relationships. Conducted by researchers at Arizona State University and published in the July/August 2008 issue of the journal Child Development, the study suggests that as early as preschool, aggressive children have less consistent relationships with their peers. Preschool is a time when there are a lot of changes in the ways children interact with their peers. Although aggressive behavior is common at this age, as children practice social skills and learn how to control their behavior, some children show more intense aggression or do so more often. The Arizona State University researchers observed 97 students in six preschool classrooms in an urban southwest area of the United States; the students' teachers also reported on the children's behavior. Using a new quantitative procedure called the Q-connectivity method, they repeatedly assessed the children's peer interactions to determine how many peers the children interacted with and how often those interactions took place. Using that information, they looked at the relationship between children's ability to establish and maintain relationships with peers and their tendency to display physical aggression, anger, and attention problems. Aggressive, angry, and inattentive children tended to play with fewer peers repeatedly over time than their non-aggressive classmates, who were more successful at interacting frequently with many classmates over time. Posted by Michael at 11:37 PM | TrackBack The university of the futureFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: In a world where economies are increasingly dependent upon high-level knowledge, higher education is a key national resource. But a Forward Look initiated by the European Science Foundation (ESF) shows that we need to know more about how universities, and other higher education institutions, are changing in the 21st century. A team led by Professor John Brennan of the U.K.'s Open University has just examined what we know about today's higher education, and what we need to research further. In the report of the Higher Education Looking Forward (HELF) project, Brennan he and a multinational team of experts point out that universities are as affected by internationalisation and globalisation as other actors are, ranging from people and companies to whole countries. This can expose them to financial as well as academic risk, and can call for more financial and management resources than many universities have available. Future research must, Brennan thinks, ask about the connections between contemporary social and economic change, the changes now occurring within higher education, and the roles of academics. How might new forms of comparative research achieve a better understanding of the interactions between higher education and society, and the different forms these interactions take in different parts of Europe and more widely? From a strategic perspective, the launch is particularly remarkable because the ESF SCSS managed to channel the outcome of a Forward Look, the ESF flagship instrument, into an international collaborative research programme and therefore demonstrated the capacity of ESF to provide strategic advice for and through its Member Organisations and follow this up with critical mass programmes fostering the needed synergy in European research. Posted by Michael at 11:35 PM | TrackBack Study: Legalization and Regulations for Online Gambling Needed; Research Shows Online Gambling Can Be More Dangerous Than Casino GamblingFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: Believing online gambling has the potential to become more habitual than casino gambling, a marketing professor with the Richard Ivey School of Business is calling for legalization of online gambling to allow for better regulation and to potentially reduce harmful effects. "One potential solution is to allow legitimate corporate sponsors, like the corporations that run the major casinos in Las Vegas or the government sponsors in Canada, to enter into a newly regulated market for online gambling," said June Cotte, Associate Professor of Marketing and George and Mary Turnbull Fellow, Richard Ivey School of Business, The University of Western Ontario. "Just as legalized commercial gambling in casinos allows governments to regulate it, so, too, could the legalization of online gambling allow for better regulation and attempts to reduce the growth of problem gamblers." For the study, "Blackjack in the Kitchen: Understanding Online Versus Casino Gambling," to be published in the Journal of Consumer Research in the winter of 2009, Cotte and colleague Kathryn A. Latour (University of Nevada, Las Vegas) interviewed 20 regular casino gamblers and 10 regular online gamblers using pictures as stimuli to learn what gambling feels like and how it is perceived. Cotte and Latour suggest legalizing and regulating online gambling, similar to the way casino gambling is regulated, may help reduce the incidences of problem gambling. Posted by Michael at 11:31 PM | TrackBack Asians who immigrated to US before age 25 have poorer mental health than older immigrantsFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Asian-American immigrants who came to the United States before they were 25 years old have poorer mental health than their compatriots who came to this country when they were 25 or older, according to data from the first national mental health survey of Asian-Americans. The study is noteworthy because it shows that using traditional measures of socio-economic status -- number of years of school and household income -- to predict health outcomes is not accurate for individuals who immigrate when they are children or young adults, according to Janxin Leu, a University of Washington assistant professor of psychology and lead author of the study. Leu and the other researchers found that what is called subjective social status was more accurate in predicting mental health outcomes than income or education. To calculate this, they told the people surveyed to imagine a ladder with 10 rungs containing individuals who had achieved the most on the top rung and those who were least successful on the bottom. "The under-25 group experiences a lot of stress, the so called 'long-reach of childhood' that comes at a formative time of development," she said. "As adults, the under-25 group is doing better with English language skills and has higher levels of education and income, but it is experiencing more disease as adults. The survey included data from more than 1,400 foreign-born Asian-Americans who were at least 25 years of age. Leu said the age of 25 was used as a marker to distinguish between immigrants who experienced disruption during their formative childhood, adolescent and early adult years and those who did not. Posted by Michael at 11:10 PM | TrackBack Parents should limit young children's exposure to background TVFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Despite the fact that pediatricians recommend no screen media exposure for children under age 2, three-quarters of very young children in America live in homes where the television is on most of the time, according to research. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Massachusetts, is published in the July/August 2008 issue of the journal Child Development. For half the time, a television was on in the room, showing an episode of the adult game show Jeopardy!, with commercials; during the other half hour, the TV was turned off. Researchers observed the children as they played to determine whether background TV---defined as adult-oriented television that is on and may be watched by older members of the family, but which very young children don't understand and to which they pay little attention---affected the children's behavior during play. Background TV was found to disrupt the toy play of the children at every age, even when they paid little attention to it. When the television was on, the children played for significantly shorter periods of time and the time they spent focused on their play was shorter, compared to when the TV was off. "Background TV, as an ever-changing audiovisual distractor, disrupts children's efforts to sustain attention to ongoing play behaviors," according to Marie Evans Schmidt, who is now a research associate at the Center on Media and Child Health at Children's Hospital Boston and is the lead author of the study. Copyright 2008 The Society for Research in Child Development, Inc. Posted by Michael at 11:07 PM | TrackBack Children's physical activity drops from age 9 to 15, NIH study indicatesFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: The activity level of a large group of American children dropped sharply between age 9 and age 15, when most failed to reach the daily recommended activity level, according to the latest findings from a long-term study by the National Institutes of Health. The researchers evaluated the children to determine whether they achieved the minimum 60 minutes per day of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) recommended for children. "Lack of physical activity in childhood raises the risk for obesity and its attendant health problems later in life," said Duane Alexander, M.D., Director of NIH's Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The analysis was conducted on data collected for the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, a long term study of more than 1,000 children from ethnically and economically diverse backgrounds. The 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that children and adolescents engage in at least 60 minutes of physical activity on most, preferably all, days of the week. On average, boys were more active than girls, spending 18 more minutes per weekday in MVPA than did girls, and 13 more minutes per day in MVPA on weekends. Dr. Nader explained that local school systems have a role to play, by ensuring children receive periodic recess breaks and daily active physical education. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. Posted by Michael at 11:03 PM | TrackBack Forensic patients with tattoos more likely to have antisocial personality disorderFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: The presence of tattoos on forensic psychiatric inpatients should alert clinicians to a possible diagnosis of Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD), and also about the potential for histories of suicide attempt, substance abuse, and sexual abuse, according to research published today in Personality and Mental Health. For this research, 36 male inpatients of a maximum-security state forensic psychiatric facility were studied by psychiatrists from the Michigan Center for Forensic Psychiatry (CFP). Of the patients studied, 15 had tattoos and 17 were diagnosed as having ASPD. Of those with tattoos, 11 of 15, or 73%, had ASPD, whereas only six of 21, or 29%, of those without tattoos had the same diagnosis. The research also uncovered an increased likelihood for those with tattoos to have previously suffered from sexual abuse, abused substances or to have attempted suicide. "Our findings suggest that forensic psychiatric inpatients with tattoos are significantly more likely to suffer from ASPD than those without tattoos, and patients with ASPD were also significantly more likely to have higher numbers of tattoos, a larger percentage of their body covered with tattoos, and tended to have tattoos in more visible locations" said lead researcher Dr. William Cardasis, of CFP, Michigan. "I hope that this provides clues for clinicians to look for ASPD in forensic psychiatric patients with tattoos, and also to look for signs of suicide attempt, substance abuse, and sexual abuse." "One should keep in mind that the population studied was only a small segment of the population, and not indicative of what may or may not be relevant in the general population" added Cardasis. Posted by Michael at 11:01 PM | TrackBack Culture and DepressionFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: The expectation that East-Asian people emphasize physical symptoms of depression (e.g. headaches, poor appetite or aches/pains in the body) is widely acknowledged, yet the few available empirical studies report mixed data on this issue. A new study from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) debunks this cultural myth, and offers clinicians valuable insight to into cultural context when assessing a patient, leading to more accurate diagnosis. Lead by CAMH Clinical Research Director Dr. R. Michael Bagby, in collaboration with Dr. Andrew Ryder, Concordia University, Steven Heine, University of British Columbia and a number of collaborators from Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, People's Republic of China, this study recruited more than 200 participants, half from an outpatient clinic in China, and half from a clinical research department outpatient clinic at CAMH, and tested two central hypotheses: 1. North American participants would emphasize psychological symptoms of depression (e.g. report feeling sad, crying spells, or a loss of self-confidence) more than East-Asian participants. Dr. Bagby and his team also wanted to examine the role stigma and alexithymia (difficulty using words to describe emotions) play in how each culture presented and expressed depression symptoms. This rigorous work is one of only a few studies to address these questions with a direct cross-cultural comparison of clinical patients. Also, it is the only study to use three assessment tools (spontaneous report of problems during unstructured discussion with doctor; clinician-rated symptoms in a structured clinical interview; and a symptom rating scale in questionnaire form) translated into both English and Chinese (Mandarin) and modified to address cross-cultural differences. This suggests a tendency for Western cultures to emphasize psychological symptoms of depression (psychologization), rather than a tendency for those from East-Asian cultures to emphasize physical symptoms (somatization). Posted by Michael at 11:01 PM | TrackBack Poll: More than 2/3 of Massachusetts residents support health reform lawFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Two years after the implementation of a health care reform law aimed at providing health coverage for nearly all Massachusetts residents, public support for the law remains high. According to a new poll by the Harvard School of Public Health and the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation, over two-thirds (69%) of Massachusetts residents support the law. In the two years since the law's passage, approximately 350,000 Massachusetts residents have gained health insurance coverage. A majority of the public support this individual mandate (58%) while slightly over one-third oppose it (35%). Support for the mandate has also increased slightly since the law was passed (58% in 2008 compared to 57% in 2007 and 52% in 2006). Another key component of the law is providing free or subsidized coverage for Massachusetts residents whose incomes fall below 300% of the Federal Poverty Level ($63,600 for a family of four or $31,200 for an individual). The poll finds that the public is aware of the law's success at reducing the number of uninsured in the state with 14% saying the law has been very successful and 57% somewhat successful. This compares to 13% who feel small businesses are being helped or not impacted (19%). Just over two-thirds (67%) say the law is not having much impact on them personally compared to 14% who feel they are being helped and 18% being hurt. In addition, most people do not believe that the law has caused their health care costs to increase. Posted by Michael at 11:00 PM | TrackBack Peers important for nutrition education among LatinosFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A systematic literature review conducted by a team of researchers from the University of Connecticut, the Hispanic Health Council (Hartford), and the Connecticut Center for Eliminating Health Disparities among Latinos assessed the impact of peer education/counseling on nutrition and health outcomes among Latinos living in the United States. The results, published in the July/August issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, provide evidence that peer nutrition education has a positive influence on diabetes self-management and breastfeeding outcomes, as well as on general nutrition knowledge and dietary intake behaviors, among Latinos in the US. "Overall, these nutrition education demonstration studies suggest that peer education has the potential to change dietary behaviors among Latinos," commented lead investigator Rafael Pérez-Escamilla, PhD. "There is a need to better understand how nutrition peer educators can be formally incorporated into the health care system within the Chronic Care Model community health worker (CHW) framework." The group's findings are consistent with studies conducted with non-Latino white and black individuals, which suggests that it is important to formally incorporate peer nutrition educators as part of the CHW framework and to integrate them as part of US public health and clinical health care management. Additionally, this review produced the surprising finding that researchers could not identify any experimental or quasi-experimental study assessing the impact of the Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program (FSNE) on Latinos, even though this major program has been in place for over a decade. Operational research is needed to identify the optimal peer educator characteristics, the type of training that they should receive, the client loads and dosage (ie, frequency and amount of contact needed between peer educator and client) and the best educational approaches and delivery settings. Posted by Michael at 10:56 PM | TrackBack UT pathologists believe they have pinpointed Achilles heel of HIVFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) researchers at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston believe they have uncovered the Achilles heel in the armor of the virus that continues to kill millions. This protein is essential for HIV attachment to host cells, which initiate infection and eventually lead to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or AIDS. Normally the body's immune defenses can ward off viruses by making proteins called antibodies that bind the virus. However, HIV is a constantly changing and mutating virus, and the antibodies produced after infection do not control disease progression to AIDS. For the same reason, no HIV preventative vaccine that stimulates production of protective antibodies is available. Paul is the senior author on a paper about this theory in a June issue of the journal Autoimmunity Reviews. Paul's group has engineered antibodies with enzymatic activity, also known as abzymes, which can attack the Achilles heel of the virus in a precise way. The abzymes are derived from HIV negative people with the autoimmune disease lupus and a small number of HIV positive people who do not require treatment and do not get AIDS. These endogenous retroviral sequences are overproduced in people with lupus, and an immune response to such a sequence that resembles the Achilles heel can explain the production of abzymes in lupus. Carl Hanson, Ph.D., who heads the Retrovirus Diagnostic Section of the Viral and Rickettsial Disease Laboratory of the California Department of Public Health, has shown that the abzymes neutralize infection of human blood cells by diverse strains of HIV from various parts of the world. Posted by Michael at 10:53 PM | TrackBack American Dental Association Launches New, Improved 'OralLongevity' Web Site; Refreshed Site Features New Content, Updated Design for Older Adult's Oral Health CareFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: Retaining its domain at http://www.orallongevity.ada.org, the refreshed site features an updated design, enhanced navigation and new content for the initiative that helps increase awareness about the importance of older Americans maintaining good oral health for a lifetime. For easy navigation, a link to the OralLongevity brochure and DVD appears on each page, along with anchor tags that jump directly into a specific topic within the section. In addition, the web site offers presentation materials to assist dentists in educating other health professionals, older adult patients and caregivers about the importance of oral health. These online resources can be used in the dental office or in the community. In the Consumer Resources section, visitors will find tips for taking care of their teeth, pointers on making the most of visiting the dentist, and a discussion of the connection between oral health and overall health. A reference list of articles on various oral health topics is provided for those seeking more in-depth information. A link to "Find an ADA Member Dentist" also can be found here. The premier source of oral health information, the ADA has advocated for the public's health and promoted the art and science of dentistry since 1859. JADA, a monthly journal, is the ADA's flagship publication and the best-read scientific journal in dentistry. For more information about the ADA, visit the Association's Web site at http://www.ada.org. AScribe Newswire distributes news from nonprofit and public sector organizations. Posted by Michael at 10:51 PM | TrackBack Type 2 diabetes: Culturally-tailored education can improve blood sugar controlFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Using community-based health advocates, delivering information within same-gender groups or adapting dietary and lifestyle advice to fit a particular community's likely diet can help people with type 2 diabetes control their blood sugar levels, certainly for up to six months, following health education. This conclusion was reached by a team of Cochrane Researchers after they considered the data in 11 trials that involved 1,603 people. Type 2 diabetes is a particular problem for minority ethnic groups who originate from developing countries, but live in upper-middle income or high income countries. These people tend to have low socio-economic status and find that they are faced with many physical, communication and cultural barriers that make it difficult to access healthcare effectively. The Cochrane Researchers found 11 trials where people had deliberately tried to overcome cultural barriers. In short-term studies, culturally appropriate health education programs led to improved blood-sugar control within 3 months. This benefit was still seen when the 6-month trial periods ended. Knowledge about diabetes and healthy lifestyles also improved over this time period. They show that providing culturally tailored information can help people control their diabetes." says Kamila Hawthorne, who works at the Department of Primary Care and Public Health at the University of Cardiff, UK. "Diabetes is a chronic condition and complications can develop over many years. We now need to carry out longer term studies with larger groups, all measuring the same results, to discover which type of assistance is most useful and see how to keep the benefits running for longer," says Hawthorne. Posted by Michael at 10:45 PM | TrackBack Growth in Giving to Education Likely to Slow in Coming Year; Council for Advancement and Support of Education Launches New Index to Gauge Fundraising OutlookFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: The rate of growth in giving to education in the United States is likely to slow in the coming year, according to a new forecasting tool launched by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. The CASE Fundraising Index predicts that philanthropic support for schools, colleges and universities will grow by 5.3 percent for the academic year that began on July 1. Over the last 20 years, the average annual rate of growth for giving to education has been 7 percent. For the 12-month period that ended on June 30, the CFI estimates that educational institutions will record a 7.2 percent increase in giving, roughly even with the 20-year average. The CFI is based on a survey of senior fundraising professionals at universities, colleges and independent schools in the United States. "We are excited about the potential of the CFI to provide our members and our profession with a valuable tool to gauge the outlook for fundraising in the coming year and to benchmark early estimates for the year just ended," said CASE President John Lippincott. Notes on methodology: The CFI is based on an electronic survey of senior fundraising professionals at 2,320 CASE-member institutions in the United States conducted between July 1 and July 9, 2008. Posted by Michael at 10:42 PM | TrackBack Growing up amid war affects children's moral developmentFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Colombian children living in war zones exhibited an understanding that stealing or hurting others is wrong. But when asked to consider revenge as a motive, many said it is acceptable to steal or hurt others for revenge. Those are the findings of a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Utah. One of the first studies to consider how growing up in a war zone affects children's moral development, the research appears in the July/August 2008 issue of the journal Child Development. In Colombia, where almost 2 million children have been forcibly displaced from their homes over the past 15 years, the researchers sought to determine how living amid violence, lawlessness, and deprivation affects the way children think about right and wrong. According to the study, all participants said it is wrong to steal or hurt others because of considerations of justice and welfare, and most said it is wrong to steal or hurt others even when such actions can help ensure one's survival. "Overall, these findings unveil a reservoir of moral knowledge among war-affected children: Even the impoverished environments of war and displacement present youths with opportunities for reflecting on the intrinsic features of actions that harm others," according to Roberto Posada, a doctoral student at the University of Utah, and Cecilia Wainryb, professor of psychology at the University of Utah, the study's authors. It is possible that contexts underscoring concerns with survival might compromise children's ability to view themselves and others as moral agents, while contexts underscoring revenge might give rise to cycles of violence." Posted by Michael at 10:40 PM | TrackBack Family resources, parenting quality influence children's early cognitive developmentFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Even among low-income families, mothers with greater social and economic resources were more supportive in parenting their children than those with fewer resources, which in turn influenced the children's cognitive performance. That's the main finding of a new study that considers how economic factors and parenting quality jointly influence children's development. Conducted by researchers at the Center for Research on Culture, Development, and Education (CRCDE) in New York University, the study appears in the July/August 2008 issue of the journal Child Development. The researchers examined 2,089 low-income mothers and their children, who took part in the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Study, visiting homes when the children were 14, 24, and 36 months old. During the visits, researchers measured the quality of parenting (by observing interactions between mothers and their children, and by observing the home environment) and families' economic resources (specifically, per capita income) to determine how these factors influence children's cognitive development. Families' economic resources and the quality of parenting each played a unique role in contributing to children's cognitive development, the study found. "These findings point to the importance of examining parenting resources and parenting quality as joint contributors to children's development," according to Julieta Lugo-Gil, who conducted the research when she was at the CRCDE in New York University. "Programs that aim solely at supplementing family earnings may not have a strong impact on children's cognitive development; programs that offer a combination of cash assistance and services designed to improve the quality of parenting may be more effective." "Strengthening the quality of parenting should also include services aimed at improving family literacy and education, reducing parental stress, and providing high-quality child care." Posted by Michael at 10:39 PM | TrackBack Evaluation to Measure Effectiveness of Oral Health Care Model in Rural Alaska Native Villages; Communities Involved in Project Experience Nation's Highest Rate of Oral Health DiseaseFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: Supported through a partnership of four foundations, the comprehensive evaluation will be conducted by RTI International of Research Triangle Park, North Carolina - a nonprofit research institute that provides research and technical services to governments and businesses worldwide. The two-year study offers an opportunity to determine the quality of service provided by the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium's Dental Health Aide Therapist Program. "If the evaluation proves the viability of the dental health aide therapist model, the program has the potential to have the same impact on rural Alaska as the tuberculosis eradication program did in the 1940s and 1950s," said Jerry Drake, executive director of the Bethel Community Services Foundation, located in Bethel, Alaska. "Through this research, we hope to establish a long-term process for continuous quality improvement to ensure that the best possible dental care is provided to Alaska Native patients in the state's more remote communities," said Al Yee, a Kellogg Foundation program director. "Rasmuson Foundation has been unwavering in its support of improving oral health care access and outcomes in rural Alaska villages," said Diane Kaplan, Rasmuson Foundation president. "Among other things, we will look at patient access to care and the level of patient satisfaction from using dental therapists," Wetterhall said. The program trains mid-level oral health providers who live and work in the rural communities to provide prevention services, perform fillings, extractions and other limited dental services for children. "This model has succeeded in more than 40 countries," said Yee, "and holds great promise for improving dental access to underserved communities in Alaska." Posted by Michael at 10:38 PM | TrackBack July 12, 2008Secretary Spellings Announces 25 Teachers Selected For Teaching Ambassador FellowshipsFrom Education Newsfeed: U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today announced 25 teachers have been selected for Teaching Ambassador Fellowships (TAF) with the U.S. Department of Education for 2008-2009. Five Washington Fellows will become full-time U.S. Department of Education employees in Washington, D.C., for one year, and 20 Classroom Fellows will remain in their classrooms and participate in the program through part-time projects. More than one thousand teachers across the U.S. applied for the Fellowships, which offer highly motivated, innovative public school teachers the opportunity to contribute their knowledge and experience to the national dialogue on public education. "I look forward to welcoming the Fellows to Washington next week and know we will benefit from their knowledge and experience in the classroom. Steven Hicks teaches kindergarten and first grade at Accelerated Charter School in Los Angeles, Calif. Bobbi Houtchens teaches high school English and English as a Second Language (ESL) at Arroyo Valley High School in San Bernardino, Calif. Julie Shively teaches gifted 4th and 5th grade math at Margaret Winn Holt Elementary School in Lawrenceville, Ga. Steven Berbeco teaches Arabic language, U.S. and world history, AP government and politics at Charlestown High School in Charlestown, Mass. Jennifer Cloud teaches math at South Kingstown High School in Wakefield, R.I. Jeanine Gelhaus teaches 8th grade science at Medford Middle School in Medford, Wis. Maya Martin-Bugg teaches 8th grade language arts, with a focus on American literature and writing, at Durham School of the Arts in Durham, N.C. Nicora Placa will be teaching math at Emolior Academy, a new middle school in the Bronx, N.Y. Tammie Schrader teaches 7th grade math and science at Cheney Middle School in Cheney, Wash. Posted by Michael at 7:18 PM | TrackBack Binge drinking tied to conditions in the college environmentFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Heavy alcohol use, or binge drinking, among college students in the United States is tied to conditions in the college environment. That is one of the key findings from research conducted by researchers with the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study (CAS), a landmark study that surveyed more than 50,000 students at 120 colleges from 1993 to 2001. In a new review that examines the findings from the CAS and their implications, the researchers conclude that heavy drinking behavior of students was more common in college environments that have a strong drinking culture, few alcohol control policies on campus or in the surrounding community, weak enforcement of existing policies, and alcohol made easily accessible through low prices, heavy marketing and special promotions. The review appears in the July 2008 issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. The review was conducted by CAS Director Henry Wechsler, lecturer on society, human development and health at Harvard School of Public Health and Assistant Director Toben Nelson, assistant professor of epidemiology and community health at the University of Minnesota. During its 14-year existence, the CAS focused attention on widespread binge drinking at American colleges and the ensuing serious health and social consequences to drinkers, fellow students and neighbors. These problems include drinking-related behavior that is disruptive to studying and sleep, vandalism, and physical and sexual assaults. "The five/four drink binge measure is a good indicator of who will experience alcohol-related problems, and more importantly, captures most students who actually experience problems, something measures with higher drink thresholds fail to do," said Wechsler. Posted by Michael at 6:57 PM | TrackBack Fairness Initiative on Low-Wage Work: Help for Low-Wage WorkersFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: The federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is one of the nation's most important poverty-fighting mechanisms. It puts money back into the hands of low-wage workers through the federal income tax system. Low-wage workers currently account for a quarter of the domestic workforce. Projections are that 30 percent of all the job growth in the coming years will be from low-wage occupations. A recently released report by the Brookings Institution suggests that the federal government can expand and modernize the EITC to help low-wage families struggling to pay for housing, transportation, child care and other necessities. The Fairness Initiative on Low-Wage Work has produced a five-minute podcast to explain the report. The podcast is available at http://www.lowwagework.org/podcasts.htm, and features the report's co-author, Alan Berube of the Brookings Institution. Other details regarding the report are also available on the Web site. AScribe Newswire distributes news from nonprofit and public sector organizations. Posted by Michael at 6:52 PM | TrackBack SARASOTA HOUSING AUTHORITY RETURNED TO LOCAL CONTROL AFTER THREE YEARS UNDER FEDERAL RECEIVERSHIPFrom HUD Press Releases: SARASOTA, FL - After three years under federal receivership, the Sarasota Housing Authority (SHA) was officially returned to local control today in a ceremony at City Hall with HUD officials and Mayor Lou Ann Palmer. "This day has come because HUD receivership teams have worked hard to get this housing authority in a position to provide quality, affordable housing to the citizens of Sarasota." In a ceremony at the Sarasota City Hall today, William Shen, HUD's Director of Receivership Oversight, presented the newly appointed Chairman of the SHA Board of Commissioners with a letter releasing the agency from federal control. Joining Shen and Mayor Palmer was Justin Ormsby, who heads HUD's receivership team at SHA; SHA Executive Director William Russell; members of the Sarasota City Board of Commissioners; and the SHA Board of Commissioners. Last year, the HUD receivership team recommended that Mayor Palmer nominate candidates for an advisory board to assist with the operations and activities of the housing authority. This was the first step in preparing a housing authority for return local control. Last month, the Sarasota Board of Commissioners confirmed the advisory board as the new SHA Board of Commissioners. These operational problems led to the deterioration of Sarasota public housing stock. Working closely with the new management, HUD's receivership team, then headed by HUD-veteran Carmen Valenti, now retired, corrected SHA's financial and management deficiencies and addressed the poor housing conditions. SHA's operations were streamlined to make unit repairs quickly to get apartments on-line faster, as well as provided SHA staff extensive training. SHA's most recent achievement was the May groundbreaking at Janie Poe for the comprehensive redevelopment of this affordable housing community. Posted by Michael at 6:52 PM | TrackBack HUD ANNOUNCES DISASTER ASSISTANCE FOR SOUTH DAKOTA STORM VICTIMSFrom HUD Press Releases: U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steve Preston today announced HUD will speed federal disaster assistance to 27 storm-ravaged counties in South Dakota and provide support to homeowners and low-income renters forced from their homes following severe storms and flooding. This assistance includes foreclosure relief for families whose homes are insured through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) living in Aurora, Bon Homme, Brule, Buffalo, Butte, Charles Mix, Clay, Dewy, Douglas, Gregory, Haakon, Hand, Hanson, Hughes, Hutchinson, Jackson, Lawrence, Lyman, McCook, Meade, Mellette, Moody, Perkins, Stanley, Tripp, Turner, Ziebach, and portions of Cheyenne River Reservation, the Crow Creek Reservation, and Lower Brule Reservation that lie with the counties (more counties may be added in the coming days/weeks). A presidential disaster declaration triggers a variety of federal assistance including grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster. "These storms, and the flooding they produced, are tearing people's lives apart and we must offer substantive relief to these families," said Preston. Offering states the ability to re-allocate existing federal resources toward disaster relief - HUD's Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME programs give the State the flexibility to redirect millions of dollars to address critical needs, including housing and services for tornado victims. 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. Posted by Michael at 6:51 PM | TrackBack HUD ANNOUNCES DISASTER ASSISTANCE FOR KANSAS STORM VICTIMSFrom HUD Press Releases: U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steve Preston today announced HUD will speed federal disaster assistance to 46 storm-ravaged counties in Kansas and provide support to homeowners and low-income renters forced from their homes following tornadoes, severe storms and flooding. A presidential disaster declaration triggers a variety of federal assistance including grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster. "These storms, and the flooding they produced, are tearing people's lives apart and we must offer substantive relief to these families," said Preston. "To speed this recovery, we're calling for a 'foreclosure time-out' to offer FHA-insured families a little breathing room as they confront the rebuilding process." Offering states the ability to re-allocate existing federal resources toward disaster relief - HUD's Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME programs give the State the flexibility to redirect millions of dollars to address critical needs, including housing and services for tornado victims. Offering Section 108 loan guarantee assistance - HUD will offer state and local governments federally guaranteed loans for housing rehabilitation, economic development and repair of public infrastructure. 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. Posted by Michael at 6:50 PM | TrackBack HUD ANNOUNCES DISASTER ASSISTANCE FOR OKLAHOMA STORM VICTIMSFrom HUD Press Releases: U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steve Preston today announced HUD will speed federal disaster assistance to 24 storm-ravaged counties in Oklahoma and provide support to homeowners and low-income renters forced from their homes following severe storms and flooding. This assistance includes foreclosure relief for families whose homes are insured through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) living in Alfalfa, Beaver, Beckham, Blaine, Cotton, Custer, Dewey, Ellis, Garfield, Grant, Harmon, Harper, Jackson, Kay, Kiowa, Major, Okfuskee, Osage, Ottawa, Roger Mills, Rogers, Tillman, Washita, and Woods Counties. A presidential disaster declaration triggers a variety of federal assistance including grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster. "These storms, and the flooding they produced, are tearing people's lives apart and we must offer substantive relief to these families," said Preston."To speed this recovery, we're calling for a 'foreclosure time-out' to offer FHA-insured families a little breathing room as they confront the rebuilding process." Offering states the ability to re-allocate existing federal resources toward disaster relief - HUD's Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME programs give the State the flexibility to redirect millions of dollars to address critical needs, including housing and services for tornado victims. 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. Posted by Michael at 6:50 PM | TrackBack HUD CHARGES PUERTO RICO HOMEOWNER ASSOCIATION WITH DISCRIMINATING AGAINST DISABLED HOMEOWNERFrom HUD Press Releases: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced today that it charged a homeowner association in Puerto Rico with housing discrimination for refusing to permit a disabled man to have support railings in the front of his home. The Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful to deny persons with disabilities reasonable accommodations or the right to make reasonable modifications to a dwelling when the accommodations or modifications are necessary for them to fully enjoy their homes. HUD alleges that the Palacios de Rio II, Inc., Homeowner Association and Desarrolladora del Rio, Inc., located in Toa Alto, PR, demanded that Victor Rolon-Cruz remove support railings that were professionally installed to allow him easier access to his single-family home and to prevent potential injury. Shortly after the support railings were installed, Cruz received a notice from the Homeowner Association to immediately remove the railings because they allegedly did not comply with the Association's construction rules. "Fair housing laws apply equally to condominium communities and single family homes," said Kim Kendrick, HUD's Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO). 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 6:49 PM | TrackBack Children are naturally prone to be empathic and moralFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Children between the ages of seven and 12 appear to be naturally inclined to feel empathy for others in pain, according to researchers at the University of Chicago, who used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) scans to study responses in children. Researchers found that children, like adults, show responses to pain in the same areas of their brains. The research also found additional aspects of the brain activated in children, when youngsters saw another person intentionally hurt by another individual. An fMRI Investigation of Empathy and Intentionality in Children," published in the currrent issue of Neuropsychologia. The programming for empathy is something that is "hard-wired" into the brains of normal children, and not entirely the product of parental guidance or other nurturing, said Decety. For their research, the team showed 17 typically developed children, ages seven to 12, animated photos of people experiencing pain, either received accidentally or inflicted intentionally. While undergoing fMRI scans, children where shown animations using three photographs of two people whose right hands or right feet only were visible. The photographs showed people in pain accidently caused, such as when a heavy bowl was dropped on their hands, and situations in which the people were hurt, such as when a person stepped intentionally on someone's foot. "Consistent with previous functional MRI studies of pain empathy with adults, the perception of other people in pain in children was associated with increased hemodymamic activity in the neural circuits involved in the processing of first-hand experience of pain, including the insula, somatosensory cortex, anterior midcigulate cortex, periaqueductal gray and supplementary motor area," Decety wrote. The study, which was supported by the National Science Foundation, provides new insights for children between childrens' perceptions of right and wrong and how their brains process information, Decety said. Posted by Michael at 6:46 PM | TrackBack Reading, math scores up for 4th and 8th graders, federal report showsFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: The nation's fourth and eighth graders scored higher in reading and mathematics than they did during their last national assessment, according to the federal government's latest annual statistical report on the well-being of the nation's children. Not all the report's findings were positive; there also were increases in the adolescent birth rate and the proportion of infants born at low birthweight. The report is compiled by the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, a working group of Federal agencies that collect, analyze, and report data on issues related to children and families, with partners in private research organizations. "In 2007, scores of fourth and eighth graders were higher in mathematics than in all previous assessments and higher in reading than in 2005," said Valena Plisko, associate commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, a part of the U.S. Department of Education. Low birthweight infants are at increased risk for infant death and such lifelong disabilities as blindness, deafness and cerebral palsy. "This trend reflects an increase in the number of infants born prematurely, the largest category of low birthweight infants," said Duane Alexander, M.D., director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health. "It is critical that we continue monitoring this trend carefully," said Edward J. Sondik, PhD, director of the National Center for Health Statistics in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Compared with other teens their age, teen mothers are less likely to finish high school or to graduate from college. Posted by Michael at 6:45 PM | TrackBack Non-parental care of infants tied to unfavorable feeding practicesFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: With more new mothers in the workplace than ever before, there has been a corresponding increase in the number of child-care facilities in the United States. At the same time, data from a variety of sources point to a growing prevalence of overweight infants and toddlers. According to a new study co-written by University of Illinois community health professor Juhee Kim and Karen Peterson, a professor of nutrition and society at Harvard University's School of Public Health, child-care factors and feeding practices may indeed play a role. the potential importance of infant child care on infant nutrition and growth," the researchers said in an article published in the July issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, a publication affiliated with the Journal of the American Medical Association. The researchers' findings could have significant public-health ramifications, as weight gain in infancy can ultimately be a predictor of obesity later in life. Kim and Peterson found that 55.3 percent of the infants had received regular, non-parental child care, with half of those infants receiving full-time child care. Among babies in child care, 40 percent began receiving such care at age 3 months; 39 percent, between 3 and 5.9 months, and 21 percent at 6 months or older. "Weight gain and the prevalence of overweight were lowest among infants who received care by parents," the researchers noted in the published article. The researchers also examined data regarding breastfeeding initation for babies receiving parental and non-parental care, along with the stage at which solid foods were introduced to the infants. Posted by Michael at 6:44 PM | TrackBack July 11, 2008Pew Partners with State and City Officials to Help Low- And Moderate- Income Households Secure Bank AccountsThe Safe Banking Opportunities Project is supporting a rapidly growing group of state and city governments that are launching campaigns to bring more Americans into the financial mainstream. The new programs, called "Bank On" initiatives, connect the "unbanked" ---households without bank accounts---to appropriate accounts that help lower their financial transaction costs and put them on the path to building savings and assets. One of the largest such initiatives is being launched in California this year, in partnership with the Pew project. "Pew is a key partner in our Bank On California initiative," said Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who announced earlier this year that California will be the first state in the country to launch a campaign to reach the unbanked. "This initiative will help working Californians without bank accounts open starter accounts, access basic financial services, and enter the financial mainstream." The Safe Banking Opportunities Project is supporting the Bank On initiatives by supplying cities and states with strategic advice and detailed data about local unbanked markets and the financial institutions that can and currently do serve these markets. "I congratulate Pew on its decision to invest in and build upon this practical and unique work from which cities around the country will benefit," said Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who has been working with Safe Banking Opportunities project director, Matt Fellowes, to develop the city's financial services programs. Posted by Michael at 10:12 AM | TrackBack July 10, 2008Genetic variations put youth at higher risk for lifetime of tobacco addictionFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Common genetic variations affecting nicotine receptors in the nervous system can significantly increase the chance that European Americans who begin smoking by age 17 will struggle with lifelong nicotine addiction, according to researchers at the University of Utah and their colleagues at University of Wisconsin-Madison. The study, published in the July 11, 2008 issue of PLoS Genetics, highlights the importance of public health efforts to reduce the number of youth who begin smoking. The researchers found that one haplotype for the nicotine receptor put European American smokers at greater risk of heavy nicotine dependence as adults, but only if they began daily smoking before the age of 17. A second haplotype actually reduced the risk of adult heavy nicotine dependence for people who began smoking in their youth. They assessed the level of nicotine dependence for all smokers, and recorded the age they began daily smoking, the number of years they smoked, and the average number of cigarettes smoked per day. They found that people who began smoking before the age of 17 and possessed two copies of the high-risk haplotype had from a 1.6-fold to almost 5-fold increase in risk of heavy smoking as an adult. For people who began smoking at age 17 or older, presence of the high-risk haplotype did not significantly influence their risk of later addiction. The high-risk haplotype is common in the three study populations, and European American populations in general, ranging in frequency from 38 percent to 41 percent. Posted by Michael at 6:37 PM | TrackBack Study reveals potential reasons for school absenteeismFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A questionnaire of Swiss schoolchildren has revealed the extent of truancy and school fear. The research, published in BioMed Central's open access journal Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, links truancy and school fear to life events, parental behaviour and school environment. Over 800 children completed the questionnaire, once at thirteen years old and then again at sixteen years old. They were asked to rate themselves on whether they are scared of school, and whether they ever play truant. He explained, "Our study not only allows the assessment of the frequency of fear and truancy but also allows a clinically meaningful differentiation of these two forms of absenteeism by behavioural and psychosocial characteristics". This new study reveals that 6.9% of the pupils experienced school fear at thirteen years old while 3.6% reported it three years later. According to Steinhausen, there are many differences between pupils with school fear and truants, "At age sixteen, kids with school fear showed less self esteem and perceived more competition amongst students than the truants. At age thirteen the students with school fear felt less accepted by their peers than the children who played truant". Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health is an international platform for rapid and comprehensive scientific communication on child and adolescent mental health across different cultural backgrounds. BioMed Central (http://www.biomedcentral.com/) is an independent online publishing house committed to providing immediate access without charge to the peer-reviewed biological and medical research it publishes. This commitment is based on the view that open access to research is essential to the rapid and efficient communication of science. Posted by Michael at 6:34 PM | TrackBack Spending on Medical Care: More Is Better?From The Commonwealth Fund: Conventional economic theory holds that "more is better," but a growing body of evidence suggests health care is the exception to the rule. In their commentary, "Spending on Medical Care: More Is Better?" (Journal of the American Medical Association, May 28, 2008), Gerard F. Anderson, Ph.D., of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Kalipso Chalkidou, M.D., Ph.D., a 2007/8 Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellow, argue that spending more on health care does not ensure that patients are healthier and happier with that care. They highlight several studies demonstrating that the level of health spending is a relatively poor predictor of health outcomes and satisfaction. The study revealed that Medicare beneficiaries in regions with greater health spending levels were not necessarily more satisfied with their care---a finding that confirms previous research showing little correlation between health spending and clinical outcomes across the United States. In reviewing data collected from its 30 industrialized member countries, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development did not see a strong relationship between health spending levels and health outcomes. A series of international surveys of patients, physicians, and hospital administrators by The Commonwealth Fund found minimal correlation between health care spending and satisfaction with care. Hospital administrators and physicians claim that patient demand, bolstered by the proliferation of direct-to-consumer medical advertising, drives additional use of medical services. But a growing body of literature shows that, when presented with good-quality, unbiased information about the risks and benefits of treatment alternatives, patients do not necessarily seek the newest, most expensive, or most aggressive treatments. Posted by Michael at 6:32 PM | TrackBack Talking Health: New Webcast Series for Health JournalistsFrom The Commonwealth Fund: A spotlight on the growing problem of the underinsured--those who have insurance but are still at risk for substantial out-of-pocket expenses. A recent study by Commonwealth Fund researchers found that the number of underinsured adults rose by 60 percent between 2003 and 2007, from 16 million to more than 25 million, with the rate nearly tripling for those with moderate or higher incomes. About half of the underinsured went without needed health care because of cost. The program features panelists Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health; Mila Kofman, Maine's superintendent of insurance; and Sara R. Collins, Ph.D., an assistant vice president at The Commonwealth Fund. AHCJ board president Trudy Lieberman moderates the session." Check out the speaker bios and other info on the Talking Health page at www.healthjournalism.org/talkinghealth. The Commonwealth Fund is an independent foundation working toward health policy reform and a high performance health system. Posted by Michael at 6:29 PM | TrackBack Mexico feels sting of U.S. housing crisisFrom Economic Policy Institute: New data on remittance flows---the earnings migrant workers send home to their families---confirm that the rest of the world is far from immune to the weakening U.S. economy. From 2000 to 2006, the amount of remittances grew significantly year after year, helping to support workers' families abroad. That growth leveled off in 2007, and now it has actually begun to decline: January through May of 2008 has seen a decline of $668.28 million compared to the same period in 2007. In May alone Mexican families received $171.3 million less than the previous year (see chart below). More remittances are sent to Mexico in May than any other month of the year, driven in part by the number of immigrants (a majority of them Mexican) working in construction. With the deflating housing bubble and the decline of construction jobs in the first quarter of 2008, the unemployment rate of Hispanic immigrants rose to 7.5%, and Hispanic construction workers now earn less than they did in the first quarter of 2006.1 The continuing economic slowdown in the United States will undoubtedly affect Mexicans on both sides of the border. Check out the archive for past Economic Snapshots. Posted by Michael at 6:24 PM | TrackBack Let's talk about sex -- helping parents raise sexually healthy young peopleFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Parenting programmes in the workplace can significantly improve parents' ability to talk with their children about sexual health and may provide a unique way of promoting healthy adolescent sexual behaviour, concludes a study published on BMJ.com today. Research shows that parents can significantly influence adolescents' sexual health and risk behaviours through their parenting practices and talking about sex. For example, previous studies have found that adolescents whose parents talk to them about sex are more likely to delay intercourse, use contraception and have fewer partners. Researchers from Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School and the UCLA/RAND Center for Adolescent Health Promotion, report a randomised trial to assess if a parenting programme in the workplace, to help parents become more comfortable and skilled at communicating with adolescents about sexual health, has an effect on parents' ability to communicate with their children. The authors found that the work-based approach had immediate significant and ongoing effects on parent-adolescent communication. "We'd teach them some skills one week, and they'd come back the next week bubbling over with excitement that they'd talked with their teen about relationships, love, or sex...their teen had actually engaged in a real conversation with them, or role-played a topic like how to say no to unwanted sexual advances", said Mark Schuster who led the study. The authors also note that before the programme few parents had taught their children how to use condoms, but one week after completion of the programme, 18% of adolescents in the intervention group and 3% in the control group said their parents had reviewed how to use a condom, this increased to 25% v 5% at nine months. Posted by Michael at 6:22 PM | TrackBack Cost of raising a child with special needs: Where does your state rank?From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Therapies, rehabilitation and specialty medical care are just a few of the extra costs that parents face when raising children with special needs. In a new study that will be published in current issue of Pediatrics, Paul T. Shattuck, Ph.D., professor of social work at Washington University in St. Louis, found that families with similar demographics and nature of their children's special needs have different out-of-pocket health expenditures depending on the state in which they live. "This is one of the few studies that focuses on families' costs when caring for children with special needs, rather than the overall cost for society as a whole," he says. The study's authors ranked all 50 states and the District of Columbia, using survey data from 2000 and 2001, in terms of the average percentage of special needs families that shoulder an additional financial burden, the yearly average extra costs of those families and the size of these costs relative to family income. "This group faced average extra out-of-pocket care costs of $774 per year for expenses related to their child's special needs." "This study shows that programs like Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) may not be going far enough to help families with children with special needs. We need to revisit how to give appropriate support to poorer states where families, on average, have less income but are experiencing greater financial burden compared with families of similar means in wealthier states." The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development provided partial support for this study. Posted by Michael at 6:20 PM | TrackBack Learning to Talk to Teens About Sex -- While at Work; Worksite Program Teaches Parents How to Broach Touchy TopicsFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: Sex is one of the most difficult topics a parent can bring up with an adolescent, but a new study finds that parents who are taught specific communication skills can more readily tackle these conversations and sustain them over time. A research team led by Mark A. Schuster, MD, PhD, chief of general pediatrics and vice chair for health policy research at Children's Hospital Boston, randomized 569 parents, employed at 13 large public and private worksites in southern California, to participate in the program or to serve in a control group. "The great thing was that the parents really learned," says Schuster, who is also on the faculty of Harvard Medical School and co-author of the book "Everything You Never Wanted Your Kids to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid They'd Ask)" (Three Rivers Press, 2004). "Many employers provide programs to help employees lose weight or stop smoking," Schuster explains. "We wanted to see if we could apply worksite health promotion principles to help parents address their kids' sexual health. All authors are affiliated with the UCLA/RAND Center for Adolescent Health Promotion, of which Schuster was the founding director. Schuster was also Professor of Pediatrics and Health Services at UCLA before moving to Children's. Children's Hospital Boston is home to the world's largest research enterprise based at a pediatric medical center, where its discoveries have benefited both children and adults since 1869. We provide direct, immediate access to mainstream national media for 600 colleges, universities, medical centers, public-policy groups and other leading nonprofit organizations. Posted by Michael at 6:19 PM | TrackBack July 8, 2008State Profiles: 2006 Head Start Program Information Report (PIR) DataFrom Center for Law and Social Policy: These individual state profiles analyze 2006 Head Start PIR data, which all Head Start programs are required to report to the federal government on an annual basis. Data include information on programs, participants, families, and staff for all Head Start programs in each state, including preschool, Early Head Start, American Indian and Alaskan Native, and Migrant Head Start. Posted by Michael at 10:02 PM | TrackBack Colocating Health Services: A Way to Improve Coordination of Children's Health Care?From The Commonwealth Fund: Pediatric practices are faced with a growing demand that they address the healthy development of their patients. As pediatric practices strengthen their role as medical homes for their patients, they need either to provide expanded services or enhance their capacity to coordinate that care. One option for enhancing the existing capacity of pediatric practices is colocation with other providers and services in the same setting. This issue brief examines what is currently known about the use of colocation and its benefits. The literature and interviews used as information resources for the brief suggest that colocation of services is not a single strategy but rather a complex set of relationships, organizational structures, and other features meant to help practices deliver effective care. However, more thorough examination of current colocation approaches is needed before advice can be provided to practices considering this option. Posted by Michael at 9:47 PM | TrackBack PA Governor Signs Education Budget Benefiting Children and TaxpayersFrom PR Newswire: Joined by elected officials, educators, school board members and education advocates, Governor Edward G. Rendell today ceremoniously signed Pennsylvania's new, $9.7 billion education budget at Upper Darby High School in Delaware County. The Governor said the education budget will lay the foundation for academic success for all students by providing the largest increase in basic education funding in at least two decades, while also introducing a needs-based school funding formula that invests in proven programs that reap results for children. The spending plan also means further relief to property owners because it increases the state's share of school funding and lessens school districts' reliance on property taxes as a revenue source. The Governor visited Upper Darby to sign the education law because the district is a prime example of how local communities across the state will benefit from improving school funding. Since 1992 (the last time that Pennsylvania had a funding formula in law), Upper Darby's enrollment has skyrocketed by almost 40 percent. In just the past six years, the number of students in Upper Darby High School whose first language is not English has tripled. "This historic funding formula is a major step toward the ultimate goal of providing every child and every school with the resources needed to ensure academic success," Governor Rendell said. The education budget takes a long overdue approach to school funding by addressing the adequacy gap in each district, while also driving money into the neediest districts using a formula that stresses investments in proven school improvement strategies. Posted by Michael at 9:47 PM | TrackBack Higher education associated with greater gains in mortality reduction from common cancersFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A study published in the July 8 online issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute shows that more highly educated individuals had mortality reductions in nearly all of these cancers, while less educated individuals had a mortality reduction in only one of the cancer types. In previous studies, researchers examined the impact of area-level socioeconomic status (SES) on cancer mortality trends and found an association between higher SES and bigger gains in mortality reduction. Investigators have not previously examined the association of individual SES components, such as education level, with cancer mortality. Jemal and colleagues found that there was a statistically significant decline in mortality from prostate, lung, and colorectal cancer for men, both white and black, who had 16 or more years of education (i.e., a college degree). Death rates also decreased for colorectal, breast, and lung cancers among white and black women with 16 or more years of education although the decline in lung cancer mortality did not reach statistical significance in black women. By contrast, the only statistically significant decrease in mortality in individuals with less than 12 years of education was a reduction in breast cancer mortality among white women. "This analysis of recent trends in mortality rates from the four most common cancer sites among 25- to 64-year old white and black men and women in the United States by educational attainment illustrates that the remarkable reduction in mortality from these common cancers during this 9-year interval was confined largely to more highly educated men and women," the authors conclude. Posted by Michael at 9:45 PM | TrackBack Weekly paychecks take hit as job market deterioratesFrom Economic Policy Institute: The U.S. job market continues to weaken, as payroll contracted for the sixth straight month and unemployment remained at 5.5%, according to today's jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Weekly paychecks for most workers over the past year are up only 2.8%, well below the growth of inflation. The number of jobs in America has now fallen every month this year, and is down 438,000 since it peaked last December. Since government jobs are less sensitive to the business cycle, private sector employment is a more telling indicator of the impact of market conditions. The wage front On a yearly basis, hourly wages of the bottom 80% of the workforce in blue-collar production or non-managerial service jobs grew 3.4%, the lowest yearly growth rate since January 2006. A year ago, this growth rate was 4.1%, solid evidence that the weak job market is placing downward pressure on workers' wages. Instead, the weak bargaining power of most workers means they are subject to pressures from three sides: declining jobs and hours, slower hourly wage growth, and faster price growth. Industry analysis Most industries shed jobs in June, with significant losses both in manufacturing and services. With the implosion of the housing market, jobs for home builder and contractors have fallen sharply, down 345,000 over the past year. But spillover from this sector has led to declines in non-residential construction as well, and jobs here are down 58,000 over the past year. Health services, a sector that has continuously bucked the negative trend seen in other industries, continued to be a source of job growth in June, adding 15,000 jobs. Posted by Michael at 9:36 PM | TrackBack Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Helps 46 Community College Stars Transfer to Top Four-Year InstitutionsFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: The gateway to the top American colleges is often closed to the roughly six million students who attend America's two-year and community colleges - nearly half of all undergraduates. Just this year, Harvard University shut its doors to transfer students for the next two years, citing lack of adequate housing. Yet a highly motivated, exceptionally promising group of community college students from lower-income backgrounds is pushing the doors open to some of the nation's top four-year universities, transferring to such institutions as Stanford, Cornell, and the University of Pennsylvania with the help of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, a nonprofit champion of high-achieving lower-income students. Each year the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation works to identify the best community college students in the nation to receive its prestigious Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship, which awards up to $30,000 per year for up to three years, making it the country's largest, most competitive undergraduate transfer scholarship. This year's 46 scholarship recipients will attend some of the best public and private colleges and universities in the nation, including Columbia University, Georgetown University, and New York University. The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation is a private, independent foundation dedicated to helping young people of exceptional promise reach their full potential through education. Posted by Michael at 9:31 PM | TrackBack The Internet, alcohol and sleepFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Girls moving through adolescence may experience unhealthy levels of weight gain, but the reasons for this are not always clear. A new study soon to be published in The Journal of Pediatrics analyzes the effect of Internet usage, sleep, and alcohol and coffee consumption on weight gain in adolescent girls. Dr. Catherine Berkey and colleagues from Harvard Medical School, Brigham & Women's Hospital, and Washington University led the Growing Up Today Study (GUTS), which surveyed more than 5000 girls between the ages of 14 and 21 years from all 50 states. They asked the girls to reflect on their weekly habits over the past year and report the following: 1) hours of sleep per night; 2) time spent on the Internet (excluding time for work or school); 3) number of alcoholic beverages consumed; and 4) number of coffee beverages consumed. The authors suggest that recreational Internet time, alcohol consumption, and lack of sleep may go unnoticed as causes of gradual weight gain. Dr. Berkey expressed concern that "these behaviors may promote gradual gains in body weight, but the girls and their parents may not understand why." To help maintain a healthy body weight, she encourages adolescent girls to replace recreational Internet time with more sleep, and avoid alcoholic beverage consumption. Posted by Michael at 9:31 PM | TrackBack July 3, 2008To Help Stem Abuse-Related Child Deaths, Pennsylvania Governor Rendell Signs Bill Into LawFrom PR Newswire: Governor Edward G. Rendell today signed a measure into law that's designed to decrease the number of abuse-related child injuries and deaths in Pennsylvania. In the event of a child fatality or near fatality where there is an indicated report of child abuse, the legislation, Senate Bill 1147, requires the county children and youth agency to notify the Department of Public Welfare and organize a six-member review team to review the circumstances surrounding the fatality or near fatality. The review team will be charged with looking at the delivery of services provided by the county agency to the abused child and the child's family, relevant court records, and the county agency's compliance with relevant law. Within 90 days of convening, the team must submit a report to DPW and county officials that address deficiencies and strengths of the county agency and makes recommendations for improvement. Some of the information that is learned during the review, such as the child's name and whether or not he or she was in the custody of the county agency, may be released to the public. The Rendell administration is committed to creating a first-rate public education system, protecting our most vulnerable citizens and continuing economic investment to support our communities and businesses. Posted by Michael at 6:30 PM | TrackBack $4.37 Million in Grants Awarded for Training Highly Qualified Personnel in Special EducationFrom Education Newsfeed: The U.S. Department of Education today announced the award of $4.37 million in grants to universities in 14 states to help train doctoral, post-doctoral and other graduate students to work with children with disabilities. Under the Preparation of Leadership Program, the grants will help children with disabilities by training doctoral and post-doctoral students in early intervention, special education or related services. Some money will also be used to prepare master's degree students for special education administration and supervision. "We hope to build a corps of highly qualified personnel to help children with disabilities reach their academic potential," said U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. "Research has consistently suggested that there is a persistent need for additional special education and related services personnel who have been trained at the doctoral and post-doctoral levels. These experts can play a critical role in improving the quality of services for children with disabilities and their families." The grants average about $190,000 for the first year of what is scheduled to be four-year projects. For more information, see the program's Web page at http://www.ed.gov/programs/osepprep/index.html. The original Nov. 27 grant announcement is posted at http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/announcements/ 2007-4/112707b.html. Preparation of Leadership Personnel Grant Awards Office Of Special Education And Rehabilitative Services CFDA No. 84.325D Posted by Michael at 6:27 PM | TrackBack New Guide Available to Help Consumers Recognize Deceptive Student Loan PracticesFrom Education Newsfeed: The U.S. Department of Education and Federal Trade Commission have jointly released a consumer guide to help students and their families navigate the maze of offers they may face when seeking new student loans or consolidating existing student loans to pay for higher education. Student Loans: Avoiding Deceptive Offers provides advice to help consumers detect deceptive marketing offers from private companies seeking their student loan business. "As we carry out our commitment to ensure the availability of federal student loans, we must also make sure that students and their families are armed with critical information to help them recognize and avoid deceptive lending practices," said US Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. "This brochure will help families be wise consumers of higher education and financial aid, and I am pleased that my Department and the FTC collaborated on this timely effort." Promotions, sweepstakes, and gift offers intended to attract business and divert attention from a thoughtful assessment of the terms of the loan being offered. The new brochure includes several resources for information about student loans and filing a complaint against various types of lenders. Read the fine print on offers from lenders to lower the interest rate on your consolidated loan, as these may be tied to automated payments, a specific loan balance, or on-time payments for the life of the loan, and may change if the lender sells your consolidated loan to another company. In addition to the new brochure, the U.S. Department of Education and the Federal Trade Commission have worked together for more than 10 years to educate the public to recognize and avoid scholarship scams. Posted by Michael at 6:26 PM | TrackBack Prevalence of religious congregations affects mortality ratesFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: LSU associate professor of sociology Troy C. Blanchard recently found that a community's religious environment -- that is, the type of religious congregations within a locale -- affects mortality rates, often in a positive manner. These results were published in the June issue of Social Forces, a leading journal in the field of sociology. "Although there is a great deal of research on religion and health, previous studies have tended to focus on the individual aspects of religion, such as how often an individual prays or attends worship services," said Blanchard. Along with co-author John Bartkowski from the University of Texas at San Antonio and other researchers from the University of West Georgia and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Blanchard found that people live longer in areas with a large number of Catholic and Mainline Protestant churches. He offers two key reasons for these findings. "First, these types of churches have what's known as a 'worldly perspective.' "Secondly, these congregations tend to create bridging ties in communities that lead to greater social cohesion among citizens," said Blanchard. This enhanced sense of connection between people provides collective encouragement for healthy behavior. In contrast to Catholics and Mainline Protestant congregations, Conservative Protestant churches have a mixed effect on community health. Communities dominated by Conservative Protestant churches tend to have higher mortality rates. "We find that a greater presence of Fundamentalist and Pentecostal congregations is associated with higher rates of mortality, but communities with a large number of Evangelical congregations have better health outcomes," said Blanchard. Posted by Michael at 6:15 PM | TrackBack U.S. Department of Education Awards More Than $74 Million to 27 States to Promote Safe Schools, Healthy StudentsFrom Education Newsfeed: More than $74 million in grants have been awarded to 27 states as part of a joint effort by the U.S. departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Justice to support schools in creating safe learning environments that promote healthy childhood development and prevent youth violence and drug use. The highly competitive grant program, known as the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative, attracted 355 applications nationally. Early childhood social and emotional learning programs. "When children go to school in safe, healthy environments, they can thrive and learn," said U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. "These grants will provide students with enhanced access to services and programs that will help them avoid harmful activities and achieve their potential." "Results from the first national cross-site evaluation of the Safe Schools, Healthy Students Initiative indicate that this program works," said Terry Cline, administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which manages the program on behalf of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. "Elementary school teachers reported a significant reduction in classroom bullying and fighting and a 21 percent reduction in feeling threatened by a student. Middle and high schools students indicated significantly lower rates of use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs, as well as reduced rates of violence and higher rates of feeling safer at school." The Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative draws on the best practices of education, juvenile justice, law enforcement and mental health systems to provide integrated resources for prevention and early intervention services for children and youth. Posted by Michael at 6:13 PM | TrackBack Looking for the Fountain of Youth? Cut your calories, research suggestsFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: New Saint Louis University research suggests cutting back on calories could be a promising strategy. Calorie restriction has long been shown to slow the aging process in rats and mice. While scientists do not know how calorie restriction affects the aging process in rodents, one popular hypothesis is that it slows aging by decreasing a thyroid hormone, triiodothyronine (T3), which then slows metabolism and tissue aging. A new study in the June 2008 issue of Rejuvenation Research, found that calorie restriction -- cutting approximately 300 to 500 calories per day -- had a similar biological effect in humans and, therefore, may slow the aging process. "Over recent years, there has been a huge amount of debate about whether calorie restriction slows the aging process in humans," said Edward Weiss, Ph.D., associate professor of nutrition and dietetics at Saint Louis University's Doisy College of Health Sciences and lead author of the study. In the current study, Weiss wanted to know if calorie reduction would lower T3 levels in humans. To determine if the lowered levels of T3 were a result of calorie restriction and not decreases in fat mass in general, Weiss also recruited volunteers to lose weight through exercise. They were in otherwise good health and did not have cardiovascular disease, diabetes, lung disease, uncontrolled hypertension and evidence of malignancy. When cutting calories, Weiss warns that it is imperative to maintain a healthy diet by eating nutrient-rich foods. Today the Doisy College of Health Sciences offers degrees in physical therapy and athletic training, clinical laboratory science, nutrition and dietetics, health informatics and information management, medical imaging and radiation therapeutics, occupational science and occupational therapy, and physician assistant education. Posted by Michael at 6:11 PM | TrackBack Comments/Recommendations in response to Department of Education Proposed NCLB Rules in Federal Register Document E8-8700From Center for Law and Social Policy: Adaptations to the law provide an opportunity to strengthen students and to re-engage youth who have dropped out. By increasing graduation rate requirements, opening the door for flexible education options, and encouraging partnerships with other youth-serving systems, NCLB can empower state and local education agencies to give youth the education and skills they need to be successful. Local education agencies can be incentivized to pay closer attention to these populations through increasing the graduation rate requirements, and Supplemental Education Services and public school choice are potential vehicles for providing these students with the educational environments and supports to increase their academic success. We also agree that local education agencies must account for each student within their cohort in an effort to accurately determine numbers of dropouts. Many youth, however, leave school and transition to workforce programs, adult basic education programs, and even directly to community colleges, and do not necessarily return to high school. These programs often offer a high school equivalent credential, as well as skills training and/or transitional support into a post-secondary program. Finally, there exists a significant risk that traditional high schools will transfer at-risk or low-performing students to alternative schools in order to maintain AYP. The ability to use growth models to depict academic progress in schools in addition to standardized testing is a beneficial addition to No Child Left Behind, as it allows LEAs to provide more accurate, balanced portrayals of their schools. The use of growth models is particularly helpful for alternative educational settings which cater to struggling students, who otherwise may have dropped out without completing their education. Posted by Michael at 6:10 PM | TrackBack July 1, 2008Minimum drinking age of 21 saves livesFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: One of the most comprehensive studies on the minimum drinking age shows that laws aimed at preventing consumption of alcohol by those under 21 have significantly reduced drinking-related fatal car crashes. Specifically, the study published in the July 2008 issue of the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention found that laws making it illegal to possess or purchase alcohol by anyone under the age of 21 had led to an eleven percent drop in alcohol-related traffic deaths among youth; secondly, they found that states with strong laws against fake IDs reported seven percent fewer alcohol-related fatalities among drivers under the age of 21. The study, led by James C. Fell, M.S., of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE), accounted for a variety of factors, such as improved safety features in cars, better roadways and tougher adult drunk driving laws, that are supposed to have contributed to a reduction in fatalities involving underage drivers who have consumed alcohol. "There has been evidence since the 1980s that an increase in the drinking age to 21 was having an impact on traffic deaths," Fell said. Minimum legal drinking age of 21 (MLDA 21) laws have many components, which target outlets that sell alcohol to minors; adults who provide alcoholic beverages to minors; and minors who purchase or attempt to purchase, possess, or consume alcohol. In addition, there are companion laws that provide for lower blood alcohol content (BAC) limits for underage drivers and other legislation, such as laws that require registration of beer keg purchases and make hosts liable for the actions of underage drinking guests. The authors report great variability in how states use, adopt and implement legislation to reduce underage drinking. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. Posted by Michael at 7:56 PM | TrackBack U.S. Education Secretary Announces States Approved to Use Differentiated Accountability Under NCLBFrom Education Newsfeed: U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today addressed the Education Commission of the States (ECS) National Forum on Education Policy and announced the approval of six states---Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland and Ohio---to use the Differentiated Accountability Pilot aimed at helping states differentiate between underperforming schools in need of dramatic interventions and those that are closer to meeting the goals of No Child Left Behind. Differentiated Accountability will allow states to vary the intensity and type of interventions to match the academic reasons that lead to a school's identification for improvement. In addition, some states and districts have a large percentage of their schools identified for improvement, thus impacting their capacity to provide meaningful, intensive reforms. When choosing the six states, the Department used a rigorous peer review to ensure that the selection process was fair and transparent for all participating states. Recommendations were given to Secretary Spellings, who made the final approvals. In return for this flexibility, states participating in the pilot must commit to build their capacity for school reform; take the most significant actions for the lowest-performing schools, including addressing the issue of teacher effectiveness; and use data to determine the method of differentiation and categories of intervention. The Department intends to invite states to submit additional Differentiated Accountability proposals in fall 2008. Thank you both for your efforts on the pressing education issues facing our nation. Nearly 50 years later, because of states' efforts and the No Child Left Behind law, we have data---and lots of it. With No Child Left Behind, we know what's working in schools and what's not, and where students are falling behind. Instead of turning our backs on students and teachers, we must defend the core principles of accountability. Posted by Michael at 7:46 PM | TrackBack New Gear Up Grants to Help More Than 69,000 Middle School Students Overcome Barriers to College AccessFrom Education Newsfeed: U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today announced the award of $41,573,649 for 24 new grants under the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) to help more than 69,000 disadvantaged middle school students receive assistance to prepare for and pursue a college education. "The GEAR UP program partners with the community to reach students early through mentoring, tutoring, financial aid, and other supports," said Secretary Spellings. Two types of grants are being awarded: nearly $20.8 million for seven state grants to Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Early intervention efforts aim to increase college attendance and success and raise the expectations of low-income students through college awareness and academic preparation activities, financial aid counseling and college admission preparations. The scholarship component requires the state to establish or maintain a financial assistance program for GEAR UP students to attend institutions of higher education. States are required to spend at least 25 percent and not more than 50 percent of grant funds on the early intervention component, and at least 50 percent on the scholarship component, unless the state receives a waiver. Partnership projects are also six-year grants that must include at least one low-income middle school, one college or university, and two community or business organizations. Partners work together to provide all students at a particular grade level and their families a range of support services needed to prepare for college - such as higher level coursework, summer academies, mentoring, counseling, and help with the college application process. San Jose State University Research Foundation San Jose, Calif. San Leandro Unified School District (USD) San Leandro, Calif. Posted by Michael at 7:46 PM | TrackBack HUD CHARGES ALABAMA MOBILE HOME PARK OWNERS WITH DISCRIMINATING AGAINST FAMILIES WITH CHILDRENFrom HUD Press Releases: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced today that it has charged Pina and Arthur Witherington, joint owners, agents and managers of Pina's Mobile Home Park in Daphne, Alabama, with discriminating against families by charging additional rental fees to families with children, and limiting the number of children allowed to occupy a mobile home. 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. Witherington allegedly told the Complainant that there were vacancies, and asked her if she had any children. Witherington allegedly told Watkins that the property's rules only allow two children per mobile home, and repeated that additional fees are charged to families with children. People who believe they are the victims of housing discrimination should contact HUD at (800) 669-9777 (voice), (800) 927-9275 (TTY). Posted by Michael at 7:32 PM | TrackBack HUD SECRETARY HIGHLIGHTS FAITH-BASED CONTRIBUTIONS TO FIGHTING HOMELESSNESSFrom HUD Press Releases: Faith-based organizations are making a huge difference in the Bush Administration's efforts to reduce homelessness, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steve Preston said today. Addressing the White House National Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Conference, Preston highlighted the Administration's partnership with faith-based and community organizations and steps being taken to reduce chronic homelessness, especially among veterans. "There is a vast, network of partnerships between HUD, local communities and nonprofit organizations around the country. From 2005 to 2006, communities across the country reported an approximate 12 percent decrease in the number of chronically homeless individuals. This reduction is directly attributed to the investment HUD and local "continuums of care" are devoting to create more permanent supportive housing units. The President's is seeking $1.6 billion for HUD's Continuum of Care homeless assistance grant programs in his Fiscal Year 2009 proposed budget. From 2003-2006, the number of direct nonprofit grantees of HUD's Continuum of Care program grew by nearly 500 organizations. Thanks to Congress and the President, in April 2008, HUD announced $75 million to provide permanent supportive housing for an estimated 10,000 homeless veterans nationwide. HUD's Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Program (HUD-VASH), a joint program between HUD and the U.S. Department of Veteran's Affairs, provides local public housing agencies with approximately 10,000 rental assistance vouchers specifically targeted to assist homeless veterans in their area. The Bush Administration has requested another $75 million in the Fiscal Year 2009 budget, which would house and serve an additional 10,000 homeless veterans. In addition, HUD has also trained more than 40,000 nonprofit leaders in grant writing and other skills and offered almost 300 training seminars, many of which involved faith-based groups. Posted by Michael at 7:31 PM | TrackBack NEW HUD SECRETARY TOURS NEW ORLEANS, MEETS WITH MAYORFrom HUD Press Releases: On his first visit to New Orleans as the new head of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Secretary Steve Preston toured some of the city's public housing communities, participated in a groundbreaking ceremony for a new community center, visited a family that used a HUD program to become first-time homeowners, and met with Mayor Ray Nagin to get a briefing on the city's ongoing recovery. "Our commitment to this region continues, which is why it was important to me to get a first-hand look at the city's progress and challenges early in my new role. Today at Abundance Square in New Orleans' Upper Ninth Ward, Preston joined Nolan Rollins, the president of the Urban League of Greater New Orleans and the HUD-appointed Executive Administrator Karen Cato-Turner, to break ground for a new community center that will be built on a parcel of land near the new Abundance Square/Treasure Village mixed-income community. At River Gardens, the HUD-appointed HANO Board Chair Diane Johnson introduced Preston to Lillie Daniels and Ronald Craig, a husband and wife who in April purchased their first home in River Garden, the mixed-income community that replaced the old St. Thomas public housing development. The family realized the American Dream of homeownership in April by using HUD's Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) Homeownership Program, which allows renters to use their rental voucher to pay a portion of their mortgage. The demolition of C.J. Peete is complete and construction of new homes is set to begin in the fall; nearly half of Lafitte is demolished and construction is set to begin early winter. Posted by Michael at 7:31 PM | TrackBack Partnership Receives Community-Campus Health AwardFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: The Community-Campus Partnership for Health (CCPH) has honored the partnership between the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Decatur, Ohio Community Association as the recipient of the 7th annual CCPH Award. The Award, announced last month at the third Community-University Exposition in Victoria, B.C., Canada, recognizes exemplary partnerships between communities and higher educational institutions that build on each other's strengths to improve higher education, civic engagement, and the overall health of communities. In the summer of 2002, Hong Zhang, MD, a resident in the Penn Occupational and Environmental residency training program working in Parkersburg, West Virginia, along with Dr. Emmett, learned that a chemical called C8 was contaminating water of the Little Hocking Water Association (LHWA) in Southeastern Ohio. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared C8 a probable human carcinogen, yet information disparities existed between the community, regulators and industry. As a result, the Environmental Justice Partnership was formed between Penn, the local community, and the local physician Dr. Zhang. Supporting 1,400 fulltime faculty and 700 students, the School of Medicine is recognized worldwide for its superior education and training of the next generation of physician-scientists and leaders of academic medicine.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 multispecialty satellite facilities; and home care and hospice. Posted by Michael at 7:31 PM | TrackBack Education Development Center Appoints Jerry Reed of SPAN USA to Lead Suicide Prevention Resource CenterFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) has appointed Jerry Reed, Ph.D., MSW, former executive director of SPAN USA, who will lead its policy and professional development activities in suicide prevention and serve as Director of the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC). Operated by EDC, SPRC is funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a division of the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services. A dedicated geriatric and suicide prevention advocate, Dr. Reed joined SPAN USA in July 2003 and has been a recognized leader in the national suicide prevention movement, helping to raise awareness, educate members of the media and general public about suicide prevention, and effect public policy changes in mental health legislation. "Lloyd Potter has been a driving force behind many of our most successful initiatives," said Cheryl Vince Whitman, EDC Senior Vice President who also directs EDC's division of Health and Human Development Programs, the home of SPRC. Mandated by Congress, the resource center is federally-funded and managed through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a division of the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services. It is managed by Health and Human Development Programs at EDC in Newton, Massachusetts. SPAN USA is the nation's only suicide prevention organization dedicated to leveraging grassroots support among suicide survivors and others to advance public policies that prevent suicide. Since its founding in 1996, SPAN USA has led the drive to make suicide a public health priority by building political will and calling for the development and implementation of a national strategy for suicide prevention. AScribe Newswire distributes news from nonprofit and public sector organizations. Posted by Michael at 7:30 PM | TrackBack Monitoring and Assessing the Use of External Quality Review Organizations to Improve Services for Young Children: A Toolkit for State Medicaid AgenciesFrom The Commonwealth Fund: A new report shows state officials how they can work with external quality review organizations to evaluate and improve the quality of preventive and developmental services delivered to children enrolled in Medicaid managed care plans. Posted by Michael at 7:30 PM | TrackBack Foundation Center Study Shows Growth in California Grants Benefiting Communities of ColorFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: As the diversity of California's population continues to grow, a new Foundation Center analysis of grantmaking by 50 of the state's largest independent foundations finds that at least 39 percent of California-focused grants benefited populations of color. The report, commissioned by a group of regional grantmaker associations (Northern California Grantmakers, http://www.ncg.org; Southern California Grantmakers, http://www.socalgrantmakers.org; and San Diego Grantmakers, http://www.sdgrantmakers.org), provides a comprehensive estimate of the extent to which communities of color are being served by foundation giving in California. While the study found that at least 39 percent of California-focused grants benefited populations of color, McGill noted that it should not be inferred that the other 61 percent of domestically focused grants benefit white populations only: "All that can be said about these grants is that specific information about the demographic characteristics of the populations they are intended to serve is unavailable. Established in 1956, and today supported by more than 600 foundations, the Foundation Center is the nation's leading authority on philanthropy, connecting nonprofits and the grantmakers supporting them to tools they can use and information they can trust. The three Regionals are Northern California Grantmakers, Southern California Grantmakers, and San Diego Grantmakers and collectively represent more than 400 members, including a wide range of foundations, including private, public, community, family, and corporate foundations who give grants locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally. |
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