| ||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
August 31, 2008State of Working America 2008/2009From Economic Policy Institute: Released in time for Labor Day, the advanced edition of EPI's authoritative volume The State of Working America 2008/2009 is now available. Described as the "most comprehensive independent analysis of the U.S. labor market" by the Financial Times, the 11th edition shows that the business cycle that started in 2001 will be one for the record books. In fact, for the first time on record, middle-class families are at the end of a recovery without ever having regained the ground they lost during the previous recession. Gross domestic product and historically high productivity growth should have raised paychecks up and down the income ladder, but instead the benefits of that growth have bypassed most of the people who made it possible. Prepared biennially since 1988, The State of Working America scrutinizes family incomes, jobs, wages, unemployment, wealth, poverty, and health care coverage, describing the economy's effect on our nation's standard of living. Pre-order your copy of the full 11th edition, and be sure to check out our special online previews. Look to this site for excerpts of the book's findings in the weeks leading up to its final release in January 2009. Also available are materials archived from our 2006/2007 edition. · The advance edition of SWA 2008/2009 has been released. · Several EPI Economic Snapshots featuring data from the forthcoming edition are now available. The State of Working America remains unrivaled as the most-trusted source for a comprehensive understanding of how working Americans and their families are faring in today's economy. Posted by Michael at 9:42 PM | TrackBack Economic and social disadvantage can affect young citizens' voter turnoutFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A study recently published in the Journal of Social Issues illustrates how certain disadvantages experienced in adolescence, such as early pregnancy, dropping out of high school, being arrested, or going to an underprivileged school, contribute to lower voter turnout in young adulthood. In addition, the types of disadvantage vary across racial groups. Julianna Sandell Pacheco and Eric Plutzer of The Pennsylvania State University used data from the National Education Longitudinal Survey to measure disadvantage and voter participation. For White youth, early pregnancy or parenthood leads to dropping out of high school, and the combined impact of these two events resulting in a turnout decline of more than 30 percent. For Blacks, being arrested is associated with dropping out of high school, subsequently decreasing turnout by more than 30 percent. "Rising economic segregation and economic inequality has the potential to increase political inequality in the United States." Journal of Social Issues (JSI) brings behavioral and social science theory, empirical evidence, and practice to bear on human and social problems. Posted by Michael at 7:17 PM | TrackBack Study reveals gap in HIV testing knowledge among college studentsFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Most college students understand how they can prevent the transmission of HIV but are less knowledgeable about HIV testing, according to a new University of Georgia study. Su-I Hou, associate professor in the UGA College of Public Health, surveyed more than 500 students and found that they scored higher on general questions related to HIV and AIDS (82 percent correct) than items specifically related to HIV testing (72 percent correct). She explained that most HIV tests do not measure or detect the virus itself but instead look for body's reaction to the virus - the presence of antibodies to HIV. Antibodies generally appear within three months after HIV infection, but it may take up to six months in some people. "We need to make sure our prevention messages are comprehensive," said Hou, whose results appear in the July issue of the Journal of the National Medical Association. HIV disproportionately affects African Americans, who account for 13 percent of the U.S. population but nearly half (49 percent) of the Americans who get HIV and AIDS, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To fill this gap, she surveyed 222 black students from 15 historically black colleges and universities and 335 white students. Because people can be reluctant to discuss sensitive information, Hou used an online survey. She recruited the students using flyers, classroom announcements, e-mail and even the social networking site Facebook. While the study found that there were no significant differences between groups in scores related to general or testing-specific knowledge of HIV, it did reveal that African Americans rated significantly higher on their perceived knowledge of HIV. Posted by Michael at 7:17 PM | TrackBack Survey Finds That Most Companies Do Not Report on SustainabilityFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: Very few companies have sustainability policies and most do not report on sustainability or corporate social responsibility, according to a survey of chief financial officers and senior-level executive CPAs by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School. CFOs and CPA financial executives serving in business and industry were surveyed for the third quarter 2008 Business and Industry Economic Outlook Survey. In a partnership with UNC Kenan-Flagler, the AICPA survey asked questions about executive CPAs' views of sustainability for the first time. "Sustainability is an important business issue," said Lisa Jones Christensen, an assistant professor who specializes in sustainable business at UNC Kenan-Flagler. - Approximately 32 percent rated their companies highly (4 or 5 on a 5 point scale) when asked to what extent helping the cause of sustainability is an expected part of their jobs, while almost 16 percent said that helping sustainability is not at all an expected part of the job. - However, approximately 66 percent do not engage in sustainability reporting and 52 percent do not engage in corporate social responsibility reporting. The larger study, released on Aug. 14, found that CFO and CPA executives are pessimistic about the U.S. economy. Media representatives are invited to visit the AICPA Online Media Center at http:www.aicpa.org/mediacenter. Posted by Michael at 7:07 PM | TrackBack Teens making poor choices when it comes to riding in vehiclesFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Injury prevention experts have long known that teens are less likely than other motorists to wear seat belts while driving. Now, researchers from the Meharry-State Farm Alliance at Meharry Medical College have discovered lack of seat belt use by teen passengers may be an even bigger problem. In the first ever direct comparison of the differences between driver and passenger seat belt use for a nationally representative teen population, the Meharry researchers found that 59% of teens always buckled up in the driver seat but only 42% always wore seat belts as passengers. The study population comprised over 12,000 African American, white, and Hispanic public and private high school students ages 16 or older who participated in the 2001 and 2003 National Youth Risk Behavior Surveys. The surveys are conducted every two years by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to track the leading causes of death and disability among U.S. teens. Upgrade state seat belt laws to uniformly require that teen motor vehicle occupants in the rear seat be secured in seat belts. Upgrade state seat belt laws from "secondary" (law enforcement officers can ticket motorists for seat belt law violations only after stopping them for another offense) to "primary" (law enforcement officers can stop and ticket motorists solely for seat belt law violations). The Meharry-State Farm Alliance, established in 2002, unites the historically black academic health sciences center and the nation's largest automobile insurer in a drive to save lives on the nation's highways. Posted by Michael at 7:02 PM | TrackBack Smoking during pregnancy a 'double-edged sword' in SIDSFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Premature infants whose mothers smoked during pregnancy may be at even higher risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) than preemies whose mothers did not smoke, according to new research out of the University of Calgary. In the first-ever experimental study to compare the breathing reflexes of preemies of smokers versus non-smokers, researchers found that babies whose mothers had smoked showed a number of signs of impaired respiratory function. "Smoking during pregnancy is a double-edged sword with respect to SIDS," said Shabih Hasan, M.D., a staff neonatologist and professor in the department of pediatrics at the University of Calgary, and the principal investigator of the new study. "Preterm babies are known to have increased breathing difficulties in proportion to their prematurity and cigarette smoke is known to increase apneas in full-term babies," said Dr. Hasan. They obtained baseline readings on the infants' breathing patterns in normal conditions, assessing breathing rate, pauses in breathing, recovery period and heart rate. The cigarette-smoke exposed infants showed increased heart rate during the hypoxemic period compared with their baseline values, but there was no difference in heart rates was observed in control infants, indicating that the oxygen depletion put their bodies under more stress than the control groups. Regardless of the mechanism, the study has immediate clinical relevance: "Since preterm infants continue to have significant cardiorespiratory events after discharge from the hospital, our study may help identify the infants at risk for attenuated recovery from hypoxemic episodes while at home," said Dr. Hasan. "Furthermore, it might help distinguish the infants, who will arouse in response to hypoxemia. Posted by Michael at 6:53 PM | TrackBack Americans show little tolerance for mental illness despite growing belief in genetic causeFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A new study by University of Pennsylvania sociology professor Jason Schnittker shows that, while more Americans believe that mental illness has genetic causes, the nation is no more tolerant of the mentally ill than it was 10 years ago. Prior medical-sociology studies reveal that public beliefs about mental illness reflect the dominant mental-illness treatment, the changing nature of media portrayals of the mentally ill and the prevailing wisdom of science and medicine. Schnittker's study, "An Uncertain Revolution: Why the Rise of a Genetic Model of Mental Illness Has Not Increased Tolerance," attempts to address why tolerance of the mentally ill hasn't increased along with the rising popularity of a biomedical view of its causes. His study finds that different genetic arguments have, in fact, become more popular but have very different associations depending on the mental illness being considered. In the case of schizophrenia, genetic arguments are associated with fears regarding violence," Schnittker said. "In fact, attributing schizophrenia to genes is no different from attributing it to bad character --- either way Americans see those with schizophrenia as 'damaged' in some essential way and, therefore, likely to be violent. The study explores tolerance in terms of social distancing: unwillingness to live next door to a mentally ill person, have a group home for the mentally ill in the neighborhood, spend an evening socializing with a mentally ill person, work closely with such a person on the job, make friends with someone with a mental illness or have a mentally ill person marry into the family. Posted by Michael at 6:50 PM | TrackBack Labor Day Employment Outlook: Best Paying States, Wage Growth & MoreFrom PR Newswire: LOS ANGELES, Aug. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- This Labor Day, as employment falls an average 66,000 jobs per month and unemployment is expected to rise to six percent by year's end, many people are wondering, "Where's the money?" According to IBISWorld, the industry to outpace all others in terms of average annualized growth in wages is Voice Over Internet Protocol Providers (VoIP); set to hit 21.8 percent by 2012. IBISWorld also expects to see strong job growth in physical therapy, interior design, retirement communities, ambulance services, IT support, customer relationship management and business process services. Recognized as the nation's most trusted independent source of industry and market research, IBISWorld offers a comprehensive database of unique information and analysis on every U.S. industry. With an extensive online portfolio, valued for its depth and scope, the company equips clients with the insight necessary to make better business decisions. Headquartered in Los Angeles, IBISWorld serves a range of business, professional service and government organizations through more than 10 locations worldwide. For more information visit http://www.ibisworld.com or call 1-800-330-3772. Posted by Michael at 6:43 PM | TrackBack European group aims to make maths teaching more rigorous and inspiringFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: An attempt to re-energise mathematics teaching in Europe is being made in a new project examining a range of factors thought to influence achievement. Mathematics teaching is as vital as ever both in support of key fields such as life sciences, alternative energy development, or information technology, and also through its unique ability to develop widely applicable problem solving skills. The new project was discussed at a recent workshop organised by the European Science Foundation (ESF), which brought together experts in different areas of mathematics education. "It was agreed that we would begin the process of developing a comparative project, involving between fifteen and twenty European countries, to examine the interrelatedness of the mathematics-related beliefs of teachers and students, teacher practices and student cognition," said Paul Andrews, the workshop's convenor and Senior Lecturer in Education at the Faculty of Education of Cambridge University in the UK. "To assume that the development of enthusiasm is sufficient to guarantee achievement would be naïve as there are countries in which students have little enthusiasm for mathematics but achieve relatively highly and, of course, vice versa," pointed out Andrews. European countries have to date resolved this tension in different ways, with the UK being at the vocational end of the spectrum, while Hungary has taken the purest approach with its traditions for mathematical rigour. "One of the problems of English education is that students experience a fragmented and procedural conception of mathematics, due to underlying notions of vocationalism, and so rarely come to see the subject as a coherent body of concepts and relationships which can be worth studying for the intrinsic satisfaction it can yield," said Andrews. Posted by Michael at 6:37 PM | TrackBack Higher Education Groups Receive Grants to Help Students with DisabilitiesFrom Education Newsfeed: The U.S. Department of Education today announced the award of $6.7 million in grants to 23 higher education organizations to help them develop pilot projects for students with disabilities. The three-year grants support projects that provide technical assistance and professional development to faculty and administrators who teach and counsel students with disabilities at institutions of higher education. The grants help to ensure that these students receive a quality education, improve student achievement and increase their completion rates. Some of the activities include distance learning; summer institutes; in-service training; assistive and educational technology; and conducting research on accommodating and teaching postsecondary students with disabilities. Posted by Michael at 6:36 PM | TrackBack Crossing the Medicaid-Private Insurance Divide: The Case of EPSDTFrom The Commonwealth Fund: By providing children with preventive care that promotes their healthy development, the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) benefit has contributed significantly to the quality of care received by low-income children enrolled in Medicaid. Recent legislation, however, could threaten this benefit, warn the authors of a Commonwealth Fundsupported paper. The Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) of 2005 alters the structure of the EPSDT benefit and allows states to fundamentally redefine the meaning of Medicaid coverage for children. "The potential de facto loss of EPSDT as Medicaid's pediatric coverage standard has major implications for the quality of pediatric care, particularly for children with special health care needs," write Sara Rosenbaum, J.D., and Paul H. Wise, M.D., Ph.D., of George Washington University and Stanford University, respectively. It was structured to reflect the professional pediatric standard of care, and emphasize early and preventive health care to optimize child development. In 1989, Congress enacted legislation to further strengthen EPSDT. Created in 1997, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) represented a dramatic departure from Medicaid's pediatric coverage principles: states were now allowed to substitute private health insurance principles for EPSDT coverage design. Under SCHIP, states can link coverage to benchmarks drawn from the employer-sponsored health insurance market or build their own benchmark equivalents, which are subject only to a handful of cost-sharing, actuarial, and well-child coverage rules. EPSDT is the country's signature social policy effort to translate pediatric principles into health care financing, the authors write. "To sacrifice this vision for the sake of insurance markets is to lose not only coverage but the ethical basis of child health financing," they add. Posted by Michael at 6:32 PM | TrackBack Newly-defined factors may prevent postpartum smoking relapseFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Although many women quit smoking during pregnancy to protect their unborn children from the effects of cigarettes, half of them resume the habit within a few months of giving birth. According to the study, women with a live-in partner who shared some of the burden of child-rearing were more likely to remain smoke free, while women who were single mothers or who lacked the social and financial resources to deal with being a new parent were more likely to relapse. "In the future we can look at these and other factors in women who quit smoking during pregnancy to assess who is at low or high risk of relapse," said Carol E. Ripley-Moffitt, MDiv, research associate in UNC's department of family medicine and the study's lead author. Smoking during pregnancy increases the risks of pregnancy complications, decreased birth weight and SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), Ripley-Moffitt said. She noted that the past 15 years have seen a steady decrease in the number of women who smoke while pregnant, in part because of an overall decline in smoking rates among all women of childbearing age and in part because of interventions targeting women during the prenatal period. "But more needs to be done because over 50 percent of women who quit the habit during pregnancy are smoking again at six months postpartum," Ripley-Moffitt said. The UNC study, which appears in the August issue of the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research, is the first to examine not only the factors leading to relapse but also those leading to a smoke-free life after pregnancy. Posted by Michael at 6:31 PM | TrackBack Jumping for joy ... and stronger bonesFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: High impact activities such as jumping and skipping that can easily be incorporated into warm-ups before sports and physical education classes, have been shown to benefit bone health in adolescents. The 10 minute school-based intervention, provided twice a week for about eight months, significantly improved bone and muscle strength in healthy teenagers compared to regular warm-ups. Physiotherapist Ben Weeks said the warm-up which included tuck jumps, star jumps, side lunges and skipping with gradually increasing complexity and repetitions, was specifically designed to apply a bone-stimulating mechanical load on the skeleton. "Eighty per cent of bone mass is accrued in the first 20 years and especially around puberty due to the circulating hormones. The study of 99 adolescents with a mean age of almost 14 years found boys in the intervention group improved whole body bone mass while the girls' bone mass specifically improved at the hip and spine. Mr Weeks said the gender-specific response to the exercise program may be related to the different rates of physical development with girls reaching maturity at an earlier age than boys. "Peak height velocity is at different ages in boys and girls. He said the improved bone strength at the hip and spine in girls was promising as those were the typical sites for osteoporotic fractures in the elderly. While the study showed that a simple, practical exercise intervention can result in worthwhile skeletal benefits in adolescents, Mr Weeks said larger, longitudinal studies were required to determine whether the beneficial effects could persist into adulthood and reduce the risk of future bone fractures. Mr Weeks is a member of the Bone, Muscle and Movement Group within the Griffith Institute of Health and Medical Research. Posted by Michael at 6:29 PM | TrackBack Physical and sexual abuse linked to asthma in Puerto Rican kidsFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Children who are physically or sexually abused are more than twice as likely to have asthma as their peers, according to a recent study of urban children in Puerto Rico. In fact, physical and sexual abuse was second only to maternal asthma in all the risk factors tested, including paternal asthma and indicators of socioeconomic status. The article was published in the first issue for September of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, a publication of the American Thoracic Society. "We already know that there is a high prevalence of asthma in Puerto Rican children, and many studies have linked stress and exposure to violence to health problems in childhood, including asthma." They used validated questionnaires to elicit information about stress and violence in the children's lives (whenever possible, without the parent present), and used doctor-diagnosed asthma, allergic rhinitis, use of prescription medication for asthma and physician visits for asthma and/or allergic rhinitis within the previous year to assess the children's asthma/allergy status. "Children with a history of abuse had higher frequencies of all outcomes of interest than those without a history of abuse," wrote Dr. Cohen. "After adjusting for relevant covariates, history of abuse was associated with an approximate doubling of the odds of current asthma, healthcare use for asthma, and allergic rhinitis." For example, whereas 15 (20 percent) of the 75 children with a history of abuse had current asthma, 128 (11.5 percent) of 1,117 children without history of abuse had current asthma. The investigators postulate that abuse may alter the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which in turn may depress the glucocorticoid response, resulting in decreased suppression of airway inflammatory responses. Posted by Michael at 6:28 PM | TrackBack Highlights from the September 2008 Journal of the American Dietetic AssociationFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: In May 2006, an agreement was reached by the Alliance for a Healthier Generation and the American Beverage Association on voluntary sales restrictions on "competitive foods" such as soft drinks at schools. However, researchers at Pardee Rand Graduate School say limiting the availability of soft drinks at school may not be enough to affect overall consumption among elementary school children. In a study of more than 4,000 children, the researchers found limiting soft drink availability at school is associated with a 4 percent decrease in overall consumption; 26 percent of children who have access to soft drinks at school drink them; and low-income and black non-Hispanic children consume more soft drinks at school and more soft drinks overall. The researchers conclude: "Greater reductions in children's consumption of soft drinks will require policy changes that go beyond food availability at school...Such polices may include zoning regulations on food outlet types in residential or school areas and promotion of more healthful substitutes such as milk and fruit juice." The Journal of the American Dietetic Association is the official research publication of the American Dietetic Association and is the premier peer-reviewed journal in the field of nutrition and dietetics. Conclusions of research studies do not necessarily reflect the official positions of the American Dietetic Association, and ADA does not assume responsibility for opinions expressed by authors of Journal articles. The American Dietetic Association is the world's largest organization of food and nutrition professionals. ADA is committed to improving the nation's health and advancing the profession of dietetics through research, education and advocacy. Posted by Michael at 6:27 PM | TrackBack Designing a Marriage Education Demonstration and Evaluation for Low-Income Married CouplesFrom MDRC: In recent decades, there has been a widening gap between higher rates of marital instability for economically disadvantaged couples and lower rates for nondisadvantaged couples. In addition, out-of-wedlock birth rates have risen, while evidence has grown that children fare better, on average, when raised by both of their parents in stable low-conflict households. All of these trends were important rationales for the development of a federal Healthy Marriage Initiative (HMI) within the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. Through grants to a range of state and local agencies, the HMI emphasizes provision of marriage education, a voluntary preventive service aimed at providing interested couples with skills and information that may help them to develop and sustain successful marriages and relationships. In this working paper, we introduce the Supporting Healthy Marriage (SHM) evaluation --- the first large-scale, multisite experiment that tests marriage education programs for low-income married couples with children. The SHM conceptual framework recognizes multiple sources of relationship strength and weakness, and the project's program model has followed this framework closely in adapting the content and delivery of marriage education services for low-income married parents. SHM is testing a relatively intensive and comprehensive form of marriage education designed specifically for low-income families. Its year-long program model packages a series of marriage education workshops with additional family support, including case management, supportive services, and referrals to outside services as needed. The evaluation includes two interrelated substudies --- one focusing on sites' experiences in implementing the SHM model and the other measuring program impacts on marital quality and stability, child well-being, and a range of other outcomes. Posted by Michael at 6:24 PM | TrackBack August 30, 2008Evaluating Children's Advocacy Centers' Response to Child Sexual AbuseChild sexual abuse investigations can place enormous stress on victims and their families. Prior to the 1980s, child abuse investigators had no model for conducting interviews and coordinating investigations. The first Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) was established in 1986 to create a sensitive environment for child abuse interviews, provide victims and their families with medical and child protection services, and coordinate abuse investigations. The model has gained popularity in the past 20 years. As of 2006, the National Children’s Alliance had certified more than 600 centers. This Bulletin describes the findings of a study by researchers at the University of New Hampshire’s Crimes Against Children Research Center that evaluated the effectiveness of the CAC model in four prominent Children’s Advocacy Centers and nearby comparison communities. Findings demonstrate the important role these centers can play in advancing child abuse investigations and suggest ways in which the model could be improved in the future. Posted by Michael at 1:38 AM | TrackBack August 28, 2008Women's Health Insurance Coverage 1980-2005From The Commonwealth Fund: In the past two decades, women established a firm foothold in the U.S. labor market, dramatically increasing their chance of obtaining employment-based health insurance. At the same time, changes in Medicaid policy greatly expanded the number of low-income women eligible for public health insurance. Higher health care costs, say the authors, wiped out any gains in access to health insurance that women might have realized through greater participation in the work force and expansions of Medicaid policy. The avenues through which working-age women obtained health insurance remained constant, with employment-based health insurance the largest source of coverage and a smaller percentage of working-age women obtaining health coverage through Medicaid and the private nongroup insurance market. Many states raised the income thresholds for pregnant women and expanded eligibility to include low-income families in which the head of the household was unemployed. Employers responded by shifting their growing health care burden to the work force, in the form of sharp increases in the required annual employee contributions for single and family coverage. These increases, coupled with similar increases in required contributions for family coverage, resulted in sharp declines in the uptake of employment-based insurance. Married women, still more likely than men to choose spousal insurance despite steady increases in full-time employment, were disproportionately affected by rising contributions to employment-based coverage. "As holds true for men, declines in the propensity of workers to obtain coverage, for themselves or their spouses, through employment, has been the major factor leading to declines in coverage since 1980," say the authors. Posted by Michael at 9:57 PM | TrackBack Saving lives through smarter hurricane evacuationsFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Hundreds of lives and hundreds of millions of dollars could potentially be saved if emergency managers could make better and more timely critical decisions when faced with an approaching hurricane. Michael Metzger's software tool, created as part of the research for his PhD dissertation, could allow emergency managers to better decide early on whether and when to order evacuations --- and, crucially, to do so more efficiently by clearing out people in stages. By analyzing data from 50 years of hurricanes and detailed information on several major ones, and by comparing the information available at various times as a hurricane approached with data from the actual storm's passage, Metzger said he was able to produce software that provides a scientifically consistent framework to plan for an oncoming hurricane. His approach uses the best available hurricane track models developed over the years, but even these can be wrong half of the time --- a degree of uncertainty that further complicates the job for local emergency managers. For example, a poorly planned evacuation could cause roadway gridlock and trap evacuees in their cars --- leaving them exposed to the dangers of inland flooding. With his system, officials would get the information needed to "pull the trigger earlier, and phase the evacuation," he says, and thus potentially save many lives. Metzger, who is a research assistant in the MIT Engineering Systems Division's Center for Engineering Systems Fundamentals, and a PhD student in the Operations Research Center, received a second-place award out of more than 100 entries from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security earlier this year for the work. Posted by Michael at 9:51 PM | TrackBack HUD CHARGES NEW YORK LANDLORDS WITH DISCRIMINATING AGAINST A DISABLED RESIDENTFrom HUD Press Releases: The U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced today that is has charged the owners and board of directors of an apartment building in Rockville Centre, New York, with housing discrimination for refusing to allow a woman with disabilities to keep a pet for emotional support. The Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful to refuse to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services, when such accommodation may be necessary to afford a person with disabilities equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling. "We understand that no-pet policies are put into place for various reasons but sometimes you have to stop and consider how such a policy would impact disabled residents who may need a waiver to enjoy their homes as others do," said Kim Kendrick, HUD Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. 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 a 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. 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. Posted by Michael at 9:50 PM | TrackBack SECRETARY PRESTON AND GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER ANNOUNCE $105 MILLION FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT IN CALIFORNIAFrom HUD Press Releases: U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steve Preston and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today announced that the California State Program will receive more than $105 million to support community development and produce more affordable housing in the GoldenState. HUD's annual funding will also provide downpayment assistance to first-time homebuyers; assist individuals and families who might otherwise be living on the streets; and offer real housing solutions for individuals with HIV/AIDS. Since 1974, HUD's Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program has provided more than $120 billion to state and local governments to target their own community development priorities. Annual CDBG funds are distributed to communities according to a statutory formula based on a community's population, poverty, and age of its housing stock, and extent of overcrowded housing. The program was created to assist low-income first-time homebuyers in purchasing single-family homes by providing funds for downpayment, closing costs, and rehabilitation carried out in conjunction with the assisted home purchase. These grants also provide transitional housing and a variety of support services designed to move the homeless away from a life on the street toward permanent housing. This block grant program, along with more than $14 million HUD awarded New Orleansand Jefferson Parish by competition, helps thousands of local homeless assistance programs to help those who would otherwise be living on the streets. 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 9:48 PM | TrackBack HUD SECRETARY AND MAYOR MCCRORY ANNOUNCE $10 MILLION LOAN GUARANTEE TO CHARLOTTEFrom HUD Press Releases: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steve Preston today announced that he is approving a $10 million loan guarantee to the City of Charlotte to purchase 70 acres in the Double Oaks neighborhood. This purchase will complete the site assembly of 98 acres in preparation for the eventual development of 108,000 square feet of retail space and 940 new apartments, condominiums and single-family homes. HUD's loan guarantee will leverage $15 million in other public funding and $95 million in private sector investment to stimulate development of a new mixed-use community including a new grocery store, retail establishments, office space and mixed-income housing. "Today, we take another step forward in a new vision for this neighborhood," said HUD Secretary Steve Preston. "This latest HUD partnership allows Charlotteto implement our ambitious plans to invest in the Double Oaks neighborhood and to continue the revitalization of the Statesville Avenue corridor," stated Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory upon learning of the loan guarantee from HUD Secretary Preston. HUD's Section 108 Loan Guarantee Assistance Program enables local governments to borrow money from private investors at reduced interest rates to promote economic development, stimulate job growth and improve public facilities. The City of Charlotte requested HUD's loan guarantee to assist the Charlotte Mecklenburg Housing Partnership to purchase the 70 acres, partially occupied Double Oaks Apartment Complex and to assemble this site with an additional 28 acres for mixed use development in the Double Oaks neighborhood. According to the City's plans, the retail development is expected to generate 270 full-time jobs, more than half of which will be made available to low-and moderate-income persons. Posted by Michael at 9:47 PM | TrackBack Pregnancy situations have impact on brain development in pre-term infantsFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Brain development in infants who are born very prematurely is still incomplete. Factors that cause premature birth may have an impact on the development of the premature infant's brain both during pregnancy and later on after birth. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 9:46 PM | TrackBack Pre-school age exercises can prevent dyslexiaFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A typical characteristics of children's linguistic development are early signs of the risk of developing reading and writing disabilities, or dyslexia. New research points to preventive exercises as an effective means to tackle the challenges children face when learning to read. The results achieved at the Centre of Excellence in Learning and Motivation Research were presented at the Academy of Finland's science breakfast on 21 August. The researchers followed intensively the development of the predisposed children, from their birth through to school age. According to Lyytinen, the predictors of reading and writing difficulties are evident primarily in two contexts: on the one hand as a delayed ability to perceive and mentally process the subtleties of speech sound, on the other hand as a sluggishness in naming familiar, visually presented objects. The CoE in Learning and Motivation Research has developed computer game-like learning environments to aid preventive training, and made them available on the internet free of charge. They are especially recommended for children with a perceived risk of developing reading and writing disabilities or who have had a hard time learning to read already in first grade. "The best time to start these exercises is the latter part of the pre-school age, but it's not too late even after the children have started school. Researchers at the CoE in Learning and Motivation Research have made good use of a wide range of scientific disciplines in creating the learning environment. Apart from psychology, the exercises include elements from phonetics, mathematics and information technology. Posted by Michael at 9:45 PM | TrackBack Jump-Starting Collaboration: The ABCD Initiative and the Provision of Child Development Services Through Medicaid and CollaboratorsFrom The Commonwealth Fund: A recent study addressing that question pointed to The Commonwealth Fund-supported Assuring Better Child Health and Development (ABCD) program as an example of successful collaboration among Medicaid and other state agencies. In the initial phase of the ABCD program, which ran from 2000 to 2003, the Fund provided grants to four states---North Carolina, Utah, Vermont, and Washington---to enhance the delivery of developmental services to low-income children. In "Jump-Starting Collaboration: The ABCD Initiative and the Provision of Child Development Services Through Medicaid and Collaborators" (Public Administration Review, May/June 2008), researchers led by Carolyn Berry, Ph.D., of New York University find that the program was successful: all states made changes to their policies, regulations, or reimbursement mechanisms to achieve their goals. The analysis included informant interviews and site visits, document reviews, and observation of meetings and conference calls among participants. Although the benefits of collaboration may seem clear, government agency leaders must choose to work together in the face of significant challenges. While states had differing approaches, they had a common goal and were able to share resources to accomplish it. Furthermore, financing and technical support provided by the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) helped states overcome resource constraints, lent legitimacy to the project, and mitigated the risks of a new venture. "The ABCD initiative inspired a notable degree of interagency cooperation and coordination in all four states," the authors note. NASHP convened a consortium of program participants across the states, allowing them to share practical advice and information, discuss goals, and vent frustrations when confronting obstacles. Posted by Michael at 9:44 PM | TrackBack Trying to satisfy too many agendas slows school reformFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Despite investments, community goodwill and some good ideas, a vexing question remains in the age of school reform: Why has so much hope and effort led to disappointment? Beginning in the late 1980s, the Chicago Public Schools, like many urban schools systems, launched a series of initiatives to reorganize schools, improve teaching and encourage parental participation. The changes in Chicago not always have met the expectations of proponents, wrote Charles Payne in his new book, So Much Reform, So Little Change: The Persistence of Failure in Urban Schools A lack of trust among teachers and principals and parents frequently creates dysfunction in schools, noted Payne. Tension among members of the business community, who promote sound management and accountability, and progressive educators, who favor a student-centered agenda, also has left the promise of reform unfulfilled. The Consortium on Chicago School Research (at the University of Chicago) is the closest thing we have to a Manhattan Project on urban schools, and from its inception, it has maintained a commitment to combining quantitative and qualitative work, affording its work a complexity that cannot be achieved when the two are separated," Payne said. It led to a relationship between the schools and research community rarely seen among the nation's largest school systems. Payne, who is a member of the University's Committee on Education, uses findings from the consortium, his research and reporting by the city's media to explore the problems that plague this school system and others. In his visits to schools, Payne learned that social relationships were key to student success. Posted by Michael at 9:43 PM | TrackBack John F. Kennedy University Announces First Fully Accredited Counseling Psychology Program Focusing on Latino/Hispanic Cultural Competence TrainingFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: On Aug. 20, 2008, John F. Kennedy University (JFKU) received final approval of its new counseling psychology master's program from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), the accrediting body for California colleges and universities. This program is the first fully accredited counseling psychology program focusing on cultural competence training in mental health and counseling skills for serving the Latino/ Hispanic community. Classes begin this fall. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 9:42 PM | TrackBack What Women Want, What the Country Needs: Grassroots Activists, Journalists and National Leaders Shine Spotlight on Women's Priorities and Community-Based Solutions at DNCFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: The Ms. Foundation for Women today brings together grassroots activists, national policy advocates and journalists at the Democratic National Convention to promote women's community-based solutions to address our country's most pressing needs. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 9:41 PM | TrackBack Columbia Business School Executive Education Partners With International Nonprofit; Executives Will Provide Extensive Consultation to Economic Opportunity Initiative for Survivors of Unexploded Ordnance in VietnamFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: Columbia Business School's Executive Education division announced today that it will launch its first Positive Impact Project in partnership with the Humpty Dumpty Institute (HDI), a New York-based nonprofit that pursues innovative solutions to humanitarian problems. Each year, the School will join forces with a local, national or international nonprofit organization to offer a project of global significance to students in the Columbia Senior Executive Program (CSEP), an intensive four week leadership development program that brings together executives from around the globe. This year's CSEP class will develop the business plan for HDI's Mushrooms with a Mission (MwM) initiative, a Vietnam-based enterprise that will provide added income to survivors of unexploded ordnance (UXO). Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 9:39 PM | TrackBack August 26, 2008Tobacco control programs reduce health-care costsFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Tobacco control programs not only reduce smoking, but reduce personal health care costs as well, says new research published in PLoS Medicine by Stanton Glantz and colleagues at the University of California San Francisco. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 11:35 PM | TrackBack California tobacco control program saved billions in medical costsFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: California's state tobacco control program saved $86 billion -- in 2004 dollars -- in personal healthcare costs in its first 15 years, according to a study by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 11:34 PM | TrackBack Statement from Karen Davis: New Census Data on Uninsured AmericansFrom The Commonwealth Fund: Today, the Census Bureau released the latest data on the number of Americans without health insurance. The number of uninsured individuals fell to 45.7 million in 2007 from 47.0 million in 2006. Posted by Michael at 11:32 PM | TrackBack Grant Community Clinic: Case Studies of Patient- and Family-Centered Primary Care PracticesFrom The Commonwealth Fund: Grant Community Clinic is one of 12 primary care practices featured in Commonwealth Fund case studies of patient-centered practices. The site visit was conducted by Dale Shaller. Posted by Michael at 11:29 PM | TrackBack Uninsured patients receive unpredictable, rationed access to health careFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A case study of three health care institutions with different ownership models found that self-pay patients must navigate a system that provides no guarantees medical centers will follow their own policies for providing uncompensated care. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 11:15 PM | TrackBack Goodwill Puts People to WorkFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: Goodwill Industries sees more people turning to Goodwill looking for a bargain in retail stores and for help finding a job. For the first six months of 2008, Goodwill store sales nationally were up more than 6 percent as compared to the same timeframe last year. Anecdotal evidence suggests the number of people benefiting from Goodwill job training programs will likely match or exceed 2007's 20 percent growth rate. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 11:12 PM | TrackBack Rockefeller Brothers Fund Appoints Senior Program Advisor for the Peace and Security ProgramFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: The Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) has engaged Randa Slim to serve as senior program advisor to its Peace and Security Program. As senior adivsor, reporting directly to the vice president for programs, Dr. Slim will conduct an assessment of the Peace and Security program portfolio and advise the RBF on grantmaking opportunities. Dr. Slim's initial focus will be on the portion of the Peace and Security portfolio that aims to build bridges between the global Muslim community and the West. She also will advise the Fund on its efforts to advance responsible approaches to U.S. global engagement as related to the Fund's interests in sustainable development and democratic practice and its work in the Western Balkans, Southern China, and South Africa. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 11:11 PM | TrackBack Refundable Credits Have Cut Taxes for Low-Income HouseholdsFrom Urban Institute Latest ReportsSearch: In 1979, federal taxes claimed 8 percent of the income of households in the lowest quintile of the income distribution.1 Over the following three decades, the average effective tax rate (ETR) taxes as a percentage of income fell by nearly half to 4.3 percent in 2005. Most of the decline resulted from a sharp drop in the individual income tax, primarily due to expansion of the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit (CTC). Because the EITC is refundable and the CTC is partially refundable, they can reduce a households tax liability below zero and generate a net payment. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 11:07 PM | TrackBack New joint Israeli-American study sheds light on impact of terrorism on adolescent depressionFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: In a study on adolescent depression following terror attacks, Professor Golan Shahar of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer-Sheva, Israel, and Professor Christopher Henrich of Georgia State University, report that social support experienced by these adolescents seems to protect against depression. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 11:07 PM | TrackBack A Updated Analysis of the 2008 Presidential Candidates' Tax Plans: Executive Summary - August 25, 2008From Urban Institute Latest ReportsSearch: Both John McCain and Barack Obama have proposed tax plans that would substantially increase the national debt over the next ten years, according to a newly updated analysis by the non-partisan Tax Policy Center. Compared to current law, TPC estimates the Obama plan would cut taxes by $2.9 trillion from 2009-2018. McCain would reduce taxes by nearly $4.2 trillion. Obama would give larger tax cuts to low- and moderate-income households and pay some of the cost by raising taxes on high-income taxpayers. In contrast, McCain would cut taxes across the board and give the biggest cuts to the highest-income households. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 11:06 PM | TrackBack 75 percent of athletes' parents let their child skip exams for a gameFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Three quarters of parents of young athletes let their child forgo an exam for an important game, a new study conducted at the University of Haifa has found. In comparison, only 47 percent of parents of young musicians will agree to their child choosing a performance over an exam. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 11:06 PM | TrackBack 80 percent of adolescents who play sports don't smokeFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A research work carried out in sample of adolescents aged between 13 and 18 from Granada, Madrid, Murcia, Santander and Zaragoza has analyzed the relationship between sport activity and tobacco consumption.According to this work, 59.2 percent of the Spanish adolescents are physically active, although there are significant differences according to sex (71.1 percent of boys, as against 46.7 percent of girls). Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 11:05 PM | TrackBack New poverty, income, and health coverage analysisFrom Economic Policy Institute: Given the weakening job market last year, the median income of working-age households (those headed by someone less than 65) rose insignificantly in 2007, and was $2,010 below its 2000 level. While last year's overall income gains are good news, the longer-range view is quite different. The Census figures show that the economic cycle that began in 2000 and ended late last year was one of the weakest on record for working families, despite strong overall economic growth during the same period (see Table 1 and Figure 1). Despite strong gains in earnings last year, men who worked full-time made essentially no gains from 2000-2007 because of large losses from 2003 to 2006. African American median household income rose 3.2% last year, but took a big hit overall in the 2000s, down 5.1% ($1,800). Output per hour, or productivity, rose 2.5% per year during the 2000 to 2007 cycle, compared to 2% in the 1990s, when family incomes fared much better. The economy of course expanded in the 2000s, but that growth clearly failed to reach most households, a dynamic that implicates growing income inequality. For example, output per hour, or productivity, grew strongly in the 2000s, up 2.5% per year from 2000 to 2007, compared to 2.0% in the 1990s. Posted by Michael at 11:00 PM | TrackBack Troubled Children Hurt Peers' Test Scores, BehaviorFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: Troubled children hurt their classmates' math and reading scores and worsen their behavior, according to new research by economists at the University of California, Davis, and University of Pittsburgh. Scott Carrell, an assistant professor of economics at UC Davis, and co-author Mark Hoekstra, an assistant professor of economics at the University of Pittsburgh, cross-referenced standardized test results and school disciplinary records with court restraining order petitions filed in domestic violence cases for more than 40,000 students enrolled in public elementary schools in Florida's Alachua County for the years 1995 through 2003. These children scored nearly 4 percentile points lower on standardized reading and math scores than their peers whose parents were not involved in domestic violence cases. Not only did children from troubled homes suffer, however: Test scores fell and behavior problems increased for their classmates as well. Troubled boys caused the bulk of the disruption, and the largest effects were on other boys. Indeed, Carrell and Hoekstra estimate that adding just one troubled boy to a class of 20 children reduces the standardized reading and math scores of other boys in the room by nearly two percentile points. Across all students, having a troubled student in a class reduced classmates' combined test scores by nearly 1 percentile point and increased their likelihood of getting into disciplinary trouble at school by 6 percent. "There are many reasons for disruptive classroom behavior; domestic violence is one particularly good indicator of a troubled child," Carrell said. AScribe Newswire distributes news from nonprofit and public sector organizations. We provide direct, immediate access to mainstream national media for 600 colleges, universities, medical centers, public-policy groups and other leading nonprofit organizations. Posted by Michael at 10:59 PM | TrackBack August 25, 2008Caretaker Satisfaction with Law Enforcement Response to Missing ChildrenOffice of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention: Examines satisfaction with law enforcement from the perspective of all primary caretakers who contacted police when one or more of their children experienced a qualifying episode in the Second National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children (NISMART–2) National Household Survey of Adult Caretakers. This Bulletin is the eighth in the NISMART–2 series. Key Findings > Despite current case-management guidelines for missing and abducted children that recommend the dispatch of officers in response to all missing child cases reported to law enforcement, police were dispatched > Among the missing child type cases considered in this Bulletin, researchers found no statistically significant differences to indicate that officers are more likely to be dispatched in any particular type of episode. > Caretakers were satisfied with the way in which police handled the case in an estimated 74 percent of the episodes that involved the dispatch of officers to the household or scene, compared with 35 percent > Police arrived at the household or scene in less than 30 minutes after they were contacted in an estimated 70 percent of episodes involving the dispatch of officers. > Caretaker satisfaction with how the police handled the case is associated with the time it took police to respond. Whereas caretakers were satisfied with the police response in 84 percent of the episodes in which the police arrived in less than 30 minutes, they were satisfied in only a little more than half (54 percent) of the episodes in which the police took 30 minutes or longer to arrive at the household or scene. > Caretaker satisfaction with how the police handled the case is associated with the type of episode. Caretakers are least satisfied with the way in which police handled family abductions (45 percent). Posted by Michael at 1:24 PM | TrackBack Sexually Assaulted Children: National Estimates and CharacteristicsOffice of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention: Provides information on the estimated number and characteristics of children who were sexually assaulted in the United States in 1999. This Bulletin is the seventh in the Second National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children (NISMART–2) series. Information on sexual assault was gathered from NISMART–2 interviews with victims and their families. Key Findings > In 1999, an estimated 285,400 children were victims of a sexual assault and 35,000 were victims of some other type of sex offense. > An estimated 44 percent of the child victims of sexual assault and other sex offenses experienced an act of sexual penetration. > Sexual assault victims were disproportionately female (89 percent) and ages 12 to 17 (81 percent). > Most (95 percent) of the sexual assault victims were assaulted by a male. Almost three-fourths (71 percent) were assaulted by someone they were acquainted with or knew by sight; 18 percent were assaulted by > Twenty-nine percent of the sexual assault victims were assaulted by youth age 17 or younger. > Police were contacted in regard to only 30 percent of the sexually assaulted children. Posted by Michael at 1:19 PM | TrackBack National Trust Loan Fund Launches $5 Million Fund To Develop Affordable HousingThe National Trust Loan Fund (NTLF) today announced the creation of a $5 million loan pool to help develop affordable housing in cities across the country. The National Trust for Historic Preservation promotes community development in older and historic neighborhoods. The loan fund has been made possible through a $1.3 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The grant targets communities in the 26 Knight communities across the country where the Knight brothers owned newspapers plus Gulfport, MS and Pontiac, MI. It will be used to facilitate projects financed through the loan pool. Eligible borrowers include community development corporations, nonprofit organizations and for-profit developers and local, state or regional government agencies. Prospective projects for loan fund must focus on the acquisition and rehabilitation of multiple single-family, multi-family or mixed-use projects, including upper-floor conversions to residential uses. Prospective properties should be designated as national, state or local historic structures, a contributing resource in a designated historic district or be eligible for such designation. Grants are available to assist with loan financing costs and may be available for predevelopment costs on projects that have an impact on community revitalization. The Loan Fund focuses its financial and technical assistance products in low-, moderate-, and mixed-income neighborhoods and communities that are rich in historic resources. Posted by Michael at 10:10 AM | TrackBack August 21, 2008U.S. Education Secretary Appoints 16-Member Council to Advise on State Standards, Assessments and Accountability SystemsFrom Education Newsfeed: U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today announced the appointment of 16 members to the National Technical Advisory Council (NTAC), which Spellings announced as part of the proposed regulations to strengthen No Child Left Behind. The Council's purpose is to advise the Department on complex and technical issues regarding the design and implementation of state standards, assessments and accountability systems. The Council will offer expert advice on such things as the use and applicability of minimum subgroup sizes for proficiency calculations, confidence intervals and the principles necessary for ensuring that performance indexes are consistent with the Title I statute and regulations. "The National Technical Advisory Council will play a vital role in ensuring that we address the technical needs of states and their accountability systems," Spellings said. "Their work will be invaluable as we move forward in strengthening and improving No Child Left Behind." Tom Fisher, former Florida state director of testing, will chair the Council. Members will serve staggered terms, ranging from one to three years. All members are experts in assessment and accountability, and represent a range of backgrounds-from academicians and researchers to national, state and local policymakers. The Council will meet twice a year and additional meetings may be called at the request of the Secretary. Proceedings from meetings will be made available to the public. The first meeting will be held within the next few months. NTAC meetings will be announced in the Federal Register and on the U.S. Department of Education's Website, www.ed.gov. Scott Marion, Vice President of the National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment Inc., Dover, NH Posted by Michael at 7:53 PM | TrackBack U.S. Department of Education Awards Idaho $3.4 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 Idaho Arts Charter School in Nampa, Idaho, today to present a $3,386,402 Charter School Program grant award to the Idaho State Department of Education. Tom Luna, Idaho State Superintendent of Public Instruction, joined Mesecar for the announcement. Idaho is one of five states receiving the competitive grants through the Department's Charter Schools Program (CSP) this year, which supports states' efforts to plan, design, implement and disseminate information about charter schools. The long-term objectives for Idaho's public charter schools are to promote the growth and development of quality Idaho charter schools focused on high achievement for all students and to develop a statewide charter school public awareness campaign to increase understanding of the charter school model. "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. In awarding grants, the Department gives preference to states that have demonstrated progress in increasing the number of high-quality schools, hold schools accountable for reaching clear and measurable objectives, and 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. Posted by Michael at 7:51 PM | TrackBack U.S. Department of Education Awards Utah More Than an $8.5 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 Guadalupe Schools in Salt Lake City today to present an $8,533,334 Charter Schools Program grant to the Utah State Department of Education. Utah is one of five states receiving the competitive grants through the Department's Charter Schools Program this year, which supports states' efforts to plan, design, implement and disseminate information about charter schools. The long-term objectives for Utah's public charter schools include increasing the number of high-quality charter schools in the state targeting underserved student populations; increasing new charter school board members' and directors' understanding of the laws and rules that frame charter school operations, as well as the policies, procedures and practices of successful charter schools by providing additional training and funding; and providing additional training and information to all charter schools to promote best practices in instruction and school management. 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 charter school in the United States opened in 1992. Today, more than 4,000 charter schools serve more than 1 million students in 40 states and Washington, D.C. Posted by Michael at 7:50 PM | TrackBack Math gender gap is historyFrom Economic Policy Institute: According to conventional wisdom, girls fear mathematics and shy away from it. However, a recent study from the U.S. Department of Education shows that girls in high school have bridged the gender gap that once existed, and in some respects are more advanced than boys in math. Every 10 years or so, the Department of Education conducts a study of high school students, collecting detailed information on their course-taking behavior from school transcripts. Both boys and girls earned the same number of credits in math in 1992 (3.3) and in 2004 (3.6). In another interesting development, the study found that girls are now slightly more likely than boys to take advanced math courses. In 1982, fewer than 10% of girls had completed pre-calculus or calculus, compared to about 12% of boys. These three studies are the High School and Beyond Longitudinal Study of 1980 sophomores, the National Education Longitudinal Study of the Class of 1992, and the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 sophomores. Posted by Michael at 7:49 PM | TrackBack Thunderbird Kicks Off $20,000 Sustainable Innovation Competition; Early Registration for Competition Opens to Graduate-Level Business Students WorldwideFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: Thunderbird School of Global Management's third annual Global Sustainable Innovation Summit opens early registration today. The global competition draws the brightest graduate-level students from top universities around the world, and requires students to develop sustainable and innovative business solutions to real-world challenges presented by sponsoring companies. The winning team receives a $20,000 prize and the title of "Global Champions of Sustainable Innovation." Last year, the challenge attracted 118 teams from 59 universities in 15 countries. The competition begins Oct. 6 with an online round of questions from sponsoring companies with a global focus seeking innovative solutions to their every-day business challenges. Thunderbird's Global Sustainable Innovation Summit builds upon the school's efforts in global citizenship and its mission to educate global leaders who create sustainable prosperity worldwide. This year's sponsors and summit partners include Johnson & Johnson, APS, EcoLab, BillMatrix, Xerox, and Net Impact. To sign up as a judge and for judging selection and guidelines please visit http://www.sustainableinnovation.thunderbird.edu. Founded in 1946, Thunderbird is the first and oldest graduate management school focused exclusively on global business. It is regarded as the world's leading institution in the education of global managers and has operations in the United States, Latin America, Asia and Europe, including Russia. More than 38,000 students have graduated from Thunderbird, and its alumni live and work in more than 140 countries. For more about Thunderbird, please visit: http://www.thunderbird.edu/. AScribe Newswire distributes news from nonprofit and public sector organizations. Posted by Michael at 7:37 PM | TrackBack Killer carbs -- Monash scientist finds the key to overeating as we ageFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A Monash University scientist has discovered key appetite control cells in the human brain degenerate over time, causing increased hunger and potentially weight-gain as we grow older. The research by Dr Zane Andrews, a neuroendocrinologist with Monash University's Department of Physiology, has been published in Nature. Dr Andrews found that appetite-suppressing cells are attacked by free radicals after eating and said the degeneration is more significant following meals rich in carbohydrates and sugars. "The more carbs and sugars you eat, the more your appetite-control cells are damaged, and potentially you consume more," Dr Andrews said. Dr Andrews said the attack on appetite suppressing cells creates a cellular imbalance between our need to eat and the message to the brain to stop eating. "People in the age group of 25 to 50 are most at risk. The neurons that tell people in the crucial age range not to over-eat are being killed-off. "When the stomach is empty, it triggers the ghrelin hormone that notifies the brain that we are hungry. When we are full, a set of neurons known as POMC's kick in. "A diet rich in carbohydrate and sugar that has become more and more prevalent in modern societies over the last 20-30 years has placed so much strain on our bodies that it's leading to premature cell deterioration," Dr Andrews said. Dr Andrews' next research project will focus on finding if a diet rich in carbohydrates and sugars has other impacts on the brain, such as the increased incidences of neurological conditions like Parkinson's disease. Posted by Michael at 7:34 PM | TrackBack Research shows pollsters how the undecided will voteFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: As the American Presidential election approaches, pollsters are scrambling to predict who will win. A study by a team of researchers at The University of Western Ontario, Canada, and the University of Padova, Italy, may give pollsters a new way to determine how the undecided will vote, even before the voters know themselves. "Automatic Mental Associations Predict Future Choices of Undecided Decision Makers," was published in the August 22nd issue of the journal Science. Using a common psychological testing methodology, called 'the implicit association test,' his research team was able to tap into automatic mental associations of participants who reported to be undecided about a controversial political issue, and these associations ultimately predicted their future decisions. Using subjects in Vicenza, Italy, where article co-authors Silvia Galdi and Luciano Arcuri reside, the researchers interviewed 129 residents about the impending enlargement of a U.S. military base in their community. The plans were controversial, and media reports showed strong polarization among residents. Each time the participants were first asked if they were 'pro,' 'con' or 'undecided' about the expansion. They then were asked to answer questions about their beliefs on environmental, political, economic and other consequences of the enlargement of the base. Finally, they were given a computer-based latency test of automatic mental associations, in which they were asked to categorize pictures of the base, and positive and negative words as quickly as possible. Automatic associations that undecided participants revealed in the first round significantly predicted their conscious beliefs and preferences as expressed in the second round. Posted by Michael at 7:31 PM | TrackBack Seeing Red: The Growing Burden of Medical Bills and Debt Faced by U.S. FamiliesFrom The Commonwealth Fund: Analysis of the 2007 Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey finds the proportion of working-age Americans who struggled to pay medical bills and accumulated medical debt climbed from 34 percent to 41 percent, or 72 million people, between 2005 and 2007. In addition, 7 million adults age 65 and older had these problems, bringing the total to 79 million adults with medical debt or bill problems. Families with low or moderate incomes were particularly hard hit, as were adults who had gaps in health coverage or those underinsured. Because of medical bills or accumulated medical debt, an estimated 28 million adults reported they used up all their savings, 21 million incurred large credit card debt, and another 21 million were unable to pay for basic necessities. Sixty-one percent of those with medical debt or bill problems were insured at the time care was provided. Posted by Michael at 7:31 PM | TrackBack Losing Ground: How the Loss of Adequate Health Insurance Is Burdening Working FamiliesFrom The Commonwealth Fund: The economic downturn is forcing working families across the United States to make tough financial choices, often involving sacrificing needed health care and health insurance. Using data from four years of the Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey, this report examines the status of health insurance for U.S. adults under age 65 and the implications for family finances and access to health care. Insurance coverage deteriorated over the past six years, with declines in coverage most severe for moderate-income families. In 2007, nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults, or an estimated 116 million people, struggled to pay medical bills, went without needed care because of cost, were uninsured for a time, or were underinsured (i.e., were insured but not adequately protected from high medical expenses). The share of insured adults who spend more than 5 percent or 10 percent of income on health care and insurance rose across all income groups between 2001 and 2007. More adults are struggling to pay their medical bills and are accumulating medical debt over time. Forty-one percent of working-age adults, or 72 million people, reported a problem paying their medical bills or had accrued medical debt, up from 34 percent, or 58 million, in 2005. Adults with gaps in health insurance coverage or those underinsured were most at risk of medical bill problems---about 60 percent reported medical bill problems, more than double the rate of those who had adequate insurance all year (26%). One-third (34%) of adults reported they experienced one of three care coordination problems: test results or medical records not being available at the time of a scheduled appointment, receiving duplicate medical tests, and experiencing delays in being notified about abnormal lab or diagnostic test results. Posted by Michael at 7:30 PM | TrackBack New Survey Findings: 79 Million U.S. Adults Have Medical Bill Problems or Are Paying Off Medical Debt; Low and Moderate Income Families Hit HardestFrom The Commonwealth Fund: The proportion of working-age Americans who have medical bill problems or who are paying off medical debt climbed from 34 percent to 41 percent between 2005 and 2007, bringing the total to 72 million, according to recent survey findings from The Commonwealth Fund. In addition, 7 million adults age 65 and over also had problems paying medical bills, for a total of 79 million adults with medical bill problems or medical debt. In a new Commonwealth Fund report about the survey findings, Losing Ground: How the Loss of Adequate Health Insurance is Burdening Working Families, the authors describe how working-age adults are becoming more exposed to the rising costs of health care, either because they have lost insurance through their jobs or because they are paying more out of pocket for their health care. Three in five adults who are uninsured or underinsured face these challenges, more than double the rate of those who had adequate insurance all year (26 percent). Notably, adults 65 years and older were far less likely to report medical bill problems or debt than younger adults because they are covered by Medicare and may also have supplemental private coverage, and in the case of low-income individuals, may have Medicaid. "The current economic slowdown makes it even more urgent for a new Administration to make universal and affordable health insurance a high priority in 2009, to ensure that no American suffers financial hardship as a result of serious illness," said Commonwealth Fund President Karen Davis. Posted by Michael at 7:28 PM | TrackBack Why Did Medicare Spending Growth Slow Down?From The Commonwealth Fund: Key changes in Medicare payment policy---not increases in Medicare managed care, changes in beneficiary cost-sharing, or other explanations---have been responsible for slowing Medicare spending growth and curtailing so-called excess spending growth, finds a study in Health Affairs. New prospective payment systems for hospitals and postacute care providers, as well as controls on aggregate Medicare physician spending, have reduced Medicare excess spending over the last three decades from 5.6 percent to 0.5 percent, writes Chapin White, Ph.D., a former Commonwealth Fund researcher, in "Why Did Medicare Spending Growth Slow Down?" Focusing on the period 1975 to 2005, the study examined the Medicare program's excess growth---or spending growth beyond that attributable to general economic growth and changes in beneficiaries' age composition---related to Medicare-covered services, excluding beneficiary cost-sharing and third-party payments. In 2005, Medicare spending accounted for 2.7 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). An inpatient prospective payment system was implemented in 1983, switching cost-based reimbursement to payment on a fixed-rate-per-discharge basis, adjusted for patient diagnosis. Physician and clinical services: Excess spending growth on these services ranged between 3 percent and 8 percent during the 1970s and 1980s. These changes coincided with a slowdown in excess spending growth. Postacute care: Accounting for a small share of Medicare spending, this category experienced volatile trends, with extremely high rates during the early 1990s, followed by negative excess growth in the late 1990s, before a recent uptick. Second, not all prospective payment systems work equally well, with Medicare's prospective payment system for inpatient hospitals showing greater success than its efforts with physicians. Posted by Michael at 7:28 PM | TrackBack Obesity in elderly a ticking time bomb for health servicesFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Research carried out at the Peninsula Medical School in the South West of England has discovered that obesity in later life does not make a substantial difference to risks of death among older people but that it is a major contributor to increased disability in later life -- creating a ticking time bomb for health services in developed countries. The Peninsula Medical School research team worked with data on just under 4,000 participants in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) aged 65 and older and living in the community. Each participant had their weight and height measured and their BMI (body mass index) calculated and they were followed up for five years. The results showed that the higher an older person's BMI, the more likely he or she was to develop mobility problems (measured using a standard performance test) or to develop difficulty carrying out everyday tasks. The results also showed that, in older people, the link between higher BMI and the risk of death is weak -- only severely obese older men seemed to run this increased risk. Dr Iain Lang, who led the research from the Peninsula Medical School, commented: "We have known for some time that young and middle-aged adults who are overweight run a higher risk of death and it was presumed that this held true for older people. Increasing numbers of older people and higher levels of overweight and obesity will lead to a greater burden of disability and ill health and place an immense strain on health and social services. Posted by Michael at 7:27 PM | TrackBack Cocaine: How addiction developsFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Permanent drug seeking and relapse after renewed drug administration are typical behavioral patterns of addiction. Molecular changes at the connection points in the brain's reward center are directly responsible for this. The results provide researchers with new approaches in the medical treatment of drug addiction. Permanent drug seeking and relapse after renewed drug administration are typical behavioral patterns of addiction. This finding was published by a research team from the Institute of Mental Health (ZI) in Mannheim, the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg and the University of Geneva, Switzerland, in the latest issue of Neuron. Addiction leaves detectable traces in the brain: In particular regions of the central nervous system, which produce the messenger substance dopamine, the drug cocaine causes molecular restructuring processes at the synapses, the points of connection between two neurons. Using genetic engineering, researchers headed by Professor Dr. Günther Schütz at the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) have now been able to selectively switch off those protein components in dopamine-producing neurons that are integrated into the receptor complexes under the influence of cocaine. Jointly with the team of Professor Dr. Rainer Spanagel at the Central Institute of Mental Health (Zentralinstitut für Seelische Gesundheit, ZI) in Mannheim and the research group of Professor Dr. Christian Lüscher at Geneva University, the Heidelberg researchers studied the changes in physiology and behavior of the genetically modified animals. If normal mice do not find drugs at the familiar places over a longer period of time, their addictive behavior and preference for the cocaine-associated places subside. If control animals withdrawn from cocaine are readministered the drug after some time, addictive behavior and drug seeking are reactivated. In contrast, NR1 deficient animals proved to be resistant to relapsing into the addiction. Posted by Michael at 7:25 PM | TrackBack Illinois Prisoners' Reentry Success Three Years after ReleaseFrom Urban Institute: This brief analyzes data from 145 men released from Illinois prisons (2002-2003) and tracked for three years afterwards through personal interviews and reincarceration records, as part of the study Returning Home: Understanding the Challenges of Prisoner Reentry. Three years after release, 59 percent were reincarcerated-up from 34 percent at 16 months out. Those successful at avoiding reincarceration were older first-time releases with no illegal income or family violence prior to prison, and those who found employment and housing after release, reintegrated into new, less disorganized neighborhoods, avoided antisocial peers, and had a physical/mental health condition (which may have restricted activity outside the home). Posted by Michael at 7:24 PM | TrackBack Department Awards Grants to Six States to Help Enhance Career and Technical Education ProgramsFrom Education Newsfeed: The U.S. Department of Education has awarded a total of $750,000 in grants to six states to help strengthen and enhance career and technical education (CTE) programs. Indiana, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nebraska, Florida, and Hawaii have received grants to support partnerships that will create new CTE programs, or adopt existing ones, that will align secondary and postsecondary education courses needed to prepare students for further education and employment. The grants range from $115,000 to $130,000, and will help the states improve their ability to offer rigorous CTE programs of study. For example, the South Carolina Department of Education and its partners have developed a formal partnership to increase the number and diversity of students who enter and complete studies leading to associate and baccalaureate degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). The project will focus on faculty development, curriculum innovation and national and industry standards, and on research-based strategies designed to improve success in program entry, dual credit, and transfer rates for STEM pathway participants. The grants are funded through the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006, and administered by the Department's Office of Vocational and Adult Education. Posted by Michael at 7:19 PM | TrackBack U of M scholar and colleagues link tobacco industry's marketing to youth smokingFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: The National Cancer Institute (NCI) released a report today, co-edited by University of Minnesota professor Barbara Loken, that reaches the government's strongest conclusion to date that tobacco marketing and depictions of smoking in movies promote youth smoking. "There is now incontrovertible evidence that marketing of tobacco, and the depiction of smoking in the movies, promote youth smoking and can cause young people to begin smoking," said Loken, professor of marketing at the Carlson School of Management and one of the report's five scientific editors. The 684-page monograph, "The Role of the Media in Promoting and Reducing Tobacco Use," presents definitive conclusions that a) tobacco advertising and promotion are causally related to increased tobacco use, and b) exposure to depictions of smoking in movies causes youth smoking initiation. The report also concludes that while mass media campaigns can reduce tobacco use, youth smoking prevention campaigns sponsored by the tobacco industry are generally ineffective and may even increase youth smoking. Even brief exposure to tobacco advertising influences adolescents' perceptions about smoking, smokers, and adolescents' intentions to smoke. A comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising and promotion is an effective policy intervention that prevents tobacco companies from shifting marketing expenditures to permitted media. The report is Monograph 19 in the NCI's Tobacco Control Monograph series examining critical issues in tobacco prevention and control. Research included in the review comes from the disciplines of marketing, psychology, communications, statistics, epidemiology and public health. To order a free copy, call the NCI Cancer Information Service at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237) and ask for NIH Publication No07-6242. Posted by Michael at 7:17 PM | TrackBack August 19, 2008Alcohol dependence among women is linked to delayed childbearingFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Alcohol use can cause reproductive dysfunctions for both teenage and adult females. A new study is the first to examine alcohol's effects on childbearing onset across reproductive development. Findings show that, for women, alcoholism is linked with delayed childbearing. Alcohol use during the teen years can not only lead to subsequent alcohol problems, it can also lead to risky sexual behavior and a greater risk of early childbearing. An examination of the relationship between a lifetime history of alcohol dependence (AD) and timing of first childbirth across reproductive development has found that AD in women is associated with delayed reproduction. "Reproductive dysfunctions include a range of menstrual disorders, sexual dysfunctions, and pregnancy complications that include spontaneous abortion or miscarriage," explained Mary Waldron, assistant professor of psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine and corresponding author for the study. These complications may become more pronounced with time, added Sharon C. Wilsnack, Chester Fritz Distinguished Professor in the department of clinical neuroscience at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine & Health Sciences. "Higher rates of reproductive dysfunction in adult women may reflect the cumulative effects of longer exposure to alcohol for older women than for female adolescents," she said. For this study, Waldron and her colleagues analyzed data gathered on two groups of Australian twins born between 1893-1964 (3,634 female and 1,880 male twins) and 1964-1971 (3,381 female and 2,748 male twins). "To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine alcohol's effects on reproductive onset across reproductive development," said Waldron. Posted by Michael at 10:17 PM | TrackBack Case Western Reserve University studies managing psychiatric meds in transition to collegeFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: An increasing number of students are packing more than their computers and iPods when leaving for college. Case Western Reserve University researchers will survey incoming students on how they manage psychiatric medications in the transition from home to college. And once on campus, experiencing new freedom from supervision by mom, dad and hometown mental health providers in taking those medications may present an opportunity to experiment with stopping those meds. This has researchers and mental health counselors on campuses concerned about whether counseling centers are meeting all the needs of these students. The researchers will conduct a quantitative survey of 120 undergraduates and conduct intensive qualitative interviews with 15 first-year and 15 third-year students about their experiences with their illnesses and management of medications. Each of these undergraduates will be followed for two years, tracking their Case Western Reserve experiences with faculty, students and mental health providers. This will be one of the first studies to examine how this student group adjusts in the transition to campus life and independence where student face responsibility for their own care. Floersch said the students need to know it's okay to have the desire to experiment, but they need to let mental health counselors know about it and receive the appropriate help in arriving at that decision. "We're at a time when students are being diagnosed at a younger age with mental illnesses," said Floersch, adding that there is a critical need today to help students make the transition to managing their own mental health care. Posted by Michael at 10:16 PM | TrackBack New Book Provides Road Map for Finding the Right CollegeFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: Even as the nation's high school students settle into a new academic year, the next step -- where to apply to college -- is on the minds of many. A new book by Richard C. Dorf, a professor at the University of California, Davis, Graduate School of Management, provides a systematic and comprehensive road map. "The College Journey: From College to Career 2009" (Davis Press, Inc., July 2008, 264 pages) is based on the premise that there is a best school for every prospective college student and offers a practical algorithm to find the right fit. "The best college is one that helps the student find his or her place in society and prepare for a life of contribution and career," Dorf says. The College Journey guides readers through a comprehensive, seven-step process that moves from identifying values and goals to narrowing the field of possible schools to four top options. Dorf is a professor emeritus of management at UC Davis, where he directs the MBA Consulting Center. AScribe Newswire distributes news from nonprofit and public sector organizations. We provide direct, immediate access to mainstream national media for 600 colleges, universities, medical centers, public-policy groups and other leading nonprofit organizations. Posted by Michael at 10:15 PM | TrackBack For College Admission, Focus on Fit and ValueFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: It is possible to experience a stress-free, successful college search process that ends with a college fit that is right for each student. This is the message that Colleges That Change Lives (CTCL) will bring to the Raleigh area during the continuation of the eleventh annual series of national tours. "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 CTCL. "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. They start with a panel presentation followed by a college fair, featuring admission representatives from the colleges and universities featured in the book of the same name, Colleges That Change Lives by former NY Times education editor and author, Loren Pope. Maria Furtado, Director of Admissions at Eckerd College, one of the 40 featured colleges, sums up the feelings of the deans and directors in the group this way, "Students and families who attend the CTCL programs understand the value of a liberal arts and sciences education at these colleges. Posted by Michael at 10:15 PM | TrackBack Calculators Okay in Math Class, If Students Know the Facts FirstFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: Calculators are useful tools in elementary mathematics classes, if students already have some basic skills, new research has found. The findings shed light on the debate about whether and when calculators should be used in the classroom. Rittle-Johnson and co-author Alexander Kmicikewycz, who completed the work as his undergraduate honors thesis at Peabody, found that the level of a student's knowledge of mathematics facts was the determining factor in whether a calculator hindered his or her learning. "The study indicates technology such as calculators can help kids who already have a strong foundation in basic skills," Kmicikewycz, now a teacher in New York City public schools, said. "For students who did not know many multiplication facts, generating the answers on their own, without a calculator, was important and helped their performance on subsequent tests," Rittle-Johnson added. The researchers compared third graders' performance on multiplication problems after they had spent a class period working on other multiplication problems. But for those who were not good at multiplying, use of the calculator had a negative impact on their performance. The researchers also found that the students using calculators were able to practice more problems and had fewer errors. "It's a good tool that some teachers shy away from, because they are worried it's going to have negative consequences," Rittle-Johnson said. Rittle-Johnson is an investigator in the Learning Sciences Institute and the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development. U.S. News & World Report ranked Vanderbilt's Peabody College the No. 2 education school in the nation in 2008. For more information about Peabody, visit http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu. Posted by Michael at 10:14 PM | TrackBack Good Leadership and Organizational Structure Can Cut Corruption, According to Stanford Business School FacultyFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: It's easier than most people realize for ordinary, well-meaning people to get caught up in activities they should have known were wrong. Yet, creating a structure that reduces the chances of cheating is not easy, requiring a balancing act between too few controls and too many, and between understanding why people cheat and intolerance for such behavior. According to a feature story in the current issue of Stanford Business Magazine (http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/bmag/sbsm0808/feature-preventcheating.html) and reported in today's Stanford Knowledgebase (http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/knowledgebase.html), many people, including students at business schools, resist discussing how the influence of a group or a situation can lead good people to do bad things. "We underestimate the power of a situation to control people's actions," says Deborah Gruenfeld, who is Moghadam Family Professor of Leadership and Organizational Behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Stanford Business School Accounting Professor Maureen McNichols teaches an elective course called Understanding Cheating. Among other things, the course helps students see how good leadership and the right organizational structure can cut down on the opportunities for corruption. Stanford Knowledgebase is the free monthly information source forthoughts, ideas and research at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. For related research citations and to dig deeper, visit http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/knowledgebase.html. AScribe Newswire distributes news from nonprofit and public sector organizations. Posted by Michael at 10:13 PM | TrackBack HUD AWARDS $1.4 MILLION GRANT TO L.A. TO 'CONNECT' PERSONS LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS WITH PERMANENT HOUSINGFrom HUD Press Releases: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steve Preston today announced that the City of Los Angeles will receive $1.4 million to provide a permanent home to dozens of persons living with HIV/AIDS and their families. HUD's grant will help clients find a stable home and receive the services they need to manage their illnesses. Preston made the announcement following a tour of Laguna Senior Apartments that also provides supportive housing to low-income senior citizens living with HIV/AIDS. Individuals who receive HOPWA rental assistance are less likely to be hospitalized and more likely to have access to antiretroviral medications than HIV-positive individuals who lack access to stable housing. This funding will help us provide low-income Los Angeles seniors who need specialized health care with the quality housing and services they need," said Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti. The grant announced today is part of $19.4 million HUD is awarding to 18 local programs nationwide through the Department's Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS Program (HOPWA). In partnership the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA), the city will continue providing 36 households with tenant-based rental assistance. A stable home environment is critical for low-income persons managing complex drug therapies, allowing them to access this support and maintain such care in a consistent and effective manner. For a summary of the local programs receiving HOPWA grants, visit HUD's website. HUD's formula grants are managed by 121 local and state jurisdictions, which coordinate AIDS housing efforts with other HUD and community resources. Posted by Michael at 10:12 PM | TrackBack HUD AWARDS $19.3 MILLION IN HIV/AIDS HOUSING GRANTS TO 18 LOCAL PROGRAMS NATIONWIDEFrom HUD Press Releases: Today, more than 1,100 persons and their families will find a stable home, and receive the services they need to manage their illnesses, because of $19.3 million in grants awarded by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steve Preston. The grants announced today are part of HUD's Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS Program (HOPWA) and will renew support to 18 local programs across the country and the U.S. Virgin Islands (see attached chart). Alaska Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC) will receive a HOPWA renewal grant of $915,440 to continue providing permanent housing, comprehensive case management, and short-term housing assistance to persons living with HIV/AIDS in the northern interior and in southeast Alaska. The program will utilize its renewal funding to assist current program participants who are in need of additional support in order to maintain stable housing, as well to provide housing assistance to households who are not currently helped by AHFC. State of New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services will receive a HOPWA renewal grant of $966,900 to continue to provide affordable permanent housing for persons with HIV/AIDS and their families. Along with housing support, the Department of Health and Human Services will continue to work with its sponsors to provide supportive services to 142 households annually, including transportation assistance, case management, substance abuse counseling and mental health services. Partners for this project include the following: Merrimack Valley Assistance Program (project sponsor), AIDS Response to the Seacoast, AIDS Services of the Monadnock Region, and AIDS Community Resource Network. Posted by Michael at 10:11 PM | TrackBack August 14, 2008Statement from U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings on the Class of 2008 ACT ScoresFrom Education Newsfeed: "ACT scores for the Class of 2008 have remained largely steady, which is encouraging given that the number of test-takers has expanded rapidly to include many more students than ever before. We know that added rigor and accountability in our high schools will raise these scores even higher and better prepare students for college and the workforce. While the percentage of students meeting ACT College Readiness Benchmarks remained steady in math, reading and science, it dropped in English. This is unacceptable when 90 percent of the fastest growing jobs require at least some post-secondary education." "No Child Left Behind has raised expectations for all students and started to close achievement gaps. In today's competitive global economy, it is imperative for us to continue to call on states to better align their standards with college and workforce expectations, increase access to rigorous coursework and report a more accurate high school graduation rate so America's students can be armed with the critical skills they need to succeed in college and throughout their lives." Posted by Michael at 9:30 PM | TrackBack Boston Globe Op-Ed: How Rehospitalizations are Hurting MedicareFrom The Commonwealth Fund: One of the biggest health care challenges facing Congress is avoiding cutting Medicare's physician fees while controlling costs for the program. In an op-ed published today in the Boston Globe, Commonwealth Fund board member Robert Pozen and Commonwealth Fund senior vice president Cathy Schoen suggest a practical way to save Medicare billions of dollars--by preventing avoidable hospital readmissions. GETTING Medicare costs under control is no easy job. Congress recently overrode a scheduled 11 percent cut in Medicare's physician fees by freezing them for the rest of 2008 with a slight raise in 2009. But the program's finances will continue to worsen as baby boomers retire. Avoiding deep cuts in physician fees from 2010 onward will require a $20 billion fix every year for the following decade. But there is a straightforward way to pay for half of this fix. Medicare spends vast sums on hospital care for patients readmitted within 30 days of their previous stay in a hospital. And if Congress focuses on reducing the need for rehospitalization in areas where the practice is most common, Medicare could save many billions of dollars. The percentage of Medicare patients readmitted to the hospital within 30 days averaged 18 percent in 2005 - based on an analysis by the Commonwealth Fund of 30 prevalent medical conditions. But the readmission rate varies from area to area. According to a Medicare Payment Advisory Commission study, 75 percent of all 30-day hospital readmissions in Medicare in 2005 were potentially preventable - or 13 percent of total admissions. To realize these savings, Congress should focus on three objectives: decreasing complications during hospital stays, improving patient communications in the discharge process, and monitoring patients after discharge. Higher rates of hospital readmissions are associated with infections and other complications acquired by patients during hospital stays. Under traditional procedures, Medicare can pay a higher rate for hospital stays involving complications, or can pay for readmissions due to complications or medical errors. In a pilot project in which hospitals were paid bonuses and held accountable for better outcomes, quality improved and readmission rates fell substantially. Some hospitals have had success providing patients at discharge with a "transition coach" to review their medication needs, supply a copy of their health records, and encourage timely follow-ups. Congress should require hospitals to publicly disclose their readmission rates. Furthermore, any hospital above the national average for readmissions should receive a lower rate from Medicare for the second hospital stay. Posted by Michael at 9:22 PM | TrackBack Beyond Ideology, Politics, and Guesswork: The Case for Evidence-Based Policy (revised 2008)From Urban Institute: U.S. public policy has increasingly been conceived, debated, and evaluated through the lenses of politics and ideology. A remedy is evidence-based policy---a rigourous approach that draws on careful data collection, experimentation, and both quantitative and qualitative analysis to determine what the problem is, which ways it can be addressed, and the probable impacts of each of these ways. Examples of how evidence informs good policy and lack of evidence can invite bad include health insurance coverage, education, sentencing policy, and redress for housing discrimination. Public policy in the United States in recent years has increasingly been conceived, debated, and evaluated through the lenses of politics and ideology---policies are Democratic or Republican, liberal or conservative, free market or government controlled. The fundamental question---Will the policy work?---too often gets short shrift or ignored altogether. In contrast, in the United Kingdom and some other democracies facing challenges similar to ours, "evidence-based policy" is gaining momentum. Evidence can be ambiguous or even contradictory, and it can be complex or difficult to interpret. Also, the path from research to sound policy can be long and winding. Policy positions based on ideology or political considerations tend to agitate the fragile body politic and alienate a significant fraction of Americans---think of affirmative action or education vouchers. Posted by Michael at 9:17 PM | TrackBack Young children's 'theory of mind' linked to subsequent metacognitive development in adolescenceFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Wurzburg, Germany -- August 14, 2008 -- Metacognition refers to the awareness of one's knowledge in different areas. "Theory of Mind" (ToM) deals with very young children's understanding of mental life and the ability to estimate mental states. A new study in the journal Mind, Brain, and Education detects a systematic link between children's "theory of mind" as assessed in kindergarten and their metacognitive knowledge in elementary school. Wolfgang Schneider, Ph.D., of the University of Wurzburg examined 174 children who were either three or four years of age at the beginning of the study in order to investigate the relationship between early ToM and subsequent metacognitive development. ToM facilitated the acquisition of metacognitive knowledge. Early ToM competencies also affected the acquisition of metacognitive vocabulary, which in turn had an impact on developmental changes in metacognitive knowledge. Declarative metacognitive knowledge is usually scarce in young elementary children but increases considerably over the school years, predicting academic performance. Mind, Brain, and Education (MBE), recognized as the 2007 Best New Journal in the Social Sciences & Humanities by the Association of American Publishers' Professional & Scholarly Publishing Division, provides a forum for the accessible presentation of basic and applied research on learning and development, including analyses from biology, cognitive science, and education. Posted by Michael at 9:11 PM | TrackBack Reserve, National Guard at higher risk of alcohol-related problems after returning from combatFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Younger service members and Reserve and National Guard combat personnel returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are at increased risk of new-onset heavy drinking, binge drinking and other alcohol-related problems, according to a study in the August 13 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on violence and human rights. Substance abuse is strongly associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other psychological disorders that may occur after stressful and traumatic events, such as those connected with war. Because alcohol use may serve as a coping mechanism after traumatic events, it is plausible that deployment is associated with increased rates of alcohol consumption or problem drinking, according to background information in the article. High rates of alcohol misuse after deployment have been reported among personnel returning from past conflicts, but there is little information regarding alcohol misuse after return from the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Of these, 5,510 deployed with combat exposures, 5,661 deployed without combat exposures, and 37,310 did not deploy. Among Reserve/Guard personnel, deployment with combat exposures was associated with increased odds of new onset of all three drinking outcomes compared with nondeployed personnel, with heavy weekly drinking (63 percent) and alcohol-related problems (63 percent) showing the strongest association. Among active-duty personnel, those deployed with combat exposures were at increased odds (31 percent) of new-onset binge drinking at follow-up. Women were 1.2 times more likely to report new-onset heavy weekly drinking, whereas they were significantly less likely to report new-onset or changes in binge drinking or alcohol-related problems. Interventions should focus on at-risk groups, including Reserve/Guard personnel, younger individuals, and those with previous or existing mental health disorders. Posted by Michael at 1:14 AM | TrackBack National High School Center Publishes Briefs for Practitioners by MDRC ExpertsFrom MDRC: Too often today, high school students are inadequately prepared for what is expected of them in postsecondary education and the workforce. The National High School Center has just released a set of products that examine what is known about educational interventions that facilitate successful transitions out of high school. The publications are authored by Michael Bangser and Thomas J. Smith, consultants for MDRC. Preparing High School Students for Successful Transitions to Postsecondary Education and Employment by Michael Bangser. The brief notes that a number of promising approaches are available to improve transitions out of high school, but cautions that effective implementation is key. Striking the Balance: Career Academies Combine Academic Rigor and Workplace Relevance by Thomas J. Smith. This snapshot takes a closer look at implementation of the Career Academy model, an innovative approach to infuse life relevancy and critical thinking skills into the academic curriculum, in a high school in Oakland, California. A recent report from MDRC shows that Career Academies can produce sustained employment and earnings gains, particularly among young men. This research brief examines the challenges and opportunities presented in evaluating whether an intervention achieves defined goals of increasing students' educational attainment, employment, and earnings after high school. Led by the American Institutes for Research, the National High School Center identifies research-supported improvement programs and tools, offers user-friendly products, and provides technical assistance services to improve secondary education. MDRC is one of several partner organizations participating in the Center. For more information about MDRC's research on high schools, visit the secondary school reforms page. Posted by Michael at 1:06 AM | TrackBack Case Western Reserve University study finds caregivers of spouses with dementia enjoy life lessFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Spouses of husbands and wives with dementia pay an emotional toll as they care for their ailing spouse. This has prompted a call for new interventions and strategies to assist caregivers in coping with the demands of this difficult time, according to a study from Case Western Reserve University's Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences. "Caregivers have a long exposure to stresses and losses from the dementia and fatigue that comes from caring for their spouses, so they experience fewer positive emotions," said Kathryn Betts Adams, assistant professor of social work at the Mandel School. "Some may have feelings of guilt about participating in activities with friends or in the community when their loved ones are no longer able to do so." Adams added that caregivers also report sadness and loneliness. While prior studies have shown that caregiving can be a factor in diagnosing depression, Adams analyzed data from spouse caregivers and compared their responses to non-caregivers at the symptom level to determine which symptoms were especially common. After factoring out age, gender, education and income levels and race, some 25 percent of caregivers suffered from depression in contrast to only five percent of non-caregivers studied, said Adams. Of the spouses with dementia, approximately half had mild dementia, with 37 percent in stages of moderate to severe dementia. Case Western Reserve University is among the nation's leading research institutions. Located in Cleveland, Case offers nationally recognized programs in the Arts and Sciences, Dental Medicine, Engineering, Law, Management, Medicine, Nursing, and Social Work. Posted by Michael at 1:06 AM | TrackBack Public health clinic study links 'Americanization' and depressionFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A study of 439 U.S. and Mexican-born Latinas seeking pregnancy and postpartum services at public health clinics in San Antonio uncovered elevated levels of depression among the more "Americanized" women, report researchers from The University of Texas School of Public Health and The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio in the most recent online issue of the Maternal and Child Health Journal. "Americanization" or acculturation is the process by which immigrants adopt the lifestyle and customs of their host nation, and key indicators include preferred language and place of birth, lead author Marivel Davila said. Elevated levels of depression were reported by the women born in the United States, as well as those who asked to conduct their interviews in English. "Screening for depression during pregnancy is important for this population group, given Latinas' high rates of fertility and births to single women, particularly among more acculturated U.S.- born Latinas," Davila and her colleagues wrote in the article. They were given the choice of conducting the interview in English or Spanish. Women in the study were part of the Perinatal Depression Project for Healthy Start, an initiative to provide mental health services to pregnant and postpartum women by SAMHD. They were screened for depressive symptoms using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies - Depression (CES-D) Scale, a 20-item, questionnaire designed to gauge the level of depressive symptoms over the previous week. "Women who conducted their interview in English were significantly more likely to express depressive symptoms compared to women who conducted their interview in Spanish." Posted by Michael at 1:05 AM | TrackBack UNC researchers find MSG use linked to obesityFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: People who use monosodium glutamate, or MSG, as a flavor enhancer in their food are more likely than people who don't use it to be overweight or obese even though they have the same amount of physical activity and total calorie intake, according to a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health study published this month in the journal Obesity. Researchers at UNC and in China studied more than 750 Chinese men and women, aged between 40 and 59, in three rural villages in north and south China. The majority of study participants prepared their meals at home without commercially processed foods. About 82 percent of the participants used MSG in their food. "Animal studies have indicated for years that MSG might be associated with weight gain," said Ka He, M.D., assistant professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the UNC School of Public Health. "Ours is the first study to show a link between MSG use and weight in humans." Because MSG is used as a flavor enhancer in many processed foods, studying its potential effect on humans has been difficult. He and his colleagues chose study participants living in rural Chinese villages because they used very little commercially processed food, but many regularly used MSG in food preparation. "We found that prevalence of overweight was significantly higher in MSG users than in non-users," He said. Co-authors on the study included Liancheng Zhao and colleagues from Fu Wai Hospital and Cardiovascular Institute at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences in Beijing. Posted by Michael at 1:03 AM | TrackBack Overweight Hispanic children at significant risk for pre-diabetes, according to new USC studyFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A study by researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) found that overweight Hispanic children are at significant risk for pre-diabetes, a condition marked by higher than normal blood glucose levels that are not yet high enough for a diagnosis of diabetes. The persistence of pre-diabetes during growth is associated with progression in risk towards future diabetes, according to the study, which will be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Diabetes, and is now available online. Despite the fact that Hispanics are at high risk for developing type 2 diabetes, few previous studies have looked at physiological causes of the disease within this population. In the new study, Goran and colleagues examined longitudinal data to look at a progression of risk factors over four years. Children were identified as having persistent pre-diabetes if they had three to four positive tests over four annual visits. The children who had persistent pre-diabetes had signs of compromised beta-cell function, meaning that their bodies were unable to fully compensate to maintain blood glucose at an appropriate level, and they had increasing accumulation of visceral fat or deposition of fat around the organs. Lower beta-cell function is a key component in the development of type 2 diabetes, as the cells are unable to produce enough insulin to adequately compensate for the insulin resistance. "The study provides great insight into the risk factors that lead to the progression towards type 2 diabetes in this population," says Francine Kaufman, professor of pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine at USC and head of the division of endocrinology and metabolism at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, who was not directly involved in the study. Posted by Michael at 12:54 AM | TrackBack Dismal employment trends characterize 2000s business cycleFrom Economic Policy Institute: As a consensus emerges that the U.S. economy has entered a recession, we are now in a position to characterize the full business cycle of the 2000s. It took longer to regain pre-recession employment levels: Nearly four years passed before the number of jobs in the economy returned to the level reached prior to the recession of 2001. By comparison, after the recession of the early 1990s, it took just over two-and-a-half years to regain peak level employment. Employment growth remained sluggish: Over the entire business cycle of the 2000s, job growth averaged only 0.6% per year---well below what was needed to keep up with labor force growth. By comparison, over the business cycle of the 1990s, annual job growth averaged 1.8%. The employment-to-population ratio deteriorated: For the first business cycle on record, the employment-to-population ratio declined over the 2000s, dropping by 1.5 percentage points.2 Over the 1990s the employment-to-population ratio increased by 1.7 percentage points. Posted by Michael at 12:51 AM | TrackBack Study Links Rise in Mortgage Rates to Falling House Prices in Many U.S CitiesFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: New research by Christopher J. Mayer, Paul Milstein Professor of Real Estate and Senior Vice Dean at Columbia Business School, shows that a rise in mortgage rates has had a significant negative impact on house prices throughout the U.S, reducing prices by more than 10 percent. Mayer predicts that prices will keep falling nationwide due to a combination of continued deterioration in the mortgage markets and economic fundamentals. "The problems in the mortgage market have put the nation's housing in a downward spiral that will be hard to break," Professor Mayer said. Examining house price data from 19 metropolitan areas in the U.S, Mayer determines the relative cost of owning a home in today's distressed mortgage market, and compares this ratio to where prices would be if the mortgage market were behaving as it has over the last few decades. For the last 20 years, mortgage rates have averaged at 1.6 percent above the 10-year Treasury rate, while in today's distressed market these rates exceed the 10-year Treasury rate by more than 2.4 percent. Climbing mortgage rates make it more difficult for homeowners with subprime loans to refinance into lower rates, resulting in a greater number of foreclosures, and they discourage potential new homebuyers from entering the housing market, lowering demand. Led by Dean R. Glenn Hubbard, the Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics, Columbia Business School is at the forefront of management education for a rapidly changing world. Posted by Michael at 12:49 AM | TrackBack August 13, 2008MDRC Receives Gates Foundation Funding for Education-Focused Antipoverty StudiesMDRC: In June, MDRC was awarded a $13 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support comprehensive evaluations of three promising interventions that seek to alleviate poverty by increasing educational success among low-income college students and disconnected youth: $11,475,000 for the recently launched Performance-Based Scholarship (PBS) Demonstration, which is testing different forms of a scholarship model that MDRC found increased academic achievement and persistence in Louisiana. The Gates Foundation funding will support the PBS Demonstration at Borough of Manhattan and Hostos Community Colleges in New York City; Lorain, Owens, and Sinclair Community Colleges in Ohio; and the University of New Mexico. The demonstration builds on positive findings from MDRC's study of learning communities at Kingsborough Community College. $525,000 for extended follow-up in MDRC's evaluation of the National Guard Youth ChalleNGe program, which serves youth ages 16 to 18 who have dropped out of high school and have not yet found a place in the labor market. The program begins with a six-month residential phase that emphasizes completion of a high school diploma or a General Educational Development (GED) certificate and a range of other activities and support services, followed by a one-year postresidential phase in which participants work with a mentor in the community. Each of the three studies is anchored in a random assignment research design, the "gold standard" of program evaluation, which uses a lottery-like process to assign eligible individuals either to a group that receives the special intervention or to a control group that is precluded from receiving it. Since the control group is free to seek any other supports or services provided by the college and in the community, the evaluations measure the incremental effect of the interventions over and above the supports and services that are otherwise available. Posted by Michael at 1:04 PM | TrackBack Preparing Minority and Low-Income Students for CollegeEnsuring College Success: Scaffolding Experiences for Students and Faculty in an Early College School The Science, Technology and Research Early College School, working closely with Brooklyn College—a partnership that has been supported by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation since 2003—has amassed an impressive record in its first five years. STAR’s successful early outcomes are the result of the ambitious goals and careful planning of the school and its partners. The key to its design is a multiyear transition plan that gradually introduces students to college-going experiences and the demands of college coursework, while providing a wide variety of supports tailored to individual needs. “Ensuring College Success” is a joint publication of Jobs for the Future and the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. STAR is part of the Early College High School Initiative, designed to smooth the transition from high school to college for low-income youth, first-generation college goers, English language learners, students of color, and other young people underrepresented in higher education. Posted by Michael at 12:36 AM | TrackBack August 11, 2008New Study Shows Reductions in Serious Alcohol-Related Consequences Among College StudentsFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: A new six-year study conducted at the University of Virginia has found that exposing college students to information that corrected misperceptions about campus drinking patterns resulted in dramatic reductions in alcohol-related negative consequences. The study is reported in the July-August edition of the Journal of American College Health by Dr. James Turner, executive director of student health at U.Va.; Jennifer Bauerle, director of the National Social Norms Institute at U.Va., and H. Wesley Perkins, professor of sociology at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. embarked on a social norms marketing campaign to better inform first-year students about drinking behaviors as reported in student surveys. Social norms marketing is an approach that communicates accurate information about the prevalence of healthy behaviors and attitudes among peers. Once the marketing campaign had been launched, Turner and his colleagues began surveying students who had been exposed to the campaign about 10 alcohol-related consequences, from missing class to having unprotected sex to getting in trouble with police. Over the six years of the study, students' odds of experiencing none of 10 alcohol-related consequences nearly doubled and multiple consequences decreased by more than half for all undergraduate students. First-year students exposed to the campaign reported a 22 percent reduction in the odds of experiencing multiple negative consequences and a 24 percent reduction in the odds of having an estimated blood alcohol content of greater than .08 the last time they partied. These observations, the authors note, contrast sharply with national surveys of college students that report either no decrease or a slight increases in seven negative consequences between 2001 and 2005. Posted by Michael at 11:22 PM | TrackBack Eat oily fish at least once a week to protect your eyesight in old ageFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Eating oily fish once a week may reduce age-related macular degeneration (AMD) which is the major cause of blindness and poor vision in adults in western countries and the third cause of global blindness, according to a study published today in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. There are two types of AMD, wet and dry. Of the two, wet AMD is the main cause of vision loss. A team of researchers across seven European countries and co-ordinated by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine sought to investigate the association between fish intake and omega 3 fatty acids with wet AMD, comparing people with wet AMD with controls. Participants were interviewed about their dietary habits including how much fish they ate and what type. Astrid Fletcher, Professor of Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, who led the study, commented: "This is the first study in Europeans to show a beneficial association on wet AMD from the consumption of oily fish and is consistent with results from studies in the USA and Australia. Two 3oz servings a week of oily fish, such as salmon, tuna or mackerel, provides about 500 mg of DHA and EPA per day". The research team is not, however, recommending omega 3 supplements as the study did not investigate whether supplements would have the same benefit as dietary sources. The EUREYE study was funded by the European Commission with additional support from the Macular Disease Society UK and the Thomas Pocklington Trust. Posted by Michael at 11:20 PM | TrackBack Preparing High School Students for Successful Transitions to Postsecondary Education and EmploymentFrom MDRC: This issue brief, published by the National High School Center, highlights lessons from selected policies and programs designed to improve students' preparation for life after high school. It summarizes core characteristics of popular interventions in a user-friendly chart, poses overarching implementation questions and challenges, and includes considerations for students with disabilities. The brief notes that a number of promising approaches are available to improve transitions out of high school but cautions that effective implementation is critical. Posted by Michael at 11:15 PM | TrackBack The Commonwealth Fund Survey of Public Views of the U.S. Health Care System, 2008From The Commonwealth Fund: On behalf of The Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System, Harris Interactive surveyed a random sample of 1,004 U.S. adults (age 18 and older) to determine their experiences and perspectives on the organization of the nation's health care system and ways to improve patient care. Eight of 10 respondents agreed that the health system needs either fundamental change or complete rebuilding. Adults' health care experiences underscore the need to organize care systems to ensure timely access, better coordination, and better flow of information among doctors and patients. There is also a need to simplify health insurance administration. There was broad agreement among survey respondents that wider use of health information systems and greater care coordination could improve patient care. The majority of adults say it is very important for the 2008 presidential candidates to seek reforms to address health care quality, access, and costs. Posted by Michael at 11:12 PM | TrackBack Scientists measure connection between the built environment and obesity in baby boomersFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Does your neighborhood have a lot of fast food outlets, few sidewalks, and no parks? If yes, your physical neighborhood may be hampering your ability to be physically active and placing you at increased risk for obesity. According to a research study conducted in Portland, Oregon by scientists at Oregon Research Institute (ORI), neighborhoods with lower mixed-land use and higher densities of fast-food outlets were more likely to have residents who were overweight/obese. In contrast, residents living in neighborhoods with higher mixed-land use, high street connectivity, better access to public transportation, and more green and open spaces were more likely to engage in some form of neighborhood-based walking. The study was unique in that it focused on the pre-Baby Boom/early-Baby Boom generations (ages 50-75) which will become the major demographic related to healthcare utilization in the next 20 years. Results from the study, funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, are reported in the July issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. The built environment is also creating barriers for our ability to exercise: many neighborhood areas lack parks and other recreational facilities and suburbs are often designed to discourage neighborhood walking. The residents' levels of physical activity were also measured, including neighborhood walking, walking for transportation (to catch a bus), walking for household errands, and moderate or vigorous exercise. The results showed significant associations among built-environment factors and the prevalence of overweight/obesity and various forms of physical activity in middle-aged and older adults. These findings suggest the need for public health and city planning officials to consider how modifiable neighborhood-level, built-environment characteristics can create more livable residential communities and promote active, healthy lifestyles. Posted by Michael at 11:11 PM | TrackBack New Survey: 82 Percent of American Think Health Care System Needs Major OverhaulFrom The Commonwealth Fund: Americans are dissatisfied with the U.S. health care system and 82 percent think it should be fundamentally changed or completely rebuilt, according to a new survey released today by The Commonwealth Fund. Also today, The Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System released a report outlining what an ideally organized U.S. health care system would look like, and detailing strategies that could create that organized, efficient health care system while simultaneously improving care and cutting costs. The survey of more than 1,000 adults was conducted by Harris Interactive in May 2008; and the vast majority of those surveyed---nine out of ten---felt it was important that the two leading presidential candidates propose reform plans that would improve health care quality, ensure that all Americans can afford health care and insurance, and decrease the number of uninsured. One in three adults report their doctors ordered a test that had already been done or recommended unnecessary treatment or care in the past two years. Nine of 10 surveyed believe that it is very important or important to have one place or doctor responsible for their primary care and for coordinating all of their care. Similarly, there was substantial public support for wider adoption of health information technology, like computerized medical records and sharing information electronically with other doctors as a means of improving patient care. Payment Reform: Report authors recommend moving away from traditional fee-for-service payments to a system in which providers and hospitals are paid for high quality, patient-centered, coordinated health care. Posted by Michael at 11:11 PM | TrackBack Research translates into successful community practice to improve elder healthFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: It is not easy to translate research into practice, and a therapy that works well in the sterile research lab is not always successful in the real world. Researchers across the country are driven not only to discover new treatments but also to make sure their treatments are designed to be used successfully in a variety of community settings. In the July issue of the American Journal of Public Health, Oregon Research Institute (ORI) senior scientist Fuzhong Li, Ph.D., describes how senior community centers in Lane County, Oregon successfully adopted an evidence-based Tai Chi program to prevent falls among older adults. Based on this success, the Oregon Department of Human Services, in partnership with 4 counties in Oregon, has now adopted the Tai Chi program as part of its efforts to disseminate evidence-based interventions to promote physical activity and reduce falls among community-living older adults. "Our results are very important from a public health perspective," says Li. The study was funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to determine how well the exercise program translated into positive results when taught in community centers by lay people. In previously-funded research, the Tai Chi program developed by Li and his team showed positive results in improving balance and reducing falls among the elderly. Also of critical importance is whether the community center was willing to consider tai chi as part of its regular programs, and the extent to which participants continued their tai chi practice once the 12 weeks were over. These results indicate that an evidence-based tai chi program can be implemented in urban and rural community settings. Posted by Michael at 11:10 PM | TrackBack Running slows the aging clock, Stanford researchers findFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Regular running slows the effects of aging, according to a new study from Stanford University School of Medicine that has tracked 500 older runners for more than 20 years. Elderly runners have fewer disabilities, a longer span of active life and are half as likely as aging nonrunners to die early deaths, the research found. "The study has a very pro-exercise message," said James Fries, MD, an emeritus professor of medicine at the medical school and the study's senior author. When Fries and his team began this research in 1984, many scientists thought vigorous exercise would do older folks more harm than good. After 21 years, their running time declined to an average of 76 minutes per week, but they were still seeing health benefits from running. On average both groups in the study became more disabled after 21 years of aging, but for runners the onset of disability started later. "We did not expect this," Fries said, noting that the increasing gap between the groups has been apparent for several years now. The effect was probably due to runners' greater lean body mass and healthier habits in general, he said. The research was supported by grants from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases and by the National Institute on Aging. Stanford University Medical Center integrates research, medical education and patient care at its three institutions - Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford. For more information, please visit the Web site of the medical center's Office of Communication & Public Affairs at http://mednews.stanford.edu. Posted by Michael at 11:04 PM | TrackBack Parents shape whether their children learn to eat fruits and vegetablesFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Providing fruits for snacks and serving vegetables at dinner can shape a preschooler's eating patterns for his or her lifetime. To combat the increasing problem of childhood obesity, researchers are studying how to get preschoolers to eat more fruits and vegetables. According to researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, one way is early home interventions --- teaching parents how to create an environment where children reach for a banana instead of potato chips. "We know that parents have tremendous influence over how many fruits and vegetables their children eat," says Debra Haire-Joshu, Ph.D., a professor at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work. One group enrolled in the High 5 for Kids program, and the other group received standard visits from Parents as Teachers. In the High 5 for Kids group, parents first completed a pretest interview about fruit and vegetable consumption. Parent educators then visited the home four times, providing examples of parent-child activities designed around nutrition, such as teaching the child the names and colors of various fruits and vegetables and having the child select a variety of fruits and vegetables for breakfast. The same parent interviewed before the intervention completed a telephone survey to determine changes in the number of fruits and vegetables eaten and behaviors of both the preschool children and parent. These parents also reported an increase in fruit and vegetable knowledge and availability of fruits and vegetables in the home. Although the High 5 for Kids program was effective in improving fruit and vegetable intake in children of normal weight, overweight children in this group did not eat more of these foods. Posted by Michael at 10:58 PM | TrackBack Columbia Community Business Program to Make University Resources Available to Harlem CommunityFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: Columbia Business School has announced the launch of the Columbia Community Business Program, unveiled yesterday at the Harlem Week Economic Development Awards Luncheon and Expo. The program is designed to support the growth and development of businesses and not-for-profit organizations in Upper Manhattan, offering participants access to Columbia University's resources for technical assistance, entrepreneurial education and a professionally facilitated peer network. Program benefits include: regular on-site meetings with a seasoned business coach to discuss pressing business issues; learning from experienced Columbia faculty and alumni from a wide range of business areas; access to students from Columbia Business School, The Fu Foundation of Engineering and Applied Science and Columbia Law School's Nonprofit Organizations/Small Business Clinic for potential consulting projects and certain types of legal work; and the opportunity to develop a valuable local professional network. Businesses and not-for-profit organizations in Upper Manhattan are encouraged to apply for participation and/or to register to learn more about Columbia University resources available to them. Full information, including application and registration forms, can be found on Columbia Business School's Entrepreneurship Program website: http://www4.gsb.columbia.edu/entrepreneurship/initiatives/columbiacommunity. The school's cutting-edge curriculum bridges academic theory and practice, equipping students with an entrepreneurial mindset to recognize and capture opportunity in a competitive business environment. The school offers MBA and Executive MBA (EMBA) degrees, as well as non-degree Executive Education programs. 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 9:42 AM | TrackBack August 8, 2008A Plan to Revive the American EconomyFrom Economic Policy Institute: With grim economic news coming from many directions, it's easy to get discouraged about our ability to repair the damage of years of failed economic policies. And yet, there are pragmatic solutions to our biggest challenges, including ways to restore health care and retirement security, to create family-supporting jobs, and to reestablish a leadership role in the global economy. Collaborating with some of the nation's top progressive thinkers, EPI researchers have been exploring and refining solutions for the better part of two years. Now, just in time for national debates on economic direction, EPI has compiled the best of these proposals into a small, easy-to-read Policy Handbook called A Plan to Revive the American Economy. For detailed reports, video of panel discussions and more on the ongoing effort to build a better way forward, please see www.SharedProsperity.org. Posted by Michael at 7:58 PM | TrackBack New survey: 82 percent of Americans think health care system needs major overhaulFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Americans are dissatisfied with the U.S. health care system and 82 percent think it should be fundamentally changed or completely rebuilt, according to a new survey released today by The Commonwealth Fund. Also today, The Commonwealth Fund Commission on A High Performance Health System released a report outlining what an ideally organized U.S. health care system would look like, and detailing strategies that could create that organized, efficient health care system while simultaneously improving care and cutting costs. The survey of more than 1,000 adults was conducted by Harris Interactive in May 2008; and the vast majority of those surveyed -- nine out of ten -- felt it was important that the two leading presidential candidates propose reform plans that would improve health care quality, ensure that all Americans can afford health care and insurance, and decrease the number of uninsured. One in three adults report their doctors ordered a test that had already been done or recommended unnecessary treatment or care in the past two years. The survey, Public Views on U.S. Health Care System Organization: A Call for New Directions, found that, in addition to respondents' overall dissatisfaction with the health care system, people are frustrated with the way they currently get health care. In fact, 47 percent of patients experienced poorly coordinated medical care in the past two years -- meaning that they were not informed about medical test results or had to call repeatedly to get them, important medical information wasn't shared between doctors and nurses, or communication between primary care doctors and specialists was poor. Payment Reform: Report authors recommend moving away from traditional fee-for-service payments to a system in which providers and hospitals are paid for high quality, patient-centered, coordinated health care. Posted by Michael at 7:55 PM | TrackBack UT Health Science Center researchers study diet and autismFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston have embarked on one of the first double-blind, clinical studies to determine whether gluten and dairy products play a role in autistic behavior as parents have anecdotally claimed. The pilot study is one of seven current studies on autism in the Department of Pediatrics and the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston. Autism is a complex neurobehavioral disorder linked to early abnormalities of brain development. Researchers have discovered that there are differences in the central nervous system's anatomy and function in those diagnosed with autism, but the cause of the disorder is unknown. Whether these problems are related to brain development is open to question," said Katherine Loveland, Ph.D., co-investigator and professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, pediatrics and biomedical sciences at the health science center. For the double-blind study, funded in its initial phase by supplemental funds granted by the Department of Pediatrics, researchers will enroll 38 autistic children ages 3 to 9. They will look at the influence of gluten and milk proteins in the intestinal function. Casomorphin, a peptide in milk; and gliadomorphin, a peptide in gluten, are thought to be related to changes in behavior in these children. Children will be taken off gluten and dairy products before the four-week study and then half will be given gluten/milk powder and half will be given a placebo powder. Researchers will study intestinal permeability (leaky gut) through urine collection and behavior through psychometric testing. Children will be enrolled through the UT Physicians pediatric gastroenterology clinic and The University of Texas Mental Sciences Institute. Posted by Michael at 7:50 PM | TrackBack HUD SECRETARY: FHA HAS HELPED 300,000 FAMILIES FIND RELIEF WITH GOVERNMENT-BACKED MORTGAGESFrom HUD Press Releases: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steve Preston today announced that 300,000 families have refinanced their mortgages with HUD's affordable mortgage insurance program. Since September 2007, FHASecure - the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) refinancing product - has provided struggling families with expanded access to safe and affordable mortgage financing. "FHA remains a source of hope for families who want to stay in their homes," said Preston. "The Bush Administration's smart, practical solutions to expand FHA-insured financing are offering a safety net for hundreds of thousands of families in need of affordable home loans. August 2007 - President Bush launched a new initiative at HUD's Federal Housing Administration (FHA) called FHASecure to help hundreds of thousands of struggling homeowners - especially low-income families and minorities - avoid foreclosure. This product expanded FHA's ability to offer refinancing to homeowners who have good credit histories, but cannot afford their mortgage payments after their teaser rates reset. The Administration has increased funding for HUD's 2,300 approved housing counseling agencies by 150 percent since 2001. March 2008 - As part of the bipartisan economic growth package, FHA temporarily increased its loan limits until the end of this year, enabling hundreds of thousands of more families to purchase or refinance their homes at an affordable price. Rather than go into foreclosure, eligible borrowers can refinance with FHA and lenders can voluntarily write down the outstanding subprime mortgage principal balances. 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 7:49 PM | TrackBack HUD APPROVES HISTORIC FINANCIAL DEAL TO MODERNIZE AND BUILD MORE THAN 4,100 NEW PUBLIC HOUSING UNITS ON PUERTO RICOFrom HUD Press Releases: U.S. Housing and Urban Development Deputy Secretary Roy Bernardi and Puerto Rico Governor Anibal Acevedo Vila today signed a financial agreement worth more than $600 million that will permit the Puerto Rico Public Housing Administration (PRPHA) to modernize and construct more than 4,100 public housing units. The agreement allows PRPHA to qualify for $235 million in tax credits to accelerate the ongoing efforts to modernize public housing on the Commonwealth. The tax credit portion of this transaction represents the largest single equity investment in the 22-year history of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program. "Puerto Rico has taken HUD's bond financing program to a new, extraordinary level with this deal," said Bernardi. In 2003, HUD approved a $693 million bond deal for PRPHA as part of the housing agency's effort to repair a portion of its public housing. The PRPHA is refinancing the original 2003 bonds to qualify for the tax credits. PRPHA is using bond proceeds, tax credits, and Capital Funds appropriated by Congress to make major improvements to its public housing stock, including replacing plumbing and electrical systems; making units accessible and other modernization measures. To date, HUD has approved 114 financing proposals submitted by public housing agencies totaling approximately $3.5 billion. This program allows public housing authorities to borrow funds on the private markets by pledging a percentage of future federal assistance (Capital Funds) to repay the debt. 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 7:48 PM | TrackBack The Bright Futures Training Intervention Project: Implementing Systems to Support Preventive and Developmental Services in PracticeFrom The Commonwealth Fund: The Bright Futures initiative, developed by the federal Bureau of Maternal and Child Health in collaboration with the American Academy of Pediatrics, has long made recommendations available to help pediatricians and child health clinicians improve the quality of care for their young patients. A new pilot project, supported by The Commonwealth Fund, is helping to implement Bright Futures in providers' offices. "This project demonstrated the feasibility of implementing specific strategies for improving preventive and developmental care for young children in a wide variety of practices," write Carole M. Lannon, M.D., M.P.H, and colleagues in "The Bright Futures Training Intervention Project: Implementing Systems to Support Preventive and Developmental Services in Practice" (Pediatrics, July 2008). Fifteen pediatric primary care practices from nine states participated in the project to test strategies for improving care. During a nine-month period, a three-to-four-person multidisciplinary team from each practice participated in a learning collaborative. Participants were introduced to six office system components, along with the tools needed to implement them, to help improve preventive and developmental services for children up to age 5. These included preventive services prompting systems, structured developmental assessments, recall/reminder systems, community linkages, identification of children with special health care needs, and assessment of parents' strengths and needs. The study's results suggest that brief, simple questions, tailored materials, and use of organizing systems will help pediatric primary care practices implement the guidelines. "Anecdotal feedback suggests that participation in this collaborative effort may have had a generalized effect on communication within the practice and may have contributed to a redistribution of responsibility for ensuring that children received appropriate developmental services," they write. Posted by Michael at 7:46 PM | TrackBack August 5, 2008U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings Statement on Congressional Reauthorization of the Higher Education ActFrom Education Newsfeed: "I congratulate Congress for its hard work in concluding the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, which seeks to tackle many complex and challenging issues that are vexing to students and their families, as well as to institutions. The Administration supports many of the bill's provisions, which are designed to enact needed reforms and address the problems facing colleges, students and families in the 21st Century. However we remain concerned with the creation of more than 60 new, costly, and duplicative programs. Higher education has been a priority for this Administration. In 2005, my bipartisan Commission on the Future of U.S. Higher Education launched a robust national dialogue on the need to strengthen higher education to remain competitive in today's knowledge-based global economy. One year later, the Spellings Commission issued a comprehensive report that, among other things, cited specific recommendations to make higher education more accessible, more affordable, and more accountable. While the legislation takes some positive steps forward, it fails to create the necessary reforms in accessibility and affordability, and it falls short on strengthening accountability. More work can---and must---be done to make achievement outcomes more transparent to students and families. For the sake of students who are committed to achieving their dreams through the pursuit of higher education, we must remain vigilant in advancing policies that support their goals. This bill represents another important step but we still have a long way to go." Posted by Michael at 9:14 PM | TrackBack Epilepsy drug may help alcoholics recover from dependence, small study suggestsFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: People with alcohol problems often use alcohol to get to sleep -- but it actually keeps them from getting good-quality sleep all night long. At the same time, they're highly likely to suffer from full-blown chronic insomnia that keeps them from getting enough sleep night after night -- and that condition has been shown to cut their chances of getting sober again. The study, published in the August issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, suggests that the drug gabapentin might be able to reduce insomnia in recovering alcoholics, and help them stay away from alcohol more successfully. The drug, often used to treat epilepsy and chronic pain, is not habit-forming and is not processed by the liver. Although the study involved only 21 insomniacs in recovery from alcohol dependence, and did not provide long-term gabapentin treatment or long-term follow-up on their sleep or their alcohol recovery, it was randomized, placebo-controlled, and double-blinded. In all, 30 percent of the patients who received gabapentin during alcohol recovery relapsed to drinking, compared with 80 percent of those who received a placebo. "We showed that the patients who got the real drug, rather than placebo, were less likely to relapse to drinking -- or if they relapsed it was later," says lead author Kirk Brower, M.D., FASAM, the executive director of U-M Addiction Treatment Services and a professor of psychiatry at the U-M Medical School. Neither did the drug appear to have a greater benefit for insomnia than placebo during the first 6 weeks of receiving study medication. Posted by Michael at 9:04 PM | TrackBack Research reveals why some smokers become addicted with their first cigaretteFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: New research from The University of Western Ontario reveals how the brain processes the 'rewarding' and addictive properties of nicotine, providing a better understanding of why some people seemingly become hooked with their first smoke. The research, led by Steven Laviolette of the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry could lead to new therapies to prevent nicotine dependence and to treat nicotine withdrawal when smokers try to quit. The paper is published in the August 6th Journal of Neuroscience. "Nicotine interacts with a variety of neurochemical pathways within the brain to produce its rewarding and addictive effects," explains Laviolette. "However, during the early phase of tobacco exposure, many individuals find nicotine highly unpleasant and aversive, whereas others may become rapidly dependent on nicotine and find it highly rewarding. The researchers found one brain pathway in particular uses the neurotransmitter 'dopamine' to transmit signals related to nicotine's rewarding properties. This pathway is called the 'mesolimbic' dopamine system and is involved in the addictive properties of many drugs of abuse, including cocaine, alcohol and nicotine. The scientists identified which specific dopamine receptor subtype controlled the brain's initial sensitivity to nicotine's rewarding and addictive properties and were able to manipulate these receptors to control whether the nicotine is processed as rewarding or aversive. "Importantly, our findings may explain an individual's vulnerability to nicotine addiction, and may point to new pharmacological treatments for the prevention of it, and the treatment of nicotine withdrawal," says Laviolette. The research was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Canadian Psychiatric Research Foundation. Posted by Michael at 8:51 PM | TrackBack Remedial instruction rewires dyslexic brains, provides lasting results, study showsFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A new Carnegie Mellon University brain imaging study of dyslexic students and other poor readers shows that the brain can permanently rewire itself and overcome reading deficits, if students are given 100 hours of intensive remedial instruction. The study, published in the August issue of the journal Neuropsychologia, shows that the remedial instruction resulted in an increase in brain activity in several cortical regions associated with reading, and that neural gains became further solidified during the year following instruction. "This study demonstrates how remedial instruction can use the plasticity of the human brain to gain an educational improvement," said neuroscientist Marcel Just, director of Carnegie Mellon's Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging (CCBI) and senior author of the study. Those measurements showed that prior to the remediation, the parietotemporal areas were significantly less activated among the poor readers than in the control group. The new findings showed that many of the poor readers' brain areas activated at near-normal levels immediately after remediation, with only a few areas still underactive. These findings that point to the parietotemporal region's role in reading contradict a common perception that dyslexia is primarily caused by difficulties in the visual perception of letters, leading to confusions between letters like "p" and "d." Visual difficulties are only at fault in about 10 percent of dyslexia cases. Additionally, the concrete evidence of improvement demonstrated in this study may be valuable in evaluating the effectiveness of a teaching approach or curriculum, or could even be used to shape education policy. Posted by Michael at 8:48 PM | TrackBack U.S. Department of Education Announces States Participating in Supplemental Educational Services Pilot for 2008-2009 School YearFrom Education Newsfeed: U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today announced that Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia have been approved to allow school districts to offer Supplemental Educational Services (SES) to students attending Title I schools in year one of school improvement status. Florida, Georgia, Illinois and Indiana have been approved for the same flexibility under the Differentiated Accountability pilot program announced earlier this month. States approved for the SES pilot must meet the following criteria: (1) timely notification of adequate yearly progress; (2) a state SES evaluation in progress; and (3) a state assessment system for which the U.S. Department of Education has granted Full Approval with Recommendations. "Success in the previous years of this pilot program has allowed us to expand it to more states," Secretary Spellings said. "SES is a lifeline for students who need more resources and parents who want more options. Research shows that students benefiting from SES are improving in both their reading and math skills." Supplemental educational services are an important component of No Child Left Behind, giving low-income parents real options to obtain free tutoring and after-school services for their children. These states will also offer the school choice transfer option, either at the same time as SES, or in the second year of school improvement status along with SES. These pilots will ensure that more eligible students receive SES, and the U.S. Department of Education hopes to gain valuable information through the pilots that can be shared with other states and districts to improve the quality and delivery of this free tutoring. Posted by Michael at 8:45 PM | TrackBack Collaboration, Not Just Location, Key to Success in Knowledge Economy, Says New Paper From University of Toronoto's Rotman School of ManagementFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: When it comes to reaping the rewards of being in an industrial hub like Silicon Valley, it's not enough to just show up. A study of Canada's biotech industry suggests that what makes a particular location a hive of cutting-edge invention are companies that actively collaborate, and have strong ties to universities, often by being university spin-off businesses. "The standard idea that you can pick a location, throw money at it, and attract the right kind of firms is a poor policy recipe. A variety of factors have to align," says study co-author Prof. Joel Baum, who researches competitive and cooperative strategy at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. Locations that were deemed most inventive - based on a level of patenting activity above that expected from the firms alone - had more resources, bigger R & D investments, and sharper technological focus than less inventive areas. How well a particular location and the companies operating in it are set up to take advantage of each other's "knowledge spillovers" is also crucial to a company's success. The MaRS Centre was created through a private-public partnership in 2000. The centre brings together business specialists, investors, medical and technological researchers in order to speed up the global commercialization of Canadian innovations. Posted by Michael at 8:45 PM | TrackBack Johns Hopkins Manners Maven Weighs in on China's Olympic Civility Effort; Could It Work in the U.S.?From Ascribe Newsfeed: China spent billions of dollars preparing for the Olympics, building stadiums and improving its infrastructure. But it also poured funds into something that is hard to put a price tag on: civility and good manners. By educating citizens on how to form orderly lines, dress appropriately and cheer for all competitors, not just the Chinese athletes, China's government could create changes that linger beyond the two-week games, according to P.M. Forni, director of the director of the Civility Initiative at Johns Hopkins University and author of "The Civility Solution: What to Do When People Are Rude" (St. Martin's Press, June 2008) and its companion "Choosing Civility: The Twenty-five Rules of Considerate Conduct" (St. Martin's Press, 2002). "It is extraordinary that a whole nation be targeted for the promotion of a code of conduct," Forni says. Forni is in a unique position to address China's efforts, having inspired several community-based initiatives across the United States to promote civility, including in Maryland, where Howard County's Choose Civility initiative has received international media coverage. Forni can talk to reporters about whether a nationwide campaign would be successful in the U.S. as well as other questions surrounding the manners movement here and abroad: What do Americans think of the state of their manners? To speak with Forni or to receive a review copy of either of his books, contact Amy Lunday at 443-287-9960 or acl@jhu.edu. Posted by Michael at 8:44 PM | TrackBack Remedial Instruction Rewires Dyslexic Brains, Provides Lasting ResultsFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: A new Carnegie Mellon University brain imaging study of dyslexic students and other poor readers shows that the brain can permanently rewire itself and overcome reading deficits, if students are given 100 hours of intensive remedial instruction. "This study demonstrates how remedial instruction can use the plasticity of the human brain to gain an educational improvement," said neuroscientist Marcel Just, director of Carnegie Mellon's Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging (CCBI) and senior author of the study. Those measurements showed that prior to the remediation, the parietotemporal areas were significantly less activated among the poor readers than in the control group. The new findings showed that many of the poor readers' brain areas activated at near-normal levels immediately after remediation, with only a few areas still underactive. Visual difficulties are only at fault in about 10 percent of dyslexia cases. The most common cause, accounting for more than 70 percent of dyslexia, is a difficulty in relating the visual form of a letter to its sound, which is not a straightforward process in the English language. Additionally, the concrete evidence of improvement demonstrated in this study may be valuable in evaluating the effectiveness of a teaching approach or curriculum, or could even be used to shape education policy. Posted by Michael at 8:43 PM | TrackBack PRESTON ANNOUNCES $100 MILLION IN DISASTER ASSISTANCE TO THREE MIDWEST STATES IMPACTED BY RECENT STORMS AND FLOODINGFrom HUD Press Releases: Recognizing the tremendous needs of Midwest states following recent natural disasters, U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steve Preston today announced HUD will immediately allocate $100 million to Iowa, Indiana and Wisconsin.The emergency funding is provided through HUD's Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program and will help support the states' long-term disaster recovery and critical infrastructure needs. Preston announced the following allocations among the three impacted states:Iowa, $85 million; Indiana, $10 million; and Wisconsin $5 million.HUD's initial calculations are based on preliminary estimates of total housing damage and business loss.The remaining funds will be allocated once more detailed data on unmet housing, business, and infrastructure loss become available. "Families and communities need help now to rebuild their homes and lives," said Preston."Iowa, Indiana and Wisconsin suffered greatly.As we continue to study the impact of these storms, we intend to allocate the remaining disaster assistance as quickly as possible." Congress recently appropriated $300 million in emergency disaster assistance and directed HUD to allocate the funding based on each state's unmet needs.Understanding that Midwestern states must begin their long-term disaster recovery planning, HUD allocated a third of the emergency funds as quickly as possible based on the Department's initial damage assessment. HUD will allocate the remaining $200 million when it completes a more thorough study of each state's unmet needs. CDBG is one of HUD's oldest and most flexible programs. The rehabilitation of affordable housing and construction of public facilities and improvements have traditionally been the largest uses of the grants, although CDBG is also an important catalyst for job growth and business opportunities. Posted by Michael at 8:34 PM | TrackBack HUD ANNOUNCES $152 MILLION TO SUPPORT AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT THROUGHOUT PUERTO RICOFrom HUD Press Releases: U.S. Housing and Urban Development Deputy Secretary Roy A. Bernardi today announced that the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and 27 individual municipalities throughout the island will receive nearly $152 million to support community development and produce more affordable housing. HUD's annual funding will also assist individuals and families who might otherwise be living on the streets, and offer real housing solutions for individuals with HIV/AIDS. Bernardi and Susan Peppler, HUD's Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development made the announcement to Resident Commissioner Luis Fortuño and a group of local mayors meeting in San Juan. For the local distribution of the funding announced today, see attached chart. Since 1974, HUD's Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program has provided more than $120 billion to state and local governments to target their own community development priorities. Emergency Shelter Grants (ESG) help local communities to meet the basic shelter needs of homeless individuals and families. These grants also provide transitional housing and a variety of support services designed to move the homeless away from a life on the street toward permanent housing. This block grant program, along with more than $14 million HUD awarded New Orleans and Jefferson Parish by competition, helps thousands of local homeless assistance programs to help those who would otherwise be living on the streets. HUD's Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) grants are distributed to states and cities based on the number of AIDS cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Posted by Michael at 8:33 PM | TrackBack Study highlights risky behavior, lack of care among HIV-infected crack usersFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Doctors who treat HIV-infected crack users refer to them as "the forgotten population." A study being presented at this week's International AIDS Conference in Mexico City reveals that these patients frequently lack outpatient health care, do not receive life-saving antiretroviral therapy and continue to engage in risky sexual behavior that likely contributes to HIV transmission. Researchers interviewed 190 HIV-infected crack-using patients at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta and Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami over 14 months as part of an NIH/National Institute on Drug Abuse funded study. One fourth of the group reported having unprotected sex in the last six months, half had not seen an HIV specialist in the last six months, and more than three fourths were not getting antiretroviral therapy, according to the interviews. The five-year HOPE study (Hospital visit is an Opportunity for Prevention and Engagement) is a collaboration between the NIH funded Center for AIDS Research at Emory University School of Medicine and the NIH funded Developmental Center for AIDS Research at the University of Miami School of Medicine. "We know that not being engaged in care and prevention services is not only bad for the individuals but is also bad for society, in that a substantial fraction of HIV-infected crack users engage in behavior that transmits the virus to others," says Carlos Del Rio, MD, professor of medicine and chief of medical services at Grady Memorial Hospital, co-director of the Emory Center for AIDS Research and co-principal investigator for the HOPE study. "Hospitals like Grady and Jackson are doing the best they can in the face of a persistent problem, with limited resources," Del Rio says. Posted by Michael at 8:30 PM | TrackBack U.S. Department of Education Awards 13 Grants to Higher Education Institutions to Plan and Prepare for Campus EmergenciesFrom Education Newsfeed: U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today announced the award of $5.2 million for 13 new grants to colleges and universities to develop and implement emergency management plans for preventing and responding to campus violence and natural disasters in order to ensure the safety of the entire campus community. "Keeping students safe starts with planning ahead," said Spellings. "These new grants will help college administrators coordinate with law enforcement, health officials, and state and local governments to prevent violence and prepare institutions to respond quickly and efficiently if emergencies occur." Funded for the first time in 2008, Emergency Management for Higher Education (EMHE) grants fund activities within the four phases of emergency management---prevention-mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery---to prepare for the whole range of threats that can impact a campus, including, but not limited to: natural disasters, terrorist attacks, campus violence, suicides, and infectious disease outbreaks. Funding for the EMHE grants is made available through the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools and the Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Posted by Michael at 8:29 PM | TrackBack Teacher-student relationships key to learning health and sex educationFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: When it comes to learning life-changing behaviors in high school health classes, the identity of the person teaching may be even more important than the curriculum, a new study suggests. For years, many high schools around the country have been relying on outside experts to teach sensitive subjects such as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and pregnancy prevention. But a recent study by researchers at Ohio State University and the University of Kentucky found that students learn more about such issues when taught by their regular classroom teacher. When there is a good relationship, that really facilitates learning and motivation. And we found that in almost every area, the regular classroom teachers were more effective, they were better," said Eric Anderman, co-author of the study and professor of educational psychology at Ohio State. Because of the established relationship regular classroom teachers have with their students, it may be easier for adolescents to talk with and learn from someone who already knows them as individuals. Instead of simply hearing a lecture on sex education, students were motivated to pay attention because they felt the class offered important information. "When you have kids who simply memorize material for the test and two weeks later don't remember any of it, you're not getting anywhere. Every teacher in this study, both temporary and permanent, received professional training prior to entering the classroom. If the teacher can make the right connection with one kid, you've saved one person from getting HIV, you've saved one person's life," he said. Posted by Michael at 8:26 PM | TrackBack Subprime Mortgage Lending in the District of Columbia : A Study for the Department of Insurance, Securities and BankingFrom Urban Institute: This report, commissioned by the D.C. Department of Insurance, Securities, and Banking, examines the extent of subprime lending in the District of Columbia and the resulting impacts on residents and neighborhoods. The study found that subprime lending was concentrated in predominantly African-American, moderate-income neighborhoods, areas that are now experiencing a sharp rise in home foreclosures. The report recommends a number of actions to protect the city's homeowners and neighborhoods, including stronger monitoring of mortgage lenders, better outreach and education for home owners and home buyers, and creation of a loan fund to help persons refinance out of bad loans. Posted by Michael at 8:23 PM | TrackBack Enabling Families to Weather Emergencies and Develop - SummaryFrom Urban Institute: Low-wage jobs can be unstable, leaving families struggling to cope with employment gaps and financial emergencies that can strike without warning. About four in five low-income families are "asset-poor," lacking enough liquid savings to live for three months at the federal poverty level without earnings. In this summary, McKernan and Ratcliffe suggest a cluster of policies that would improve financial markets and savings opportunities for low-income families across the life cycle. Posted by Michael at 8:22 PM | TrackBack Social Scientists Recommend New Safety Net for Low-Income FamilesFrom Urban Institute: One-third of families with children, 13.7 million households, struggle to cover the everyday costs of living but don't always succeed. With so many families straining to make ends meet, a team of Urban Institute researchers, including labor economists, health researchers, housing experts, and children's policy analysts, have created a set of interconnected proposals designed "to make work pay in today's economy." Posted by Michael at 8:21 PM | TrackBack Unemployment Insurance Is in Desperate Need of ModernizationFrom Urban Institute Latest ReportsSearch: This paper is a response to New Safety Net Paper 6, "Weathering Job Loss: Unemployment Insurance" by Margaret Simms. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 8:20 PM | TrackBack States Will Find Their Own SolutionsFrom Urban Institute Latest ReportsSearch: This paper is a response to New Safety Net Paper 6, "Weathering Job Loss: Unemployment Insurance" by Margaret Simms. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 8:19 PM | TrackBack Supporting Work for Low-Income People with Significant Challenges - SummaryFrom Urban Institute: Welfare programs require people to work, but some low-income adults struggle with major personal challenges that make it hard to find or hold down a job. In this summary, Loprest and Martinson recommend both short-term changes to current programs and longer-term efforts through a program for competitive federal matching block grants to states. These grants would support efforts to integrate programs that alleviate barriers to work with employment services and to evaluate these initiatives so policymakers can better understand what works. Posted by Michael at 8:18 PM | TrackBack Foreign threats to US raise tolerance for diversity, study findsFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Foreign threats to the United States can encourage tolerance for diversity domestically and a corresponding intolerance for diversity internationally, according to a study by University of British Columbia (UBC) and Stanford University researchers published this week in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. On September 11, 2001, Paul Davies was a post-doctoral fellow at Stanford University working on the psychology of intergroup relations. As military jets escorted passenger airliners from the skies in the hours after terrorist attacks in New York, Washington and in the air over Pennsylvania, Davies realized that all around him the interactions between people had shifted dramatically. Within a few months, he and co-investigators Claude Steele and Hazel Rose Markus from Stanford University had a research program ready to go -- examining the relationship between foreign threats, national identity and citizens' endorsement of models for both foreign and domestic intergroup relations. "Our initial studies, conducted during the week of the six-month anniversary of 9/11, had Americans read a U.S. senator's policy on intergroup relations. Davies notes that a foreign policy of assimilation presumes that your nation's values, principles, and practices are a model for all foreign cultures to emulate. In subsequent research, American participants were exposed to a United Nations report that either challenged or supported U.S. global status. He points out that a heightened level of national identity predicted support for multiculturalism as a domestic policy and support for assimilation as a foreign policy. "The healing power of embracing one's national identity was obvious among the 78 percent of Americans who indicated, in 2002, that 9/11 and its aftermath has changed America for the better. Posted by Michael at 8:06 PM | TrackBack Three in Four Voters Favor Law to Guarantee Paid Sick Days to All Workers in CaliforniaFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: A new statewide survey conducted for the California Center for Research on Women and Families (CCRWF), a program of the nonprofit Public Health Institute (PHI), finds that by a 73 percent to 23 percent margin voters would support a law to guarantee that workers receive a minimum number of paid sick days from their employer. Support for such a law crosses party lines, and includes 85 percent of Democrats, 75 percent of non-partisans and 56 percent of Republicans. Women, lower income voters, Latinos, younger voters and households where a union member resides report higher levels of support for a paid sick days law. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 8:05 PM | TrackBack US immigrant children may be less physically active than US-born childrenFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Immigrant children in the United States appear to be less physically active and less likely to participate in sports than U.S.--born children, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. "Because of a dramatic increase in the prevalence of childhood obesity and diabetes mellitus during the past two decades, physical activity has assumed an increasingly prominent role in disease prevention and health promotion efforts in the United States and is considered one of the 10 leading health indicators for the nation," according to background information in the article. Gopal K. Singh, Ph.D., of the Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Rockville, Md., and colleagues analyzed data from the 2003 National Survey of Children's Health, a telephone survey measuring regular physical activity, inactivity, television watching and lack of sports participation in U.S. children. More than 42 percent of children did not participate in sports and 17 percent watched three or more hours of television per day. "Physical inactivity and sedentary behaviors varied widely among children in various ethnic-immigrant groups," the authors write. "For example, 22.5 percent of immigrant Hispanic children were physically inactive compared with 9.5 percent of U.S.-born white children with U.S.-born parents." "Given the health benefits of physical activity, continued higher physical inactivity and lower activity levels in immigrant children are likely to reduce their overall health advantage over U.S.-born populations during adulthood," the authors conclude. For more information, contact JAMA/Archives Media Relations at 312/464-JAMA (5262) or e-mail mediarelations@jama-archives.org. Posted by Michael at 8:03 PM | TrackBack Lowering cholesterol early in life could save livesFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: With heart disease maintaining top billing as the leading cause of death in the United States, a team of University of California, San Diego School of Medicine physician-researchers is proposing that aggressive intervention to lower cholesterol levels as early as childhood is the best approach available today to reducing the incidence of coronary heart disease. According to Steinberg, progress has been made in the treatment of coronary heart disease in adults with cholesterol lowering drugs like statins. However, while studies show a 30% decrease in death and disability from heart disease in patients treated with statins, 70% of patients have cardiac events while on statin therapy. Physicians have been slow to measure cholesterol, much less prescribe cholesterol lowering regimens in children and young adults who are otherwise healthy. However, the UC San Diego team notes that studies of Japanese men in the 1950s showed that consuming a low-fat diet from infancy resulted in lifelong low cholesterol levels, and their death rate from heart disease was only 10% of the rate of cardiac-related death in the U.S. Even with risk factors such as cigarette smoking and diabetes, heart disease deaths remained significantly lower in Japanese men with lifetime levels of low cholesterol. Citing the success of lowering cholesterol levels in children diagnosed with familial hypercholesterolemia, the UC San Diego team suggests that programs to lower cholesterol in the population at large from childhood on, with the ideal LDL level set at 50 mg./dl. Posted by Michael at 8:02 PM | TrackBack Evaluating children in preschools and early childhood programsFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Growing interest in publicly funded programs for young children has drawn attention to whether and how Head Start and other early childhood programs should be asked to prove their worth. Congress asked the National Research Council for guidance on how to identify important outcomes for children from birth to age 5 and how best to assess them in preschools, child care, and other early childhood programs. The Research Council's new report concludes that well-planned assessments can inform teaching and efforts to improve programs and can contribute to better outcomes for children, but poor assessments or misuse of the results can harm both children and programs. Federal agencies, states, school systems, and other organizations that evaluate early childhood programs or the children they serve should make the purpose of any assessment explicit and public in advance, the report says. "The goal of the assessment should guide the choice of the assessment tools used, and assessments that will have widespread effects should meet high standards of rigor and validity," said Catherine Snow, a professor at the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University and chair of the committee that wrote the report. "For example, using a standardized test with a sample of children in a program would be suitable if the goal was to determine whether the program is bringing children closer to national norms, but if the purpose is to guide instruction within a specific classroom, a nonstandardized assessment linked to the curriculum would be appropriate." The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council make up the National Academies. Posted by Michael at 8:01 PM | TrackBack The school bully -- does it run in the family?From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A shove, a taunt or name-calling on the playground or in the hall, away from the eyesight, earshot and authority of the teacher -- childhood bullying can involve physical contact, spreading rumors and other negative behaviors committed over and over again to intimidate, humiliate and isolate the receiver of the behavior. Elizabeth Sweeney, a University of Cincinnati master's degree student in sociology, presented her findings Aug. 3 at the 103rd annual meeting of the American Sociological Association. Sweeney says her review of the literature found that children raised by authoritarian parents -- parents who are demanding, directive and unresponsive -- are the most prone to act out bullying behavior. On the other hand, there were parallels showing that children raised by nurturing, warm, responsive parents were less likely to bully. "Children who experience hostility, abuse, physical discipline and other aggressive behaviors by their parents are more likely to model that behavior in their peer relationships," she writes. "Children learn from their parents how to behave and interact with others," Sweeney says. "So if they're learning about aggression and angry words at home, they will tend to use these behaviors as coping mechanisms when they interact with their peers." Her review also found that children from middle-income families were less likely to bully than children from the high and low ends of the family income scale. She says that while some studies suggest boys are more prone to bullying than girls, others state that it runs equally among the genders, although boys are more likely to act out bullying physically, while girls are more verbal. Posted by Michael at 8:00 PM | TrackBack Recreation and park agencies play a key role in promoting healthy lifestylesFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: When community leaders brainstorm ways to improve the health and well-being of youth and families, a team usually brings together doctors and health care professionals, hospitals, public health organizations and schools. But recreation and park agencies are another key player in the fight against childhood obesity, sedentary lifestyles, and chronic diseases says a new report. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 7:58 PM | TrackBack Case Western Reserve University study looks at keeping migrant workers' children healthyFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: As Ohio and Michigan fruit and vegetable farms yield this year's harvest, they also will provide data about the eating choices of Latino migrant children for a Case Western Reserve University researcher. Information gathered this summer will help migrant families understand why their children are part of the growing national obesity epidemic and contribute to new interventions to combat this serious health issue. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 7:57 PM | TrackBack Study: verbal aggression may affect children's behaviorFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: The methods mothers use to control their children during playtime and other daily activities could have a negative impact on their child's self-esteem and behavior, according to a new Purdue University study. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 7:55 PM | TrackBack Risk of unintentional injury death is high for young children living with unrelated adultsFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Injuries are the leading cause of death among children after the first year of life, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In a new study, a University of Missouri professor found that children living in households with unrelated adults are six times more likely to die of maltreatment-related unintentional injuries, compared to children living with two biological parents. The risk of maltreatment death is double for children living with foster or step-parents, or other related adults. Patricia Schnitzer, assistant professor in the MU Sinclair School of Nursing, examined eight years of data from the Missouri Child Fatality Review Program, which was established to accurately identify the circumstances and causes of all child deaths. Schnitzer identified 380 children under the age of five who died of an unintentional injury that occurred when a parent or other adult caregiver was either not present, was present but not capable of protecting the child, placed the child in an unsafe sleep environment, or failed to use legally mandated safety devices. Parents may not be aware of what's safe and what isn't, especially with so much new information being released about safe sleeping environments for infants. Children who died of maltreatment-related unintentional injuries were more likely to be male, born to young, unmarried, Medicaid-eligible mothers who had less than a high school education and received late or no prenatal care during pregnancy. Nurses and other health care providers often encounter families with young children, but there isn't enough time to address all aspects of child care with every single family. Posted by Michael at 7:54 PM | TrackBack Black girls who use marijuana engage in riskier sex, have higher STD rateFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Black girls who use marijuana are more likely to engage in risky sexual acts and contract a sexually transmitted disease, a new study finds. The study, by Emory University public health researchers, is being presented at the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City. It analyzed the marijuana use and self-reported sexual behavior of 439 sexually active black females between the ages of 15 and 21. Researchers found that black girls who used marijuana had significantly higher rates of incident STDs than non-marijuana users (32 percent compared to 23 percent). Marijuana users also had more sex partners, riskier sex partners, including a partner just released from jail, and more recent episodes of engaging in vaginal sex while their partner was under the influence. "While adolescent African-American females remain a high-risk group for STDs, little research has examined their marijuana use, sexual behaviors and incidence of STD infection," says study co-author Ralph DiClemente, PhD, Candler professor of public health at Emory's Rollins School of Public Health. "Although no differences in condom use were identified between marijuana users and non-users, results suggest that marijuana users are engaging in sexual acts with riskier partners and under riskier circumstances, and had higher rates of STDs," DiClemente says. DiClemente and team recommend STD and HIV intervention programs designed for adolescent black females that promote condom use as well as emphasize the risks of drug use and STD and HIV infection. The National Institute of Mental Health, a branch of the National Institutes of Health, funded the study. Posted by Michael at 7:53 PM | TrackBack Ensuring Quality Care for Low-Income Babies: Contracting Directly with Providers to Expand and Improve Infant and Toddler CareFrom Center for Law and Social Policy: The supply of high-quality infant and toddler child care is limited, particularly for low-income families. While most states provide child care assistance through vouchers or certificates, states have the option of contracting directly with providers to expand infant/toddler care for low-income families. Based on interviews with state policymakers, this paper explains how states are using contracts to create or stabilize care in particular communities or for specific populations; to create child care slots meeting quality standards important for infants and toddlers; to extend the day for infants and toddlers served in Early Head Start; and to improve the quality of infant/toddler family child care. Posted by Michael at 7:50 PM | TrackBack Back to the Future: psychologists examine children's mental time traveling abilitiesFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Planning and anticipating occur so frequently in our everyday lives that it is hard to imagine a time when we didn't have this capability. But just as many other capacities develop, so does this mental time traveling ability. Researchers have recently explored how children comprehend the future and ways that this understanding can be affected by, for example, their current physiological state. In one particular study, psychologists Cristina Atance from the University of Ottawa and colleague Andrew Meltzoff from the Univeristy of Washington tested children ages three, four and five to determine the precise age that they develop the ability to plan for the future. Atance presented preschoolers with a pretend situation in the future, such as going to the mountains, and then asked them to choose from three items to take along. In the mountain scenario, the three items included a lunch, which would prepare for the possibility of hunger, and two unrelated items, such as a comb and a bowl. Other findings, which appear in the August 2008 issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science, a publication of the Association for Psychological Science, indicated that children found it difficult to imagine their future selves in a particular situation if they were preoccupied with their current state. To show this, Atance and Meltzoff presented one group of preschoolers with pretzels, which would cause them to become thirsty, and did not present a second group with anything; both groups later were offered either pretzels or water. The first group of children, who already had eaten pretzels, tended to choose water while the other group selected pretzels. Posted by Michael at 7:50 PM | TrackBack August 2, 2008Male college students more likely than less-educated peers to commit property crimesFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Men who attend college are more likely to commit property crimes during their college years than their non-college-attending peers, according to research to be presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association. Sociologists at Bowling Green State University found that college-bound youth report lower levels of criminal activity and substance use during adolescence compared to non-college-bound youth. However, levels of drinking, property theft and unstructured socializing with friends increase among the college-bound after enrollment at a four-year university, and they surpass the rates of less-educated peers. "College attendance is commonly associated with self-improvement and upward mobility, yet this research suggests that college may actually encourage, rather than deter, social deviance and risk-taking," said Patrick M. Seffrin, the study's primary investigator and a graduate student and research assistant in the department of sociology and the Center for Family and Demographic Research at Bowling Green State University. A sample of 9,246 respondents from grades 7 through 12 was initially surveyed during the 1994-1995 academic year, with the following two survey waves taking place in 1996 and 2001. The study defined "college students" or "college-bound youth" as respondents who were enrolled full-time in a four-year college for at least 12 months by the third wave of the survey. The paper, "Juvenile Delinquency, College Attendance and the Paradoxical Role of Higher Education in Crime and Substance Use," will be presented on Saturday, Aug. 2, at 2:30 p.m. at the Boston Marriott Copley Place in conjunction with the American Sociological Association's 103rd annual meeting. The American Sociological Association (www.asanet.org), founded in 1905, is a non-profit membership association dedicated to serving sociologists in their work, advancing sociology as a science and profession, and promoting the contributions to and use of sociology by society. Posted by Michael at 11:19 PM | TrackBack Many 'Failing' Schools Aren't Failing When Measured on Impact Rather Than AchievementFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: Ohio State University researchers developed a new method of measuring school quality based on schools' actual impact on learning - how much faster students learned during the academic year than during summer vacation when they weren't in class. Using this impact measure, about three-quarters of the schools now rated as "failing" because of low test scores no longer would be considered substandard. "Our impact measure more accurately gauges what is going on in the classroom, which is the way schools really should be evaluated if we're trying to determine their effectiveness," said Douglas Downey, co-author of the study and professor of sociology at Ohio State University. Downey conducted the study with Paul von Hippel, a research statistician, and Melanie Hughes, a doctoral student, both in sociology at Ohio State. The results suggest that states may have to reconsider how they evaluate schools under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which emphasizes holding schools accountable for student achievement. The study used data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, a national survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Education. The survey measured children's math and reading scores on four occasions: the beginning and end of their kindergarten year, and the beginning and end of first grade. By comparing test scores at the end of kindergarten and the beginning of first grade, the researchers could measure learning rates during summer vacation. AScribe Newswire distributes news from nonprofit and public sector organizations. Posted by Michael at 11:17 PM | TrackBack Disparities in prostate cancer treatment suggest ways to improve careFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: NEW YORK (Aug. 1, 2008) -- Quality of care varies greatly for the treatment of men with early-stage prostate cancer by region of the country and category of health care facility, suggesting the potential for improved patient outcomes with more standard treatment protocols, according to a new study that was published in the Aug. 1 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology (2008: Vol. 26, Issue 22). Dr. Spencer is a urologic oncologist at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center and an assistant professor of urology at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. There were differences in care from community hospitals to cancer centers to teaching hospitals. There were also disparities in care from one region of the country to another. But there were no racial disparities, suggesting equity in care once a patient initiates treatment," says Dr. Spencer. Improving the quality of care throughout the health care system could greatly improve quality-of-life issues for men treated for the disease. Compliance with structural measures, such as having more than one board-certified urologist and board-certified radiation oncologist on staff, was high at near or greater than 90 percent. Comprehensive cancer centers and teaching/research hospitals had higher compliance rates than community cancer centers across the board on nearly all compliance measures. High-quality care is possible, as evidenced by the near or greater than 80 percent compliance with pre-therapy disease severity assessment and counseling indicators. Columbia University Medical Center is home to the largest medical research enterprise in New York City and state and one of the largest in the United States. One of the largest and most comprehensive health-care institutions in the world, the Hospital is committed to excellence in patient care, research, education and community service. Posted by Michael at 11:01 PM | TrackBack Higher HIV infection estimate shows need for routine screening, more funding for careFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is expected soon to increase the estimate of new HIV infections in the United States by 40 percent. This highlights the need to make HIV testing a routine part of medical care and provide better funding to care for those who test positive, according to the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA). "The fact that more people in the United States are infected with HIV every year than previously thought shows that we need to be working much harder to control the epidemic in the United States," said HIVMA Chair Arlene Bardeguez, MD, MPH, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. CDC has published guidelines recommending HIV screening in emergency rooms, public health clinics, regular doctor visits, and other routine interactions with the health care system. "The United States can be proud of having more than tripled its remarkable commitment to the global HIV/AIDS epidemic," said Daniel R. Kuritzkes, MD, past chair of HIVMA and director of AIDS research at Harvard University's Brigham and Women's Hospital. "These new figures from the CDC demonstrate that the domestic epidemic needs a similar response. We call on the federal government to renew its commitment to prevention, care, and research into the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States." HIVMA is the professional home for more than 3,600 physicians, scientists and other health care professionals dedicated to the field of HIV/AIDS. Nested within the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), HIVMA promotes quality in HIV care and advocates policies that ensure a comprehensive and humane response to the AIDS pandemic informed by science and social justice. Posted by Michael at 11:01 PM | TrackBack Comment on "Supporting Work for Low-Income People with Significant Challenges"From Urban Institute: This paper is a response to New Safety Net Paper 5, "Supporting Work for Low-Income People with Significant Challenges" by Pamela Loprest and Karin Martinson. Loprest and Martinson provide an overview of the issues related to supporting work and provide relevant background on past research and various strategies that have been employed to address the problem of helping low-income people with significant challenges engage in and sustain employment. In my comments, I will focus primarily on the ideas for policy reform posed by Loprest and Martinson from the perspective of someone who shares their concern about the need and who views the issues as a state administrator who must also be mindful of feasibility and implementation challenges. To begin, I applaud the authors for focusing on a policy goal of employment for low-income parents rather than a proposal that opts out of the difficult task of assisting those with significant challenges. This approach would exclude some families from the opportunity to gain both the financial and nonfinancial benefits of employment. Posted by Michael at 10:57 PM | TrackBack Putting Children's Welfare FirstFrom Urban Institute: This paper is a response to New Safety Net Paper 3, "Family Security: Supporting Parents' Employment and Children's Development" by Shelley Waters Boots, Jennifer Macomber, and Anna Danziger. By many accounts, welfare reform has been a success. Since the passage of the historic welfare reform legislation, welfare rolls have declined by 63 percent, down from 4.41 million families in 1996 to 1.66 million families today. Indeed, fewer families are on welfare today than any time since 1969; as a proportion of the population, the caseload is now at its lowest since 1954. Among never-married mothers, the group mostly likely to be on cash welfare, full-time employment increased from 49.3 percent in 1997 to 62.0 percent in 2006. Nevertheless, as Shelley Waters Boots, Jennifer Macomber, and Anna Danziger remind us, while acknowledging its successes, we cannot forget that an even more important purpose of welfare reform is---or at least ought to be---to enhance the well-being of children living in low-income families. On the positive side of the ledger, since enactment of welfare reform, the child poverty rate has declined from 20.5 percent in 1996 to 17.4 percent in 2006. Posted by Michael at 10:57 PM | TrackBack Supporting Parents' Employment and Children's Development - SummaryFrom Urban Institute: In this summary, the authors outline a "family security" approach that would help parents fulfill their roles effectively. Among the recommendations are flexible and paid leave policies for working parents, guaranteed child care, and expansion of the Early Head Start program. Parents in low-wage jobs face a double jeopardy: they lack both the time and resources needed to fill their dual roles of worker and parent. In the policy world, employment and child development are often discussed separately.We propose new integrated policies---the "Family Security" approach--- that encourage and support parents' work but also promote the health and development of children. Seven in ten low-income families have at least one working parent.While many families struggle with the right work-family balance, the task is harder for lowincome parents. They have fewer resources to pay for quality child care or social activities, greater vulnerabilities, and less flexibility in their work schedules. Our framework rests on four key child development needs: stability, health, nurturing, and activity. Children need consistent routines and stable housing, but this can be difficult for parents with irregular schedules and unstable incomes. They may work atypical hours that cause them to lose out on time nurturing their children---a critical concern for young kids who need steady parenting. Posted by Michael at 10:56 PM | TrackBack Disaster medicine ethical guidelines needed for US health-care professionalsFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: A new invited article in the August 2008 edition of Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery calls on the U.S. medical community to develop a national consensus on ethical guidelines for physicians who care for patients, victims, and casualties of disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, or terrorist attacks. The article, authored by the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery's Ethics Committee Chair, G. Richard Holt, MD, MSE, MABE, MPH, calls for the establishment of a virtue-based, yet practical and ethical approach to medical care under extreme conditions. It also calls for the establishment of medical school curricula that will train our nation's future physicians for disaster response. Dr. Holt discusses the problems associated with disaster medicine, citing the unique needs and environments created by not only the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York City and the Pentagon, but also the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and the devastation the storm caused in New Orleans and the Southeast United States. According to Dr. Holt, the situation requires discussion ahead of time so healthcare workers are aware of the challenges they may face, as well as their responsibilities during a disaster event. This call-to-action is especially timely as the U.S. faces another brutal hurricane season. Hurricane Dolly alone has affected hundreds in eastern New Mexico, with residents facing serious health threats from rising flood waters, contaminated water supplies, and power outages. Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery is the official scientific journal of the American Academy of Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS). Posted by Michael at 10:56 PM | TrackBack Weathering Job Loss - SummaryFrom Urban Institute: Low-wage jobs are often characterized by uncertainty and unpredictable gaps in employment. A majority of workers in these jobs do not have access to the temporary income of unemployment insurance to tide them over when they suffer a job loss. This summary outlines recommendations for updating the program by extending benefits to more workers through changes in eligibility rules and establishing more uniform periods of benefit receipt. Low-wage jobs are often characterized by uncertainty and unpredictable gaps in employment. Few low-income families have enough assets to tide them over after a job loss. And many don't have access to the temporary income of unemployment insurance, since the program's eligibility requirements can work against low-income families.We recommend updating the program to extend benefits to more workers and better reflect changes in the labor force. In about 1.5 million of those families, no adult in the household was working. Bouts of unemployment for low-income families can be long--- the average spell in 2006 was 21 weeks, compared with an average 17 weeks for all workers. Unemployment insurance (UI) is part of the social safety net designed to catch families after a job loss, often keeping them from sliding into poverty. Posted by Michael at 10:55 PM | TrackBack Comment on "Making Work Pay II"From Urban Institute=: This paper is a response to New Safety Net Paper 2, "Making Work Pay II: Comprehensive Health Insurance for Low-Income Working Families," by Cynthia D. Perry and Linda J. Blumberg. The paper by Perry and Blumberg carefully, objectively, and concisely assesses the nature, magnitude, and causes of the problem of the uninsured in the United States. By building on the current system, at least initially, while addressing its key flaws, this plan has a very real chance of succeeding, and should be given serious consideration by political leaders with a wide range of views about how to cover the uninsured. Perry and Blumberg have provided an important answer to the intense debate over whether health reform to cover the uninsured requires an individual mandate. Achieving universal or near-universal coverage will at some point require everyone to obtain coverage. Politics aside, it is unrealistic and unfair to require everyone to buy coverage before we have done both the architectural work and the full construction job of erecting and testing the new purchasing pools featured in their plan and the sliding scale subsidy arrangements needed to assure affordability. Posted by Michael at 10:54 PM | TrackBack Making Work Pay Enough - SummaryFrom Urban Institute: One-third of America's families with children are low income, meaning their incomes fall below twice the federal poverty level. In this essay, Acs and Turner outline their proposals to enhance low-income families' purchasing power and reduce unusually high housing costs through a package of reforms and policy initiatives that tackle both the income side and expenditure side of family budgets. "Making work pay" should mean that working families can consistently afford the basics---housing, health care, food, and child care---and see real benefits to continuing and stepping up their work effort. Our approach rewards families for working more, raises their purchasing power, and cuts the cost of big-ticket necessities like housing, where costs are rising higher than wages. Low-income working families are supported by a complex web of public assistance programs and tax credits, including the earned income tax credit (EITC), child care subsidies, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Federal housing assistance serves about one in five low-income families that rent and virtually no lowincome homeowners. Half of all working households with incomes roughly between 100 and 200 percent of the federal poverty level spend more than 30 percent of their monthly income for housing; close to one-sixth spend more than 50 percent of their income. Posted by Michael at 10:53 PM | TrackBack Health Insurance for Low-Income Working Families - SummaryFrom Urban Institute: Only 37 percent of adults in low-income working families had employer-sponsored health insurance and 42 percent had no coverage. Health care costs are also rapidly rising out of reach for even middle-income Americans. Their proposals include state purchasing pools, individual mandates and strategies for reducing health care costs. For many low-income families, work doesn't pay enough to cover the cost of health care. Low-wage workers are less likely than higher-income workers to have access to employer-sponsored health insurance, and they often can't afford to purchase private nongroup insurance. Meanwhile, health care costs are rapidly rising out of reach for even middle-income Americans.We propose comprehensive reform that ensures coverage for everyone at every income level, while still encouraging work. Between 2000 and 2005, the number of uninsured Americans grew by 6 million; most of this growth was among low-income working families. Low-wage workers often aren't offered health insurance from their employers, aren't eligible for benefits because of short job tenure or part-time status, or can't afford the premiums. Posted by Michael at 10:52 PM | TrackBack Making Work Pay Enough : A Decent Standard of Living for Working FamiliesFrom Urban Institute Latest ReportsSearch: One-third of America's families with children are low income, meaning their incomes fall below twice the federal poverty level. Although four in five of these families work, many don't bring home enough to cover the everyday costs of living. In this essay, Acs and Turner outline their proposals to enhance low-income families' purchasing power and reduce unusually high housing costs through a package of reforms and policy initiatives that tackle both the income side and expenditure side of family budgets. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 10:52 PM | TrackBack Family Security : Supporting Parents' Employment and Children's DevelopmentSummaryFrom Urban Institute Latest ReportsSearch: Parents in low-wage jobs lack both the time and resources needed to fill their dual roles of worker and parent. In this essay, the authors outline a "family security" approach that would help parents fulfill their roles effectively. They suggest policies for enabling parents to improve prospects for their children and combine work with child rearing. Among the recommendations are flexible and paid leave policies for working parents, guaranteed child care, and expansion of the Early Head program. Read more from this post. Posted by Michael at 10:51 PM | TrackBack Making Work Pay II : Comprehensive Health Insurance for Low-Income Working FamiliesFrom Urban Institute: Only 37 percent of adults in low-income working families had employer-sponsored health insurance and 42 percent had no coverage. In this essay, Perry and Blumberg propose comprehensive reform that ensures coverage for everyone at every income level, while still encouraging work. Their proposals include state purchasing pools, individual mandates, and strategies for reducing health care costs. While employment has never been a guarantee of health insurance, the link between employment and health insurance has weakened, particularly for low-income families. Limited access to public insurance for these families, especially for adults, combined with the limitations of private, individually purchased insurance leave many modest-income workers and their family members without access to affordable, adequate health insurance. Strategies for addressing low-income working families' heath care needs must take account of the weaknesses of private markets as currently structured, the gaps in the public insurance system, and the pressures of health care costs rising far faster than incomes. Health insurance provides an important financial support to families struggling to cover daily living expenses. This support is particularly important for low-income families, which are more likely to have members in fair or poor health than are higher-income families. Posted by Michael at 10:50 PM | TrackBack Weathering Job Loss : Unemployment InsuranceFrom Urban Institute: A majority of workers in these jobs do not have access to the temporary income of unemployment insurance to tide them over when they suffer a job loss. Most low-income families with children are headed by parents who work. Few of these families have enough assets to tide them over in hard times, and many lack access to unemployment insurance or other cash assistance programs. In 2006, an estimated 4.9 million or 6.4 percent of all U.S. families had an adult member who was unemployed (Bureau of Labor Statistics 2007). Low-income families with children are more likely to have unemployed members. Over one-fifth of the families weathering unemployment went through two or more spells within a year. In many of these families, breadwinners who work less than full time, year-round do so either because they are mixing work and such other responsibilities as childrearing or because they cannot find steady full-time work the entire year. While nearly three-quarters of all married-couple families with children in 2006 had more than one worker contributing to household income, less than half of families with incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level did. Posted by Michael at 10:50 PM | TrackBack Supporting Work for Low-Income People with Significant ChallengesFrom Urban Institute: Welfare programs require people to work, but some low-income adults struggle with major personal challenges that make it hard to find or hold down a job. In this essay, Loprest and Martinson recommend both short term changes to current programs and longer term efforts through a program for competitive federal matching block grants to states. These grants would support efforts to integrate programs that alleviate barriers to work with employment services and to evaluate these initiatives so policymakers can better understand what works. Whether temporary or permanent, such challenges range from mental or physical health problems or disabilities to substance abuse, domestic violence, low literacy, learning disabilities, a criminal record, or the need to care for a disabled child. These families' employment rates and well-being might be improved by investments in programs to help challenged individuals join the workforce. But few current public services for this group entail work supports, particularly those that address families' needs for child care and income subsidies. Against this backdrop, we propose an agenda for moving more low-income parents with challenges into work. We first determine how many people may need work supports and review the available public services with an eye to their limitations and the challenges involved. Posted by Michael at 10:49 PM | TrackBack Enabling Families to Weather Emergencies and Develop : The Role of AssetsFrom Urban Institute: Low-wage jobs can be unstable, leaving families struggling to cope with employment gaps and financial emergencies that can strike without warning. About four in five low-income families are "asset poor," lacking enough liquid savings to live for three months at the federal poverty level without earnings. Such means-tested social programs as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Food Stamps and such social insurance programs as Unemployment Insurance can help families weather hard times, but not all families are eligible for these benefits. One potential solution to this problem is asset building: savings and assets can help low-income families weather unexpected employment gaps or pay unexpected medical and car-repair bills, as well as realize such long-term goals as owning a home or financing retirement. Most low-income working families have too few assets to weather emergencies. At the bottom of the asset totem pole, nearly 30 percent of low-income working families have zero or negative net worth. A closer look at low-income working families' asset holdings reveals that the typical family has limited savings and does not own a home or have a retirement account. Homeownership among low-income working families differs substantially by race and ethnicity. Posted by Michael at 10:48 PM | TrackBack Solvency Recommendations for OhioFrom Urban Institute: This report examines the funding of unemployment insurance (UI) in Ohio. The two main recommendations to improve short-run solvency are to: 1) implement a substantial increase in the taxable wage base and 2) institute a temporary freeze in weekly benefits, both recommendations to be effective in 2009. In the period since December 31, 2000 the balance in Ohio's unemployment insurance (UI) trust fund has decreased by roughly $2.0 billion. The decline in the trust fund balance during the past eight years has been gradual but persistent with the annual loss of reserves exceeding $100 million in five separate years. The largest annual decrease was $650 million during 2003, but a similar decrease would have occurred in 2002 had the state not received a one-time disbursement of $344 million under the Reed Act. For any UI program that experiences a major loss of reserves, the underlying explanation is that benefit outlays have exceed tax revenues. Note however that the years with payout rates exceeding 1.5 percent of payroll all occurred before 1985. Payout rates during the past two recessions have not matched the high levels of the earlier recessions. Posted by Michael at 10:46 PM | TrackBack Analysis of UI Benefits in OhioFrom Urban Institute: This report examines benefit payments in Ohio's unemployment insurance (UI) program. The report compares average recipiency rates and replacement rates with national averages over the past four decades. The report identifies four areas where access to benefits could be broadened: reduced base period earnings requirements, enhanced eligibility for part-time workers, establishment of worksharing and establishment of self-employment assistance. Benefit payments in Ohio's UI program are strongly influenced by the performance of the state's economy. The Ohio economy in 2008 is likely to operate with an unemployment rate (TUR or total unemployment rate) that is some 0.8-1.0 percentage points higher than the national average. To help place recent economic performance into a broader perspective, Table 1 summarizes developments in three important indicators over the past 40 years: the overall unemployment rate (TUR), total employment of UI taxable covered employers and the average weekly wage in covered employment. Over the full 40 year period, Ohio's unemployment rate averaged 6.32 percent compared to the national average of 5.97 percent for a ratio of 1.06. For the full period, taxable employment averaged 4.6 percent of the national average and the weekly wage was 0.979 of the national average. Posted by Michael at 10:46 PM | TrackBack Returning Home on Parole: Former Prisoners' Experiences in Illinois, Ohio, and TexasFrom Urban Institute: Using data from the Urban Institute's Returning Home study, this brief examines post release supervision experiences in Illinois, Ohio, and Texas. Does supervision benefit some groups more than others? Overall, parolees reported positive relationships with their parole officers but received relatively little tangible assistance finding a job or drug treatment program. Parole supervision was associated with increased employment and reduced substance use among former prisoners, but had almost no impact on self-reported crime or rearrest. Research using BJS data found that prisoners released to parole supervision across a number of large states were rearrested at rates similar to those who were released without supervision (Solomon, Kachnowski, and Bhati 2005). Additionally, a recent report on parole by the National Research Council (2007) concluded that much is still unknown about community reintegration while on parole and that certain types of offenders may benefit more than others from supervision. Official statistics can take us only so far toward understanding the reasons for parole's success, or lack of success, at reducing crime. This paper explores life on parole from the perspective of 740 former male prisoners in Illinois, Ohio, and Texas.1 Interviews were conducted as part of the multistate longitudinal study Returning Home: Understanding the Challenges of Prisoner Reentry. Posted by Michael at 10:45 PM | TrackBack HUD ANNOUNCES DISASTER ASSISTANCE FOR SOUTH TEXAS HURRICANE VICTIMSFrom HUD Press Releases: U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steve Preston today announced HUD will speed federal disaster assistance to three hurricane-ravaged counties in South Texas and provide support to homeowners and low-income renters forced from their homes following Hurricane Dolly. This assistance includes foreclosure relief for families whose homes are insured through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) living in Cameron, Hidalgo, and Willacy 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. 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. Posted by Michael at 10:41 PM | TrackBack 2 years old -- a childhood obesity tipping point?From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Over the last decade, childhood obesity has grown into an epidemic, reflected in soaring rates of type 2 diabetes and recommendations that pediatricians check toddlers for elevated cholesterol. What hasn't been as clear is how early to intervene. A study presented at a pediatric research program on Friday suggested obesity prevention efforts should begin as early as age two, when children reach a "tipping point" in a progression that leads to obesity later in life. The study examined records of 111 overweight children from a suburban pediatric practice. All of the children had their height and weight measured at least five times during pediatric visits. Children whose body mass index exceeded that of 85 percent of the general population were classified as overweight. Researchers charted the recorded body mass index of the children from infancy. Over half the children could be classified as overweight at two years old, 90 percent before reaching their fifth birthday. Vu Nguyen, a second year student at Eastern Virginia Medical School, CHKD's academic partner, said the results surprised him. "I didn't think that that obesity would start that early," said Nguyen, who presented the results Friday at a pediatric research scholars program. Nguyen conducted the study with Harrington and Lawrence Pasquinelli, M.D., a pediatrician with Tidewater Children's Associates in Virginia Beach, Va. More research is needed to determine the causes of early obesity including "information on family history and the dietary and exercise habits in infancy," said Harrington, an EVMS associate professor. "We may then have to look prospectively to see what interventions work in reversing this trend." Posted by Michael at 10:41 PM | TrackBack Family type has less-than-expected impact on parental involvementFrom EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Children in step-families and in other non-traditional families get just as much quality time with their parents as those in traditional families, with only a few exceptions, according to research to be presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association today. Using the amount of time parents spent with their young children as a measure, sociologist Hiromi Ono found that children spent comparable amounts of time with their biological mothers regardless of the family structure in which the children were living (i.e., dual-parent homes that included their biological father, a stepfather or their mother's live-in partner). When she analyzed the time allocation of a variety of male parental figures (including biological fathers, stepfathers and unmarried male partners), Ono found that married stepfathers were less involved with their stepchildren than biological fathers were with their own children. "Children have no control over their family situation, so it's encouraging to find that the amount of quality time that they have with their parents is largely unaffected by their family arrangement," said Ono, author of the study and an associate professor of sociology at Washington State University. If a mother disagreed with the practice of cohabitation before marriage, her children tended to spend less time---approximately 4.6 fewer hours per week---with their previously married stepfather. Girls spent more time with their mothers than boys did, but boys spent more time with their fathers. When biological mothers worked longer hours, children spent less time with their mothers, yet when fathers worked longer hours, children spent more time with them. Posted by Michael at 10:40 PM | TrackBack August 1, 2008TechSoup Announces Show Your Impact Contest Award Winners; Girl Scouts of Eastern Oklahoma, MediaRites Productions, Fresh Artists, METRAC Named Grant Winners in Adobe Sponsored Design ContestFrom Ascribe Newsfeed: Ending a month-long submission period, San Francisco-based nonprofit technology assistance provider TechSoup today announced the winners of the Show Your Impact Design Contest. The contest, co-sponsored by TechSoup and it's technology product donor partner Adobe Systems Incorporated, invited nonprofit organizations to share their stories and show how their use of Adobe software helped them to achieve impact and further their mission. Participants were assessed in four categories; video, Web, print/photo, and other. The "other" category was created to capture non-traditional web and mobile application entries. The organizations were also required to submit an essay explaining their design submission and the impact it had achieved. Winning organizations will each receive $1000 grants plus their choice of one of three Adobe Creative Suite Premium software packages. For further information about these organizations and their winning submissions, please visit http://www.showyourimpact.org. TechSoup co-CEO Rebecca Masisak commented: "TechSoup would like to congratulate the participants and acknowledge the communities that are served and that benefit from the important work of these extraordinary organizations. - TechSoup Global (http://www.techsoup-global.org) extends the TechSoup's reach by creating a global initiative that serves local NGO sectors in countries around the world. 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. |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
.
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
| |||||
