Mental Health Zeitgeist

(Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health) On Dec. 5, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the New York Academy of Sciences will host a half-day symposium to mark the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The event, "Public Health and Human Rights: The Work Ahead of Us," will evaluate progress in public health and human rights over the last 60 years.

(Journal of Clinical Investigation) This release contains summaries, links to PDFs, and contact information for the following newsworthy papers to be published Nov. 20, 2008, in the JCI: "Preventing tumor cells from refueling: a new anticancer approach?;" "To contract or not: a key question for the uterine muscles in pregnancy;" "Helping the embryo implant: a new role for one type of immune cell;" "Increased calcium sensitivity in the heart can make for an irregular heartbeat;" and others.

(University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston) NanoMedical Systems Inc., an Austin-based startup cofounded by Mauro Ferrari, Ph.D., of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, to improve the effectiveness of anti-cancer agents and other medications, has received a record $3.5 million Commercialization Award through the Texas Emerging Technology Fund.

(Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research) While the physiological damage and social havoc created by alcohol abuse and dependency are well-known, it is also true that light-to-moderate drinking has certain health benefits. This mini-review summarizes a roundtable discussion held at the July 2007 annual meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism in Chicago, Ill.

(Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research) College students are known to engage in hazardous drinking, more so than young adults not attending college. No national studies of this issue have been conducted outside of North America. A new study of New Zealand undergraduate students has found that hazardous drinking is pervasive, and begins in high school.

(Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research) The brain's serotonergic system plays an important role in alcohol preference and consumption. New findings show that specific DNA sequence variations of the serotonin transporter gene can influence drinking intensity among alcohol-dependent individuals.

(University of Illinois at Chicago) Race is a powerful determinant of how whites regard a neighborhood, according to a recent study at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Michigan.

(Prometheus Books) Despite access to the best technologies, human beings have severe problems using information and deciphering the truth. Christopher Burns' newest book "Deadly decisions: How false knowledge sank the Titanic, blew up the shuttle, and led America into war" takes an in-depth look at how even the best technological advancements cannot change how the biological brain works.

(Wiley-Blackwell) A new study in Personnel Psychology reveals that voluntary top executive turnover was more likely to occur as executives' stock option portfolios fell further out of the money.

(American Chemical Society) With millions of Americans planning to gather around dinner tables for the annual Thanksgiving feast, researchers are reporting key research advances in providing safer and more nutritious food in the 10th and 11th episodes of the American Chemical Society's Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions podcast series. Those advances include putting that Thanksgiving turkey on a special diet -- animal feed with a natural substance that reduces levels of food-poisoning bacteria inside gobblers and other poultry.

(University of Toronto) Some individuals would rather receive clear negative information than deal with ambiguity or uncertainty, according to new research out of the University of Toronto.

(Iowa State University) James McCalley, an Iowa State University professor in electrical and computer engineering, is leading a research team that's developing new and better infrastructure designs for the country's energy and transportation systems. The research team will consider all of America's energy options, including biofuels, wind, hydro, tidal, geothermal, nuclear, coal, hydrogen, solar, biomass, natural gas and petroleum, together with new and old freight and passenger transportation technologies.

(Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center) Elizabeth T. H. Fontham, MPH, DrPH, dean of the LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Public Health, will become the first nonphysician elected national president of the American Cancer Society when she is inducted at a special ceremony during the society's National Assembly Meeting on Nov. 20, 2008, in New York City. She will also be the first epidemiologist and the third female to serve as president in the organization's 96-year history.

(Wiley-Blackwell) Employees who were harassed report lower levels of job satisfaction, organizational commitment and job performance

(Forum for Collaborative HIV Research) The Forum for Collaborative HIV Research convened a national summit on Nov. 19-21, at which some 300 leading HIV researchers, health care providers, and policymakers shared new data on the advances and barriers to early, routine HIV testing, considered a key to slowing the US epidemic which now encompasses more than 1.1 million Americans living with HIV.

(Cell Press) In decisions about where to eat, baboons don't all have an equal say, according to a report in the Nov. 20 issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication. Rather, most baboons in a group will follow their leader to a dining spot of his choosing, even if it means a considerably more meager meal for themselves than they could have had otherwise.

(University of Missouri-Columbia) Now's the perfect time to increase anti-smoking campaigns -- Nov. 20 is the American Cancer Society's Great American Smokeout. In a new study, University of Missouri researchers examined the effects of two types of content commonly used in anti-tobacco ads -- tobacco health threats that evoke fear and disturbing or disgusting images. The researchers found that ads focused on either fear or disgust increased attention and memory in viewers; however, ads that included both fear and disgust decreased viewers' attention and memory.

(Wiley-Blackwell) Employees will feel -- and act -- engaged when their employer creates conditions that permit them to do so.

(Wiley-Blackwell) White privilege enables racially laden communication that regenerates, albeit unintentionally, the social exclusion of American Indian students. Moreover, as the essay argues, this exclusion results not only in myriad unearned stresses for American Indian students but sometimes also in their ultimately abandoning their academic objectives.

(Arizona State University) Aging -- we are all doing it. It is relentless and terminal. We stand in modern times with a span of a century to our name, at most. Technological wizardry abounds, so why do the factors that determine life span still elude us? If you ask Arizona State University researcher Juergen Liebig, he would point to his favorite study animal, the ant, to provide answers.