ScienceCache

Vol. 155
Dec. 19, 2003

AIR FORCE PROGRAM REDUCES SUICIDE
A landmark study of suicide in the United States Air Force concludes that a prevention program reduced the risk of suicide by 33 percent during the past six years, while also decreasing the rates of domestic abuse, murder and other forms of violence among active duty men and women. Suicide prevention efforts began after a rise in suicides among 24-to-35-year-old airmen in the early 1990s. Concerned about the level of personal suffering in the ranks, USAF leaders made suicide prevention a priority and established several initiatives to decrease the stigma, improve coping skills, and train USAF personnel on reducing violence associated with mental health problems. University scientists then evaluated whether the USAF suicide prevention program actually worked. Scientists found that severe family violence declined the most, 54 percent, while homicides dropped 51 percent, suicides decreased 33 percent and accidental deaths slid 18 percent. “What we gained from this investigation is a remarkable global view of violence prevention in a tightly organized group of people under considerable job stress,” says Kerry Knox, assistant professor of community and preventive medicine. “The Air Force was successful in that they reached out to all folks, instead of just those identified at high risk. I believe this approach can be replicated in other workplaces.” The research was reported earlier this month in the British Medical Journal.
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PALLIATIVE CARE PROGRAMS EXPAND AT STRONG
Anyone who has been seriously ill or had a loved one who was terminally ill knows how difficult a hospital stay can be. Pain, anxiety, depression, and boredom are great barriers to treating an illness. Patients who suffer from severe and life-threatening illness will find new relief at Strong Memorial Hospital, thanks to a grant for massage therapy, live harp music, and bereavement coordination programs. These types of care, under the direction of the Palliative Care Program, can often give patients much needed relief from the rigors of severe medical treatment. This grant gives the program additional tools to address the effects of severe illness, and give patients more treatment options. “If you look at the patients who could benefit from this type of consultation, we see the tip of the iceberg,” says Timothy Quill, the director of the Palliative Care Program. “A lot of these people are dying at the end of very severe, chronic illnesses, and could potentially benefit from our care. Once we are involved, virtually all of the symptoms that we measure – pain, shortness of breath, anxiety, insomnia, and depression – over time, do better.” Because of the diverse treatments that fall under the umbrella of palliative care, the program must draw on the skills of a diverse group of professionals. The program has steadily expanded since its founding two years ago. The team includes 11 physician consultants, nurses, nurse practitioners, researchers, medical residents, social workers, spiritual counselors – and now a music practitioner, massage therapist, and a bereavement coordinator.
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FEWER THAN HALF OF EARLY STAGE BREAST CANCER PATIENTS GET FULL DOSES
Data from a new study published last week in the Journal of Clinical Oncology points to an alarming pattern in breast cancer treatment -- less than half of women with early stage breast cancer whose records were evaluated received their full, recommended dose of potentially life-saving chemotherapy. Researchers from the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center found that 56 percent of the 20,799 women treated for early stage breast cancer in 1,243 community-based oncology practices nationwide received less than 85 percent of their prescribed chemotherapy dose intensity due to treatment delays or dose reductions. Previous studies have demonstrated that receiving less than 85 percent of the recommended dose intensity can result in lower survival rates for women with breast cancer. The primary cause of chemotherapy delays and dose reductions is neutropenia, a shortage of infection-fighting white blood cells that is a common, potentially serious side effect of chemotherapy. Although white blood cell boosters, known as colony-stimulating factors, are available to manage neutropenia, researchers found that only one quarter of patients received them during chemotherapy. Most were prescribed in reaction to neutropenia, rather than as a preventive or prophylactic measure. “Far too many patients are not receiving the chemotherapy doses they need in order to have the best chance of remission or cure,” says Gary Lyman, lead author and director of the Awareness of Neutropenia in Chemotherapy Study Group.
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UNIVERSITY SIXTH IN NATION IN INVENTION EARNINGS
In a new ranking of academic institutions, the university ranks ranked sixth in the nation for the revenues it has earned from the research of its scientists and engineers. At $42 million, the university is behind only Columbia University, University of California system, New York University, Florida State University, and Stanford University. The ranking is based on figures from fiscal year 2002 in a survey conducted by the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM). “The 2001-02 year was great for us,” says Mark Coburn, director of the Office of Technology Transfer. “It is especially gratifying to be able to benchmark our licensing success and be ranked again among the top research universities in the nation. Once a university has achieved this level of revenue, companies and venture capitalists begin to recognize that the university is ‘licensing- and start-up-company friendly.’ It creates an exciting, sustainable process of technology transfer and helps to foster and attract resources to cultivate more innovative research.” University technology has become increasingly profitable in the last several years. In 2001, technology transfer revenue topped $29 million, more than double the $13 million of 2000 and nearly 10 times the $3 million of 1999. The most lucrative patents include a childhood vaccine, computer technology used in offices around the world, and a technique for unprecedented accuracy in diagnosing aberrations in the eye.
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MENTAL HEALTH EXPERTS ANNOUNCE STEPS TO HELP TROUBLED YOUTH
A group of 60 experts from 22 national health care organizations has announced new programs and tools to combat the growing problem of neglected mental health needs in youth. It has been estimated that 13.7 million children and teenagers in the U.S. have a mental health or psychosocial problem that impairs their functioning, but 70 percent of them do not receive any mental health services. The plans, first developed at The National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP)’s Keep Your Children/Yourself Safe and Secure (KySS) Campaign summit in the spring, were published recently in a special supplement publication by the Journal of Pediatric Health Care. “Sadly, we’ve reached an era where mental health and psychosocial problems, and related risk-taking behaviors and preventable injuries, cause more disability and death in children and teens than do physical health problems,” says Bernadette Melnyk, founder of the KySS campaign and associate dean for research and professor at the School of Nursing. Recommendations include new screening tools to help health care providers identify mental health problems; creation of a core curriculum for professional educational programs to train clinicians to detect and treat psychosocial problems more effectively; and the launch of a national continuing-education institute and on-line courses to equip providers with strategies for early intervention with children and teens at risk for severe psychiatric problems.
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