The prevalence of mental health disorders in this country has nearly doubled in the past 20 years. Who is treating all of these patients? Clinical psychologists and therapists are charged with the task, but many are falling short by using methods that are out of date and lack scientific rigor. This is in part because many of the training programs especially some Doctorate of Psychology (PsyD) programs and forprofit training centers are not grounded in science.

A new report in Psychological Science in the Public Interest, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, by a panel of distinguished clinical scientists Timothy Baker (University of WisconsinMadison), Richard McFall (Indiana University), and Varda Shoham (University of Arizona) calls for the reform of clinical psychology training programs and appeals for a new accreditation system to ensure that mental health clinicians are trained to use the most effective and current research to treat their patients.

There are multiple practices in clinical psychology that are grounded in science and proven to work, but in the absence of standardized sciencebased training, those treatments go unused.

For example, cognitivebehavioral therapy (CBT) has been shown to be the most effective treatment for PTSD and has the fewest sideeffects, yet many psychologists do not use this method. Baker and colleagues cite one study in which only 30 percent of psychologists were trained to perform CBT for PTSD and only half of those psychologists elected to use it. That means that six of every seven sufferers were not getting the best care available from their clinicians. Furthermore, CBT shows both longterm and immediate benefits as a treatment for PTSD; whereas medications such as Paxil have shown 25 to 50 percent relapse rates.

The report suggests that the escalating cost of mental health care treatment has reduced the use of psychological treatments and shifted care to general health care facilities. The authors also stress the importance of coupling psychosocial interventions with medicine because many behavioral therapies have been shown to reduce costs and provide longer term benefits for the client.

Baker and colleagues conclude that a new accreditation system is the key to reforming training in clinical psychology. This new system is already under development the Psychological Clinical Science Accreditation System (PCSAS pcsas.org).

Source
Kevin Lyn Sisson

Made possible by a generous grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Autism Speaks is pleased to announce its first round of Dennis Weatherstone PreDoctoral Fellowships awarding eight Fellows a combined $448,000 in research grants over the next two years. Established in 2008 in memory of Sir Dennis Weatherstone, the former Chairman and CEO of J.P. Morgan, the intent of the fellowship program is to encourage the most promising young scientists to establish autism research as their chosen career path. The fellowship awards will provide highly qualified candidates with exceptional research training opportunities in all areas related to the study of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Specifically, Dennis Weatherstone Fellows will work directly with mentors who are leading scientists in the field of autism research to support the growth of a promising cadre of young autism scientists.

Eight applicants were chosen to be among the first class of Dennis Weatherstone Fellows, selected from the 55 proposals received from highly qualified candidates in response to this years request for applications. The thorough and competitive review process confers distinction on those awarded a fellowship grant. Research topics for this years award recipients focus on various aspects of autism science ranging from neurobiology, genetics, and immunology to behavior, communication, and computerbased language tools.

“We are extremely pleased to launch this new fellowships program made possible through a generous gift to Autism Speaks,” says Geraldine Dawson, chief science officer for Autism Speaks. “We were especially impressed with the quality and diversity of the fellows whose research spans genetics, neuroscience, and clinical research. Jumpstarting the careers of these young scientists, not only with research funds but with mentor relationships with leading scientists, is one of the best investments we can make.”

In a computer science project entitled “Visualizing Voice,” Joshua Hailpern, under mentor Karrie Karahalios, Ph.D. of the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, aims to develop a computerbased program for children with ASD that will “paint” an individuals voice onto the screen, showing volume and pitch changes in real time in order to teach language skills such as multisyllabic word production.

Jennifer FossFeig, with mentor Wendy Stone, Ph.D. at Vanderbilt University, will investigate the underlying neural mechanisms involved in the processing of complex sensory information using noninvasive measures of brain electrical activity.

Meaghan Parladé, with mentor Jana Iverson, Ph.D. at the University of Pittsburgh, will investigate early risk indicators for autism such as gestures, eye contact, facial expressions, and communicative vocalizations in very young siblings of affected children.

At the University of Colorado Denver with mentor of Donald Rojas, Ph.D., Lisa Wilson will use advanced imaging techniques including magnetoencephalography and magnetic resonance imaging to examine how language is processed in parents of children with autism and in adults with autism.

At the University of Illinois at Chicago with mentor John Sweeney, Ph.D., AnnaMaria DCruz will study abnormalities in brain function that may contribute to Insistence on Sameness, a core feature of autism characterized by routine, stereotyped and repetitive behaviors.

With mentor Paul Patterson, Ph.D. at the California Institute of Technology, Elaine Hsiao will use a mouse model of maternal viral infection to investigate the role of Interleukine6 in the development of autismrelated behaviors in the offspring.

Bradford Elmer, with mentor A. Kimberly McAllister, Ph.D. from the University of California at Davis, will study the role of immune molecules but in the formation of brain connections (or synaptogenesis) and possible alterations that might result in neurodevelopmental disorders.

Examining the genetic causes of autism, M. Ali Bangash with mentor Paul Worley, M.D. at Johns Hopkins University, will refine a mouse model to study the gene SHANK3 and investigate its implications for autism using biochemical and behavioral tests. Mutations of this gene have recently been implicated in a subset of individuals with autism.

Source
Jane Rubinstein

Leading experts from international agencies, NGOs, the food industry and academia will meet at McGill University, in Montreal, Oct. 57 to discuss the increasing challenges relating to food security in the world. The 2nd McGill Conference on Global Food Security will focus on the effects of the global economic crisis on food supply and production.

In the past year, approximately 100 million people have been added to the ranks of the roughly 1 billion people worldwide considered to be undernourished, according to a recent report by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization.

The discussions at the McGill conference will address topics such as food security in a challenging economic environment, the effects of markets and trade, climate change and the production of biofuels, access to farm credit, the investments needed for agricultural development as well as the response of international agencies to challenges of food security.

Representatives of developing and emerging economy countries will speak on their countrys experiences. Joining them will be leading academics and officials from a wide range of international agencies, such as the World Bank, the United Nations World Food Program, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the Canadian International Development Agency, among others. Several of these experts will gather for a public panel discussion, on Oct. 5 at 5 pm, on “The effects of the global recession and future prospects”.

WHAT McGill Conference on Global Food Security

WHEN October 5, 6 and 7, 2009

WHERE New Residence Hall, McGill University 3625 avenue du Parc, Montreal

Public Lecture (October 5, 5 p.m.) Salon MontRoyal, Centre MontRoyal 2200 Mansfield St., Montreal

For more information on the program, please visit mcgill.ca/globalfoodsecurity/program/

For more information on the speakers, please visit mcgill.ca/globalfoodsecurity/speakers/

Source
Doug Sweet

Older people with the highest needs will be offered free personal home care, Gordon Brown announced.

In a speech at the Labour party conference, Mr Brown said that to provide security for pensioners for generations to come, health and social care services would be brought together under a new National Care Service in England.

People with dementia are hit the hardest by the current care charging system and many are spending their life savings on what is often poor quality care. This dementia tax must end.

It is good to see the Prime Minister highlighting the increasing numbers of people with dementia and the growing human and economic cost of this devastating condition.

A commitment to free personal care for people with the most complex needs living in their own homes sounds like a promising development. We now need to hear the substance behind the sound bite. What is meant by highest needs and what criteria will be used to judge this? As the country debates who pays for care, we must also take action on improving the very poor standards of care provided to many people with dementia.

Neil Hunt
Chief Executive

Source

Threehundred cancer vaccine researchers and immunologists from academia and industry will meet for three days in New York City to discuss the different ways cancer exploits the human bodys selfprotective mechanisms of immune regulation to avoid elimination by the immune system, a problem which researchers in the field have identified as one of the key challenges to therapeutic cancer vaccination. The conference, titled “Control of Cancer Immunosuppression The Challenge for Cancer Vaccine Development,” will take place September 30 to October 2, 2009, at the Millennium Conference Center in the heart of Manhattan.

The Cancer Research Institute (CRI), a U.S.based nonprofit organization dedicated to the development of immunebased approaches to cancer treatment, control, diagnosis, and prevention, is sponsoring the event. It is the seventeenth in the CRI Annual International Cancer Immunotherapy Symposia Series.

Twentyfive plenary lectures and a poster session will address topics including cellular and molecular mediators of cancer immunosuppression, targets for immunotherapy of cancer, and strategies to overcome cancer immunosuppression during cancer treatment.

Presentation highlights include

Regulatory T cells and their suppression program, by Dr. Alexander Rudensky, HHMI and Immunology Program, Memorial SloanKettering Cancer Center, New York, NY

Antigen immunoselection as an escape mechanism during cancer immunoediting, by Dr. Robert D. Schreiber, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO

Modulating innate and adaptive immunity through the manipulation of dendritic cells, by Dr. Nina Bhardwaj, New York University Langone Medical Center and NYU Cancer Institute, New York, NY

Regulation of tumorassociated inflammation by epithelial cell cytokines, by Giorgio Trinchieri, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD

Checkpoint blockade in tumor immunotherapy, by Dr. James P. Allison, Ludwig Center for Cancer Immunotherapy, HHMI, and Memorial SloanKettering Cancer Center, New York, NY

From immunosuppression to immune recognition Antigenspecific cancer immunotherapy, by Dr. Vincent G. Brichard, GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, Rixensart, Belgium

Prioritization of cancer antigens and immunotherapeutic agents for vaccine trials, by Dr. Martin A. Cheever, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

Recombinant viral vectors as a platform for cancer vaccines, by Dr. Kunle Odunsi, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY

Objective clinical responses by therapeutic vaccination with synthetic long peptides, by Dr. Cornelis J.M. Melief, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

Correlative immunological results of compassionateuse trial of Ipilimumab, by Dr. Jedd D. Wolchok, Memorial SloanKettering Cancer Center, New York, NY

About the Cancer Research Institute

The Cancer Research Institute (CRI) is the worlds only nonprofit organization dedicated exclusively to the support and coordination of scientific and clinical efforts that will lead to the immunological treatment, control, and prevention of cancer.

Guided by a worldrenowned Scientific Advisory Council that includes four Nobel Prize winners and twentynine members of the National Academy of Sciences, CRI supports leadingedge cancer research at top medical centers and universities throughout the world. CRI is an initiator and steward of global collaborative research efforts aimed at accelerating the translation of basic discovery into effective cancer vaccines and other immunebased therapies to provide new hope to cancer patients.

The Cancer Research Institute has one of the lowest overhead expense ratios among nonprofit organizations, with more than 85 percent of its resources going directly to the support of its science, medical, and research programs. CRI meets or exceeds all 20 standards of the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance, the most comprehensive U.S. charity evaluation service, and according to Charity Navigator exceeds or meets industry standards and performs as well as or better than most cancer charities. CRI has also received an A grade for fiscal disclosure and efficiency from the American Institute of Philanthropy as well as top accolades from other charity watchdog organizations.

Advanced Life Sciences Holdings, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board ADLS), announced positive topline results from a pivotal, nonhuman primate study involving its novel, onceaday, oral antibiotic Restanza(TM) (cethromycin) demonstrating statistical significance at a 90% survival rate against an inhaled lethal dose of plague. The study tested Restanzas protective efficacy at various doses up to 64 mg/kg, where nine out of ten animals in the study that received a 14day course of Restanza initiated within 24 hours after exposure to a lethal dose of plague survived while only one out of ten of the animals that received placebo survived.

Known as the “black death,” a plague epidemic decimated Europe in the Middle Ages, killed more than 10 million people in India a century ago and today mainly affects people who come into contact with infected rodents. In weaponized form, plague could be engineered to resist antibiotic intervention and to be widely spread through human transmission. Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague, is classified by the Centers for Disease Control as a Category A Bioterrorism Agent and is prioritized by the Department of Defense and Department of Health and Human Services as one of the most serious biological weapons, along with anthrax and tularemia.

The Johns Hopkins Working Group on Civilian Biodefense notes that because of “the availability of Y. pestis around the world, capacity for its mass production and aerosol dissemination, difficulty in preventing such activities, high fatality rate of pneumonic plague, and potential for secondary spread of cases during an epidemic, the potential use of plague as a biological weapon is of great concern.”(1) Unlike anthrax, there is no FDAapproved vaccine available to protect against plague, and the only antibiotic treatments currently available for improving survival in the event of a plague outbreak are older agents, such as tetracycline and doxycycline.

“We believe that the impressive survival data in plague, combined with previously reported survival data in anthrax and tularemia, confirm the profile of Restanza as a potent, broad spectrum medical countermeasure for biodefense and underscore Restanzas impressive efficacy and safety against lethal pathogens which could represent significant threats to public health and safety,” said Michael T. Flavin, Ph.D., chairman and chief executive officer of Advanced Life Sciences. “Through our work with the U.S. government, we continue to advance Restanza toward potential registration as a new biodefense agent. Achieving regulatory approval for Restanza could lay the groundwork for securing important government stockpiling contracts that could bring significant value to our company. We plan to meet with the FDA in the coming months to finalize the biodefense regulatory plan for Restanza, with the goal of submitting an NDA amendment in the first part of 2010 seeking marketing approval for the biodefense indications of anthrax, tularemia, and plague.”

Restanza as a Biodefense Countermeasure

Advanced Life Sciences is developing Restanza as a broad spectrum medical countermeasure for biodefense to combat multiple high priority bioterror agents, such as anthrax, Fransicella tularensis (tularemia), Yersinia pestis (plague) and Burkholderia pseudomallei (melioidosis) under a twoyear, $3.8 million contract with the U.S. Department of Defense. The FDA has designated Restanza as an orphan drug for the postexposure prophylactic treatment of inhalation anthrax, plague and tularemia, but the FDA has not yet approved the drug for marketing in this or any other indication.

FDAs “Animal Efficacy Rule” and the Use of NonHuman Primates

The FDAs “Animal Efficacy Rule” allows for approval of new drug products based on animal datawhen adequate and wellcontrolled efficacy studies in humans cannot be ethically conducted because the studies would involve administering a potentially lethal or permanently disabling toxic substance or organism to healthy human volunteers. Approval of a drug under the “Animal Efficacy Rule” is subject to certain postapproval commitments, including the submission of a plan for conducting postmarketing studies, postmarketing restrictions to ensure safe use (if deemed necessary), and product labeling information intended for patient advising that, among other things, indicates the products approval was based on efficacy studies conducted in animals alone.

The nonhuman primates used in the study referenced above were used to help understand anthrax disease mechanisms and to assess novel approaches for the prophylactic treatment of inhalation anthrax in lieu of human efficacy testing pursuant to FDAs “Animal Efficacy Rule” (21 C.F.R. Section 314.600650). The study referenced above was carried out in accordance with the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) under the supervision of an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), which is responsible for enforcing the AWA.

About Advanced Life Sciences

Advanced Life Sciences is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery, development and commercialization of novel drugs in the therapeutic areas of infection, cancer and respiratory diseases.

Any statements contained in this presentation that relate to future plans, events or performance are forwardlooking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forwardlooking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forwardlooking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among others, those relating to technology and product development, market acceptance, government regulation and regulatory approval processes, intellectual property rights and litigation, dependence on collaborative relationships, ability to obtain financing, competitive products, industry trends and other risks identified in Advanced Life Sciences filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Advanced Life Sciences undertakes no obligation to update or alter these forwardlooking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

(1) Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Vol. 283 No. 17, May 3, 2000.

Source Advanced Life Sciences Holdings, Inc

The G20 said the World Bank trust fund for agricultural investment in poor countries that they called for on Friday “should be designed so that money will be disbursed quickly and countries can decide for themselves where they want it spent,” Reuters reports. Leaders, who wrapped up their meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania last week, said, “We call on the World Bank to work with interested donors and organizations to develop a multilateral trust fund to scale up agricultural assistance to lowincome countries.”

According to Reuters, “[a]gricultural investment in poor countries has shrunk over the last decade as development agencies focused more on health issues, including malaria and HIV/AIDS.” The G20 set forth no timeline for the funds creation, the news service reports (Wroughton, 9/25).

The Pittsburgh PostGazette examines advocates reaction to commitments made at the summit, which include, “the need to help poor countries weather the tumultuous financial climate; reform the membership of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to include more of the poorest countries; carry forward the framework of the G8 agreement on food security in Italy; and to deliver on the $100 billion the G8 promised to loan developing countries.”

Save the Childrens Michael Klosson said, “[W]e urge the G20 to go beyond what they said in Pittsburgh. To acknowledge that development aid is the very foundation for an economic recovery.” Nine million children under age 5 will die this year from mostly treatable or preventable causes, according to Klosson (9/26).

The full Leaders Statement from the summit is available online.

This information was reprinted from globalhealth.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at globalhealth.kff.org.

© Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

Diabetes increases by 26 percent the likelihood that women will develop atrial fibrillation (AF), a potentially dangerous irregular heart rhythm that can lead to stroke, heart failure, and chronic fatigue. These are the findings of a new Kaiser Permanente study, published in the October issue of Diabetes Care, a journal of the American Diabetes Association.

While other studies have found that patients with diabetes are more likely to have AF, this is the first large studyinvolving nearly 35,000 Kaiser Permanente patients over the course of seven yearsto isolate the effect of diabetes and determine that it is an independent risk factor for women.

“The most important finding from our study is that women with diabetes have an increased risk of developing this abnormal heart rhythm,” said the studys lead author, Greg Nichols, PhD, investigator at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Ore. “Men with diabetes are also at higher risk, but the association between the two conditions is not as strong. For men, obesity and high blood pressure are bigger risk factors from diabetes.”

“AF is the most common arrhythmia in the world, and diabetes is one of the most common and costly health conditions. Our study points out that there is a connection between these two growing epidemicsone we should pay closer attention to, especially among women,” says Sumeet Chugh, MD, coauthor and associate director of the CedarsSinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles. “The gender differences need to be looked at more closely because they could have significant implications for how we treat diabetes in men and women.”

Atrial fibrillation occurs when the two upper chambers of the heart beat irregularly and too fast, causing blood to pool and clot. If the clot travels out of the heart and becomes lodged in an artery or in the brain, it can cause a stroke. About 2.2 million Americans are diagnosed with AF; however, many more people have the condition but dont know it. Diabetes affects more than 23 million Americansand, according to the study, nearly 4 percent, or 1 million, have atrial fibrillation.

The study involved 17,372 patients in Kaiser Permanentes diabetes registry in Oregon and Washington and an equal number of nondiabetic patients, matched for age and sex. Researchers used Kaiser Permanente HealthConnect®, the worlds largest civilian electronic health records system, to identify the nondiabetic patients. The two groups were followed for an average of 7.2 years until Dec., 31, 2008 or until they died or left the health plan. At the start of the study, 3.6 percent of the patients with diabetes had AF, vs. only 2.5 percent of the nondiabetic patientsa difference of 44 percent. During the study period, diabetics were more likely than nondiabetics to develop AF. But after controlling for other factors like obesity, high blood pressure and age, the increased risk was only significant among women. Women with diabetes were 26 percent more likely than their nondiabetic counterparts to develop AF.

Authors include Gregory A. Nichols, PhD, Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research; Kyndaron Reinier, PhD, and Sumeet S. Chugh, MD, CedarsSinai Heart Institute, Los Angeles.

About the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research

Kaiser Permanentes Center for Health Research, founded in 1964, is a nonprofit research institution dedicated to advancing knowledge to improve health. It has research sites in Portland, Ore., Honolulu, Hawaii and Atlanta.

About Kaiser Permanente

Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of Americas leading health care providers and notforprofit health plans. Founded in 1945, our mission is to provide highquality, affordable health care services to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve 8.6 million members in nine states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industryleading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, stateofthe art care delivery and worldclass chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health.

Source Kaiser Permanente

What

In recognition of American Diabetes Month® in November, the American Diabetes Association will be launching a movement to encourage Americans to confront, fight and Stop Diabetes (SM).

Anyone can join the movement by choosing to share their experiences with diabetes, helping to raise awareness about diabetes, becoming active in their community, learning about diabetes, giving of their time and passion, or donating funds to support diabetes research, information, or advocacy efforts.

Who

The American Diabetes Association is leading the fight against the deadly consequences of diabetes and fighting for those affected by diabetes. The Association funds research to prevent, cure and manage diabetes; delivers services to hundreds of communities; provides objective and credible information; and gives voice to those denied their rights because of diabetes. Founded in 1940, our mission is to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes.

When

November 2, 2009

Why

With nearly 24 million children and adults afflicted with the disease in the U.S. and an additional 57 million at risk for type 2 diabetes, diabetes has reached epidemic proportions. If current trends continue, one out of three children will face a future with diabetes.

How

To let your viewers/listeners/readers know about American Diabetes Month and the Stop Diabetes movement. Interviews with an American Diabetes Association spokesperson are available upon request.