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In new pre-clinical research, scientists at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM), led by Scott Thompson, Ph.D., Professor of Physiology, have identified changes in brain activity linked to the pleasure and reward system. The research, published in the journal, Nature, provides news insights into how the brain processes rewards, and advances our understanding of addiction and depression. The research, which was conducted by Tara LeGates, Ph.D., a Research Associate in the...

A new initiative to combat domestic violence in California is supporting several high-risk populations — including refugees, immigrants, low-wage workers, Native Americans and rural residents — to develop their own community-based strategies for prevention. Safety Through Connection, a program by the Oakland nonprofit Prevention Institute, is providing $50,000 to five coalitions of community-based organizations that have not previously worked on reducing domestic violence — but that have...

RALEIGH - A new report looking at security in North Carolina schools is challenging the belief that putting more police officers in schools will make them safer. The study of North Carolina middle schools found no relationship between increased funding for school resource officers and reduction in cases of reported school crimes. Kenneth Alonzo Anderson, the report’s author and an associate professor at Howard University, said legislators across the country should consider the findings...

“When a child displays a behavior problem, the first place to look for the cause and for the solution is to the child’s environment.” Maria Montessori We cannot truly separate the child from the community. In our efforts to “fix” child behavior or heal the child from the traumatic impact of adverse childhood experiences, we need to relate to the community as an extension of the child’s physical and psychological constitution. An organic unity operates here. There is more than just a...

Cissy's note: Melissa Merrick, PhD (pictured above), is a Senior Epidemiologist with the Surveillance Branch in the Division of Violence Prevention at CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. She will be the keynote speaker at the Massachusetts Essentials for Childhood summit and share about new ACEs data (see below) about which populations have the highest levels of ACEs on average. An excerpt from this article published on the JAMA Network can be found below. Please follow...

The new Trauma-Informed Care Implementation Resource Center offers a one-stop information hub for health care providers and other stakeholders interested in learning about and implementing trauma-informed care.

DAYTON, Ohio — Dr. Randy Marriott clicked open the daily report he gets on drug overdoses in the county.Only one in the last 24 hours — stunningly low compared to the long lists he used to scroll through last year in a grim morning routine. “They just began to abruptly drop off,” said Dr. Marriott, who oversees the handoff of patients from local rescue squads to Premier Health, the region’s biggest hospital system. Overdose deaths in Montgomery County, anchored by Dayton, have plunged this...

On the morning of April 13, 2015, a guard at Sullivan Correctional Facility, a New York State maximum-security prison nestled deep in the woods of the western Catskills, ordered a prisoner named Karl Taylor to clean his cell. By all accounts, the cell, in the prison’s E North housing block—a special unit for inmates classified as mentally ill—was a rancid mess, strewn with papers and clothes, and soaked with shampoo and other liquids. Taylor, however, had balked for weeks at cleaning it. He...

The California assemblyman Jim Wood spent most of the past week in the Sacramento morgue, analyzing the charred remains of human teeth. Wood is a forensic-dentistry expert, and has worked on some of the nation’s most tragic events, including 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina. Since his election to the State Assembly, in 2014—representing an enormous district that stretches from Santa Rosa, in wine country, north to the Oregon border—his forensics work has been closer to home. In 2017, after the...

“There it is,” Yolanda Vasquez said, pointing to the converted garage she and her family of six lived in for four years. We stood on Kewen Avenue, a block from Telfair Elementary School. Vasquez was giving me a tour of her old neighborhood on a blistering September afternoon before picking up her daughter, Ammy, a third-grader. “I have one son diagnosed with autism, and it was difficult to be in such a small space,” said Vasquez, who paid $1,175 a month for the garage but finally found a...

When the Teaching Tolerance Educator Grants program launched in 2017, we wanted to support educators in embedding anti-bias principles throughout their schools, creating affirming school climates and educating youth to thrive in a diverse democracy. An important aspect of this work is meaningfully addressing the ways in which racial injustice grounds American history and our present. This year, two educators who received Teaching Tolerance Educator Grants braved the topics of white supremacy...

“Images and news reports of tear gas being used on children and families seeking asylum at our border have stunned and shaken pediatricians just as they have so many others across the country. Our objection to this type of treatment of children and their parents is grounded in our own policy: “The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all immigrant children and families seeking safe haven are treated with dignity and respect to protect their health and well-being. Children who are...