Book examines impact of natural disasters on lifespan [Dec 28 08 Baton Rouge LA]–Director of LSU’s Life Course and Aging Center, or LCAC, Katie Cherry, along with several LSU colleagues, has published a book titled, “Lifespan Perspectives on Natural Disasters: Coping With Katrina, Rita and Other Storms,” through Springer Publishing.
“I am very excited about this edited volume which is unique in that provides a glimpse of psychological reactions to the storms across the lifespan, from the preschool period to the oldest-old adults aged 90 and over,” said Cherry. “I imagine that this book would be of interest to a very diverse audience, spanning the science to the service ends of the continuum. Given the complex and tragic nature of Katrina, the worst natural disaster in our nation’s history, this book may also appeal to the general public.”
The book explores problems that could develop at all stages of life: children and youth, middle aged adults, older adults and very old adults. It also analyzes risks and dangers inherent in different aspects of an individual’s life, such as in the workplace, as a volunteer, in the medical field and more.
“It is very important to me that I indicate the truly collaborative nature of the book. All of the contributing authors are top notch scholars in their own rights and each worked hard to ensure that their chapters were not only of the highest possible quality but also integrated with the each other’s work,” said Cherry. “To me, an indication of the overall value of the book is sheer number of cross-references indicating the complexity and scope of the topic as well as the range of experiences.”
In addition to Cherry, other researchers affiliated with the LSU LCAC who have contributed to the book include:
* Priscilla Allen, LSU School of Social Work
* Teresa Buchanan, LSU Department of Educational Theory, Policy and Practice
* Jennifer Baumgartner, LSU School of Human Ecology
* Renee Casbergue, LSU Department of Educational Theory, Policy and Practice
* Thompson E. Davis III, LSU Department of Psychology
* Betsy Garrison, LSU School of Human Ecology and LSU AgCenter
* Yoshinori Kamo, LSU Department of Sociology
* Mary Lou Kelley, LSU Department of Psychology
* Loren Marks, LSU School of Human Ecology
* Stacy Overstreet, Tulane University Department of Psychology and LSU LCAC
* Diane Sasser, LSU School of Human Ecology and LSU AgCenter
* Carl Weems, UNO Department of Psychology and LSU LCAC
* Tracey Rizzuto, LSU Department of Psychology
“I know that I speak for all of the contributing authors when I tell you that my hat goes off to Dr. Cherry,” said Betsy Garrison, contributing author and member of LSU’s School of Human Ecology and LSU’s AgCenter. “She has put together a truly noteworthy, comprehensive and moving book. A book that, in a scientifically rigorous way, uniquely captures the experiences of people of all ages and walks of life, including those of us who have led parallel lives for several years now, that of both survivors and scholars. This book demonstrates to the world the collective excellence of life course and aging scholarship at LSU and is a harbinger for the future.”
According to the Springer Web site, the book examines “human strengths and vulnerabilities during large-scale devastation and crisis.” The panel of authors, the majority of whom are from Louisiana, along with chapter contributors from Virginia Tech and University of Michigan, have targeted the book toward both to mental health care providers and to others involved in developing disaster preparedness strategy, intervention and recovery programs at the community, state and regional levels.
“Examining the impact of the 2005 hurricanes through scholarship was an important part of the LSU response and in this book Dr. Cherry has gathered together the work that was completed as part of that response,” said Teresa Buchanan, contributing author and member of LSU’s Department of Educational Theory, Policy and Practice. “It was difficult to do this research under those trying times and conditions that personally challenged us as community and family members. I’m proud of my research team and glad to be one of the Louisiana scholars who made the effort to continue LSU’s mission of generating knowledge in the midst of such crisis, and I’m very grateful to Dr. Cherry for providing this outstanding forum for the dissemination of our scholarship.”
For more information on “Lifespan Perspectives on Natural Disasters: Coping With Katrina, Rita and Other Storms,” visit http://www.springer.com/psychology/psychology+general/book/978-1-4419-0392-1.
For more details about LSU’s Life Course and Aging Center, visit http://www.lsuagingstudies.com/.
‘Breeding Bio Insecurity’ argues for change in biodefense policy [Dec 28 09 Tempe AZ]–Biological warfare has shaped human conflict throughout history. But the deadly anthrax-letter mailings following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks presented Americans with a threat new and terrifying. What if the resources spent to safeguard American citizens against terrorism have only made them more vulnerable?
With their new book, “Breeding Bio Insecurity: How U.S. Biodefense is Exporting Fear, Globalizing Risk, and Making Us All Less Secure,” Edward Sylvester, an Arizona State University professor, and Lynn Klotz, a senior science fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, investigate the implications of costly, complex and secretive U.S. biodefense policy.
The book, released in October, offers readers facts and figures regarding the U.S. government’s biodefense policy, and compels policymakers to justify spending and actions. The authors argue that the greatest external threat facing the U.S. comes from rogue nations conducting secret research rather than hypothetical scenarios in which people with basic skills weaponize deadly biomaterials.
“We have an urgent message that everyone needs to hear,” says Sylvester, who teaches science writing, news writing, reporting and editing courses at ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Sylvester, who previously co-authored “The Gene Age” with Klotz, says: “‘Bio Insecurity’ started out as a series of conversations with Lynn, a scientist who is an expert in the field of biological security issues and one of my oldest friends. We became increasingly concerned that the government was taking the wrong direction in preparing against possible bioterrorism attacks in the years after Sept. 11.
“Terrorists are best known for stealing what they use to kill, everything from rifles to jetliners,” says Sylvester. “The only realistic way for terrorists to get their hands on highly developed pathogen stocks to make such weapons is by stealing them, and the government was making that more likely by funding research into those pathogens at a rapidly increasing number of places around the country.”
The anthrax used against American citizens in the attacks after Sept. 11 was almost certainly stolen from Fort Detrick in Maryland, he notes.
“It was the extremely lethal Ames strain, cultured by well-trained scientists. It couldn’t have been grown from a soil sample in someone’s basement lab or a cave somewhere,” Sylvester says.
The number of high bio-security labs in the country has tripled in the last several years. The expansion of the biodefense program after Sept. 11 and its clandestine nature make the centers more susceptible to lethal accidents or theft. The book asserts that the only way to truly defend the country from bioterrorism is through multilateral activities, such as treaties, and international cooperation on defenses against all diseases.
The future potential for biowarfare in the absence of such concerted efforts is truly ominous, Sylvester says.
“When you realize the propensity of countries to bring whatever is most powerful into warfare and you combine that with the stunning possibilities for manipulating the living world, you enter a whole new world of dark possibilities,” he says.
Sylvester also is the author of three books on medical research: “Target: Cancer,” “The Healing Blade: A Tale of Neurosurgery,” and “Back From The Brink: How Crises Spur Doctors To New Discoveries About the Brain.”
Ethics guide for rural MDs [Dec 28 09 Hanover NH]–With an eye to small-town health professionals as well as to the people training students to practice medicine beyond metropolitan settings, Dartmouth’s Department of Community and Family Medicine is unveiling the Handbook for Rural Health Care Ethics.
William A. Nelson, Ph.D., director of the Dartmouth Medical School’s (DMS) Rural Ethics Initiative, is the editor of the guide, subtitled A Practical Guide for Professionals. The National Institutes of Health awarded a National Library of Medicine Grant to the three-year effort to assemble and write the e-book, which is accessible here.
Its authors include physicians, nurses, ethicists and hospital administrators sharing case studies from their experiences or scholarship in rural settings.
“Despite the unique character of rural ethics issues, there are very few ethics resources for regional clinicians,” says Nelson, an associate professor of community and family medicine at DMS. “The Handbook is designed to fill this significant gap.”
In the chapter he coauthored, Nelson encourages faculty of medical schools to augment the guide by “relating personal ethical challenges that they have encountered, and strategies (effective or not effective) that they used to address such challenges.”
The challenges belie the pastoral surroundings. In the handbook’s sixth chapter, DMS Associate Professor Andrew Pomerantz, M.D., describes this case study of overlapping roles creating an ethical dilemma:
“Andy Cox is a nurse in a physician’s office some 30 miles from his hometown. He is also a member of his town’s school board. One day Mr. Richards, a teacher from the school, visits the physician for a check-up. Mr. Cox thinks it odd that Mr. Richards has traveled so far to see the doctor, since most people in his hometown see a family physician in the town. Andy Cox says hello, but has little contact with the patient. A few days later, Nurse Cox is retrieving lab information and learns that the teacher has tested positive for several drugs, suggesting substance abuse. The nurse wonders if he could or should warn school administrators or fellow school board members about the teacher’s drug use.”
The book grew out of a retreat that Nelson directed in 2006, at which most of the authors-to-be discussed the minefield of issues that Nelson says he has been researching “on or off for about 15 years.”
Previously, Nelson guided DMS’s medical-humanities program from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s. He subsequently served as education coordinator for the federal Department of Veterans Affairs, and co-founded the VA’s National Center for Ethics and Health Care, before returning to Dartmouth in 2003.
