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February 2004 Events Briefing Scheduled About NIH Roadmap for Medical Research Topic(s): Medical Research When: February 27, 2004 Where: Bethesda Marriott, 5151 Pooks Hill Road, Bethesda, MD Institute: Office of the Director (OD) NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., and other key NIH leaders will hold a briefing on the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research. The NIH Roadmap, launched in September 2003, is a series of far-reaching initiatives designed to speed the movement of research discoveries from the bench into practice for the benefit of the public. The NIH leaders will provide specific updates on requests for applications and other initiatives currently in circulation, describe future opportunities, and answer questions about the NIH Roadmap's three themes: New Pathways to Discovery. Research Teams of the Future. Re-engineering the Clinical Research Enterprise. Representatives from academic health centers, professional organizations, and health advocacy groups are particularly encouraged to attend. Next Steps The briefing will be held from 2:00�00 p.m., EST. Attendees must pre-register. Please visit the Roadmap site at www.nihroadmap.nih.gov to find out about the following: Orientation prior to the briefing. Pre-registration for attending the briefing. How to view the briefing on Web cast. Meeting materials, speaker presentations, and a synopsis after the briefing. For people seeking reasonable accommodation or sign language interpreters in order to participate in this event, please call Lisa Needleman Kaplan at (301) 468-6004. Healthy Vision Month 2004 To Focus on Diabetic Retinopathy Topic(s): Eyes and Vision When: May 1�, 2004 Where: Nationwide Institute: National Eye Institute (NEI) Millions of people with diabetes are at risk of developing diabetic retinopathy, a leading cause of blindness. Early detection, timely treatment, and follow-up care can reduce the risk of vision loss by 95 percent. May is Healthy Vision Month 2004, with a focus on reducing visual impairment caused by diabetic retinopathy. Healthy Vision Month 2004, a national eye health campaign devoted to promoting the vision objectives in Healthy People 2010, is sponsored by NEI and the National Eye Health Education Program. Healthy People 2010 is a set of health objectives that the government would like the nation to achieve during the first decade of the century.Each year's Healthy Vision Month observance encourages communities throughout the country to make vision a health priority and emphasizes one of the 10 vision objectives in Healthy People 2010. The objective this year, 28-5, is: "Reduce visual impairment due to diabetic retinopathy." NEI created a toolkit and educational materials this year for community leaders to use in developing and implementing local activities. Next Steps For more information about observing Healthy Vision Month, please visit www.healthyvision2010.org/hvm/about.asp and www.nei.nih.gov. Obesity and the Built Environment: Improving Public Health Through Community Design Topic(s): Environmental Health When: May 24�, 2004 Where: Wardman Park Hotel, Washington, DC Institute: National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) This conference will examine how buildings and other constructed parts of our environment contribute to obesity. This happens in various ways, such as facilitating access to food and reducing the need for physical activity. The conference will investigate how environmental health research and interventions can address the public health problem of obesity. Who Should Attend? Academicians from schools of public health, architecture, planning, medicine, and nursing. Representatives of environment, health, planning, and transportation agencies of federal, state, and local governments. Advocacy and public health professional organizations and associations. Community and business leaders. Policy makers, urban planners, communication specialists, health educators, physicians, nurses, and public health practitioners. Next Steps For further information, please visit www.niehs.nih.gov/drcpt/beoconf. Stress and Health to be Discussed at NCCAM's Distinguished Lecture Topic(s): Complementary and Alternative Medicine When: March 30, 2004 Where: NIH Campus, Bethesda, MD Institute: National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) Hear a lecture, "From Molecules to Mind: Stress, Individual Differences, and the Social Environment," and learn how stress affects us. Presenting the lecture, which is part of NCCAM's semi-annual Distinguished Lecture series, is Dr. Bruce McEwen, Alfred E. Mirsky Professor at Rockefeller University. He co-authored with science writer Elizabeth Lasley a new book for a lay audience called The End of Stress as We Know It. Next Steps The lecture, held between noon and 1 p.m. on March 30, is free and open to the public. To find out more, including information for medical practitioners on Continuing Medical Education (CME) objectives, visit http://nccam.nih.gov/news/lectures/upcoming.htm. THE EYE SITE Exhibit on Low Vision to Visit Ohio Shopping Centers Topic(s): Eyes and Vision When: March 2004 Where: Cleveland, OH; Parma, OH; North Olmsted, OH; Beachwood, OH Institute: National Eye Institute (NEI) To help people understand low vision (vision problems that interfere with the ability to perform everyday activities) and to explain what they can do to stay independent despite vision loss, NEI developed THE EYE SITE: A Traveling Exhibit on Low Vision for Shopping Centers. The exhibit will begin its 2004 tour by visiting four Ohio malls. By the end of 2003, 2 identical exhibits had visited more than 49 malls or other venues in the District of Columbia and 20 states (Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia). Since THE EYE SITE tour was launched in April 2001, the NEI has: Provided more than 29 million people with the opportunity to visit the exhibit and learn about low vision. Distributed more than 50,000 publications. Worked with more than 65 vision-related organizations to offer nearly 150 public events. Next Steps The public can visit the exhibit during regular business hours at any mall on the tour. For more information, visit THE EYE SITE Web site at www.nei.nih.gov/nehep/eyesite. V I S I O N Traveling Exhibit in South Dakota Topic(s): Eyes and Vision When: January 2004 Where: Sioux Falls, SD Institute: National Eye Institute (NEI) The NEI抯 V I S I O N traveling exhibit continues its tour in South Dakota through May 2004.V I S I O N was developed as part of NEI抯 25th anniversary celebration. The 2,000-square-foot exhibit illustrates how the eye and brain work together to create vision and how researchers are developing ways to protect our sight from visual disorders and diseases. The exhibit includes 10 interactive modules developed by the Exploratorium in San Francisco. These modules demonstrate how the eye focuses light, how we perceive motion and color, and how the brain processes visual information into a meaningful picture. Since the exhibit tour was launched in 1993, V I S I O N has visited science museums in 29 cities and been seen by more than 5 million visitors. Next Steps Visit the exhibit at the Kirby Science Discovery Center through May 16, 2004. For hours and directions, visit the Discovery Center's Web site at www.washingtonpavilion.org/ScienceDiscoveryCenter/Index.cfm. Resources Nicotine Addiction Research Update and Other Information Available Topic(s): Nicotine Addiction Format: Web Site Institute: National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Nicotine addiction and other dangers of tobacco use feature on this recently created Web site. The NIDA site has a fact sheet on cigarettes and other nicotine products, a research report on the latest studies about nicotine addiction, and a list of other publications concerning nicotine. It also references news releases such as: Quitting Smoking Harder for Women than for Men. African American Teens at Greater Risk of Tobacco Addiction. Adolescent Depression and High Receptivity to Tobacco Ads May Lead to Teen Smoking. Next Steps To read more about nicotine addiction and other dangers of tobacco use, visit http://smoking.drugabuse.gov. Research Update on Prion Diseases, including Mad Cow Disease Topic(s): Brain and Nervous System, Infectious Diseases Format: Fact Sheet Institute: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Prion diseases are a related group of rare, fatal brain diseases that affect humans and other animals. Prion diseases, including mad cow disease, are characterized by certain misshapen protein molecules in the brain. An updated fact sheet about research on prion diseases is now available through NIAID. The fact sheet discusses what prion diseases are and provides information about ongoing NIAID research into such illnesses as mad cow disease and chronic wasting disease (which occurs in deer and elk). Both of these are related to variant Cruetzfeld-Jacob disease that strikes humans. Next Steps Find the fact sheet on-line at www.niaid.nih.gov/factsheets/priondis.htm. Announcements Celebrating 5 Years, NCCAM Invites Input for Strategic Planning Topic(s): Complementary and Alternative Medicine When: March 22 and April 19, 2004 Where: NIH Campus, Bethesda, MD; Seattle, WA Institute: National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) NCCAM celebrated its fifth anniversary by launching its second 5-year strategic planning effort. The announcement, made at NCCAM抯 National Advisory Council meeting on January 30, 2004, marks the start of a year-long planning effort involving the public, researchers, health care professionals, NCCAM staff, and others with an interest in research on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). NCCAM will hold two strategic planning stakeholder forums to allow the public to voice their opinions regarding future directions for research, training, outreach, and integration in complementary and alternative medicine. The forums will be held: March 22,1�p.m., Natcher Conference Center, NIH campus, Bethesda, MD April 19, 1�p.m., Westin Seattle, 1900 Fifth Avenue, Seattle, WA. Two members of the NIH Director's Council of Public Representatives, Len Tamura, Ph.D., and Ted Mala, M.D., M.P.H., will moderate the NCCAM forums. Next Steps You may register to attend a forum or submit written comments through the NCCAM Web site at http://nccam.nih.gov/about/plans/2005. dB Owl and WISE EARS!� turn 5 Topic(s): Ear, Nose, and Throat When: December 1, 2003 Where: Bethesda, MD Institute: National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) Ten million Americans have already suffered permanent damage to their hearing from noise and thirty million more are exposed to dangerous levels of noise each day. Data from the National Center for Health Statistics indicate that in the 1990s, Americans on average lost their hearing at a younger age. The greatest percentage increase occurred for ages 45 to 64 years. By a substantial margin, men had more hearing trouble at younger ages. WISE EARS!� is a national coalition of groups from 92 agencies and organizations committed to hearing preservation. It was formed on December 1, 1998, to implement a national communication drive that stemmed from Congress' request to improve public awareness of hearing damage and related issues. NIDCD sponsored a national meeting of 100 representatives from voluntary organizations, unions, industry, local, state, and federal government agencies, and health professional organizations to develop a national communication plan to prevent noise-induced hearing loss. The meeting was supported by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Partnerships were forged within the coalition to include new organizations or groups. The planning group established two major, related themes, HEARING MATTERS, and WISE EARS! for a lifetime. A logo featuring dB (short for decibel) owl became the signature for the campaign, which distributes fact sheets, resources, materials for group leaders, workers, teachers, and kids, including special interactive Web sites and materials in Spanish. In its 5 years, WISE EARS has encouraged more than 90 coalition organizations to spread the WISE EARS! message in local communities, regional activities and in the national media. Next Steps For more information, please visit www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/wise/index.asp. National Eye Institute Strategic Plan Topic(s): Eyes and Vision Institute: National Eye Institute (NEI) NEI recently published its latest planning document, The National Plan for Eye and Vision Research. The Plan provides a clear view of the state of vision research and identifies the most pressing scientific needs and opportunities. The planning process provides a vehicle to more rapidly identify and bring emerging areas of science to bear on vision problems. Next Steps For more information, including a full-text version of the Plan, downloadable print ads, and other materials, visit www.nei.nih.gov/strategicplanning. Outreach Partnership Program Annual Meeting Topic(s): Mental Health and Behavior When: March 7� 2004 Where: Marriott at Metro Center, Washington, DC Institute: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) The NIMH Outreach Partnership Program抯 fifth annual meeting will bring together the NIMH Outreach Partners, prominent researchers, and representatives from various national organizations interested in issues related to mental illness and alcohol/substance abuse. Sessions include a plenary on Rural Health and one on Science to Services featuring presentations from the Directors of NIMH and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. An afternoon Issues Forum, held in conjunction with the Behavioral Health Services Research Association, will focus on schizophrenia research over the last few years and the influence of those findings on policy, medicine, and services-related outcomes. Core Program Partnerships: Outreach Partners梟on-profit organizations or universities in every state and DC. Partnership Network Members: National Partnership Network梟ational advocacy, consumer, and professional organizations. Local Partnership Network梥tate and local groups with an interest in mental health and reaching out to their local communities. Expert Panel梐 group of nationally recognized mental health researchers, clinicians, consumers, representatives of national organizations, and others who provide program guidance. Next Steps A meeting summary will be available in the summer of 2004. For more information about the NIMH's Outreach Partnership Program please visit www.outreach.nimh.nih.gov or contact Timothy Hays, Ph.D., Director, Outreach Partnership Program [thays@mail.nih.gov]. Outreach Partnership Program Annual Meeting Topic(s): Alcohol / Alcohol Abuse / Alcoholism, Drug Abuse Institute: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) NIDA and NIAAA take part in the Outreach Partnership Program as well as NIMH. Next Steps For details of the upcoming fifth annual Outreach Partnership Program meeting, please see the related article under the category "Mental Health and Behavior."