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March 2004 Events Celebrating a Decade of Neuroinformatics Topic(s): Brain and Nervous System When: April 26–27, 2004 Where: NIH Campus, William H. Natcher Conference Center , Bethesda, MD Institute: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) The Human Brain Project was established to integrate information about brain function from the level of the gene to the level of behavior. It funds programs that contribute to a distributed system of Web-based databases, analytical tools, and data-driven computational models that help meet this objective. Now a decade old, The Human Brain Project has made significant advances and is set to continue its work. To celebrate the first 10 years, its sponsors are holding a conference on April 26 and 27. The first day will feature a special program of lectures by leaders in the field to commemorate a decade of working to share vital advances and their implications for research and education. The presenters also will address future technological, scientific, and social challenges. The second day will include detailed presentations by long-term program grantees about the new capabilities they have developed and the impact of their research on the field. Next Steps For further information about the conference, visit www.betah.com/conferences/hbp2004. For background information, visit www.nimh.nih.gov/neuroinformatics/index.cfm. National Alcohol Screening Day Approaches Topic(s): Alcohol / Alcohol Abuse / Alcoholism When: March 2004 Where: Nationwide Institute: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) In an effort to raise public awareness about alcohol's effect on health, sponsors around the country are preparing for National Alcohol Screening Day (NASD), scheduled for April 8, 2004. The theme is Alcohol and Your Health: Where Do You Draw the Line? and sponsors will provide educational materials and the opportunity to meet with a health care professional. NASD educates people about the consequences of at-risk drinking and seeks to identify those who may be at particular risk for problems with alcohol. Participants can receive a written screening questionnaire and referrals for further evaluation and/or treatment are provided when appropriate. Anyone wanting to host a screening day site should register by March 29, 2004, to guarantee delivery of kit(s) by April 8. NASD is conducted by NIAAA, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and Screening for Mental Health, Inc. This year, nearly 40 other organizations will serve as NASD sponsors, including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the American Medical Association (AMA), and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). A wide variety of colleges, hospitals, businesses, military bases, and government agencies host NASD events, arranging screening sites at campus centers, shopping malls, and other community-based venues. Next Steps For details about the program, visit www.NationalAlcoholScreeningDay.org. To help plan and promote a screening site in your community, contact NASD at (800) 253-7658 or nasd@mentalhealthscreening.org. NIH's 2004 Share the Health Expo Topic(s): Health and Fitness When: April 24, 2004 Where: Montgomery Blair High School, Silver Spring, MD Institute: Office of Community Liaison (OCL) NIH invites the public to catch the health and fitness craze coming to Silver Spring, Maryland. From 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 24, 2004, Share the Health: NIH’s Premier Health and Fitness Expo, features a day of free fun with health-centered events and activities for the entire family. Local hospital staff will offer free health screenings to help community members discover if they are at risk for stroke, high blood pressure, skin problems, osteoporosis, or obesity, and NIH information officers will provide the latest in NIH health research through a variety of fun and interactive exhibits.Held at Montgomery Blair High School, 51 University Boulevard East, Share the Health events will include interactive exhibits and health seminars led by NIH scientists, free health screenings, the 2004 NIH Healthy Games (NIH’s own version of the summer Olympics), sports clinics, wellness workshops, and a wealth of free health information for all ages. Find activities for children and teens, such as hands-on lab experiments, competitive games, and a Moon Bounce. Sponsored by NIH's OCL, the newly-designed event promotes community health through the prevention of disease. Scientists at NIH want to help by showing easy and fun ways to improve fitness and maintain good health. Share the Health allows people of all ages to learn, experience and discover new ways to lead a healthier life. This event is a chance to find out what NIH is, what it does, and how it can help improve lifes. Next Steps For more information or to register for this free public event, call the Share the Health coordinator at (301) 650-8660 or visit http://sharethehealth.od.nih.gov. Obesity and the Built Environment: Improving Public Health Through Community Design Topic(s): Environmental Health When: May 24–26, 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, through, for example, facilitating access to food and reducing the need for physical activity. The conference also 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 more 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 Bruce McEwen, Ph.D., Alfred E. Mirsky Professor at Rockefeller University. Dr. McEwen will discuss the important role that the endocrine and nervous systems play in the communication between the brain and the rest of the body and how common, low levels of stress over time—such as stress caused by the events of everyday life—can affect health. Dr. McEwen also will discuss the impact of stress on the immune system and regions of the brain involved in fear and cognitive function. Next Steps The lecture, held between noon and 1 p.m. on March 30, is free and open to the public. More information, including information relevant to Continuing Medical Education (CME) objectives, will be posted at 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 1–July 1, 2004 Where: Beachwood, OH; Cleveland, OH; Parma, OH; North Olmstead, 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 malls in Ohio. By the end of 2003, two identical exhibits had visited more than 49 malls or other venues in the District of Columbia and 20 states, including 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 Members of 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. THE EYE SITE: A Traveling Exhibit on Low Vision for Shopping Centers Topic(s): Eyes and Vision When: March 1–October 16, March 22, April 19, May 14, June 14, July 13, August 15, September 18 and October 14, 2004 Where: Nationwide 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, the NEI developed THE EYE SITE: A Traveling Exhibit on Low Vision for Shopping Centers. The exhibit's current 2004 schedule includes four stops in the Cleveland, Ohio, area and visits to malls in Phoenix, Arizona; Jameson and Twin Falls, Idaho; Las Vegas, Nevada; Bismarck and Minot, North Dakota; and Casper and Cheyenne, Wyoming. By the end of 2003, 2 identical exhibits had visited more than 49 malls in the District of Columbia and 20 states (Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, 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; and 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 and a detailed tour schedule, visit THE EYE SITE Web site at www.nei.nih.gov/nehep/eyesite. Traveling Exhibit Informs Women of Their Heart Disease Risk Topic(s): Women, Heart Disease When: March 19–21, March 26, April 2, April 16, and April 30, 2004 Where: Philadelphia, PA; Chicago, IL; San Diego, CA; Dallas, TX; Miami, FL Institute: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) More American women die of heart disease than any other cause, a fact that surprises many people. As part of its continuing campaign to educate Americans about the risk of heart disease in women, the NHLBI is partnering with Johnson & Johnson to bring information about heart disease to people around the nation via a traveling exhibit, The Heart Truth Road Show. It will provide free risk factor screenings and educational materials to motivate women to take their heart health seriously and take steps to reduce their risks. Additionally, the Road Show will showcase red dresses from The Heart Truth’s Original Red Dress Collection 2003, which featured America’s leading fashion designers. During March and April, the Road Show will visit shopping malls in Philadelphia, Chicago, San Diego, Dallas, and Miami. Next Steps For more information about The Heart Truth campaign and its Red Dress symbol, please visit www.hearttruth.gov. V I S I O N Traveling Exhibit in South Dakota Topic(s): Eyes and Vision When: March 15–May 16, 2004 Where: Sioux Falls, SD Institute: National Eye Institute (NEI) The NEI’s 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 the NEI’s 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, California. 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 has 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 Four Updated Brochures Highlight Common Eye Diseases Topic(s): Eyes and Vision Format: Brochure Institute: National Eye Institute (NEI) The NEI recently updated its patient information series, What You Should Know, which provides easy-to-understand information about four common vision disorders: age-related macular degeneration, cataracts, diabetic retinopathy, and glaucoma. Each brochure includes a diagram of the eye, definitions, information on finding and talking to an eye care professional, and a resource list. Next Steps You can order free copies of the brochures in English or Spanish from the NEI Web site at www.nei.nih.gov/order or by calling (301) 496-5248. See for Yourself: Vision Education Program in English and Spanish Topic(s): Eyes and Vision Format: Education Program Institute: National Eye Institute (NEI) See for Yourself: Vision and Older Adults is an NEI education program for everyone who has an interest in helping people who have, or may develop, low vision (vision problems that interfere with the ability to perform everyday activities). The program teaches effective ways to live with low vision and promote awareness about low vision rehabilitation services. See for Yourself includes: A VHS video featuring older adults with functional vision loss who continue to live active and satisfying lives. It addresses the warning signs of possible eye disease, common eye conditions affecting older adults, and options that exist for people who have low vision (15 minutes; English and Spanish; closed and open captioning). A presenter's guide with information and tips for the novice and experienced presenter (English only). A booklet to help people with vision loss and their families better understand low vision (English and Spanish). Next Steps Order free copies of the See for Yourself kit from the NEI Web site at www.nei.nih.gov/nehep/seeforyourself.htm. Two Pamphlets on Alcohol Issues Now Available in Spanish Topic(s): Alcohol / Alcohol Abuse / Alcoholism Format: Brochure Institute: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) NIAAA has translated two Englsih publications into Spanish for the Spanish-speaking audience: Antecedentes de alcoholismo en la familia - ¿Está usted a riesgo? (A Family History of Alcoholism: Are You at Risk?) provides easy-to-read facts along with resources for more information to help those concerned about a family history of alcoholism; and Reacciones peligrosas: Mezclando bebidas alcohólicas con medicamentos (Harmful Interactions: Mixing Alcohol with Medicines) addresses the risks of mixing alcohol with medications or herbal preparations and features a user-friendly chart listing common medicines and herbs and their possible reactions with alcohol. Next Steps Both the Spanish and English versions of these pamphlets are available via NIAAA's Web site, www.niaaa.nih.gov, or go directly to www.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/brochures.htm. Announcements 2004 National Conference on African Americans and AIDS Topic(s): Population Groups, AIDS When: February 23, 2004 Where: Philadelphia, PA Institute: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) At this recent conference on African Americans and AIDS, representatives of NIAID’s HIV Vaccine Communications Campaign presented information on recent developments in HIV vaccine research, findings of VaxGen HIV vaccine trials, and next steps for these trials. The audience included health care providers, media, federal and state legislators, AIDS service organization officers, social workers, peer counselors, church leadership, and other key constituents that represent or serve the African-American community (a target audience of the Campaign). Next Steps For more information, visit www.minority-healthcare.com or contact Matthew Murguía at (301) 435-7164. 2004 National Hispanic Medical Association Eighth Annual Conference Topic(s): Population Groups, AIDS When: March 19–21, 2004 Where: Washington, DC Institute: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) As part of this conference, NIAID will cosponsor a workshop to help place HIV vaccine research in the larger context of prevention and treatment. The workshop, entitled HIV/AIDS Prevention and Treatment and Latinos, presents an opportunity for NIAID’s HIV Vaccine Communications Campaign to provide information on recent developments in HIV vaccine research to physicians, medical students, policy makers, and health care industry professionals who represent and serve the Latino community (one of the Campaign’s target audiences). Next Steps For more information, visit www.nhmamd.org or contact Matthew Murguía at (301) 435-7164. Alzheimer's Disease Genetics Study Topic(s): Seniors" Health, Memory When: March 2004 Institute: National Institute on Aging (NIA) To help hunt down genes involved in late onset Alzheimer's disease, NIA and the National Alzheimer's Association joined forces in July 2003. The two organizations have worked with investigators at Indiana University's National Cell Repository for Alzheimer's Disease and Columbia University on the Alzheimer's Disease Genetics Study which includes information on 1,000 families. As part of the study, NIA and the Alzheimer's Association conducted seven focus groups. Participants offered insight into family reactions to genetic research, identified perceived benefits and barriers to participation in a genetics study, and tested selected messages. Based on comments received, researchers developed a kit that includes a brochure and talking points flyer, a PowerPoint presentation, templates for materials to be used at local recruitment sites, and background materials on the study. The kit also includes a CD-Rom with electronic versions of all the materials. Next Steps For more information on recruitment for NIA's Alzheimer's Disease Genetics Study activities, contact Pat Lynch, Office of Communications and Public Liaison, at (301) 496-1752. HIV Vaccine Research Workshop Planned at Key U.S. AIDS Conference Topic(s): AIDS Vaccine Research When: March 29, 2004 Where: Miami, FL Institute: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) NIAID’s HIV Vaccine Communications Campaign will sponsor a workshop as part of a key AIDS conference, the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) 16th National HIV/AIDS Update Conference. Workshop attendees will hear an update on the Campaign’s quantitative research and the implications of HIV vaccine research on HIV prevention efforts. The conference is one of the most informative annual HIV/AIDS meetings in the U.S., providing the latest information on HIV vaccine research to health care professionals, service providers, community advocates, and people living with HIV/AIDS. Next Steps For more information, contact Matthew Murguía at (301) 435-7164. Local Science Fair Projects Judged Topic(s): Minority Outreach; K-12 Outreach When: January 1–March 31, 2004 Where: Prince Georges County, MD Institute: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Throughout the past 3 months, judging science projects has been all part of a day's work at NIAID's Office of Special Populations Minority Health. As part of the Office's K-12 outreach efforts, staff were among the judges at several science fairs in Prince George's County, Maryland, including Patuxent Elementary in Upper Marlboro on January 14 and Berwyn Heights Elementary in Berwyn on February 2. Staff will also participate in a third science fair on March 17 at University Park Elementary in Hyattsville. While Patuxent's and University Park's science fairs are more traditional, Berwyn Heights held an "Invention Convention" to mark the centennial celebration of the Wright Brothers' first airplane flight. At the "Invention Convention," students described how they helped solve specific problems through their inventions--from rubber band jump ropes to eyeglasses that signal their location after being "whistled for" to a whiteboard eraser that can erase without smears. Judges also identified the upper class students whose projects were most scientifically relevant for possible participation in the state science fair. At the Invention Convention, students described how they helped solve specific problems through their inventions—from rubber band jump ropes to eyeglasses that signaled their location after being "whistled for." And the kindergartners created a whiteboard eraser that can erase without smears. Judges also identified the upper class students whose projects were most scientifically relevant for possible participation in the state science fair. Next Steps For more information, contact Joyce Woodford at (301) 496-6722. Scientists Check Children's Prescription Drug Use Topic(s): Prescription Drugs and Children Institute: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) NICHD program scientists are seeking information on children's use of 225 prescription drugs to help improve our knowledge about how these drugs may affect children. They are asking, among other things, how often children use the drugs, whether any pose a particular health concern to children, and what types of studies may be needed to acquire additional information. In January 2002, Congress enacted the Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act to address the lack of information concerning prescription drug use in children. Currently, most drugs prescribed to treat children are off-label (or used for a purpose not officially approved) and dosages are based primarily on physicians' experience and the weight of the patients, rather than on scientific studies. The NIH was directed by the law to conduct such studies and to work with the Food and Drug Administration to publish a list of off-patent drugs to be studied for efficacy and safety information, at least annually. Off-patent drugs are those that no longer have patent protection. In February 2004, the NICHD—the lead institute for this research—reached out by letter to approximately 150 national organizations to invite them to provide information and comments on any of the 225 off-patent drugs that have been identified for possible study. The results, which are due by April 30, 2004, will help NICHD determine which of these drugs will be added to the top priority list for federally funded study in the near future. Next Steps Questions may be addressed to Lisa Kaeser, Office of Program and Public Liaison, at kaeserl@mail.nih.gov.