Shortly after the massacre at Columbine High School, a question popped into Peter Langman's mind: What would possess a child to pick up a gun, take it to school and mow down his classmates?
His interest wasn't merely academic. Langman, a child psychologist, had been asked to evaluate a teenager who posted a hit list on his Web site.
"To be sitting face to face with someone who was thought to be a potential risk for doing something like a Columbine attack was very intense," Langman says now. "A lot was riding on what we did with him. This was a potential mass murderer."
Since there was very little research at the time to guide him, Langman says, he felt an "ethical obligation" to learn all he could about the psychology of school shooters. The result of his decade-long inquiry: a book that plumbs the lives of 10 notorious school shooters - including Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold and Virginia Tech gunman Seung-Hui Cho - to draw conclusions about what set them off.
Health & Wellness
Specialists link rise to economic stress
Cases of the potentially devastating brain injury known as shaken baby syndrome have at least doubled in the last few months, a jump that Massachusetts child abuse specialists say is apparently influenced by families' economic stress.
Child protection teams at Children's Hospital Boston and Massachusetts General Hospital, which consult on many of the state's cases of maltreatment, have seen nine infants with shaken baby syndrome in the last three months, compared with four in the same period last year.
The number of cases of brain trauma has increased statewide, officials say, amid an overall rise in child abuse and neglect reports of 8 percent in the 2008 fiscal year, compared with the previous year.
Cases of the potentially devastating brain injury known as shaken baby syndrome have at least doubled in the last few months, a jump that Massachusetts child abuse specialists say is apparently influenced by families' economic stress.
Child protection teams at Children's Hospital Boston and Massachusetts General Hospital, which consult on many of the state's cases of maltreatment, have seen nine infants with shaken baby syndrome in the last three months, compared with four in the same period last year.
The number of cases of brain trauma has increased statewide, officials say, amid an overall rise in child abuse and neglect reports of 8 percent in the 2008 fiscal year, compared with the previous year.
An X-ray-guided spinal tap procedure fails more than half of the time in young infants and should be used sparingly, if at all, for those patients, according to a new study done by researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
The study also shows that the X-ray-guided form of spinal tap, called fluoroscopy-guided lumbar puncture, causes a doubling in risk of bleeding for patients older than 80 compared to younger patients and that the risk of bleeding caused by the procedure can be reduced by doing the puncture at the middle of the lower back rather than at the lowest levels of the spine.
The study also shows that the X-ray-guided form of spinal tap, called fluoroscopy-guided lumbar puncture, causes a doubling in risk of bleeding for patients older than 80 compared to younger patients and that the risk of bleeding caused by the procedure can be reduced by doing the puncture at the middle of the lower back rather than at the lowest levels of the spine.
Provigil, a narcolepsy drug increasingly used by healthy people to boost brain performance, may be addictive in vulnerable people and should be monitored, U.S. drug abuse experts said on Tuesday.
A pilot study on 10 healthy men found that at normal doses, the Cephalon Inc (CEPH.O) drug known generically as modafinil increases levels of the reward chemical dopamine in the same part of the brain that becomes active with other drugs of abuse.
"It has the signature that it could potentially be addictive," said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, whose study appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
A pilot study on 10 healthy men found that at normal doses, the Cephalon Inc (CEPH.O) drug known generically as modafinil increases levels of the reward chemical dopamine in the same part of the brain that becomes active with other drugs of abuse.
"It has the signature that it could potentially be addictive," said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, whose study appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
An influential Harvard child psychiatrist told the drug giant Johnson & Johnson that planned studies of its medicines in children would yield results benefiting the company, according to court documents dating over several years that the psychiatrist wants sealed.
Chicago - A spinal cord stimulator helped rodents with Parkinson's disease move more easily, offering the hope of a less-invasive way of treating the disease in humans, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.
"We see an almost immediate and dramatic change in the animal's ability to function when the device stimulates the spinal cord," said Dr. Miguel Nicolelis of Duke University in North Carolina, whose study appears in the journal Science.
If it works in humans, Nicolelis said, the device could be used to treat the disease early on, reaching far more patients than current stimulators, which are implanted deep in the brain, and can benefit only about one third of Parkinson's patients.
"We see an almost immediate and dramatic change in the animal's ability to function when the device stimulates the spinal cord," said Dr. Miguel Nicolelis of Duke University in North Carolina, whose study appears in the journal Science.
If it works in humans, Nicolelis said, the device could be used to treat the disease early on, reaching far more patients than current stimulators, which are implanted deep in the brain, and can benefit only about one third of Parkinson's patients.
Frankincense, an aromatic tree oil and in Christian tradition one of the three wise men's gifts to the baby Jesus, may be a helpful treatment for bladder cancer, according to a study published today.
Dakar, Senegal -- Authorities in Gambia have rounded up about 1,000 people and forced them to drink hallucinogens in a witch-hunting campaign that is terrorizing the tiny West African nation, an international rights group said Wednesday.
Amnesty International called on the government of President Yahya Jammeh, who seized power in a 1994 coup and has claimed he can cure AIDS, to halt the campaign and bring those responsible to justice.
Gambian officials could not immediately be reached for comment and the government has issued no statements in reaction to the report.
Authorities began inviting "witch doctors," who combat witches, to come from nearby Guinea soon after the death earlier this year of the president's aunt. Jammeh "reportedly believes that witchcraft was used in her death," the London-based rights group said.
Amnesty International called on the government of President Yahya Jammeh, who seized power in a 1994 coup and has claimed he can cure AIDS, to halt the campaign and bring those responsible to justice.
Gambian officials could not immediately be reached for comment and the government has issued no statements in reaction to the report.
Authorities began inviting "witch doctors," who combat witches, to come from nearby Guinea soon after the death earlier this year of the president's aunt. Jammeh "reportedly believes that witchcraft was used in her death," the London-based rights group said.
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Pupils of all abilities are more likely to succeed if they go to single-sex state schools
Pupils of all abilities are more likely to succeed if they go to single-sex state schools
Analysis of Key Stage 2 and GCSE scores of more than 700,000 girls has revealed that those in all-female comprehensives make better progress than those who attend mixed secondaries.
The largest improvements came among those who did badly at primary school, although pupils of all abilities are more likely to succeed if they go to single-sex state schools, the study indicates.
The research by the Good Schools Guide confirms previous claims that girls benefit from being educated away from boys.
A Government-backed review in 2007 recommended that the sexes should be taught differently to maximise results, amid fears that girls tend to be pushed aside in mixed-sex classrooms.
The biggest study ever into organic food - a four-year EU funded project called the Quality Low Input Food (QLIF) project - found that organic food is FAR more nutritious than ordinary produce, and can help improve your health and longevity. You're likely to hear more about this again, once they publish their findings in full, which is expected to occur by the end of this year. This study may have considerable impact, as its findings may even overturn government advice - at least in the U.K. - which currently states that eating organic food is no more than a lifestyle choice.
For example, this study found that:
* · Organic fruit and vegetables contain up to 40 percent more antioxidants
* · Organic produce had higher levels of beneficial minerals like iron and zinc
* · Milk from organic herds contained up to 90 percent more antioxidants
For example, this study found that:
* · Organic fruit and vegetables contain up to 40 percent more antioxidants
* · Organic produce had higher levels of beneficial minerals like iron and zinc
* · Milk from organic herds contained up to 90 percent more antioxidants
