January 2023

By Brandon Keim, Photo: Mladen Antonov/Agence-France Presse, The New York Times, January 24, 2023 When Lauren Strohacker received her second Covid-19 vaccine dose in the spring of 2021, she rejoiced. It meant she could see her friends again, go to concerts and live with far less fear that an infection might leave her physically or financially devastated. But it became a bittersweet memory. Not long after Ms. Strohacker, an artist based in Knox County, Tenn., returned home from the...

By Miriam Frankel and Matt Warren, Photo: Getty Images, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), January 22, 2023 Y our gut is a bustling and thriving alien colony. They number in their trillions and include thousands of different species. Many of these microorganisms, including bacteria, archaea and eukarya, were here long before humans, have evolved alongside us and now outnumber our own cells many times over. Indeed, as John Cryan, a professor of anatomy and neuroscience at University...

By Nesrine Malik, Illustration: Matt Kenyon, The Guardian, January 23, 2023 ou may have forgotten by now, but there was a brief moment during the pandemic when hopes were raised for a new “ roaring 20s ”. The Yale sociology professor Nicholas Christakis predicted that as in the 1920s, after the 1918 Spanish flu, society would embrace indulgence, with a rise in “sexual licentiousness” as well as a “reverse of religiosity”. We were poised to emerge from lockdown randy and flush. We certainly...

By Nicholas Kristof, Photo: Aaron Kehoe/Associated Press, The New York Times, January 24, 2023 Once again the United States is seared by screams, shots, blood, sirens and politicians’ calls for thoughts and prayers. Two shootings in California since Saturday have claimed at least 18 lives, leaving Americans asking once again: What can be done to break the political stalemate on gun policy so that we can save lives? For decades, we’ve treated gun violence as a battle to be won rather than a...

In light of the three recent mass shootings in the last three days in California—Monterey Park, Half Moon Bay and Oakland—take a look at " A Smarter Way to Reduce Gun Deaths " that Nicholas Kristof posted in the New York Times. To solve this plague of violence requires many parts working together, he says. Using alarming and revealing data and graphs, he includes these among his many recommendations: Keep guns out of the hands of people under 21 (Wyoming has such a law), as well as those...

January 27th is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. It recognizes, as stated by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum , “the systematic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million European Jews by the Nazi German regime and its allies and collaborators, the evolving process that took place throughout Europe between 1933 and 1945.” The historical trauma of the Holocaust will be explored by “History. Culture. Trauma.” podcast hosts Ingrid Cockhren and Mathew Portell this...

By Jillian McKoy, Boston University School of Public Health, January 19, 2023 Historic redlining and other racist policies have led to present-day racial and economic segregation and disinvestment in many cities across the United States. Research has shown how neighborhood characteristics and resources are associated with health disparities such as preterm birth and asthma, but most of these studies are limited in scale and overlook many aspects in a neighborhood that are difficult to...

By Scott D. Berns, National Institute for Children's Health Quality, January 20, 2023 What can we respectfully learn from indigenous cultures that have inhabited North America for thousands of years? Living symbiotically with the environment is a core practice and considering the impact of choices on the seven generations is a conscious way to make decisions. Many tribes are matrilinear and center women as leaders, and gender diversity is valued and protected. Traditional music pulses with...

By Nathan M. Greenfield, Photo: iStock, University World News, January 14, 2023 On 21 December 2022, Canada’s paper of record, the (Toronto) Globe and Mail published an op-ed by Meric Gertler, president of the University of Toronto (UofT). The article did not discuss noteworthy academic achievements or reflect on the first full year of on-campus classes since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Rather, it outlined UofT’s response to serious charges of antisemitism at its Temerty Faculty of Medicine...

By Scott Wilson and Todd C. Frankel, Photo: Philip Cheung/The Washington Post, The Washington Post, January 22, 2023 California has a reputation as a tough place to buy a gun. It’s home to mandatory waiting periods and background checks for firearms purchases. It bans so-called military-style assault weapons, one of just eight states, plus D.C., with such a law. And in 2016, it became one of the first states to enact a red-flag law, which allows authorities to remove firearms from someone...

Overview PACEs Connection ( pacesconnection.com ), an ever-growing social network, connects those who are implementing trauma-informed and resilience-building practices based on ACEs science. The network’s 58,000+ members share their best practices, while inspiring each other to grow the PACEs movement. PACEs Connection is a fiscally sponsored project of TSNE ( tsne.org ). Responsibilities The Director of Creating Resilient Communities (CRC) will lead all PACEs Connection’s efforts in CRC.

[Editor's note: Dr. Harise Stein at Stanford University edits a web site — abuseresearch.info — that focuses on the effects of abuse, and includes research articles on PACEs. Every month, she posts the summaries of the abstracts and links to research articles that address only ACEs, PCEs and PACEs. Thank you, Harise!! — Rafael Maravilla] Domestic Violence – Effects on Children Schuler BR, Vazquez CE, Kobulsky JM, Dumenci L. Adversity and child body mass index in Fragile Families over 15...