Years ago the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, changed its policy on dealing with the emerald ash borer (EAB), a pretty but deadly insect that has killed many of the state’s ash trees.
Instead of cutting down all ash trees, they allowed residents to treat high-value trees with insecticides at their own expense, says Kathy Quick, an assistant professor in the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs who was working in Grand Rapids at the time.(more…)
Many pregnant women with sexually transmitted infections aren’t getting the treatment they need when they visit emergency rooms, according to a new Michigan State University study that highlights a wholly preventable risk to unborn children and raises questions about current medical guidelines.
About half of the 735 women with gonorrhea or chlamydia who visited the ERs at three hospitals in Grand Rapids, Mich. from 2008 through 2010 did not get treatment there, despite the availability of effective and relatively inexpensive antibiotics. Of the 179 who were pregnant, only 20 percent received treatment in the ER. (more…)
American Indian communities in northern Michigan are improving health care for tribal elders with help from a Michigan State University program that blends their cultural traditions with the latest medical research.
It’s part of the Geriatric Education Center of Michigan, a federally funded, MSU-led consortium of universities, hospitals and government agencies established in 1987 to train health professionals and others to deliver better care to older adults, particularly in underserved communities. (more…)
James Wellman, associate professor of American religion in the Jackson School of International Studies, is the author of the book “Rob Bell and a New American Christianity.” He answered a few questions about his book for UW Today.
Q. What’s the basic concept behind this book?
A. “Rob Bell is a fascinating character in part because he achieved his evangelical celebrity so quickly, starting a church in Grand Rapids, Mich., and in a year and a half attracting 10,000 people to the church. He also created new media, the Nooma videos, which are unique and powerful meditative pieces on critical issues of faith. In 2011, he was named, by Time Magazine, one of the 100 most influential people in the world. That same year, he had a best seller, Love Wins, in which he asked pointed questions about the existence of hell, which made his conservative readers very uncomfortable.” (more…)
Researchers have found the first proof that a chemical in the brain called glutamate is linked to suicidal behavior, offering new hope for efforts to prevent people from taking their own lives.
Writing in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, Michigan State University’s Lena Brundin and an international team of co-investigators present the first evidence that glutamate is more active in the brains of people who attempt suicide. Glutamate is an amino acid that sends signals between nerve cells and has long been a suspect in the search for chemical causes of depression. (more…)
