Faculty Bibliography

Reviews the books, Lifetimes: The Beautiful Way to Explain Death to Children by Bryan Mellonie and Robert Ingpen (1983) and Me and Toby by Beth Creel (2012). Lifetimes is a classic among parents, grandparents, and professionals and serves as an introduction to the ubiquitous and natural progression from life to death across different species. It is appropriate and engaging for toddlers, preschoolers, elementary school-age children, and grown-ups alike. The prose and illustrations are poetic, matter-of-fact, and beautifully intertwined, with delicate captions that accompany the drawings. The book serves as an introduction not only to the universality of death but also to the sadness and shock that can accompany it. Me and Toby conveys a story about the relationship between 2 sisters and reveals how the younger of the 2 experiences the death of her older sister. Creel shows readers that grief can be processed through simultaneous missing and remembering our loved ones and ultimately moving forward alone but somehow still together.

Sharing drafts of scientific manuscripts on preprint hosting services for early exposure and pre-publication feedback is a well-accepted practice in fields such as physics, astronomy, or mathematics. The field of neuroscience, however, has yet to adopt the preprint model. A reason for this reluctance might partly be the lack of central preprint services for the field of neuroscience. To address this issue, we announce the launch of Preprints of the R-fMRI Network (PRN), a community funded preprint hosting service. PRN provides free-submission and free hosting of manuscripts for resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (R-fMRI) and neuroscience related studies. Submissions will be peer viewed and receive feedback from readers and a panel of invited consultants of the R-fMRI Network. All manuscripts and feedback will be freely available online with citable permanent URL for open-access. The goal of PRN is to supplement the "peer reviewed" journal publication system - by more rapidly communicating the latest research achievements throughout the world. We hope PRN will help the field to embrace the preprint model and thus further accelerate R-fMRI and neuroscience related studies, eventually enhancing human mental health.

The expansion of the use of evidence-based practices (EBPs) in mental health services is well under way and social work seeks to further its appropriate implementation in both specialty and nonspecialty mental health settings. The common elements approach is now recognized as demonstrating promise for use in a range of settings. This article discusses the attractiveness of the common elements approach and describes several efforts to integrate its content into social work education and to disseminate this approach into the field. Then the article presents research initiatives regarding two areas of nonspecialty mental health practice with children and families: (a) engaging clients in mental health services and (b) preventing the need for out-of-home placement for youth. Finally, we consider the challenges of the common elements framework for social work education and practice and future directions for research.

This editorial presents an overview of the two books discussed in the issue Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. The first book is about fighting stigma that argues against several myths. It is important to keep debates around stigma alive and to investigate the myths and realities of stigma, rather than just assuming that stigma is an all-powerful force, that we are necessarily bound to our patients with a shared stigma, or that it explains more than it really does. The second book examines treatment for a behavior that has been imbued with all the hallmarks of stigma, including shame and secrecy.

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been shown to be associated with shrinkage of the corpus callosum mid-sagittal cross-sectional area (CCA). Objective: To study temporal rates of corpus callosum atrophy not previously reported for early AD. Methods: We used longitudinal MRI scans to study the rates of change of CCA and circularity (CIR), a measure of its shape, in normal controls (NC, n = 75), patients with very mild AD (AD-VM, n = 51), and mild AD (AD-M, n = 21). Results: There were significant reduction rates in CCA and CIR in all three groups. While CCA reduction rates were not statistically different between groups, the CIR declined faster in AD-VM (p < 0.03) and AD-M (p < 0.0001) relative to NC, and in AD-M relative to AD-VM (p < 0.0004). Conclusion: CIR declines at an accelerated rate with AD severity. Its rate of change is more closely associated with AD progression than CCA or any of its sub-regions. CIR may be a useful group biomarker for objective assessment of treatments that aim to slow AD progression.

How children pick up a tool reveals their ability to plan an action with the end goal in mind. When presented with a spoon whose handle points away from their dominant hand, children between infancy and 8 years of age progress from using an awkward ulnar grip that causes food to spill from the spoon to consistently using a radial grip. At 4 years of age children's grip strategies are highly variable, including the awkward grips of infancy and use of the non-dominant hand, but they also employ adult-like grips never seen in infancy. By 8 years of age the infantile ulnar grip has completely disappeared and is replaced by more mature and effective grips that indicates better planning for the end goal.