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3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Uncovering The Genetic Basis Of Mental Illness Requires Data And Tools That Aren’t Just Based On White People – A International Team Is Collecting DNA Samples Around The Globe

Mental illness is a growing public health problem. In 2019, an estimated 1 in 8 people around the world were affected by mental disorders like depression, schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. While scientists have long known that many of these disorders run in families, their genetic basis isn’t entirely clear. One reason why is that the majority of existing genetic data used in research is overwhelmingly from white people. In 2003, the Human Genome Project generated the first “reference genome” of human DNA from a combination of samples donated by upstate New Yorkers, all of whom were of European ancestry. Researchers across many biomedical fields still use this reference genome in their work. But it doesn’t provide a complete picture of human genetics. Someone with a different genetic a...

Reconsidering The Britney Spears Case – Requires Reconsidering How Society Thinks About Decision-Making Capacity

Elyn Saks, University of Southern California Britney Spears’ impassioned remarks in court have raised many questions about conservator-ships, including when they’re necessary and whether they effectively protect someone’s best interests. When one loses the capacity to make decisions for oneself the court appoints a guardian, or conservator, to make those decisions. Appointing someone to make decisions about personal and financial matters on another’s behalf has been part of civil society since the ancient Greeks. Today, all jurisdictions in the U.S. have conservator-ship laws to protect people who lack the ability to make their own decisions. As a distinguished professor of law at the University of Southern California, and as a person who was diagnosed over four decades ago with chronic...

Ending Domestic Violence Requires Working With Those Who Harm, Too

The Alliance for Boys and Men of Color’s Healing Together Campaign aims to end intimate partner violence by advocating for policy changes—and seeking healing for both survivors and the people who harm them. Prompted by experiencing domestic violence in her own family, Jacquie Marroquin started working in the violence against women movement in California in 2001. In doing so, she recognized an irony. Marroquin knew all of the support systems available for victims of domestic violence and how to best use them, and yet she knew her own family would never take advantage of those services. They didn’t want law enforcement involved. Their situation isn’t uncommon. In Marroquin’s work as the director of programs for the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence, she sees fami...