February 10, 2021
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's (AHRQ) mission is to produce evidence to make health care safer, of higher quality, more accessible, equitable, and affordable, and to work within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and with other partners to make sure that the evidence is understood and used. This FOA invites applications that propose research projects that test promising digital healthcare interventions aimed at improving quality of care and healthcare services delivery at the point of care. This FOA will use the Phased Innovation Award (R21/R33) mechanism to provide up to 2 years of R21 support for initial developmental activities, and up to 3 years of R33 support for expanded activities. Transition to the R33 phase is not guaranteed for all grants awarded under this FOA. Continuation from the R21 phase to the R33 phase will be determined by AHRQ staff based on progress achieved in the R21 phase and factors such as program priorities and availability of funds.
February 10, 2021
This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will support research grants to address urgent, time-sensitive research questions on the relationships between alcohol consumption and COVID-19 related outcomes and consequences. The principal area of focus is research that can improve public health in the near term by informing responses to the current COVID-19 pandemic, in view of 1) the impact of alcohol misuse on incidence and severity of COVID-19 disease or 2) the effect of the COVID-19 disease and pandemic-induced restrictions on alcohol use and alcohol use disorder (AUD). Time-sensitive applications for which standard NIH review and funding timelines would compromise either the ability to conduct the research or the value of the knowledge and with the potential to inform responses to the current pandemic will be considered. Applications to this RFA should be accomplished within a three year project duration .
February 10, 2021
Only 42 percent of Hoosiers have what is considered a good paying job according to a new report released Wednesday by the Brookings Institution. It details issues facing Indiana’s economy and what can be done to improve conditions.
Study Finds Pandemic Exacerbated Indiana's Preexisting Economic Issues
February 9, 2021
People ate fewer daily calories but had higher insulin and blood sugar levels on a low-fat, plant-based diet than when on a low-carbohydrate, animal-based diet. The results broaden our understanding of how restricting dietary carbohydrates or fats in the diet may impact health.
February 9, 2021
With more time being spent on caregiving responsibilities during the COVID-19 pandemic, female scientists’ productivity dropped. When female scientists conduct research, identity factors are better incorporated in research content. In order to mitigate damage to the research enterprise, funding agencies can play a role by putting in place gender equity policies that support all applicants and ensure research quality. A national health research funder implemented gender policy changes that included extending deadlines and factoring sex and gender into COVID-19 grant requirements. Following these changes, the funder received more applications from female scientists, awarded a greater proportion of grants to female compared to male scientists, and received and funded more grant applications that considered sex and gender in the content of COVID-19 research. Further work is urgently required to address inequities associated with identity characteristics beyond gender.
COVID-19 gender policy changes support female scientists and improve research quality
February 9, 2021
In March 2020, Reshma Jagsi—a radiation oncologist at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor—wrote an opinion piece predicting female scientists would feel a disproportionate impact from the COVID-19 pandemic. Skeptical journal editors declined to publish it. Since then, though, many commentators have echoed her message. And now the evidence has become clear: The pandemic has exacerbated existing disparities and created additional challenges for women, especially those with children, struggling to maintain their research productivity.
Pandemic hit academic mothers especially hard, new data confirm
February 8, 2021
Women continue to be underrepresented at nearly every institution of higher education in the United States in the fields of biomedical, behavioral sciences, and engineering. This is particularly true among mid- to senior-level faculty ranks. The Prize for Enhancing Faculty Gender Diversity seeks to recognize those institutions whose biomedical and behavioral science departments, centers, or divisions have achieved sustained improvement in gender diversity. Understanding that there is no “one-size-fits-all” solution to enhancing diversity in academia and that ideas based on evidence are necessary to achieve systemic change, this prize will acknowledge and recognize transformative approaches, systems, projects, programs, and processes that have successfully enhanced and sustained gender diversity within an institution.
February 8, 2021
This article examines gender-based health inequalities arising from the COVID-19 pandemic by drawing on insights from research into the 'gender health paradox'. Decades of international research shows that, across Europe, men have shorter life expectancies and higher mortality rates than women, and yet, women report higher morbidity. These gender-based health inequalities also appear to be evident within the pandemic and its aftermath. The article starts by providing an overview of the 'gender health paradox' and the biological, social, economic and political explanations for it. It then outlines the international estimates of gender-based inequalities in COVID-19 morbidity and mortality rates - where emerging data suggests that women are more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19 but that men have a higher mortality rate. It then explores the longer term consequences for gender-based health inequalities of the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the impacts of government policy responses and the emerging economic crisis, suggesting that this might lead to increased mortality amongst men and increased morbidity amongst women. The essay concludes by reflecting on the pathways shaping gender-based health inequalities in the COVID-19 pandemic and the responses needed to ensure that it does not exacerbate gender-based health inequalities into the future.
February 8, 2021
A global study by Women's Deliver and Focus 2030 has found that women are being excluded from COVID-19 response and recovery plans. Women account for 70% of frontline workers, but only 20% of the World Health Organization's emergency committee are women. Research by the World Bank and UN shows women have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. An additional 47 million women worldwide will fall into extreme poverty in 2021 because they are over-represented in hard-hit sectors.
Women on the frontline are being left out of COVID-19 response plans, poll finds
February 7, 2021
Evidence from everyday life suggests that differences in social behaviors between males and females exist, both in animal and in humans. These differences can be related to socio-cultural determinants, but also to specialized portions of the brain (the social brain), from the neurotransmitter to the neural network level. The high vulnerability of this system is expressed by the wide range of neuropsychiatric disorders associated with social dysfunctions, particularly social withdrawal. The principal psychiatric disorders with prominent social withdrawal are described, including hikikomori-like syndromes, and anxiety, depressive, autistic, schizophrenic, and personality disorders. It is hypothesized that social withdrawal can be partially independent from other symptoms and likely reflect alterations in the social brain itself, leading to a similar, transdiagnostic social dysfunction, reflecting defects in the social brain across a variety of psychopathological conditions. An overview is provided of gender effects in the biological determinants of social behavior, including: the anatomical structures of the social brain; the dimorphic brain structures, and the modulation of their development by sex steroids; gender differences in "social" neurotransmitters (vasopressin and oxytocin), and in their response to social stress. A better comprehension of gender differences in the phenotypes of social disorders and in the neural bases of social behaviors may provide new insights for timely, focused, innovative, and gender-specific treatments.
Social withdrawal and gender differences: Clinical phenotypes and biological bases
