_________________________________________________________________ VOLUME 2, ISSUE 1 PSYCHNEWS INTERNATIONAL January 1997 _________________________________________________________________ SECTION D: NETWORKING REQUESTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS -------------------------------------------------------- ====== INDEX ====== 1. WHIPLASH VICTIMS 2. PSYCHIATRIC SOCIETY FOR INFORMATICS MEETING 3. Bavarian-Finnish Longitudinal Study (BFLS) 1. WHIPLASH VICTIMS =================== I have begun developing a series of Whiplash victims with severe headaches. They have significant selective deficits on neuropsychological assessment. CAT scans etc show no cerebral impairment. However, they have all had marked improvement with headaches, and can read without headaches with the Irlen Tinted Filters. In 1995 I used EEG Feedback to prove that the signal that was "stuck" on the right side of the brain "switches" to left with the correct Irlen Lenses. Naturally, I am keen to tell others of my findings, but also really want to hear if others could review their client data. My findings implicate "disconnection" and "switching" centres and fibres in mid brain. In essence this will lead to many whiplash victims being compensated instead of being labeled malingerers. Psychologists' reports will once again be respected in terms of legitimate claims. (Sure there will always be a few malingerers, but I do not believe that they are as widespread as current judgements would suggest) Finally, in Queensland, three times as many women as men make whiplash claims each year. There are several issues to be discussed: 1. Whiplash accounts for more insurance claims than any other injury 2. Most claimants are women 3. Malingering may not be a valid finding (as new technology becomes more sensitive to shearing injuries especially in midline structures, plus more careful "disconnection" neuropsychological and neurofeedback data is generate). Please advise re best the strategies to communicate with others via PsychNews about Whiplash. Bea Pullar, Neuropsychologist bea@OntheNet.com.au 2. PSYCHIATRIC SOCIETY FOR INFORMATICS MEETING ============================================== Psychiatric Society for Informatics Call for Papers Second Annual Meeting Saturday May 17, 1997 San Diego, California One World: The World Wide Web (WWW) INTRODUCTION In the last 24 months we have seen the introduction of a computer technology that appears to be having an impact unlike any other before. The World Wide Web is transforming almost all major industries. Whether a nightmare or a dream it is becoming more than a fade, it is becoming the next step in the evolutionary ascendancy of information technology to a place that will change mankind forever. At the most recent American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) more than 160 presentations and posters were given in which the WWW was a significant component. Almost all areas of medical informatics were involved including education (physician and patient), clinical care (search techniques, medical vocabulary and examples of the electronic medical record), and research. The potential impact that the WWW will have was apparent. To pay our regards to the birth of such an awesome technology, we will be focusing on the potential impact of the WWW during the Second Annual meeting of the Psychiatric Society for Informatics. We welcome papers and poster presentation involving all information technology topics, but will show preference for those dealing with the WWW. Hope to see you in San Diego. Norman Alessi, MD, Program Chair nalessi@umich.edu Marvin Miller, MD, PSI president izau100@indyunix.iupui.edu Neil Alex, MD, Site coordinator Edutech@ix.netcom.com Milton Huang, MD, PSI Secretary-Treasurer mhuang@umich.edu FORMATS Besides the keynote speech and the President's address, there will be a morning and an afternoon symposium. These will be followed by an open business meeting and then a poster session. We will accept submissions for complete symposia or for individual presentations which we will then group appropriately. Slide projector, overhead, and LCD panel will be provided. Posters may be traditional paper or electronic, but we will only be supplying electricity. SUBMISSIONS All submissions should have a cover sheet containing the title of the presentation or paper, the names of the presenters, their titles and organizations, address, phone, and if available e-mail and fax. A second page should contain a typed double spaced abstract of the presentation/poster. The submission should be sent to Milton Huang, M.D., Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, 1500 E. Medical Center Drive, TC F3052/Box 0390, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-0390. Submissions may also be sent via fax to (313) 936-8907, or via e-mail to mhuang@umich.edu. Email submissions may be plain text or attachments in MS Word 7.0 or less or WordPerfect 5.0 or less. The one page abstract will be forwarded by me to two judges without name attached. DEADLINES 1 March 1997: Deadline for submissions 24 March 1997: Information on acceptance/rejection sent 31 March 1997: Final Program mailed 14 April 1997: End of early Registration FURTHER INFORMATION Further information will be available on our website at http://www.psych.med.umich.edu/web/psi/ 3. Bavarian-Finnish Longitudinal Study (BFLS) ============================================= We are intending to apply for a grant to document the data set of one of the largest longitudinal studies ever conducted (BFLS). The BFLS is a bi-national geographically defined observation study of all infants born in 1985/86 who were admitted to 16 children's hospitals in South Bavaria (SB), Germany and 5 children hospitals in the region of Uusima (Finland; SF) within the first 10 days of life for special care (index children). The two samples consist of all 7505 index children (10.6% of 70.600 births) in SB and 1536 children (9.8% of 15.618 births) in SF. Furthermore, control children with normal postnatal care were recruited at birth (SB: N: 916; SF: N: 658). All infants had daily observations while in special care, discharge assessments and follow-up assessments at 5, 20 and 56 months of age. These included face-to-face standard assessments of somatic health, growth, neurological and motor functioning, cognitive development and behaviour, family changes, day care and other sociodemographic information. First results of the study which was supported by the German Federal Government Ministry for Research and Education (BMBF) have been published (Riegel, K., Ohrt, B., Wolke, Oesterlund, K. (1995). Die Entwicklung gefaehrdet geborener Kinder bis zum fuenften Lebensjahr. Stuttgart: Enke Verlag). There are plans for cataloguing and preparing this large data set and documentation for archiving. The Data Archive would then be available for academic users via an appropriate outlet. Before embarking on the task of producing full documentation (in 1997) we would like to enquire whether there is sufficient potential interest by the academic community. If you are potentially interested in using the data set for answering research questions, please write to the Study Directors: Professor Klaus Riegel M.D. Dr. med. B. Ohrt University of Munich Children's Hospital Lindwurmstr. 4 D-80337 Munich or Professor Dieter Wolke, Ph.D. D.F.H.Wolke@herts.ac.uk Research Professor of Psychology University of Hertfordshire Department of Psychology College Lane GB Hatfield, Herts AL10 9AB