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Prevalence of delayed language vs. normative language was examined in impoverished preschool children. On the basis of vocabulary, syntax comprehension, and syntax expression, 336 4-year-olds attending Head Start preschools in the US were assigned to five language status categories. A majority of these children living in poverty demonstrated clinically significant language delays, and this held true equally for Majority (White European) and Minority (here African-American or Latino) children. Many of the children living in poverty showed delays that place them in Strong Delay or Moderate Delay status rather than Mild Delay status. Moreover, as children’s language status declined from High Language to Low-Average Language to the three increasingly strong language delays, their academic and socioemotional skills decreased systematically. This conclusion holds, with large effect sizes, for emotion recognition skills, basic mathematics, print knowledge, phonological elision, and phonological blending. Given the high prevalence of language delays and the strong associations of language status levels to multiple skills considered important for school readiness, it may be advisable in intervention, education, and clinical service programs to expand the use of high-quality and high-quantity language teaching and language therapy procedures. Further, it is suggested that making more adjustments in instruction to current levels of language mastery by children in poverty might facilitate instructional effectiveness in most preschool skill domains. These recommendations are discussed in relation to dynamic systems theory and prior intervention studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses lessons learned from a community study on so called club drug and polly-substance abuse and HIV among gay/bisexual men. There are many concerns about the resurgence of HIV infection related to the dramatic increase in the use of these drugs among gay and bisexual men. The details of the community assessment and research efforts of the Substance Use Risk Exploration Project (SURE) are explained in depth, including the locations of the study which were western Washington State and the south San Francisco Bay Area, California. Statistics on HIV/AIDS by the World Health Organization are listed and discussed. There are various club drugs that are used and in the article percentages from SURE on drug use by gay/bisexual men over a three year period are presented. The case studies of specific gay/bisexual men are detailed. There are various things that mental health, health care providers and social work practitioners should be interested and concerned about when it concerns unprotected sex and drug use among gay/bisexual men.

Methamphetamine is a powerful stimulant drug that is currently the most popular synthetic drug of abuse in the United States. Its use has skyrocketed during the 1990's. The 1999 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse estimated that the number of Americans trying methamphetamine in their lifetime increased 2 1/2 times in the five-year period from 1994-1999, from 3.8 million to 9.4 million. Treatment admissions to publicly funded programs increased almost fourfold in just a five-year period, from 1992-1997. Methamphetamine use is reaching epidemic proportions in some areas of the country; for instance, in California, some counties have more treatment admissions for methamphetamine than for alcohol. The rising popularity of methamphetamine has been associated with serious problems within an increasing number of affected populations. The effects of the current upsurge in use have been compared to those of the crack cocaine epidemic of the late 1980's.

Focuses on the demise of the Soviet-American detente and on role played by the Vietnam War and the antiwar movement in helping to bring about the constructive relaxation of the United States with Russia. Perception of former President Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger; Developments that had affected America's relations to the Communist world.

Focuses on topics related to chemical physics in the United States. Vibration-rotation laser spectroscopy of negative ions; Role of vibrational motion on chemical reactions and structural phase transitions; Dynamics of surface rate processes.