BBC News meets child soldiers forced into service in the Democratic Republic of Congo (July 25, 2006).

A new study finds that when walking or biking to work is counted along with leisure activities in a daily exercise measure, the gap between low- and high-income Californians narrows, and improvements are also seen for Latinos and less-educated Californians. The study will appear in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. (Health Behavior News Service, July 25, 2006)

The following grant announcements are new this week on the Population Research Institute Funding Announcements web page.

Funding for Faculty Investigators

Behavioral & Integrative Treatment Development Program (R01) - National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) - National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) - National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

Behavioral & Integrative Treatment Development Program (R03) - National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) - National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) - National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

Behavioral & Integrative Treatment Development Program (R21) - National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) - National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) - National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

Dynamics of Coupled Natural and Human Systems (CNH) - National Science Foundation (NSF)

NIMH Research Education Grants (R25) - National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Occupational Safety and Health Education and Research Centers (T42) - National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)

Population Research Infrastructure Program (R24) - National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

Translational Research on the Relationship of Anxiety and Depression (R21) - National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Funding for Students (Pre-Doctoral Or Dissertation)

Drug Abuse Dissertation Research: Epidemiology, Prevention, Treatment, Services, and Women and Sex/Gender Differences (R36) - National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards for Individual Predoctoral Fellowships (F31) to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research - National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Woodrow Wilson Dissertation Fellowships in Women’s Studies - Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation

Post-Doctoral Opportunities

Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowships and Supporting Activities - National Science Foundation (NSF)

This report, from the USDA ERS, shows a slight decline in the number of hungry people in the world from 688 million in 1992-94 to 639 million in 2002-04.

The July 10 GrantWeek (see note below) reports that the American Competitiveness Iniative (ACI) will influence funding priorities at the National Science Foundation (NSF). For research funding, this means more emphasis on “cyber trust, nanotechnology, homeland security, physics, science metrics, climate change, and polar research.” While this is good news for potential applicants whose interests coincide with the ACI priorities, scientists whose interests lie in other areas are advised to use these priorities to focus their research proposals.

Access to Grants Resource Center publications is limited to subscribers; Penn State users can get login information from the Office of Sponsored Programs.

This publication, from the USDA ERS, shows national and regional trends in land use and compares earlier major land-use estimates.

A study published in the July issue of Epidemiology (PubMed abstract) found that while black women are still more likely to die of endometrial cancer than white women, the gap is shrinking (Reuters, July 17, 2006).

A US/UK research team found that people with lower socioeconomic status are biological older than their more well-off peers. The researchers believe the disparity is due to the increased stress associated with belonging to a lower social class. The study will be published in a forthcoming issue of Aging Cell. (BBC News, July 19, 2006)

Malawi has begun a weeklong HIV testing campaign that is expected to reach 50,000 people and aid HIV/AIDS prevention efforts (kaisernetwork.org Daily HIV/AIDS Report, July 19, 2006).

The Almanac of Hunger and Poverty in America 2006 combines original research and data from America’s Second Harvest with statistics from the Census Bureau, USDA, and other government agencies. The Almanac includes both national statistics and state-by-state comparisons.