No. 242  March 2003

VOYAGER I  AND THE SHOCK ZONE: HISTORY IN THE MAKING In a December 18, 2000 NASA Press Release #2000-131, Most Distant Spacecraft May Reach Shock Zone Soon, ( http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/news/pressrelease3_121800.html)    NASA announces the spacecraft Voyager I will reach the Shock Zone sometime between 2001 and the end of 2003.  The Sun sends out solar particles into space in all directions.  This Solar sphere of particles has an outer boundary area called the heliopause. The heliopause is the region of space between the Solar sphere, which is dominated by solar particles) ends and intrasteller space begins.  When Voyager I, leaves the Solar sphere, it will enter this heliopause area and experience a termination shock. Voyages exist of the Solar Sphere ill allow NASA to learn more about the edge of the solar system, and the beginnings of interstellar space. Voyager 1 hit the Shock Zone as predicted.   The NASA Voyager I Intersteller Mission webpage  http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/interstellar.html  has current information about and pictures of Intersteller Space, Particles, and Pressure Waves, the Heliopause, the Shock Zone, and Voyager I moving from our solar sphere out into interstellar space. It is 2003 and Voyager I has reaced the Shock Zone.  The Voyager I Mission Homepage http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html provides background and a link to the “Murmurs of Earth” records put into Voyager I and 2.  Voyager’s Greeting to the Universe web page http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/goldenrec.html shows the gold-plated copper disk containing Earth sounds and images, inserted into the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecrafts, to be played by any other interstellar inhabitants who encounter the NASA spacecrafts.  Murmurs of Earth is the records samples of Earth’s sights and sounds letting those inhabitants of interstellar space know what they will find on Earth.  

EVENT DATA RECORDERS  Why did the airplane crash? is the question usually answered by the “the little black box” which continually monitors all the pilots and airplanes functions and operations and provides unique and valuable information and data to the FAA crash investigators.  The research and development of the  “little black box” for motor vehicles began in the 1970s and has quite a history. Its history involves 12 groups of users and 12 different kinds of data/information, which the EDRs are designed to collect.  Although the data collected will cover the occupants’ seat belt use and the vehicle operations, unlike the black boxes in aircraft, the ERDs will not operate continuously to create audio or video logs or records. Vehicle passenger privacy is not an issue here, because these EDRs will collect only vehicle and occupant-based crash information. To quote (“Event Data Recorders, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Extension of Comment Period, Notices,” Federal Register, V. 68, No. 7, January 10, 2003 page 1508)(AE 2.106:68/7) “We explained that when we used ‘EDR’ in the request for comments, we were referring to a device that is installed in a motor vehicle to record technical vehicle and occupant-based information for a brief period of time (i.e. seconds, not minutes) before, during and after a crash.  For instance, EDRs may record (1) pre-crash vehicle dynamics and system status, (2) driver inputs, (3) vehicle crash signature, (4) restraint usage/deployment status, and (5) certain post-crash data such as the activation of an automatic collision notification  (ACN) system.” NHTSA has a website of nine EDR pages which begins with Event Data Recorder (EDR) Applications for Highway and Traffic Safety (Homepage) http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/edr-site/index.html, a History, a Using EDR Safety Data, and a Bibliography pages.

SUBSTANCE USE IN MOVIES AND MUSIC    Substance Use in Popular Movies and Music is an April 1999 report of a study which examined the 200 most popular movie rentals and 1,000 of the most popular songs from 1996 and 1997.  This study is one of the first in-depth studies of substance use in movies and popular songs, which examined the use of drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and over-the-counter and prescription medicines. Researchers examined selected movies and music to see what substance was used, by whom, how often, under what circumstances, and with what consequences. The 1996 and 1997 time period is brief, but the in depth examination and analysis of the study’s findings presents a very thorough view of how substance use is portrayed in these movies and popular songs. “The study considered whether movies and songs involved substance use as an important theme, contained pro- or anti-use behavior or statements, conveyed limit-setting messages, or associated substance use with positive or negative contexts. Also examined was the extent to which substance use portrayals varied among different types of movies and movies with different ratings.” “Findings revealed that 98 percent of movies studied depicted illicit drugs, alcohol, tobacco or over-the-counter/prescription medicines. Alcohol and tobacco appeared in more than 90 percent of the movies and illicit drugs appeared in 22 percent.” Some of the major findings from the song analysis are that substance references are particularly common in Rap music. Illicit drugs were mentioned in 63 percent of Rap songs versus about 10 percent of the lyrics in the other kinds of popular music.  Similarly, alcohol references appeared in almost half of the Rap lyrics, but in 13 percent or fewer of the other genres. In song lyrics that mentioned illicit drugs, marijuana was by far the most frequent of the illicit drugs mentioned (63 percent).  This very informative analysis of movies and music is available as an online publication at the Office of National Drug Control Policy, National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign website http://www.mediacampaign.org/publications/movies/movie_toc.html.     

SUBSTANCE USE IN PRIME TIME TELEVISION  The Office of National Drug Control Policy’s National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign wanted to know about substance use in prime time television. Per the “Executive Summary” this Office wanted to know “How are illicit drugs, tobacco, and alcohol portrayed in the most popular television series?” The report issued in January 2000 shows the following facts,  “ this study examined the frequency and nature of substance use portrayals in the 42 top-rated most popular comedies and dramas prime-time shows of the fall 1998-1999 season intended for adult and teenage viewers. Illicit drugs were infrequently mentioned and rarely shown in prime time television. Overall, teen viewers were exposed to very little illicit drug use and, what little there was, did not glamorize drugs. One in five episodes (19 percent) portrayed tobacco use. No characters under the age of 18 were shown using tobacco. Eight percent of adult major characters used tobacco. Overall, teen viewers were exposed to relatively little tobacco use.  A significant number of episodes (71 percent) showed alcohol use. With one exception, no drinking by underage characters was portrayed. On the whole, teen viewers were exposed to high levels of alcohol use. Findings revealed that illicit drugs were mentioned or seen in 20 percent of all episodes, tobacco in 22 percent, and alcohol in 77 percent.”  These are just a few of the facts and bits of information found in this 38 page report which includes a bibliography and list of the 42 comedies and dramas which were covered in this study.  Substance Use In Popular Prime-Time Television dated January 2000 is one of many reports summarized on the Mediacampaign publications page, http://www.mediacampaign.org/publications/ which leads to a pdf version of our report http://www.mediacampaign.org/publications/primetime/primetimetv.pdf.  

DNA RESEARCH & BLOOD SPECIMENS COLLECTION Since 1960, the National Center for health Statistics has been collecting national estimates of the health and nutritional status the U.S. civilian non-institutional population.  As part of this information collection, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) collected and analyzed blood samples. Two nationally represented sample surveys of Lymphocytes (C Cells and T Cells) samples were collected during in Phases from Fall 1988 to Fall 1994. Phase I was conducted from October 1988 to October 1991, and Phase II was conducted from October 1991 to October 1994. The Lymphocytes taken from the blood specimens are stored and maintained at the National Center for Environmental Health Sciences and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is making DNA samples from these specimens available to the molecular biologists research community. Currently there are specimens available from approximately 7,300 participants in the second phase of NHANES III. To learn more about this DNA Specimen Database, its function, application guidelines, and costs go to the NHANES III DNA Specimens Guidelines for Proposals webpage http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/about/major/nhanes/dnafnlgm2.htm or go to the Official Program Announcement at “Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III (NHANES) DNA Specimens: Guidelines for Proposals To Use Samples and Proposed Cost Schedule, Notices” Federal Register V. 67, No. 148, August 8, 2002 pages 51585-51589.

NEWBORNS DO BEST IN OREGON  When a doctor determines his patient has a disease or disorder that is detected in a treatable stage, the patient gets treated and survives.  When a newborn arrives, looking physically fit and crying, as newborns should, is this a “perfect baby”? That newborn could have one or more of 40 serious life-threatening genetic and metabolic disorders all of which can be detected at birth by using one single drop of the baby’s blood.  Of the newborn screening programs in the fifty states, only 39 mandate that newborns undergo screening tests, but only for no more than eight disorders. Kentucky tests for 4 disorders, Indiana tests for 9, and Ohio tests for 12. On the high end of the spectrum, Wisconsin tests for 21 disorders, Illinois tests for 27, North Carolina tests for 32, and Oregon tests for 33.  As opposed to Montana, West Virginia, and South Dakota which all test for 3 disorders. Most states fall within the range of 4 to 14 disorders.  Even though all states have statutes that require newborn screening, 33 allow exemptions for religious reasons, and 13 states allow exemptions for any reason. Newborn Screening, Characteristics of State Programs, issued March 2003 by the General Accounting Office is ?? pages of a thorough summary of the latest GAO survey of the newborn screening programs current practices in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.  This GAO Report GAO-03-449 found at http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-03-449

NATIONAL LEGAL DIRECTIVE TO GET MARRIED  America’s public welfare system was radically changed with the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) for single parents. Two of the four goals of this law as stated in Section 103 are (1) to end the dependence of needy parents on government benefits by promoting job preparation, work, and marriage and (2) encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families.  To achieve these goals of getting single-parent families off welfare and married, PRWORA authorized the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program.  The TANF program was funded to learn about the status of policies to support and promote marriage and provides this information to the single-parent welfare recipients. “A number of states are engaged in a variety of activities that support marriage.  Some focus specifically on TANF populations; others are more broad based. To help inform the policy discussions, [and the prospective brides and grooms], it is important to have a current picture of state-level policies that promote and support marriage.” “This document inventories marriage policies in 50 states and District of Columbia in 10 broad areas” such as state tax policies, medical assistance, state-level vital statistics, and marriage support and promotion. State Policies to Promote Marriage, Final Report, is an 18-page report that was issued in March 2002 by the TANF Program and was funded by the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  Both the Preliminary and Final versions of this Report can be found on the Internet at http://www.aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/marriage02/, which also provides the address from which a printed copy of this Report is available.  

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July 14, 2003

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