ALCOHOL & PREGNANCY: A Washington Post story reported on a study that showed drinking among pregnant women is on the rise. Asked to comment, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Professor Anne Streisguth, an expert on fetal alcohol syndrome, said “There’s always lots of interest in stopping drug use (in pregnant women) and drug use keeps getting interpreted as illegal drugs. Yet the one that causes the most damage to the fetus is alcohol.”

LEARNING HANDWRITING: School kids may be using computers, but they still need to know how to write by hand. So says Education Professor Virginia Berninger, who told Associated Press, “It seems so routine and mundane to just produce alphabet letters, but for a 6-year-old it’s a major cognitive task.”

DNA TESTING: When a nurse was raped and murdered at a Maryland hospital, the local police conducted DNA tests on more than 100 male employees of the hospital, some of whom felt coerced, even though the police claimed the tests were voluntary. When USA Today did a story on the incident, it quoted Technical Communication Professor Phil Bereano, who said “It’s situationally coercive. A policeman appears on your doorstep, and he’s an authority figure. He says, or at least seems to say, ‘Come on, everybody’s doing it,’ and you feel pressured.”

PARENTING MATTERS: When Newsweek did a story on Judith Harris’ book that claims parents have little influence on how a child turns out, the magazine turned to Psychology Professor John Gottman for a rebuttal. Said Gottman, “Intervention studies show that if you change the behavior of the parents you change the behavior of the kids, with effects outside the home. When parents learn how to talk to and listen to kids with the worst aggression and behavior problems and to deal with the kids’ emotions, the kid becomes less impulsive, less aggressive and does better in school.”

MONEY AND MEDICINE: A study whose lead author was Douglas Conrad, professor of health services, was reported in the Portland Oregonian. Conrad found that regardless of whether doctors are paid a salary or paid according to their productivity, they deliver an equivalent amount of health care to patients for an equivalent cost. “Well voila! The Hippocratic oath seems to work,” Conrad told the Oregonian. Contrary to what some believe, the study showed, doctors don’t provide more services when they have productivity incentives, a practice called churning. “What I think they’re doing is taking on more patients, working harder, not churning more patients,” Conrad said.

Newsmakers is a periodic column reporting on the coverage of the University of Washington by the national press and broadcasting services. ¶