Psychiatric patients less violent when smoking restricted

jerry submitted, created time 5 months 4 weeks (www.bmj.com)

Violence and aggressive incidents were cut by almost half when a smoking ban was introduced at one English acute psychiatric hospital.

In data yet to be published, but seen by the BMJ, investigators at Harplands Hospital in North Staffordshire examined all recorded episodes of violence and aggression that staff experienced. They compared all incidents a year before the introduction of a smoke-free hospital policy in April 2006 with those in the year after

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Violence against nurses finally gets some press

Darkfrog submitted, created time 6 months 22 hours (www.nytimes.com)

NUrses treat all kinds of people, including the ones who think nothing of--or are too out of it to think at all--kicking or otherwise attacking their nurse. Nurses have never been strangers to violence. What's new is that the nurses and their unions have been reporting these incidents and are starting to insist on better security at hospitals.

“Nurses find different kinds of responses from their administrations and different levels of support,” said Dr. S. Gerbich of the University of Minnesota

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Doctors unprepared to protect themselves from violent patients

sea-maid submitted, created time 7 months 1 week (careers.bmj.com)

One in three doctors is attacked at work every year, yet few of these will have been trained on how to handle the situation. General practitioners, doctors working in accident and emergency departments, psychiatrists, and doctors in training are the most at risk.

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Human behavior: Killer instincts

sumsung submitted, created time 11 months 6 days (www.nature.com)

It is scientifically incorrect to say that we have inherited a tendency to make war from our animal ancestors … that war or any other violent behavior is genetically programmed into our human nature … [and] that humans have a "violent brain."

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Pheromone for mouse aggression found

Hugging decreases violence among spider monkeys

Hecate submitted, created time 1 year 10 months (www.nature.com)

The touchy-feely "hugs can save the world" crowd actually had a point. Who knew? It seems that spider monkeys use hugging to dispel tension and avoid fights and suggests analogies in humans. (Fortunately for the less new-age among us, one of these analogies is handshakes.)

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Cheuvanist Chimps: Correlations between male-female violence, stress hormones and fecundity

Hecate submitted, created time 1 year 11 months (sciencenow.sciencemag.org)

A study out of Boston University demonstrates that male-on-female violence among chimpanzees is not necessarily spillover from male-male aggression or random disputes over food et al. There appears to be a purpose behind it.

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