The positive impact of diversity in increasing the effectiveness of the research workforce has been undeniably demonstrated to be an essential element for achieving health equity. Diversity is also instrumental for the research workforce to advance discovery, eliminate health disparities, improve minority health and achieve effective patient-centered outcomes in the quest for better health. One of the sustainable ways to achieve diversity in the workforce is through training, education and career development of all interested individuals including minority, underserved, underrepresented and populations with special needs. A Hispanic public, academic health center, and a historically black private medical school, have joined efforts in this article to share their experiences in addressing diversity in the clinical and translational research workforce with grant support from the National Institutes of Health. The purpose of this paper is to describe how diversity has been achieved through a concerted effort to recruit and develop underrepresented junior faculty and doctoral candidates for successful careers in clinical and translational research focused on health disparities and minority health. We describe Initiatives designed to achieve diversity in recruitment and development of research teams, together with an evaluation of outcomes to determine the success of the program and its participants.

Internet addiction (IA) is particularly relevant in the adolescent population. The aim of this study was to describe the prevalence of IA in a clinical sample of Latino adolescents receiving ambulatory psychiatric treatment. The correlation between their pattern of Internet use and their respective psychiatric diagnosis was also studied. Adolescent patients from the Psychiatric Ambulatory Clinic at the Pediatric University Hospital (N = 71) completed the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) and a questionnaire about Internet use. Information regarding demographic and diagnostic data was retrieved from their clinical records. None of the subjects presented severe IA. A total of 71.8% (n = 51) of the adolescents obtained scores reflecting no problem related to IA. Only 11.6% (n = 5) of subjects have discussed Internet use with their therapist. Mood disorders showed a statistically significant (p = 0.044) correlation with a higher score on the IAT. Mental health care practitioners must consider questions on Internet use as an essential part of the patients' evaluation given its significant correlation with diagnosis of a mood disorder.

This Viewpoint discusses mental health outcomes associated with natural disaster–related stressors during the perinatal period.

Background: Anxiety disorders are characterized by specific emotions, thoughts and physiological responses. Little is known, however, about the relationship between psychological/personality indices of anxiety responses to fear stimuli. Methods: We studied this relationship in healthy subjects by comparing scores on psychological and personality questionnaires with results of an experimental fear conditioning paradigm using a visual conditioned stimulus (CS). We measured skin conductance response (SCR) during habituation, conditioning, and extinction; subsequently testing for recall and renewal of fear 24 hours later. Results: We found that multiple regression models explained 45% of the variance during conditioning to the CS+, and 24% of the variance during renewal of fear to the CS+. Factors that explained conditioning included lower levels of conscientiousness, increased baseline reactivity (SCL), and response to the shock (UCR). Low levels of extraversion correlated with greater renewal. No model could be found to explain extinction learning or extinction recall to the CS+. Conclusions: The lack of correlation of fear extinction with personality and neuropsychological indices suggests that extinction may be less determined by trait variables and cognitive state, and may depend more on the subject’s current emotional state. The negative correlation between fear renewal and extraversion suggests that this personality characteristic may protect against post-treatment relapse of symptoms of anxiety disorders.