Noteworthy.

• Position: Brief items

Providing financial support to parents or other elderly relatives is a common practice today. Often. this financial sacrifice can be offset by claiming certain tax benefits, such as medical expenses. Beyond that deduction, a parent or elderly relative may qualify as a dependent, allowing several more tax doors to open, reveals the Financial Planning Association, Denver. Colo.

"Stereotype threat" occurs when certain persons whose group is targeted by negative categorizations try to excel at tasks that are related to the stereotype. In these situations, knowing that there is a prejudiced attitude against them can lead individuals to perform more poorly on a task than they otherwise would, according to professors of psychology Toni Schmader and Jeff Stone. University of Arizona, Tucson.

About 60% of surveyed Americans 75 years of age or older reported unmet needs for assistance with some activities of daily living (ADL) versus only four percent of the oldest residents in Sweden. states a study from Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa, Although both countries provide support to approximately 40% of the over-75 population, that statistic masks the disparity in services that becomes evident when the researchers focused only on people who have long-term chronic needs for help with ADL. These include feeding, bathing, dressing, managing money, house-keeping, and shopping.

Witches and werewolves play a major role in the way folk medicine is practiced in the Caribbean island-nation of Dominica, says Marsha Quinlan, professor of anthropology. Ball State University, Muncie, Ind., and author of From the Bush--The Front Line of Health Care in a Caribbean Village.--"The villagers do believe that witches and werewolves cause some of their ailments. They may blame a sickness on something a witch has done or due to contact with a werewolf. Then they use a home remedy to cure that particular sickness."

They say there is no such thing...