Thursday, March 31, 2016

Remember the Guy Who Gave His Employees a $70,000 Minimum Wage? Here’s What Happened Next.



By Paul Keegan
Oct. 23, 2015

This post originally appeared in Inc.

•••••

By first outsourcing technology, and then building its own systems, Gravity offered lower prices and better service, and grew rapidly for four years—until the Great Recession nearly wiped it out. Traumatized, Price kept a lid on wages even after the economy recovered—to save the company, of course! Why can't employees see that? Yet the more people tried to cheer him up about his wage policy, the worse Price felt.

Finally, he realized why: Haley was right—not only about being underpaid, but also about Price's intentions. "I was so scarred by the recession that I was proactively, and proudly, hurting my staff," he says. Thus began Price's transformation from classic entrepreneur to crusader against income inequality, set on fundamentally changing the way America does business. For three years after his face-off with Haley, Price handed out 20 percent annual raises. Profit growth continued to substantially outpace wage growth. This spring, he spent two weeks running the numbers and battling insomnia before making a dramatic announcement to his 120-member staff on April 13, inviting NBC News and the New York Times to cover it: Over the next three years, he will phase in a minimum wage of $70,000 at Gravity and immediately cut his own salary from $1.1 million to $70,000 to help fund it.

•••••

Price had not only struck a nerve; he had also turbocharged a debate now raging across the American landscape, from presidential forums to barrooms to fast-food restaurants. How much—indeed, how little—should workers be paid? While financiers and C-suite honchos have showered themselves in compensation, most Americans haven't had a raise, in real dollars, since 2000. Especially in the wake of the recession, entrepreneurs and corporate bosses have tightly controlled costs, including wages. That boosts profits—and bonuses [bonuses to executives]. But at what cost? In a U.S. economy that is more than two-thirds consumer spending, GDP growth is chained to income growth. Workers can't spend what they don't have, nor do they have the home equity to borrow and spend. Weak wage growth helps explain why this long economic expansion has been so tepid.

•••••

The 20 percent raises Price implemented in 2012 were supposed to be a one-time deal. Then something strange happened: Profits rose just as much as the previous year, fueled by a surprising productivity jump—of 30 to 40 percent. He figured it was a fluke, but he piled on 20 percent raises again the following year. Again, profits rose by a like amount. Baffled, he did the same in 2014 and profits continued to rise, though not quite as much as before, because Gravity had to do more hiring.

•••••

As a numbers guy, he knows all the statistics. Even as the nation's productivity has improved 22 percent since 2000, median wages have risen only 1.8 percent, adjusted for inflation. Wages have actually fallen by 3 percent since the recession. Meanwhile, productivity gains are going to CEOs who earn, on average, about 300 times more than typical workers, compared with 71.2 times in 1990, according to the Economic Policy Institute. (Price's $1.1 million salary was about 23 times the $48,000 average at Gravity.) Such trends have driven the push for a $15 minimum wage in some cities, including Seattle.

•••••

s there a magic number that keeps workers focused while still generating a profit? Price calculated a figure but never imagined the publicity he's gotten would boost new customer inquiries from 30 per month to 2,000 within two weeks. Customer acquisition costs are typically high, so in that sense, the strategy has paid off. And in this business, customer retention is key. Gravity's 91 percent retention rate over the past three years—far above the industry average of about 68 percent—has been crucial to its success. Maria Harley, Gravity's vice president of operations, looks at a different set of numbers. While the company had to hire 10 more people than anticipated to handle the new business, most nonlabor costs—rent, technology, etc.—have remained the same, thus improving operating ratios. "We don't need our sales to double," she says. "We only need them to increase marginally—by about 25 to 30 percent. When I started being more logical than emotional about this, I said, 'This is totally possible.'"

•••••

Six months after Price's announcement, Gravity has defied doubters. Revenue is growing at double the previous rate. Profits have also doubled. Gravity did lose a few customers: Some objected to what seemed like a political statement that put pressure on them to raise their own wages; others feared price hikes or service cutbacks. But media reports suggesting that panicked customers were fleeing have proved false. In fact, Gravity's customer retention rate rose from 91 to 95 percent in the second quarter. Only two employees quit—a nonevent. Jason Haley isn't one of them. He is still an employee, and a better paid one.

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Can We Afford to Pay U.S. Farmworkers More?

http://theplate.nationalgeographic.com/2016/03/31/can-we-afford-to-pay-u-s-farmworkers-more/

March 31, 2016
by Tracie McMillan

Giving the 3.5 million workers picking produce on American farms a raise to match the $15 an hour many fast food workers are fighting for sounds unaffordable, right?

Not really. According to University of California-Davis agricultural labor economist Philip Martin, the likely additional cost to American shoppers of that wage hike would be about $20 a year.

“Farmers don’t get much of the retail dollar, and then of course farmers don’t give everything they get to workers,” Martin says. “So it’s fractions times fractions, and you get down to a relatively small share for farmworker wages in retail food cost.” And Martin says that means that raising the wages for farmworkers wouldn’t cost most Americans very much money at all.

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Farm employers reported paying their hired, seasonal harvest workers—the folks picking and sorting everything from grapes to peaches to tomatoes—an average wage of $10.19 an hour in 2010. Because harvest work is seasonal, many farmworkers only find employment for part of the year; it’s not uncommon for farm laborers to report working about 1,000 hours a year, the equivalent of six months of full time work. And that brings their annual salary to just $10,200—notably less than the federal poverty line of $11,670 for one person in 2014. [This federal poverty line is crazy. How can a person live on this?]

•••••

Those salaries represent a fraction grocery bills. The average American household spent $515 on fresh fruits and vegetables in 2014, and about 28 percent of that—around $137—went to produce farmers. The farmers paid about a third of that to workers, while the rest went to farm maintenance and other costs. At current wages, farmworkers’ annual share of each family’s grocery bill at $45—less than 10 percent.

•••••

In 2014, Whole Foods Market began selling tomatoes from the Fair Food Program, a label backed by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a human rights group. Under CIW agreements, Florida tomato farmers agreed to boost rates paid to farmworkers by nearly 80 percent. And what did that cost consumers?

“Ultimately, the cost [to Whole Foods] is nominal,” Matt Rogers, global produce coordinator for Whole Foods, told me in the fall of 2015. “It’s not enough to influence retail price at this point.” Prices in store, said Rogers, hadn’t gone up at all.

'Invisible work' takes toll on unpaid caregivers

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/jhub-wt021116.php

Public Release: 15-Feb-2016
'Invisible work' takes toll on unpaid caregivers
Family and friends who help with health care more likely to experience emotional, physical and financial difficulties
Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health

Unpaid family and friends who assist older people with disabilities by coordinating doctor appointments and managing medications are significantly more likely to experience emotional, physical and financial difficulties than caregivers who don't provide this type of support, new research finds.

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health researchers, reporting in the Feb. 15 JAMA Internal Medicine, say such caregivers are also three times more likely to be less productive at work due to distraction and/or fatigue, a phenomenon called "presenteeism," as well as outright absenteeism. Researchers say this shows that there is a significant - and often unrecognized - cost borne by employers.

"A lot of work goes into managing the care of people with complex health needs, and this work is borne not only by health care providers and patients, but also by their families," says Jennifer L. Wolff, PhD, an associate professor of health policy and management at the Bloomberg School.

•••••

Wolff says the caregiver is often the linchpin in the health care of older adults, making sure that treatment plans developed by physicians are being carried out at home, but their role often goes unrecognized in the fragmented American health care system. She says that caregivers need to be included and supported as members of the health care team and given greater access to information about patients' health and treatments, which is often a challenge because of federal patient privacy laws.

Wolff says health care providers can do a better job of involving caregivers when they accompany patients to medical appointments, recognizing their key roles and more purposefully engaging them.

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Membership of social/community groups after retirement linked to longer life

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/b-mos021116.php

Public Release: 15-Feb-2016
Membership of social/community groups after retirement linked to longer life
Health and wellbeing benefits equal to those of regular exercise, findings suggest
BMJ

Membership of social groups, such as book clubs or church groups, after retirement is linked to a longer life, with the impact on health and wellbeing similar to that of regular exercise, suggests research published in the online journal BMJ Open.

The more groups an individual belongs to in the first few years after s/he stops working, the lower their risk of death, the findings show.

•••••

The results showed that individuals whose quality of life was good before retirement were more likely to score highly on quality of life assessment after retirement.

But membership of social groups was also associated with quality of life. Compared with those still working, every group membership lost after retirement was associated with around a 10% drop in quality of life score six years later.

•••••

Subjectively rated health was not a significant predictor of death, but the number of group memberships was.

If a person belonged to two groups before retirement, and kept these up over the following six years, their risk of death was 2%, rising to 5% if they gave up membership of one, and to 12% if they gave up membership of both.

No such patterns were seen for those still in formal employment.

The researchers separately assessed whether changes in physical activity levels affected risk of death and compared this with the magnitude of the effect of social group membership.

They found that if a person exercised vigorously once a week before retirement, and kept up this frequency afterwards, their chance of dying over the next six years was 3%, rising to 6% if they reduced the frequency to less than once a week, and to 11% if they stopped altogether.

Among those who were still working, the equivalent figures were 3%, 5%, and 8%.

"Accordingly, we can see that the effects of physical activity on health were comparable to those associated with maintaining old group memberships and developing new ones," write the researchers.

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New study finds clear differences between organic and non-organic milk and meat

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/nu-nsf021216.php

Public Release: 15-Feb-2016
New study finds clear differences between organic and non-organic milk and meat
Newcastle University

Key findings:

• both organic milk and meat contain around 50% more beneficial omega-3 fatty acids than conventionally produced products
• organic meat had slightly lower concentrations of two saturated fats (myristic and palmitic acid) that are linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease
• organic milk contains 40% more conjugated linoleic acid (CLA)
• organic milk contains slightly higher concentrations of iron, Vitamin E and some carotenoids
• conventional milk contained 74% more of the essential mineral iodine and slightly more selenium

•••••

"Omega-3s are linked to reductions in cardiovascular disease, improved neurological development and function, and better immune function.

"Western European diets are recognised as being too low in these fatty acids and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recommends we should double our intake.

"But getting enough in our diet is difficult. Our study suggests that switching to organic would go some way towards improving intakes of these important nutrients."

•••••

Most importantly, a switch from conventional to organic would raise omega-3 fat intake without increasing calories and undesirable saturated fat. For example, half a litre of organic full fat milk (or equivalent fat intakes from other dairy products like butter and cheese) provides an estimated 16% (39 mg) of the recommended, daily intake of very long-chain omega-3, while conventional milk provides 11% (25 mg).

Other positive changes in fat profiles included lower levels of myristic and palmitic acid in organic meat and a lower omega-3/omega-6 ratio in organic milk. Higher levels of fat soluble vitamins such as vitamin E and carotenoids and 40% more CLA in organic milk were also observed.

The study showed that the more desirable fat profiles in organic milk were closely linked to outdoor grazing and low concentrate feeding in dairy diets, as prescribed by organic farming standards.

The two new systematic literature reviews also describe recently published results from several mother and child cohort studies linking organic milk and dairy product consumption to a reduced risk of certain diseases. This included reduced risks of eczema in babies.

•••••

"People choose organic milk and meat for three main reasons: improved animal welfare, the positive impacts of organic farming on the environment, and the perceived health benefits. But much less is known about impacts on nutritional quality, hence the need for this study.

"Several of these differences stem from organic livestock production and are brought about by differences in production intensity, with outdoor-reared, grass-fed animals producing milk and meat that is consistently higher in desirable fatty acids such as the omega-3s, and lower in fatty acids that can promote heart disease and other chronic diseases."

The study also found 74% more iodine in conventional milk which is important information, especially for UK consumers, where iodized table salt is not widely available.

Iodine is low in most foods, except seafood, and the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends Iodine fortification of table salt to address this. Iodine fortification of cattle feeds is also widely used to increase iodine concentrations in both organic and conventional milk.

•••••

The work builds on a previous study by the team - involving experts from the UK, US, France, Italy, Switzerland, Norway and Poland - investigating the composition of organic and conventionally-grown crops.

This previous study - also published in the British Journal of Nutrition - showed that organic crops and crop-based foods are up to 60% higher in a number of key antioxidants than conventionally-grown crops and contained less of the toxic metal cadmium.

"We have shown without doubt there are composition differences between organic and conventional food. Taken together, the three studies on crops, meat and milk suggest that a switch to organic fruit, vegetables, meat and dairy products would provide significantly higher amounts of dietary antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids," concludes Professor Leifert.

•••••

"However, the fact that there are now several mother and child cohort studies linking organic food consumption to positive health impacts shows why it is important to further investigate the impact of the way we produce our food on human health.

The authors highlight that only a small number of studies have been carried out comparing organic and non-organic meat, and that even significant results may still carry a high level of uncertainty.

Paying employees to exercise doesn't work, but the reverse might

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/acop-pet020916.php

Public Release: 15-Feb-2016
Paying employees to exercise doesn't work, but the reverse might
American College of Physicians

Financial incentives for promoting daily physical activity goals are most effective when the award can be lost, according to a randomized, controlled trial published in Annals of Internal Medicine. This means that the threat of having an award taken away is more effective than not earning one in the first place.

•••••

Participants in a 13-week intervention were given a goal of 7,000 steps a day and were randomly assigned to the control group or one of three financial incentives: gain (a fixed amount of money given each day the goal was achieved); lottery (daily eligibility for cash if goal was achieved); and loss (cash given monthly upfront and a small amount removed each day the goal was not achieved).

The researchers found that the gain incentive was no more effective than control. In comparison, a loss incentive resulted in a 50 percent relative increase in the mean proportion of time participants achieved their physical activity goals.

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Childhood obesity, rapid growth linked to pregnant moms eating lots of fish

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/tjnj-cor021116.php

Public Release: 15-Feb-2016
Childhood obesity, rapid growth linked to pregnant moms eating lots of fish
The JAMA Network Journals

Eating fish more than three times a week during pregnancy was associated with mothers giving birth to babies at increased risk of rapid growth in infancy and of childhood obesity, according to an article published online by JAMA Pediatrics.

Fish is a common source of human exposure to persistent organic pollutants, which may exert endocrine-disrupting properties and contribute to the development of obesity. In 2014, the U.S Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency encouraged women who are pregnant, breastfeeding or likely to become pregnant to consume no more than three servings of fish per week to limit fetal exposure to methyl-mercury. There is no clear answer about the optimal amount and type of fish intake during pregnancy with regard to child growth and development.

Leda Chatzi, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Crete, Greece, and coauthors analyzed data from 26,184 pregnant women and their children in European and U.S studies to examine associations with maternal fish intake and childhood growth and overweight/obesity. Children were followed-up until the age of 6.

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Delirium, muscle weakness among overlooked symptoms of sepsis

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/luhs-dmw021516.php

Public Release: 15-Feb-2016
Delirium, muscle weakness among overlooked symptoms of sepsis
Loyola University Health System

Delirium, muscle weakness and other neurological complications of sepsis often are overlooked and poorly understood, according to a study published in the journal Current Neurology and Neurosciences Reports.

Seizures, strokes, neuromuscular disorders and encephalopathy (brain disease) are among the complications that often escape necessary investigation, "largely due to other ongoing systemic derangements requiring much attention," report neurologists Rochelle Sweis, DO, Jorge Ortiz, MD, and José Biller, MD, of Loyola University Medical Center and Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.

Sepsis is the 11th leading cause of death in the United States and it's responsible for 7 percent of all childhood deaths. Incidence is highest among infants and the elderly, African Americans and males. Common risk factors include chronic diseases such as cancer or diabetes and use of immune-suppressing drugs. Genetic factors also play a role, according to the article.

Central nervous system complications of sepsis include stroke, seizures and delirium. Delirium can be hyperactive (agitation, pulling out lines, hallucinating, etc.) or the opposite, hypoactive (sluggishness, drowsiness, inattention, etc.) When associated with sepsis, delirium is known as sepsis-associated encephalopathy (SAE), acute brain dysfunction or sepsis-associated delirium.

SAE is a life-threatening, yet reversible deterioration of mental status due to underlying sepsis and/or other contributing factors, including sedation, antimicrobial treatment and pre-existing psychiatric conditions, the authors write.

"The first manifestation of SAE is an acute change in mental status, ranging from inattention, disorientation, agitation, somnolence, stupor and coma," the authors write.

There is no specific treatment for SAE. Physicians instead should focus on treating the underlying infectious disease process, the authors write.

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What values are important to scientists?

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/msu-wva020816.php

Public Release: 14-Feb-2016
What values are important to scientists?
Michigan State University

While many people are marking today scrutinizing the virtues of their Valentines, Michigan State University revealed a first-of-its-kind study on the virtues and values of scientists.

The study, presented at the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C., surveyed nearly 500 astronomers, biologists, chemists, physicists and earth scientists to identify the core traits of exemplary scientists.

The subjects selected were scientists who had been honored by their respective national organization or society, and the results show that above all, these researchers hold honesty and curiosity in the highest regard, said Robert Pennock, a professor in MSU's Lyman Briggs College and leader of the study.

"If you're not curious, you're probably not a real scientist," he said. "The goal that you have is to find out something true about the world, regardless of what your preferred hypothesis might be. Your real drive is to find what is revealed by the data. This is absolutely essential in being a scientist."

If someone is dishonest and going to the extreme of faking data, that person is not really a scientist in the true sense, Pennock added.

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Memory replay prioritizes high-reward memories

It sounds like this is likely a factor in the cases of people who stay with abusive partners.



Public Release: 12-Feb-2016
Memory replay prioritizes high-reward memories
University of California - Davis

Why do we remember some events, places and things, but not others? Our brains prioritize rewarding memories over others, and reinforce them by replaying them when we are at rest, according to new research from the University of California, Davis, Center for Neuroscience, published Feb. 11 in the journal Neuron.

"Rewards help you remember things, because you want future rewards," said Professor Charan Ranganath, a UC Davis neuroscientist and senior author on the paper. "The brain prioritizes memories that are going to be useful for future decisions."

It's estimated that we only retain detailed memories for a small proportion of the events of each day, Ranganath said. People with very detailed memories become overwhelmed with information. So if the brain is going to filter information and decide what to remember, it makes sense to save those memories that might be most important for obtaining rewards in the future.

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Child abuse costs countries up to $150 billion per year

Also, almost all violent criminals were abused as children. FBI profilers who wrote a book about some of theserial killers they had studied said that ALL of the serial killers they had studied were severly abused as children.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/uow-pca020516.php

Public Release: 12-Feb-2016
Panel: Child abuse costs countries up to $150 billion per year
University of Waterloo

Beyond physical and emotional damage, child abuse has a steep economic price tag that costs economies billions of dollars each year, an international panel of experts will tell the 2016 General Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science on Friday, February 12.

In high-income countries, the median child abuse costs are equivalent to a loss of 1.2 per cent of per capita income, translating to $150 billion each year in the United States of America. The estimated loss is $50 billion in China, a middle income country.

"Violence against children is prevalent across countries at all income levels, in all forms," said Sue Horton, a professor of at the University of Waterloo and Chair in Global Health Economics at the Centre for International Governance and Innovation. "In addition to a rights-based case, there is now a stronger than ever economic case for protecting children against violence."

•••••

One study, from the University of Edinburgh, will reveal that the cost of emotional abuse alone, in countries in East Asia and the Pacific, tops more than $48 billion per year.

•••••

Significant financial costs stemming from child abuse include treatment costs for physical injuries suffered, future loss of productivity due to injuries, lower schooling attainment and labour market earnings, and intergenerational effects. Violence experienced in childhood is associated with higher health spending in adulthood.

Lower-income countries have higher rates of child abuse. In West and Central Africa, 90 per cent of children are either physically or psychologically disciplined at home. In East Asia and the Pacific that number stands at 74 per cent.

"While child abuse rates are tied to a country's economic status, that is no excuse for the continued prevalence," said Susan Bissell. "There are known interventions which are effective in preventing violence and supporting children who have experienced violence. Many of these are cost-effective and provide good value for public money."

Laws can have a significant effect on changing attitudes and practices to physical violence against children. Legislation to protect children from violent punishment reduced the proportion of children being hit by 80 per cent over a 35-year period in Sweden. Parent-education, home visitation and sexual abuse prevention programs also have proven track records for curbing violence against children.

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Poor air quality kills 5.5 million worldwide annually

I have asthma, and when the air pollution is high around here, it feels harder to breathe.
Anything that makes it hard to breathe puts a strain on the heart, because it pumps faster to try to get enough oxygen to the body.



Public Release: 12-Feb-2016
Poor air quality kills 5.5 million worldwide annually
University of British Columbia

New research shows that more than 5.5 million people die prematurely every year due to household and outdoor air pollution. More than half of deaths occur in two of the world's fastest growing economies, China and India.

Power plants, industrial manufacturing, vehicle exhaust and burning coal and wood all release small particles into the air that are dangerous to a person's health. New research, presented today at the 2016 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), found that despite efforts to limit future emissions, the number of premature deaths linked to air pollution will climb over the next two decades unless more aggressive targets are set.

"Air pollution is the fourth highest risk factor for death globally and by far the leading environmental risk factor for disease," said Michael Brauer, a professor at the University of British Columbia's School of Population and Public Health in Vancouver, Canada. "Reducing air pollution is an incredibly efficient way to improve the health of a population."

•••••

Their analysis shows that the two countries account for 55 per cent of the deaths caused by air pollution worldwide. About 1.6 million people died of air pollution in China and 1.4 million died in India in 2013.

In China, burning coal is the biggest contributor to poor air quality. Qiao Ma, a PhD student at the School of Environment, Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, found that outdoor air pollution from coal alone caused an estimated 366,000 deaths in China in 2013.

Ma also calculated the expected number of premature deaths in China in the future if the country meets its current targets to restrict coal combustion and emissions through a combination of energy policies and pollution controls. She found that air pollution will cause anywhere from 990,000 to 1.3 million premature deaths in 2030 unless even more ambitious targets are introduced.

"Our study highlights the urgent need for even more aggressive strategies to reduce emissions from coal and from other sectors," said Ma.

In India, a major contributor to poor air quality is the practice of burning wood, dung and similar sources of biomass for cooking and heating. Millions of families, among the poorest in India, are regularly exposed to high levels of particulate matter in their own homes.

•••••

In the last 50 years, North America, Western Europe and Japan have made massive strides to combat pollution by using cleaner fuels, more efficient vehicles, limiting coal burning and putting restrictions on electric power plants and factories.

"Having been in charge of designing and implementing strategies to improve air in the United States, I know how difficult it is. Developing countries have a tremendous task in front of them," said Dan Greenbaum, president of Health Effects Institute, a non-profit organization based in Boston that sponsors targeted efforts to analyze the health burden from different air pollution sources. "This research helps guide the way by identifying the actions which can best improve public health."

When the boss's ethical behavior breaks bad

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/msu-wtb021216.php

Public Release: 12-Feb-2016
When the boss's ethical behavior breaks bad
Michigan State University

Is your boss ethical? Does he or she do what's right, as opposed to what's profitable?

If so, they may turn downright abusive the next day.

New research on leader behavior by Russell Johnson, associate professor of management at Michigan State University, suggests ethical conduct leads to mental exhaustion and the "moral licensing" to lash out at employees.

The study, online in the Journal of Applied Psychology, is called "When ethical leader behavior breaks bad: How ethical behavior can turn abusive via ego depletion and moral licensing." Moral licensing is a phenomenon in which people, after doing something good, feel they have earned the right to act in a negative manner.

"Ironically, when leaders felt mentally fatigued and morally licensed after displays of ethical behavior, they were more likely to be abusive toward their subordinates on the next day," said Johnson, an expert on the psychology of the workplace.

•••••

Ethical behavior led to mental fatigue and moral licensing, and this led to leaders being more abusive to their workers. The abuse included ridiculing, insulting and expressing anger toward employees, giving them the silent treatment and reminding them of past mistakes or failures.

To combat mental fatigue, Johnson said managers should build in time for breaks during the workday; get sufficient sleep; eat healthy and exercise; and unplug from work outside of the office (which includes shutting off the smart phone at night).

Dealing with moral licensing is trickier, as there is not much research on the subject. However, Johnson suggested companies could consider formally requiring ethical behavior. "If such behavior is required, then it's more difficult for people to feel they've earned credit for performing something that is mandatory," he said. "A sense of moral license is more likely when people feel they voluntarily or freely exhibited the behavior."

Ethical behavior could also be formally rewarded with social praise or money. But the praise or bonus should come relatively soon after the ethical behavior in order to counteract the moral licensing, Johnson said.

Low-income Americans can no longer afford rent, food, and transportation


Actually, many Americans have long been unable to afford rent, food, and transportation. It's just worse today.

A factor they didn't mention was zoning laws blocking affordable housing from being built.

http://www.vox.com/2016/3/30/11330832/low-income-households-cant-afford-basic-needs

Updated by Soo Oh on March 30, 2016

Low-income Americans are experiencing a staggering price hike in housing costs — a change that makes it sometimes impossible to afford basic necessities.

A new Pew Charitable Trusts analysis of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that in 2013, low-income Americans spent a median of $6,897 on housing. In 2014, that rose to $9,178 — the biggest jump in housing spending for the 19-year period of data that Pew studied.

The cost of other necessities, like transportation and food, also rose, albeit not as dramatically. 2014 was the first year that Pew studied in which median spending on these three categories was higher than the median income for those in the lower third of income groups.

•••••

"Lower-income renters are spending nearly half their income on rent, while upper-income groups spend about 15 percent on rent. The disparity really shows that lower income families don’t have much slack in their budgets for mobility-enhancing investments like savings and wealth building."

•••••

The rise in housing costs was particularly drastic for low-income Americans. For middle and high earners, the increase was noticeable but smaller, about 6 to 9 percent in 2014. Their budgets also had a lot more slack; basic necessities didn't even come close to consuming nearly half their income.

Median incomes decreased across the board, though there was still room in their household budgets to return expenses to pre-recession levels. The average upper-income household spent nearly three times as much a month on entertainment spending as its lower-income counterpart.

•••••

So what's going on? The basic story seems to be that after years of financial crisis and recession, a large share of Americans are simply too burdened by low wages, past foreclosure, depleted savings, and overhangs of other debts (student loans, medical bills, etc.) to buy starter homes. And while investors were willing to pick up vacant or bank-owned single-family homes for pennies on the dollar during the peak slump years to operate them as rentals, nobody is excited enough about the business of operating single-family rental homes to actually go out and build vast new tracts of modest-size single-family homes destined for the rental market.

Patty Duke’s Death Announcement Is A Milestone For Sepsis Awareness

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/patty-duke-death-sepsis-awareness_us_56faf2b6e4b0a06d5803ef31?cps=gravity_5032_-3485981774563569720

Anna Almendrala
March 30, 2016

Oscar-winning actress Patty Duke, star of “The Patty Duke Show” and the Broadway play and film “The Miracle Worker,” died of sepsis from a ruptured intestine on Tuesday.

Simple though it may seem, her death announcement is a major milestone for the sepsis awareness movement, said Thomas Heymann, executive director of the Sepsis Alliance. The more people are aware of this condition, Heymann said, the stronger their likelihood of saving their own lives or the lives of their loved ones.

“The fact that they said Patty Duke’s cause of death was sepsis is relatively new,” Heymann said. “It very often would have been left as a complication of surgery or an infection, but it’s not a complication — it’s sepsis.”

Sepsis, a reaction to infection that leads to systemic organ failure, kills more than 258,000 Americans every year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, making it the ninth-leading cause of disease-related deaths in the country. While most people can fully recover from sepsis, some survivors are left with permanent organ damage or missing limbs due to amputation.

•••••

People who have sepsis experience organ dysfunction caused by their body’s overreaction to an initial infection, whether viral, bacterial or fungal. This overreaction is overwhelming for the body, and can lead to death. It’s most common in people with compromised immune systems, like the very young, the very old and those with chronic diseases like AIDS, cancer, or diabetes. But people can also develop sepsis from a simple scrape, wound or burn that was not properly cleaned.

Sepsis is also on the rise: It was the primary or secondary cause of 1.6 million hospitalizations in 2009, more than double the sepsis-related hospitalizations in 1993, according to a report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. And it was the single most expensive reason for hospitalizations in 2009, adding up to nearly $15.4 billion in hospital costs.

•••••

To avoid deaths by sepsis, Coopersmith has two basic rules for physicians: If a person has an infection, check for organ dysfunction. And if they have organ dysfunction, check for sepsis.

Context also counts for a lot when spotting the signs of sepsis. In addition to symptoms such as high fever, elevated heart rate, or abnormal white blood cell count, a medical history of pneumonia, infection, wounds or urinary tract infections could provide important clues for health care providers, notes a sepsis review published in the journal Nursing Practice.

Other clues, like a patient’s cancer and chemotherapy history — known factors that can suppress the immune system — are stronger clues that an infection could actually be sepsis, notes ABC News.

•••••

The signs of sepsis can be broken down in a simple acronym, notes the CDC.

S - Shivering, fever, or feeling very cold
E - Extreme pain or general discomfort, as in “worst ever”
P - Pale or discolored skin
S - Sleepy, difficult to wake up or confused
I - “I feel like I might die”
S - Shortness of breath

Once spotted, doctors treat sepsis by addressing the initial infection, supporting the body’s organs and preventing drops in blood pressure and oxygen levels. But time is of the essence when it comes to sepsis treatment. A 2006 study analyzing over 2,000 septic patients found that over six hours, each hour of a delay in treatment was linked to a 7.6 percent decrease in survival, but treatment within the first hour of a documented drop in blood pressure, a tell-tale sign of sepsis, was linked to an 80 percent survival rate.

Because of this, if you suspect you have sepsis — perhaps after a surgery, or because of a prior infection or wound that isn’t healing well — it’s important to actually say the word “sepsis” to your doctors, the CDC says. They advise patients to say, “I am concerned about sepsis,” in order to get the most timely treatment possible for a potential infection complication. Your life could depend on it, says Coopersmith.

“If you get sepsis, you have a higher chance of dying than if you have a heart attack, stroke or trauma,” Coopersmith said. “There is no question that increasing awareness of sepsis would save lives.”

Understanding

Saw this on Facebook, so I don't know if it is really a Zen proverb, but it is true.



If you understand everything,
you must be uninformed.
- Zen proverb

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Arctic Winter Sea Ice Hits a Record Low Amid Higher Temperatures

http://time.com/4274140/arctic-sea-ice-winter-record/

Justin Worland
March 28, 2016

A record warm winter drove sea ice in the Arctic to a record winter low, according to a new government report.

The sea ice over the Arctic expands and shrinks with the seasons, but it typically covers the most territory in late March, at the end of the Arctic winter—a point called the maximum winter extent. Preliminary satellite data from NASA shows that this year’s maximum winter extent—reached on March 24—was the smallest ever, with Arctic sea ice covering 5.607 million square miles (14.52 million square km). That’s more than 430,000 square miles (1.1 million square kilometers)—nearly three times the size of Montana—below the average level between 1981 and 2010.

This winter was the hottest on record in many places across the globe, with average temperatures 2.03°F (1.13°C) above the 20th century average, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Temperatures in the Arctic were as much as 16°C (29°F) above average, driving the ice melt. “It’s a lot easier to warm something that’s cold than something that’s already warm,” says Sean Sublette, a meteorologist at Climate Central.

Climate scientists attribute the season’s record temperatures to a combination of a particularly strong occurrence of the El Niño climate phenomenon—which raises ocean temperatures in the Pacific and changes air circulation to drive higher global temperatures—and the ongoing, mostly man-made climate change that has been heating the globe for decades.

Sea ice melt also causes its own set of problems as it modifies short-term global climate patterns. In the long-run, it also contributes to the very climate change that causes it as the water exposed by ice melt tends to absorb more sunlight than ice.

•••••

Female Programmers Earn 72 Cents on the Dollar, Study Says

http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/female-programmers-earn-72-cents-dollar-study-says-n546791

by Connor Mannion
Mar. 28, 2016

A new study from Glassdoor, the online job information firm, shows that female programmers are making far less than their male counterparts, when compared to other fields with pay inequities. The study showed a gap of 28.3 percent, or an average of 72 cents for every dollar earned.

As a whole, the tech industry is actually above the U.S. average in equal pay, according to Dr. Andrew Chamberlain, the author of the study. [I would like a listing of the jobs included in the "tech industry".]

"Women in tech, on average, earn about 94 cents for every dollar men earn," he told NBC News.

"Each occupation differs for various reasons, but most tech jobs still remain male-dominated roles," he said. "In terms of computer programmer, it is an advanced and older tech role."

•••••

The study, entitled "Demystifying the Gender Pay Gap," found that "men earn more than women on average in every country we examined, both before and after adding statistical controls for personal characteristics, job title, company, [and] industry."

The report, which was based on 534,000 employee salaries that were shared anonymously, found that this was the largest pay gap, even when adjusted for experience, education, position, location, and industry. According to Chamberlain, "In general, we find the largest gender pay gaps in fields heavily dominated by men, and smaller pay gaps in fields where there is greater gender balance or where women make up a majority of workers."

•••••

"We found that perceptions of the gender pay gap do not match reality among employees. In fact, 7 in 10 people across multiple countries believe men and women at their company are paid equally for equal work," Chamberlain said.

•••••

How your brain might be secretly thwarting your New Year's resolutions

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/jhu-hyb020416.php

Public Release: 11-Feb-2016
How your brain might be secretly thwarting your New Year's resolutions
Johns Hopkins University

The human brain is wired to pay attention to previously pleasing things -- a finding that could help explain why it's hard to break bad habits or stick to New Year's resolutions.

In the new issue of Current Biology, Johns Hopkins University neuroscientists demonstrate for the first time that when people see something associated with a past reward, their brain flushes with dopamine -- even if they aren't expecting a reward and even if they don't realize they're paying it any attention. The results suggest we don't have as much self-control as we might think.

"We don't have complete control over what we pay attention to," said senior author Susan M. Courtney, a professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. "We don't realize our past experience biases our attention to certain things."

This could be why it's so hard for people to break the cycle of addiction and why dieters keep thinking about fattening food when they're trying to eat better.

"I could choose healthy food or unhealthy food, but my attention keeps being drawn to fettuccini Alfredo," Courtney said. "What we tend to look at, think about and pay attention to is whatever we've done in the past that was rewarded."

•••••

Generally speaking, distractions tend to be bigger for people prone to addiction and smaller for people who are successful abstainers and people who are depressed and not caring about rewards, Courtney said.

•••••

Carbon dioxide stored underground can find multiple ways to escape

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/ps-cds021116.php

Public Release: 11-Feb-2016
Carbon dioxide stored underground can find multiple ways to escape
Penn State

When carbon dioxide is stored underground in a process known as geological sequestration, it can find multiple escape pathways due to chemical reactions between carbon dioxide, water, rocks and cement from abandoned wells, according to Penn State researchers.

The researchers investigated the properties of porous rocks into which carbon dioxide is injected. These rocks, known as host rocks, function like containers for the carbon dioxide. The team looked at two abundant host rocks, limestone and sandstone, which have different chemical properties.

"We were interested in examining these rocks because they are widely found underground, but there have been concerns that carbon dioxide may escape once it's injected underground," said Li Li, associate professor of petroleum and natural gas engineering. "Even if it doesn't escape to the Earth's surface, there are concerns that it may leak into groundwater drinking aquifers."

In addition to encountering host rocks, carbon dioxide stored underground may also contact and dissolve into saltwater deposits. When this happens, the carbon dioxide increases the acidity of the saltwater. The high-acidity saltwater-carbon dioxide mixture can dissolve certain types of rocks, such as limestone, as well as cement casings on abandoned oil and gas wells.

•••••

"In the limestone interactions, the rock itself becomes the dominant medium for the dissolution reaction while the cement was the secondary reactant," said Karpyn. "This means that wellbores are more likely to stay intact if you have limestone. But dissolving the limestone can create leakage pathways, for example, by forming finger-like channels of dissolved rock."

The researchers found the opposite to be true for the sandstone sample. Rather than dissolving the sandstone, the solution degraded the cement. The sandstone lost very little mass, and the cement lost mass and became more porous.

•••••

Male biology students consistently underestimate female peers, study finds

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/uow-mbs021116.php

Public Release: 11-Feb-2016
Male biology students consistently underestimate female peers, study finds
Male students ranked their male classmates as more knowledgeable about course content, even over better-performing female students
University of Washington

Female college students are more likely to abandon studies in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines than their male classmates, and new research from the University of Washington suggests that those male peers may play a key role in undermining their confidence.

Published this week in the journal PLOS ONE, the study* found that males enrolled in undergraduate biology classes consistently ranked their male classmates as more knowledgeable about course content, even over better-performing female students.

The over-ranking equated to males ranking their male peers smarter by three-quarters of a GPA point* than their equally-performing female classmates, showing what researchers say amounts to a clear and consistent gender bias. Female students, on the other hand, repeatedly showed no significant bias in whom they picked as knowledgeable.

•••••

Even after accounting for differences in performance and outspokenness, male students got more recognition from other males than their female peers did, and the finding was consistent across 11 different class surveys. For an outspoken female student to be nominated by males at the same level as a male student, her performance would need to be more than three-quarters of a GPA point* higher than the males.

"Using UW's standard grade scale, that's like believing a male with a B and a female with an A* have the same ability," said co-lead author Sarah Eddy, who participated in the research as a UW postdoctoral biology researcher and is now a research scientist at the University of Texas, Austin.

On the other hand, females nominated their male and female peers almost equitably across all the surveys, after controlling for differences in performance and outspokenness. The researchers determined that the female bias was so small it could have arisen by chance, and they estimate that gender bias among male students was 19 times stronger than among females. The top three most-nominated students in all classes were male, even though there were also outspoken female students in the class with the same grades.

The findings are troubling, said Eddy, since peer support is a key factor in retaining women in STEM fields.

"To stay in STEM you have to believe you can do it, and one of the things that can convince you of that is your peers saying you can do it," she said.

•••••


tags: discrimination

Learning about struggles of famous scientists may help students succeed in science

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/apa-las021016.php

Public Release: 11-Feb-2016
Learning about struggles of famous scientists may help students succeed in science
Textbooks should describe scientists' failures, not just their accomplishments, study finds
American Psychological Association

High school students may improve their science grades by learning about the personal struggles and failed experiments of great scientists such as Albert Einstein and Marie Curie, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.

•••••

At the end of a six-week grading period, students who learned about the scientists' intellectual or personal struggles had significantly improved their science grades, with low-achievers benefiting the most. The students in the control group who only learned about the scientists' achievements not only didn't see a grade increase, they had lower grades than the previous grading period before the study began.

•••••

"When kids think Einstein is a genius who is different from everyone else, then they believe they will never measure up," said lead researcher Xiaodong Lin-Siegler, PhD. "Many students don't realize that all successes require a long journey with many failures along the way."

Students who read about the scientists' intellectual or personal struggles were more likely to say the famous scientists were people, like themselves, who had to overcome failure and obstacles to succeed. Students in the control group more often believed the great scientists had innate talent and a special aptitude for science.

•••••

Affectionate mothering can combat the effects of maternal depression

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/uou-mam021116.php

Public Release: 11-Feb-2016
Mommy and me
New U study shows how affectionate mothering can combat the effects of maternal depression
University of Utah

Poverty, lack of education and exposure to violence can undeniably impact a child's life trajectory significantly. But how can a mother's exposure and potentially depressive reactions to these stressors impact a child before his/her life even begins? A depressed mother's response to stress can pass through the placenta to negatively impact the fetus in ways that manifest after birth such as birth weight, brain development and increased susceptibility to various ailments.

The first study of its kind, "The contributions of maternal sensitivity and maternal depressive symptoms to epigenetic processes and neuroendocrine functioning," led by University of Utah assistant professor Elisabeth Conradt in the Department of Psychology, found that certain parenting strategies can combat the negative impacts of maternal depression on an infant. The findings were published in Child Development.

•••••

Prior research indicates that being depressed while pregnant and exposure to childhood abuse is related to increased DNA methylation, and subsequently reduced gene activity, of key stress-related genes including the glucoroticoid receptor gene (NR3C1) and 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 (11β-HSD2).

•••••

The infants each participated in three two-minute face-to-face play episodes with their mothers. The first play episode required normal play between mother and infant, the second episode required that the mothers be unresponsive to their infants and the third episode was a reunion episode where mothers were allowed to interact again.

Maternal sensitivity, recorded every 30 seconds, was assessed using four scales. First, maternal acceptance: Willingness and ability of the mother to follow her infant's lead. Second, demandingness: the degree to which the mother required her infant to behave a certain way. Third, responsiveness: Both the mother's awareness of her infant's signals and her response to them, regardless of the appropriateness of response. Fourth, appropriate touch: The mother's ability to touch her infant in a gentle and affectionate manner as opposed to a more intrusive manner.

The researchers took a pre-stress cortisol sample from each infant prior to entering the lab and two post-stress samples after the unresponsive play episode and after the reunion play episode. A cheek swab for DNA was taken after the second play episode.

•••••

The research team found that greater levels of maternal sensitivity were related to lower levels of cortisol. While there were no differences in DNA methylation among infants whose mothers scored high on sensitivity, infants whose mothers were both less sensitive and had high depressive symptoms had higher levels of methylation and more cortisol.

Furthermore, mothers with depressive symptoms who were more responsive and engaged in more appropriate touch during face-to-face play had infants with less DNA methylation compared to mothers with depressive symptoms who were also insensitive.

Having a sensitive caregiver, therefore, appears to buffer infants from the exposure of the mother's depressive symptoms. Infants aren't aware of whether their caregivers are depressed or not; they are only aware of how they're treated. This study is the first to demonstrate that certain forms of maternal caregiving can have such an effect.

"Many mothers struggle with depression but interact quite sensitively with their infants. In these instances, the mother may be "turning on" certain genes that we think allow infants to manage stress in adaptive ways," Conradt summarized.

•••••

'Grit' adds little to prediction of academic achievement

There are times when perseverance of effort can lead to continuing efforts that aren't working, and you would be better off trying something else.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/kcl-al021016.php

Public Release: 11-Feb-2016
'Grit' adds little to prediction of academic achievement
King's College London

Personality characteristics - especially conscientiousness - have previously been shown to have a significant but moderate influence on academic achievement. However, a new study from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London, suggests that 'grit', defined as perseverance and passion for long-term goals, adds little to the prediction of school achievement.

The study authors point out that previous research, indicating small associations between grit and academic achievement, has relied on highly selected samples such as spelling competition finalists and teachers, which may have led to stronger associations between grit and achievement in later life.

This new study, which used a sample of 4,500 16-year-old twins*, found that aspects of personality predict around six per cent of the differences between GCSE results and, after controlling for these characteristics, grit alone only predicted 0.5 per cent of the differences between GCSE results.

•••••

In the study, the 'Grit-S' questionnaire was used to measure perseverance of effort and consistency of interest at the age of 16. Twins rated the extent to which they agreed with statements such as 'Setbacks don't discourage me' (perseverance) and 'I have a difficulty maintaining my focus on projects that take more than a few months to complete' (consistency of interest). The 'Big Five' Personality questionnaire was used to assess personality traits, comprising those highlighted by psychologists as the most important: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness and neuroticism.

•••••

This new study found that grit was about as heritable as other personality traits, with DNA differences explaining around a third of the differences between children in levels of grit.

•••••

'Our study suggests that grit adds little to the prediction of academic achievement when other personality factors are taken into account.

'This does not mean that teaching children to be grittier cannot be done or that it is not beneficial. Clearly children will face challenges where qualities of perseverance are likely to be advantageous. However, more research into intervention and training programmes is warranted before concluding that such training increases educational achievement and life outcomes.'

Lifelong physical activity increases bone density in men

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/uom-lpa021116.php

Public Release: 11-Feb-2016
Lifelong physical activity increases bone density in men
High-impact exercise during adolescence and young adulthood is linked to greater bone mass in middle-aged men
University of Missouri-Columbia

Men have many reasons to add high-impact and resistance training to their exercise regimens; these reasons include building muscle and shedding fat. Now a University of Missouri researcher has determined another significant benefit to these activities: building bone mass. The study found that individuals who continuously participated in high-impact activities, such as jogging and tennis, during adolescence and young adulthood, had greater hip and lumbar spine bone mineral density than those who did not.

"While osteoporosis is commonly associated with only post-menopausal women, it is, in fact, a serious issue for men as well," said Pamela Hinton, associate professor in the Department of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology in the MU College of Human Environmental Sciences. "Indeed, research has shown that the consequences of osteoporosis can be much worse for men, as they are less likely to be diagnosed and are at a greater mortality risk from fractures that occur as a result of a fall."

•••••

House Republican Budget Gets 62 Percent of Budget Cuts From Low- and Moderate-Income Programs

http://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-budget/house-gop-budget-gets-62-percent-of-budget-cuts-from-low-and-moderate-income

March 28, 2016
by Richard Kogan and Isaac Shapiro

•••••

Specifically, the plan, which the House Budget Committee approved on March 16, would cut programs for low- and moderate-income people by about $3.7 trillion over the next decade. In 2026, it would cut such programs overall by 42 percent — causing tens of millions of people to lose health coverage and millions to lose basic food or other support.

In addition, the plan would secure 62 percent of its budget cuts from low-income programs even though they account for just 28 percent of total non-defense program spending (and just 24 percent of total program spending, including defense).

While cutting supports and services severely for Americans of lesser means, the budget would secure no deficit reduction at all from the more than $1 trillion a year in tax credits, deductions, and other preferences, collectively known as “tax expenditures” — which disproportionately benefit high-income households and which former Reagan Administration economics adviser (and Harvard professor) Martin Feldstein has called the most wasteful part of the budget.


•••••

The low-income cuts include:

• Some $2.9 trillion in health care cuts for low- and moderate-income people. •••

• More than $150 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps). •••

• Almost $500 billion in cuts in other entitlements for low-income Americans, including deep cuts in higher education aid. •••

• About $100 billion in cuts to low-income non-defense discretionary programs. •••

•••••

Exercise and meditation -- together -- help beat depression

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/ru-eam021016.php

Public Release: 10-Feb-2016
Exercise and meditation -- together -- help beat depression
Rutgers scientists say learning new cognitive skills can help reduce overwhelming negative thoughts
Rutgers University

Meditation and aerobic exercise done together helps reduce depression, according to a new Rutgers study.

The study, published in Translational Psychiatry this month, found that this mind and body combination - done twice a week for only two months - reduced the symptoms for a group of students by 40 percent.

"We are excited by the findings because we saw such a meaningful improvement in both clinically depressed and non-depressed students," says Brandon Alderman, lead author of the research study. "It is the first time that both of these two behavioral therapies have been looked at together for dealing with depression."

Alderman, assistant professor in the Department of Exercise Science, and Tracey Shors, professor in the Department of Psychology and Center for Collaborative Neuroscience, both in the School of Arts and Sciences, discovered that a combination of mental and physical training (MAP) enabled students with major depressive disorder not to let problems or negative thoughts overwhelm them.

"Scientists have known for a while that both of these activities alone can help with depression," says Shors. "But this study suggests that when done together, there is a striking improvement in depressive symptoms along with increases in synchronized brain activity."

•••••

Rutgers researchers say those who participated in the study began with 30 minutes of focused attention meditation followed by 30 minutes of aerobic exercise. They were told that if their thoughts drifted to the past or the future they should refocus on their breathing - enabling those with depression to accept moment-to-moment changes in attention.

Shors, who studies the production of new brain cells in the hippocampus - the portion of the brain known to be necessary for some types of new learning--says even though neurogenesis cannot be monitored in humans, scientists have shown in animal models that aerobic exercise increases the number of new neurons and effortful learning keeps a significant number of those cells alive.

The idea for the human intervention came from her laboratory studies, she says, with the main goal of helping individuals acquire new skills so that they can learn to recover from stressful life events. By learning to focus their attention and exercise, people who are fighting depression can acquire new cognitive skills that can help them process information and reduce the overwhelming recollection of memories from the past, Shors says.

•••••

The Mindlessly slim

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/cfb-tms021016.php

Public Release: 10-Feb-2016
The Mindlessly slim
What can we learn from people who stay mindlessly slim
Cornell Food & Brand Lab

•••••

New Cornell Food and Brand Lab research findings have helped to uncover lifestyle secrets of the "mindlessly slim." The Food and Brand Lab researchers created the Slim by Design Registry (now called the Global Healthy Weight Registry) to survey adults who have successfully maintained a healthy body weight throughout their lives.

•••••

After comparing the responses from each group, the researchers found that mindlessly slim individuals were more likely to use strategies that differ from traditional recommendations for weight loss or maintenance. These strategies include: eating high-quality foods, cooking at home, and listening to inner cues in order to stay slim. Also they didn't indicate feeling as guilty as the other group about overeating. Furthermore, mindlessly slim people were more likely to have an enjoyment-based, internally informed approach to food and eating.

"These results are encouraging because they imply that instead of putting restrictions on one's diet and avoiding favorite foods, weight gain could be prevented early on by learning to listen to inner cues and putting emphasis on the quality instead of the quantity of food," says lead researcher Anna-Leena Vuorinen, of VTT Technical Research Centre in Finland, PhD student at the University of Tempere, and former visiting scholar at the Food and Brand Lab.

Monday, March 28, 2016

New study reveals incidence of dementia may be declining

Another factor might be declining levels of lead, due to government regulation. There is evidence that exposure to lead early in life can increase your chances of getting dementia later.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/bumc-nsr020916.php

Public Release: 10-Feb-2016
New study reveals incidence of dementia may be declining
Boston University Medical Center

Despite the concern of an explosion of dementia cases in an aging population over the next few decades, a new study, based on data from the Framingham Heart Study (FHS), suggests that the rate of new cases of dementia actually may be decreasing.

These findings, which appear in the New England Journal of Medicine, provide hope that some cases of dementia might be preventable or delayed and encourages funding agencies and the scientific community to further explore demographic, lifestyle and environmental factors underlying this positive trend.

•••••

Looking at four distinct periods in the late 1970s, late 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, the researchers found that there was a progressive decline in incidence of dementia at a given age, with an average reduction of 20 percent per decade since the 1970s, when data was first collected. The decline was more pronounced with a subtype of dementia caused by vascular diseases, such as stroke. There also was a decreasing impact of heart diseases, which suggests the importance of effective stroke treatment and prevention of heart disease. Interestingly, the decline in dementia incidence was observed only in persons with high school education and above.

•••••

Estrogen, antibiotics persisted in dairy farm waste after advanced treatment, study finds

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/uab-eap021016.php

Public Release: 10-Feb-2016
Estrogen, antibiotics persisted in dairy farm waste after advanced treatment, study finds
The chemicals' endurance may pose a threat to the environment and human health
University at Buffalo

When University at Buffalo chemists began studying waste disposal at a dairy farm in New York State, they thought that the farm's advanced system for processing manure would help remove estrogens and antibiotics from the excrement.

Instead, the scientists found that the chemicals largely persisted in the treated materials, which are typically reused as fertilizer and animal bedding on the farm.

The waste management process -- an advanced anaerobic digestion system -- also converted a less harmful form of estrogen in the manure into a form that may pose a greater ecological threat.

The study underscores how far waste treatment techniques have fallen behind the times.

Hormones and antibiotics, if not removed from waste, can migrate into the environment and threaten wildlife. [They also threaten human health.] Estrogens, for example, can enter rivers and lakes, causing male fish to develop female traits -- a phenomenon that can harm reproduction. [Human sperm counts around the world have been decreasing for years.] Rogue antibiotics pose a different kind of challenge, encouraging the spread of antibiotic resistance, in which disease-causing bacteria stop responding to drugs.

Even waste treatment systems that are considered to be state-of-the-art often fail to account for chemicals used routinely in modern society, says University at Buffalo researcher Diana Aga, who led the new study. She is a professor of chemistry in the UB College of Arts and Sciences and a member of UB RENEW (Research and Education in eNergy, Environment and Water), an institute that addresses complex environmental issues.

"The chemicals we are studying are not exotic," Aga says. "Antibiotics are used to treat sick animals, and the cows on a dairy farm are females, so they produce a lot of estrogens.

"One of the messages of our work is that even anaerobic digestion, an advanced treatment, doesn't totally remove these chemicals which may pose a danger to the environment. We need to start looking closely at additional treatment techniques to identify better practices."

•••••

Why the 1% earn so much and what to do about it

If they have high IQ, they are using it to cheat and defraud. Eg., they produce products that malfunction after a short time, or don't work right from the beginning, resulting in our having to replace the products, thus enriching the executives. They make excessive buys & sells of people's retirement investments in order to generate large fees for themselves. Pharmaceutical companies pay companies that make generic drugs not to produce competing generics, in order for the first company to be able to continue to charge high prices. They skimp on safety measure causing injuries and deaths to their workers, give themselves huge bonuses, then file bankruptcy so they don't have to pay for their actions. Intelligence on behalf of psychopathic actions does not contribute to society in a positive way.

The author makes some good points, but appears to slant his arguments from a dedication to the belief that competition will solve all problems, and all bad comes from government regulation. Considering his slanted presentation on things I already know about, I am skeptical of his claims that there has not been much change in the share of national GDP going to various sectors.

http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2016/03/make-elites-compete-why-the-1-earn-so-much-and-what-to-do-about-it.html#comment-6a00d83451b33869e201b8d1b56fba970c

http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/social-mobility-memos/posts/2016/03/25-make-elites-compete-why-one-percent-earn-so-much-rothwell

Jonathan Rothwell | March 25, 2016

The spectacular economic rise of the top 1 percent is now common knowledge, thanks in large part to the work of Thomas Piketty and his collaborators. The top 1 percent of U.S. residents now earn 21 percent of total national income, up from 10 percent in 1979.

Curbing this inequality requires a clear understanding of its causes. Three of the standard explanations—capital shares, skills, and technology—are myths. The real cause of elite inequality is the lack of open access and market competition in elite investment and labor markets. To bring the elite down to size, we need to make them compete.

Myth 1: Capital vs. labor share

In his recent and otherwise valuable book, Saving Capitalism: For the Many, not the Few, Robert Reich claims that the share of income going to workers has fallen from 50 percent in 1960 to 42 percent in 2012. Meanwhile, corporate profits have risen. In short: trillions of dollars have gone to capitalists instead of workers. The sensible policy responses, as Reich and others have stressed, are to increase taxes on corporate income and capital gains, and widen capital ownership.

•••••

So, what’s going on here? The simple explanation is that wages and salaries are an inadequate measure of the share of economic benefits flowing to labor. Wages and salaries have declined as a share of total income, largely for two reasons. First, total national income includes government transfer payments, which are rising because of an aging population (e.g., Social Security and Medicare). Second, companies have greatly increased non-salary compensation (e.g., healthcare and retirement benefits). Total worker compensation plus transfer payments have actually slightly increased as a share of total national income, from 79 percent between 1951 and 1979, to 81 percent for the years from 1980 to 2015:

Wage earners are not helped by Social Security and Medicare going to the elderly, except in some cases where they might otherwise have to provide financial help to their aging parents. It might help some have a larger inheritance eventually, but that doesn't pay the bills today.

He ignores rising cost of higher education, at least part of which is due to DECREASING government support.



Myth 2: Super skills lead to super riches

In his “defense of the one percent,” economist Greg Mankiw argues that elite earnings are based on their higher levels of IQ, skills, and valuable contributions to the economy. The globally-integrated, technologically-powered economy has shifted so that very highly-talented people can generate very high incomes.

It is certainly true that rising relative returns to education have driven up inequality. But as I have written earlier, this is true among the bottom 99 percent. There is no evidence to support the idea that the top 1 percent consists mostly of people of “exceptional talent.” In fact, there is quite a bit of evidence to the contrary.

Drawing on state administrative records for millions of individual Americans and their employers from 1990 to 2011, John Abowd and co-authors have estimated how far individual skills influence earnings in particular industries. They find that people working in the securities industry (which includes investment banks and hedge funds) earn 26 percent more, regardless of skill. Those working in legal services get a 23 percent pay raise. These are among the two industries with the highest levels of “gratuitous pay”—pay in excess of skill (or “rents” in the economics literature). At the other end of the spectrum, people working in eating and drinking establishments earn 40 percent below their skill level.

Using data from an OECD cognitive test of thousands of Americans and adults from around the world (the PIACC), I find that workers in the financial and insurance sector get a pay bump equivalent to a decile of the earnings distribution (e.g., pushing them up from the 80th to 90th percentile). This is the largest premium aside from the quasi-monopolistic mining and utilities sectors:

At the occupational level, CEOs are paid 1.5 deciles above their “IQ.” Health professionals also receive a very large boost in earnings.

Using microdata from the Census Bureau, I find that the “gratuitous pay” premium in certain industries has increased dramatically since 1980. Workers in securities and investment saw their excess pay rise from 41 percent to 60 percent between 1980 and 2013. Legal services went from 27 percent to 37 percent. Hospitals went from 21 percent to 39 percent. Meanwhile, those working in eating and drinking establishments consistently hovered around negative 20 percent:

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where are the 1 percent working? Top answer: doctor’s offices. No industry has more top earners than physicians’ offices, with 7.2 percent. Hospitals are home to 7 percent. Legal services and securities and financial investments industries account for another 7 and 6 percent, respectively. Real estate, dentistry, and banking provide a large number, too:

Computer systems design is the only tech sector among the top contributors. There are five times as many top 1 percent workers in dental services as in software services.

CEOs are of course more likely to be in the top tier, especially if they are in certain privileged industries: 28 percent of CEOs from the financial sector, for instance, and 26 percent of those in hospitals. (But 15 percent of college presidents are in the top 1 percent, too.)

He mentions CEO's then ignores factors leading to their excessive pay, which is due to the fact that they set each others salaries by serving on each others boards.

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As economist Dean Baker points out, politicians and intellectuals often champion market competition—but what they mean by that is competition among low-paid service workers, production workers, or computer programmers who face competition from trade and immigration, while elite professionals sit behind a protectionist wall. Workers in occupations with no higher educational requirements see their wages held down by millions of other Americans denied a high-quality education and competing for relatively precious vacancies.

For lawyers, doctors, and dentists— three of the most over-represented occupations in the top 1 percent—state-level lobbying from professional associations has blocked efforts to expand the supply of qualified workers who could do many of the “professional” job tasks for less pay. Here are three illustrations:

I have read that there is actually a surplus of lawyers, leading to many not being able to get jobs in their field when they graduate.

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Sunday, March 27, 2016

Starting age of marijuana use may have long-term effects on brain development

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/cfb-sao021016.php

Public Release: 10-Feb-2016
Starting age of marijuana use may have long-term effects on brain development
Center for BrainHealth

The age at which an adolescent begins using marijuana may affect typical brain development, according to researchers at the Center for BrainHealth at The University of Texas at Dallas. In a paper recently published in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, scientists describe how marijuana use, and the age at which use is initiated, may adversely alter brain structures that underlie higher order thinking.

Findings show study participants who began using marijuana at the age of 16 or younger demonstrated brain variations that indicate arrested brain development in the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for judgment, reasoning and complex thinking. Individuals who started using marijuana after age 16 showed the opposite effect and demonstrated signs of accelerated brain aging.

"Science has shown us that changes in the brain occurring during adolescence are complex. Our findings suggest that the timing of cannabis use can result in very disparate patterns of effects," explained Francesca Filbey, Ph.D., principal investigator and Bert Moore Chair of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at the Center for BrainHealth. "Not only did age of use impact the brain changes but the amount of cannabis used also influenced the extent of altered brain maturation."

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Radiation causes blindness in wild animals in Chernobyl

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/aof-rcb021016.php

Public Release: 10-Feb-2016
Radiation causes blindness in wild animals in Chernobyl
Female voles are more susceptible to cataracts than males
Academy of Finland

This year marks 30 years since the Chernobyl nuclear accident. Vast amounts of radioactive particles spread over large areas in Europe. These particles, mostly Cesium-137, cause a low but long-term exposure to ionizing radiation in animals and plants.

This chronic exposure has been shown to decrease the abundances of many animal species both after the Chernobyl and later Fukushima nuclear accidents. Damage caused by acute exposure to high radiation doses have been demonstrated in numerous laboratory studies, but effects of chronic exposure to low radiation in the wild remain largely unknown.

New research now suggests that chronic exposure to low radiation can cause damage to the eyes of wild animals. This is shown in an international study led by researchers Philipp Lehmann and Tapio Mappes from the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, which recently was published in the journal Scientific Reports.

In the study higher frequencies of cataracts were found in the lenses of bank voles which had lived in areas where background radiation levels were elevated compared to areas with natural radiation levels. Cataract frequency increased with age in the voles, similarly as in humans generally. In addition, the effects of aging intensified as a result of elevated radiation.

Interestingly the effect of radiation was significant only in female voles. Also in humans there are indications for high radiosensitivity of lenses. Persons with occupational exposure to radiation, such as radiology nurses, nuclear power plant workers and airline pilots have increased risk of cataract, but potential gender differences in radiosensitivity should be further studied.

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Vinegar could potentially help treat ulcerative colitis

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/acs-vcp021016.php

Public Release: 10-Feb-2016
Vinegar could potentially help treat ulcerative colitis
American Chemical Society

Vinegar is the perfect ingredient for making tangy sauces and dressings. Now, researchers report in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry that the popular liquid could also help fight ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease that research suggests is related to the gut microbiome. They found that vinegar suppressed inflammation-inducing proteins while improving the gut's bacterial makeup in mice.

Ulcerative colitis is a chronic condition that affects millions of people around the world. Although its cause isn't completely understood, research suggests that bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract play an important part. People with the condition experience repeated inflammation of the large intestine's lining, which can cause ulcers, abdominal pain, diarrhea and other symptoms. At least one recent study suggested that vinegar, which has been used in traditional medicine for centuries, might be effective against ulcerative colitis. Lu Yu, Bo Liu and colleagues wanted to further investigate this possibility.

Ulcerative colitis is a chronic condition that affects millions of people around the world. Although its cause isn't completely understood, research suggests that bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract play an important part. People with the condition experience repeated inflammation of the large intestine's lining, which can cause ulcers, abdominal pain, diarrhea and other symptoms. At least one recent study suggested that vinegar, which has been used in traditional medicine for centuries, might be effective against ulcerative colitis. Lu Yu, Bo Liu and colleagues wanted to further investigate this possibility.

Couch potatoes may have smaller brains later in life

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/aaon-cpm020416.php

Public Release: 10-Feb-2016
Couch potatoes may have smaller brains later in life
American Academy of Neurology

Poor physical fitness in middle age may be linked to a smaller brain size 20 years later, according to a study published in the February 10, 2016, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

"We found a direct correlation in our study between poor fitness and brain volume decades later, which indicates accelerated brain aging," said study author Nicole Spartano, PhD, with Boston University School of Medicine in Boston.

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The study also showed that people whose blood pressure and heart rate went up at a higher rate during exercise also were more likely to have smaller brain volumes two decades later. Spartano said that people with poor physical fitness often have higher blood pressure and heart rate responses to low levels of exercise compared to people with better fitness.

Spartano noted that the study is observational. It does not prove that poor physical fitness causes a loss of brain volume; it shows the association.

"While not yet studied on a large scale, these results suggest that fitness in middle age may be particularly important for the many millions of people around the world who already have evidence of heart disease," she said.

Children with special health care needs and their families have high food insecurity risk

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/bumc-cws020916.php

Public Release: 9-Feb-2016
Children with special health care needs and their families have high food insecurity risk
Boston University Medical Center

Low-income families with children who have special health care needs are at high risk for food insecurity, even when they receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and participate in public assistance programs, such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). According to a new study led by researchers from Children's Health Watch at Boston Medical Center (BMC) and published online ahead of print in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, there is a need to re-evaluate criteria determining qualifications for nutritional assistance in families with children with special health care needs in order to decrease the risk of food insecurity.

Children with chronic health, physical, developmental, and behavioral conditions are classified as having "special health care needs" (SHCN); a 2011 report indicated that 11.4 percent of children in the US under the age of 5 fall into that category. These children often require significant medical care and assistance as well as specific, and often expensive, diets, which can be a considerable financial burden for low-income families. This may lead to household food insecurity, defined as the inability to afford enough food for an active and healthy life for all household members; or child food insecurity, a severe form of food insecurity when resources in the household are so constrained that children's meals need to be skipped or include less expansive and lower quality (thus less nourishing) foods.

For example, a low-income family with a child with SHCN that has expensive nutritional or formula requirements due to diabetes or a neurological impairment may not qualify for a SNAP benefit that meets the cost of these extra health-related needs. Therefore the family may need to cut back on healthy food options in order to compensate for the increased nutritional expenses for that child, resulting in the family experiencing food insecurity.

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Alcohol offender program associated with drop in deaths, study finds

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/rc-aop020416.php

Public Release: 9-Feb-2016
Alcohol offender program associated with drop in deaths, study finds
Innovative program requires offenders to submit to frequent testing
RAND Corporation

An innovative program that requires alcohol-involved offenders to abstain from alcohol and submit to frequent alcohol tests may be associated with a reduction in deaths, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

Examining the 24/7 Sobriety Program in South Dakota, which started as a pilot in 2005, researchers found that county implementation of the program was associated with a 4 percent drop in deaths at the county level. The associations were most evident among causes of death associated with excessive alcohol use, such as circulatory conditions. The results are being published in the journal The Lancet Psychiatry.

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Slime can see

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/e-scs020716.php

Public Release: 9-Feb-2016
Slime can see
Scientists discover that slime-forming bacteria act as optical objects
eLife

After more than 300 years of looking, scientists have figured out how bacteria "see" their world. And they do it in a remarkably similar way to us.

A team of British and German researchers reveal in the journal eLife how bacterial cells act as the equivalent of a microscopic eyeball or the world's oldest and smallest camera eye.

"The idea that bacteria can see their world in basically the same way that we do is pretty exciting," says lead researcher Conrad Mullineaux, Professor of Microbiology from QMUL's School of Biological and Chemical Sciences from Queen Mary University of London (QMUL).

Cyanobacteria are found in huge numbers in water bodies or can form a slippery green film on rocks and pebbles. The species used in the study, Synechocystis, is found naturally in freshwater lakes and rivers. Cyanobacteria evolved around 2.7 billion years ago and the fact that they are able to produce oxygen and fix carbon dioxide using energy from the sun - photosynthesis - is thought to have caused mass extinctions and the oldest known ice age.

As photosynthesis is crucial to the survival of these bacteria, scientists have sought to understand how they sense light. Previous studies have shown that they contain photosensors and that they are able to perceive the position of a light source and move towards it, a phenomenon called phototaxis.

The current study reveals that they are able to do this because the cell body acts like a lens. As light hits the spherical surface, it refracts into a point on the other side of the cell. This triggers movement by the cell away from the focused spot.

Within minutes, the bacteria grow tiny tentacle-like structures called pili that reach out towards the light source. As they attach to the surface that they're on, they retract and pull the bacteria along.

"The fact that bacteria respond to light is one of the oldest scientific observations of their behaviour," says Mullineaux.

"Our observation that bacteria are optical objects is pretty obvious with hindsight, but we never thought of it until we saw it. And no-one else noticed it before either, despite the fact that scientists have been looking at bacteria under microscopes for the last 340 years," he says.

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It doesn't 'get better' for some bullied LGBT youths

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/nu-id020916.php

Public Release: 9-Feb-2016
It doesn't 'get better' for some bullied LGBT youths
Risk of lasting mental health problems for severely victimized LGBT youths
Northwestern University

First study to examine severity of bullying over time, its impact on mental health
Researchers struck by 'how severe' harassment, assaults are for some LGBT teens
If these 'criminal offenses' happened out of school, 'people would be calling the police'

Since 2010, more than 613,000 people have pledged to combat bullying of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) teens as part of the "It Gets Better" campaign. And a new Northwestern Medicine study has found that most adolescents would agree that it does, in fact, get better. But not all.

Discrimination, harassment and assault of LGBT youths is still very much a problem for about a third of adolescents, the study found. What's more, it's often very severe, ongoing and leads to lasting mental health problems such as major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

"We tend to think that society is evolving but we can't just accept this narrative that 'it gets better' and think it gets better for everyone," said Brian Mustanski, an associate professor in medical social sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and director of the new Northwestern Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing.

Mustanski was happy to see that the majority of the 248 youths in the study (84.6 percent) experienced decreasing levels of victimization over the four years. But 10.3 percent experienced significant increases in bullying, and 5.1 percent maintained high levels of victimization over the four years. Mustanski was struck by just how severe the treatment was.

"With bullying, I think people often assume 'that's just kids teasing kids,' and that's not true," Mustanski said. "If these incidents, which might include physical and sexual assaults, weren't happening in schools, people would be calling the police. These are criminal offenses."

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"You can't equate someone giving you a dirty look with someone physically assaulting you," Mustanski said. "Victimizations that are more severe are going to have bigger effects. We scored them in a way that represented that, and we saw they had a profound effect on mental health rates over time."

The LGBT youths who were at the highest risk for mental health problems were those who experienced moderate harassment (i.e. having something thrown at them) that increased over time or adolescents who continually experienced high levels of victimization (i.e. physical or sexual assault) over the course of the four years.

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