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  • Some mosquitoes like it hot

    Some mosquitoes like it hot

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    Newswise — Certain populations of mosquitoes are more heat tolerant and better equipped to survive heat waves than others, according to new research from Washington University in St. Louis.

    This is bad news in a world where vector-borne diseases are an increasingly global health concern. Most models that scientists use to estimate vector-borne disease risk currently assume that mosquito heat tolerances do not vary. As a result, these models may underestimate mosquitoes’ ability to spread diseases in a warming world.

    Researchers led by Katie M. Westby, a senior scientist at Tyson Research Center, Washington University’s environmental field station, conducted a new study that measured the critical thermal maximum (CTmax), an organism’s upper thermal tolerance limit, of eight populations of the globally invasive tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus. The tiger mosquito is a known vector for many viruses including West Nile, chikungunya and dengue.

    “We found significant differences across populations for both adults and larvae, and these differences were more pronounced for adults,” Westby said. The new study is published Jan. 8 in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.

    Westby’s team sampled mosquitoes from eight different populations spanning four climate zones across the eastern United States, including mosquitoes from locations in New Orleans; St. Augustine, Fla.; Huntsville, Ala.; Stillwater, Okla.; St. Louis; Urbana, Ill.; College Park, Md.; and Allegheny County, Pa.

    The scientists collected eggs in the wild and raised larvae from the different geographic locations to adult stages in the lab, tending the mosquito populations separately as they continued to breed and grow. The scientists then used adults and larvae from subsequent generations of these captive-raised mosquitoes in trials to determine CTmax values, ramping up air and water temperatures at a rate of 1 degree Celsius per minute using established research protocols.

    The team then tested the relationship between climatic variables measured near each population source and the CTmax of adults and larvae. The scientists found significant differences among the mosquito populations.

    The differences did not appear to follow a simple latitudinal or temperature-dependent pattern, but there were some important trends. Mosquito populations from locations with higher precipitation had higher CTmax values. Overall, the results reveal that mean and maximum seasonal temperatures, relative humidity and annual precipitation may all be important climatic factors in determining CTmax.

    “Larvae had significantly higher thermal limits than adults, and this likely results from different selection pressures for terrestrial adults and aquatic larvae,” said Benjamin Orlinick, first author of the paper and a former undergraduate research fellow at Tyson Research Center. “It appears that adult Ae. albopictus are experiencing temperatures closer to their CTmax than larvae, possibly explaining why there are more differences among adult populations.”

    “The overall trend is for increased heat tolerance with increasing precipitation,” Westby said. “It could be that wetter climates allow mosquitoes to endure hotter temperatures due to decreases in desiccation, as humidity and temperature are known to interact and influence mosquito survival.”

    Little is known about how different vector populations, like those of this kind of mosquito, are adapted to their local climate, nor the potential for vectors to adapt to a rapidly changing climate. This study is one of the few to consider the upper limits of survivability in high temperatures — akin to heat waves — as opposed to the limits imposed by cold winters.

    “Standing genetic variation in heat tolerance is necessary for organisms to adapt to higher temperatures,” Westby said. “That’s why it was important for us to experimentally determine if this mosquito exhibits variation before we can begin to test how, or if, it will adapt to a warmer world.”

    Future research in the lab aims to determine the upper limits that mosquitoes will seek out hosts for blood meals in the field, where they spend the hottest parts of the day when temperatures get above those thresholds, and if they are already adapting to higher temperatures. “Determining this is key to understanding how climate change will impact disease transmission in the real world,” Westby said. “Mosquitoes in the wild experience fluctuating daily temperatures and humidity that we cannot fully replicate in the lab.”

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    Washington University in St. Louis

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  • More Patients Go Home Instead of to Long-Term-Care Facility When Sedation for Common Procedures Is Administered or Directed by Anesthesiologist

    More Patients Go Home Instead of to Long-Term-Care Facility When Sedation for Common Procedures Is Administered or Directed by Anesthesiologist

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    Newswise — SAN FRANCISCO — Patients who had common procedures performed outside of the operating room (OR) were more likely to go home instead of to a long-term care facility when they were discharged from the hospital if their sedation was administered or directed by an anesthesiologist, rather than by a physician who is not a trained anesthesiologist, according to a first-of-its-kind study presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY® 2023 annual meeting.

    Patients who need catheters placed in a vein, angiograms (X-ray of the blood vessels), image-guided biopsies and many other procedures typically are treated in the interventional radiology (IR) suite instead of the OR and given sedation. Sedation is a type of anesthesia that relieves anxiety, controls pain and discomfort, and sometimes makes them fall asleep. One in 10 patients admitted to the hospital requires an IR procedure and many are at increased risk for complications due to health issues or having more complex procedures.

    The study was the first to directly compare the hospital discharge outcomes of patients who received sedation administered by an anesthesiologist, or by a nurse anesthetist under the direction of an anesthesiologist, to the discharge outcomes of patients whose sedation was administered or directed by a physician who was not an anesthesiologist, such as a radiologist or cardiologist. Anesthesiologists are physicians who are experts in ensuring the safety and comfort of patients undergoing surgery and other procedures and are highly trained in critical care to manage medical emergencies if there is a complication. 

    “We focused on patients undergoing IR procedures as they often have health issues such as heart disease or diabetes and some of the procedures are high risk,” said Matthias Eikermann, M.D., Ph.D., senior author of the study and chair of the department of anesthesiology at Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, New York. “We found anesthesiologists add value to patients undergoing interventional radiology procedures. That’s especially true for complex neurovascular procedures such as angiograms for the treatment of aneurysms or the creation of an arteriovenous (AV) fistula, a connection between an artery and a vein, for people on dialysis and those that typically take longer than an hour.”

    In the study, 9,682 patients had sedation in the IR suite and 1,639 (16.93%) were discharged from the hospital to a long-term care facility (such as a nursing home) because of complications that they may be more likely to experience due to their disease. Anesthesiologists have the training to identify these complications early and address them.

    Of those who were not discharged home, 1,429 (87%) had their sedation administered or directed by a physician who was not an anesthesiologist, often with the assistance of a nurse, and 210 (13%) had their sedation administered or directed by an anesthesiologist.

    “The anesthesiologist is not just providing sedation, but life support for the patient during the entire procedure,” said Dr. Eikermann. “The difference in outcomes is because anesthesiologists are trained to identify early complications and treat them immediately. Physicians who are not anesthesiologists are not trained to do that.”

    Anesthesiologists administered or directed sedation for higher-risk patients, such as those with more health issues or who had more invasive procedures. Despite being at higher risk, the patients who received sedation administered or directed by an anesthesiologist were nearly 70% more likely to be discharged home than those whose sedation was administered or directed by a physician who was not an anesthesiologist.

    “Increasingly, high-risk patients are undergoing procedures outside of the OR,” said Vilma Joseph, M.D., MPH, FASA, co-author of the study and director of procedural sedation at Montefiore Medical Center. “The presence of physician anesthesiologists as part of the anesthesia care team model has been associated with improved outcomes.”

    “Patients should know that they can ask for an anesthesiologist if they are concerned about excessive pain, anxiety or their safety during diagnostic procedures,” said Dr. Eikermann. “Our research suggests rethinking anesthesia assignments to ensure anesthesiologists provide sedation when patients are at higher risk due to their health or are having more complex, longer or more-invasive procedures.”

    THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF ANESTHESIOLOGISTS

    Founded in 1905, the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) is an educational, research and scientific professional society with more than 56,000 members organized to advance the medical practice of anesthesiology and secure its future. ASA is committed to ensuring anesthesiologists evaluate and supervise the medical care of all patients before, during and after surgery. ASA members also lead the care of critically ill patients in intensive care units, as well as treat pain in both acute and chronic settings.

    For more information on the field of anesthesiology, visit the American Society of Anesthesiologists online at asahq.org. To learn more about how anesthesiologists help ensure patient safety, visit asahq.org/MadeforThisMoment. Join the ANESTHESIOLOGY® 2023 social conversation today. Like ASA on Facebook, follow ASALifeline on Twitter and use the hashtag #ANES23.

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    American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA)

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  • Tips for setting, reaching financial goals

    Tips for setting, reaching financial goals

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    Whatever a person’s individual dreams, setting clear financial goals is a vital step toward making them a reality.

    Nathan Harness, Ph.D., director of the Financial Planning Program in the Department of Agricultural Economics in the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, offered his perspective on why setting financial goals is important as well as the most effective way to identify, prioritize and meet those goals.

    Why setting financial goals is important

    Whatever your dreams – large or small – setting realistic financial goals is critical for achieving whatever matters most to you. And understanding how to set these goals is essential for creating a financial framework that works for you by reflecting your personal priorities and values.

    “When you set financial goals, you bring specific direction and purpose to your money,” Harness said. “Financial goals help you build a vision for the future for yourself and others. Specific and measurable goals help bring accountability and coordination to your financial life.”

    Harness said it’s important to reflect on your motivations and intentions, as well as your dreams and desires.

    “It’s not just about creating a checklist, it’s a powerful tool to bring together what you deeply value with your daily actions. This can bring alignment between your core values and life aspirations.”

    Guidelines for developing financial goals 

    Realistic financial goal setting is an initial step on a path that can help lead to a more secure and purposeful future, Harness said, adding a realistic goal should be:

    • Achievable. Base goals on actual or reasonably anticipated income. Don’t count on a surprise inheritance or winning the lottery.
    • Specific. A specific goal might be to buy a new car within 12 months or to save enough for a down payment on a house in less than four years.
    • Measurable. Each goal should have a deadline, which might be the age at which you want to retire or the timeline for affording the once-in-a-lifetime vacation you’ve been dreaming about.

    Harness said, as with many other personal goals, it’s important to know and understand the motivation behind them.

    “Ask yourself about the real purpose of your goals,” he said. “Think about what motivates your decision and what you hope to benefit by reaching that goal.”  

    He said it also helps to establish financial goals with a general time frame in mind.

    “Short-term financial goals are usually those you hope to achieve within the next one to three years, while medium-term goals are those three to five years in the future and long-term goals are typically seven or more years in the future.”

    He said short-term goals typically require investments with short-term maturity dates or savings vehicles that provide safe interest, if possible, and protection from a loss of principal.

    “For medium-term investments or savings, you need to make sure you can access your funds without incurring a penalty,” he said. “And for long-term goals, you’ll want to consider investments that are more likely to yield better returns over time, such as the stock market. Of course, a financial planner can help you with making such investment decisions.”

    Listing and prioritizing  

    After identifying your goals, it’s important to prioritize them, Harness said.

    “Write down your goals in the priority you want to give them, making sure they are clear and realistic,” he said. “And check on your goals from time to time to make sure you are on track and see how you are progressing.”

    Harness said to note specific details about each goal, including a desired time frame to reach them, the amount of money needed and how much has been saved to date.

    “These priorities can be different from person to person, so make sure these priorities reflect your values and what’s important to you and not someone else,” he said. “Prioritize short-, medium- and long-term goals, but do not forget that it is often possible to work toward more than one goal at a time.”

    For example, he said, it’s possible to save for a vacation or to buy a new vehicle while also putting money aside for retirement.

    “You can determine how much attention to give each of these goals based on your personal evaluation of their importance and adjust them if something changes.”

    Money management basics to help achieve financial goals

    Harness said after identifying goals, you need to put some financial basics in place to provide a strong foundation for pursuing your goals.

    These basics include:

    • Paying off debts. Paying off outstanding debts, especially any high-interest credit card debts, is a good start toward freeing up some of the money you need to save so you can contribute more resources toward your financial goals.
    • Having an emergency fund. While it may seem like putting money aside for emergencies is a financial “detour” from saving for your goals, it is actually a vital safety net for preserving your net worth.

    “It’s important to set funds aside for unexpected and potentially costly situations, such as losing a job or incurring substantial medical expenses,” Harness said. “A good rule of thumb is to have enough money stashed away in an easily accessible savings account for covering three to six months of normal living expenses.”

    Changing or modifying financial goals

    “After you have identified your financial goals, it’s important that you realize these may need to change or evolve based on various life changes or circumstances,” he said. “While you should generally revisit your financial goals at least once a year, you should also revisit them when a significant change impacts your life or financial status. It can also be helpful to share your goals with a trusted partner or establish a relationship with a certified financial planner.”   

    Financial goals should be flexible enough to account for changes in one’s life or view of what is most important, he said.

    “Financial goals help you clarify your priorities and prepare for a future in which you have accomplished those things you have determined are the most important to you,” he said. “But it is not entirely static, and you need to be open to the possibility that these goals may need to be modified.”

    Harness said to keep in mind the original motivation behind a particular financial goal and ask yourself if that motivation has changed for any reason.

    “Be honest with yourself about your financial goals and your ability and desire to meet them,” he said. “Having realistic, purposeful and well-thought-out goals makes it more likely that you will feel confident about those goals and will stay on track to achieve them.”

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    Texas A&M AgriLife

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  • ASTRO 2023 Session Shines Spotlight on Physician Burnout

    ASTRO 2023 Session Shines Spotlight on Physician Burnout

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    Newswise — MIAMI, FLORIDA (EMBARGOED UNTIL SEPT. 29, 2023, AT 5 PM ET, 2023) – Physician burnout was already a trending topic within the medical community before 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic brought national attention to the issue.

    Typical stressors such as long hours, poor work-life balance, frustrating insurance denials and cumbersome medical documentation were compounded by new challenges from a novel, deadly virus that killed millions worldwide and necessitated a paradigm shift in care delivery.

    The side effects were widespread and readily apparent. By late 2021, research by the American Medical Association, Mayo Clinic and Stanford Medicine found that the prevalence of burnout among physicians was almost 63%, up from less than 40% the previous year. Additionally, research has repeatedly shown that occupational burnout among physicians is considerably higher than with the overall U.S. workforce.    

    So, where do things stand now? A panel of experts will delve into this topic at ASTRO 2023, the annual meeting of the American Society of Radiation Oncology, Oct. 1-4, in San Diego. The discussion, titled “Getting It All Done – Practical Strategies at All Career Stages,” occurs on Monday, Oct. 2, from 8-9 a.m., in Room 2.

    Crystal Seldon Taswell, MD, radiation oncologist and researcher with Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, will co-moderate the panel discussion with Leah Katz, MD, from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.  

    Seldon Taswell and Katz will provide background on the extent of burnout within radiation oncology and medicine in general. They also will discuss the curriculum gap for residents regarding time management, balancing clinical and research work and learning boundaries for better work-life balance in an always-connected world.

    “Radiation oncology and other specialties do an excellent job of teaching resident physicians the clinical side of the job,” said Seldon Taswell, who specializes in treating breast and musculoskeletal cancers. “But often, there is a curriculum void in teaching the intangibles that ensure proper work-life integration and professional satisfaction.” 

    Seldon Taswell noted that the ASTRO panel discussion was purposely designed to offer practical strategies for practicing physicians at different stages of their careers. Panelists are:

    • Sara Beltran Ponce, MD, radiation oncology resident and mother, sharing her personal time-management tips and ways to support physician-parents.

     

    • Matt Katz, MD, physician and parent, explaining how to navigate work-life balance through various career changes and pursue academic interests in a private-practice setting.

     

    • Anthony D’amico, MD, PhD, veteran radiation oncologist and professor, offering insights into building core values into daily routines and mentoring residents/attendings as they seek balance in their lives.

     

    • Christina Henson, MD, early-career physician and parent, discussing how she navigates clinical care, research and resident teaching, as well as the challenges for women in medicine.

    “We know from research and physician surveys, in particular, that poor work-life integration is a critical driver of professional burnout,” explained Seldon Taswell. “This phenomenon can lead to higher rates of depression, drug and alcohol abuse, divorce and suicidal thoughts among physicians.”

    She added that professional burnout has potentially harmful effects on patient care, including increased medical errors, decreased patient satisfaction and strained relationships among physician colleagues.

    “Physician well-being goes hand-in-hand with the health and wellness of patients and our healthcare system in general,” Seldon Taswell said. “I look forward to participating in this important conversation at ASTRO 2023 to ensure physician wellness remains in the national spotlight.”     

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    Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center

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  • The Invisible Labor of Adult Daughters: Baylor Expert Highlights the Valuable Role of Adult ‘Daughtering’

    The Invisible Labor of Adult Daughters: Baylor Expert Highlights the Valuable Role of Adult ‘Daughtering’

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    BYLINE: Kelly Craine

    Newswise — National Daughters Day is Sept. 25, an oft-overlooked holiday that has been around since 1932. But much like the holiday, adult daughters are often unnoticed for the important role they play in the lives of their parents.

    Allison M. Alford, Ph.D., clinical associate professor of business communication at Baylor University and co-host of the weekly podcast, “Hello Mother, Hello Daughter,” researches adult daughters and their “invisible labor” in maintaining the unity of a family. Adult daughters find themselves providing support, nurturing and much more in a socially and communicatively constructed, shaped and molded role that includes navigating, responding to and negotiating cultural and familial discourses. These behaviors occur throughout a daughter’s life and represent significant resources funneled toward her parents to maintain and nurture a relationship.

    Alford’s research on “daughtering” – the active way that daughters relate to and care for parents – is how she describes the work and effort that daughters provide their parents.

    “It’s that purposeful work that helps relationships flourish but often goes uncredited as work, even by daughters themselves, in part because the efforts are wrapped in misleading language and society hasn’t adopted a lexicon specifically for daughtering,” said Alford, who edited the book, “Constructing Motherhood and Daughterhood Across the Lifespan,” with research partner Michelle Miller-Day, Ph.D., of Chapman University in Orange County, California.

    Daughtering involves such “invisible labor” as planning and organizing family events, resolving conflicts, acting as a buffer with other family members, preparing for the future and more—with the intent of supporting important family relationships, Alford said. With dashes of “mental load” and “adulting,” thrown in the mix, adult children are engaging in effortful and intense relationship-building, from which they usually benefit in the form of familial support and love.

    Embracing National Daughters Day

    In recent years, social media has embraced National Daughters Day with parents posting loving tributes and sharing stories about their daughters, recognition that Alford encourages.

    “Adult daughters put a lot of effort into their families and recognizing their hard work with praise and affirmation shows that what they do matters. Every daughter would love to hear compliments on her daughtering,” Alford said, recommending that parents take time on Sept. 25 to acknowledge and thank their adult daughters for the care and time they give to the family.

    A few simple ways parents can acknowledge adult daughters:

    • Call your daughter on the phone and tell her how much her efforts have meant to you,
    • Create a social media tribute and share a picture of yourselves together over the years,
    • Order takeout delivered to her house for dinner, or
    • Call the grandkids and tell them a sweet story about their mom.

    Also on Sept. 25, Alford and Miller-Day will launch Season 2 of their weekly podcast, “Hello Mother, Hello Daughter,” which continues to explore what it means to be an adult daughter and how daughtering and mothering work together to create a harmonious family.

    This season, the hosts interview experts on adult mother-daughter relationship topics and share helpful resources that can enable positive family interactions. The podcast will be available everywhere you listen to podcasts. “Hello Mother, Hello Daughter” also is on social media on Instagram and Facebook.

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    Baylor University

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  • Park funding boosts home values

    Park funding boosts home values

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    Newswise — Ohio residents who vote against tax renewals for parks and recreation spending could be costing themselves a significant amount of wealth in the form of their homes’ value, a University of Cincinnati economist found.

    David Brasington, PhD, the James C. and Caroline Kautz Chair in Political Economy and professor of economics in UC’s Carl H. Lindner College of Business, studied the effect of cutting funding for the maintenance of local parks and recreational areas on housing values for a research article that was published in Journal of Regional Science.

    Brasington found Ohio communities that vote to renew parks and recreation spending see 13% higher home values three years after the vote than similar communities that voted against the tax renewals. For the typical household, a vote against tax renewals saves $70 a year in taxes but costs $30,000 in house values.

    “I was surprised by how strong the magnitude was,” Brasington said. “A 13% difference in house prices is really big. I was surprised a relatively small change in park funding could cause such a big change in house prices over time.”

    In his research, Brasington focused on communities that according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau share similar demographic and economic characteristics. The only discernible difference was that some of them narrowly voted to renew tax levies while others narrowly voted against renewing their levies.

    Using a housing data set, Brasington compared home values in the communities from 1991 through 2016.

    While house prices didn’t reflect a change immediately, three years after the votes the communities that approved the park and recreation maintenance saw 13% higher house values compared to the communities that voted against their levies. In subsequent years, the gap continued to grow.

    “I didn’t find any effects the first year after the vote or the second year after the vote, but they were noticeable three years later,” Brasington said. “The findings I have are consistent with the idea that right after you vote to cut parks and recreation taxes and funding, you don’t notice any effects on house prices, but as time goes on, maybe this decrease in maintenance funding starts to be noticeable and maybe it’s reflected in house prices.”

    The data doesn’t mean that communities that vote against renewing tax levies see a 13% decrease in housing values or that communities that vote in favor of their levies see a 13% increase. Rather, an example could be one community seeing a 7% increase in housing values while another sees a 20% increase, Brasington said.

    “When a local government offers services, they’re competing with other local governments for residents and businesses to build their tax base, so they want to offer good services that people care about,” he said.

    The data shows parks are a service that people care about, Brasington said. It also shows that Ohio’s local parks might be underfunded.

    “Parks and recreation spending seems worth it in Ohio,” he said. “There may be places where it isn’t, there may be places where it’s really, really worthwhile. But overall the parks and recreation spending is worth it in Ohio because the estimate is just an average across all the communities.”

    Brasington’s findings on home prices aligns with his previous research on the value of local park funding. In a research article published in 2021, Brasington found communities that renewed tax funding for local parks had more residential development than those that cut park taxes and funding.

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    University of Cincinnati

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  • The scale of emissions inequality in U.S. society

    The scale of emissions inequality in U.S. society

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    Newswise — Researchers have linked US household income data to greenhouse gas emissions generated in creating that income, and found that 40% of total emissions are associated with income for the highest 10% of households. The paper, published in PLOS Climate suggests that an income or shareholder-based carbon tax focused on investments may have equity advantages over traditional consumer-facing cap-and-trade or carbon tax options.

    Human created climate change is an existential threat, and there is a disconnect between those facing the worst impacts and those that drive the greatest greenhouse gas emissions.

    Jared Starr of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and colleagues, took 30 years of US household-level income data, from 1990-2019, and linked it to the emissions generated in that income. They look at both income from direct emissions, such as industries like power plants, and income related to industries supplying services or commodities to those industries – such as finance or fossil fuel suppliers.

    In general, white non-Hispanic households had the highest emissions linked to income, and Black households had the lowest, predominantly because of the racial inequity of income distribution. In terms of age, emissions tend to increase with age until peaking within the 45 – 54 age group before declining again.

    Among the highest earning 1% of households, whose income is linked to 15 – 17% of national emissions, investment holdings account for 38 – 43% of their emissions. The team also identifies “super emitters” with extremely high overall emissions, and these are almost exclusively among the top 0.1% of households, which are overrepresented in finance, real estate, and insurance; manufacturing; mining and quarrying.

    The research offers a new perspective on emissions responsibility and climate finance and could be a useful policy tool to encourage decarbonization while raising revenue for climate finance.

    Starr adds: “The scale of emission disparity is quite striking. Just fifteen days of income-based emissions from an average top 0.1% household is equal to a lifetime of emissions from a bottom decile household. I find that morally troubling, especially since low-income households face disproportionate climate harms.

    I think we need to make sure that our climate policies take these disparities into account. One way to do that is to make sure that those who are financially benefitting thanks to emissions are properly incentivized to both reduce their emissions and pay for the damage caused by those emissions. I believe that an income or asset-based carbon tax would focus the minds of corporate executives, board members, and large shareholders to decarbonize their industries in order to reduce their taxes. In essence it is decarbonization and divestment out of self-interest. At the same time it would generate much needed revenue for climate finance. While no tool is perfect, I think this could be a useful new approach to encourage the most economically and politically powerful in our society to focus their minds on decarbonization.”

     

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    PLOS

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  • Find the latest expert commentary on the recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions here

    Find the latest expert commentary on the recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions here

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    This Thursday, the United States Supreme Court rejected affirmative action at colleges and universities around the nation, declaring that the race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina were unlawful. Now on Friday, the Supreme Court decided to block the Biden administration’s student debt relief program and sided with a Christian web designer in Colorado who refuses to create websites to celebrate same-sex weddings out of religious objections. Despite their limited federal elected power, Conservatives have racked up more huge wins in the great political battles of the early 21st century.

    Newswise is your source for expert commentary. Below is a roundup of recent expert pitches concerning the United States Supreme Court.

    Sociologists Available to Discuss Affirmative Action Ruling in College Admissions

    – American Sociological Association (ASA)

    Law and diversity experts react to Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision

    – Tulane University

    Three important takeaways from SCOTUS decision in Groff v. DeJoy

    – University of Georgia

    SCOTUS decision on race-based admission: experts can comment

    – Indiana University

    U law expert available to comment on Supreme Court decision on affirmative action

    – University of Utah

    Recent SCOTUS decision puts to rest extreme 2020 presidential election claims, confirms state judicial input on states’ election rules

    – University of Georgia

     

     

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    Newswise

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  • Debt ceiling blues. Find political experts on the debt negotiations and the presidential bids in the Politics channel

    Debt ceiling blues. Find political experts on the debt negotiations and the presidential bids in the Politics channel

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    The House is on track Wednesday afternoon to begin considering a bipartisan plan to suspend the nation’s debt ceiling and limit spending, with the nation facing the risk of default if the debt ceiling is not raised by June 1st. The two parties remain deeply divided about how to rein in the federal deficit, with Democrats arguing wealthy Americans and businesses should pay more taxes while Republicans want spending cuts.

    More contenders enter the Republican presidential nominees’ list with Gov. DeSantis and Sen. Tom Scott declaring their bids to run. Do they have enough support to take on the front-runner, former President Donald Trump?

    Below are some of the latest expert pitches posted in the Politics channel.

    DeSantis to launch 2024 presidential campaign on Twitter, expert discusses implications for democracy

    -Virginia Tech

    GW Experts on Ron DeSantis Presidential Campaign Launch

    -George Washington University

    University of West Florida Expert Available to Interview on the Debt Ceiling

    -University of West Florida

    University of West Florida Expert Available to Discuss Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Looming Presidential Campaign

    -University of West Florida

    University at Albany Experts Available to Discuss U.S. Debt Ceiling Crisis

    -University at Albany, State University of New York

    GW Experts on Tim Scott 2024 Presidential Campaign

    -George Washington University

    Social media expert discusses consequences of changes for TikTok, Twitter

    -Virginia Tech

    University of West Florida professor available to interview about Gov. DeSantis’ potential run for President

    -University of West Florida

    Media Availability: Experts to Comment on New Hampshire’s First-in-the-Nation Primary Status

    -University of New Hampshire

    Looming debt ceiling deadline: Expert says economic impact could be significant if deal is not reached by June 1

    -Virginia Tech

    After Title 42: Limited Access to Asylum, Increased Discrimination, Rapid Deportation, predicts SMU Expert

    -Southern Methodist University

    Politics Experts in the Expert Directory 

    Yphtach Lelkes, PhD
    Associate Professor of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, Annenberg School for Communication

    Yphtach (Yph) Lelkes’s interests lie at the intersection of political communication, public opinion, and political psychology.

    		 Jennifer Chudy, PhD

    Jennifer Chudy, PhD
    Knafel Assistant Professor of Social Sciences; Assistant Professor of Political Science at Wellesley College

    Dr. Chudy focuses on White racial attitudes generally and the attitude of racial sympathy – defined as White distress over Black suffering – specifically.
    Adam Cayton, Ph.D.

    Adam Cayton, PhD
    Associate Professor, Government Department at the University of West Florida

    Dr. Adam Cayton conducts research on representation in Congress, legislative institutions, campaign effects, institutional change, and other topics.

    		 Megan Goldberg, Ph.D.

     Megan Goldberg, PhD
    Assistant Professor of American Politics at Cornell College

    Her work examines the dynamics of state politics in an increasingly nationalized context, studies how governors and state parties shift their rhetoric and ideologies towards elections, and how often governors use national politics to frame issues.
    Adam Cayton, Ph.D.

    Neil O’Brian, PhD
    Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Oregon

    Neil can comment on public opinion and political participation in Oregon’s congressional and statewide races as well as national politics. His research agenda and expertise also include the partisan politics of abortion in the United States.

    		  

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  • Immigration experts on Title 42, analysis of immigration policies, and other migrant news in the Immigration Channel

    Immigration experts on Title 42, analysis of immigration policies, and other migrant news in the Immigration Channel

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    Title 42, the United States pandemic rule that had been used to immediately deport hundreds of thousands of migrants who crossed the border illegally over the last three years, has expired. Those migrants will have the opportunity to apply for asylum. President Biden’s new rules to replace Title 42 are facing legal challenges. The US Homeland Security Department announced a rule to make it extremely difficult for anyone who travels through another country, like Mexico, to qualify for asylum. Border crossings have already risen sharply, as many migrants attempted to cross before the measure expired on Thursday night. Some have said they worry about tighter controls and uncertainty ahead. Immigration is once again a major focus of the media as we examine the humanitarian, political, and public health issues migrants must face. 

    Below are some of the latest headlines in the Immigration channel on Newswise.

    Expert Commentary

    Experts Available on Ending of Title 42

    George Washington University Experts on End of Title 42

    ‘No one wins when immigrants cannot readily access healthcare’

    URI professor discusses worsening child labor in the United States

    Biden ‘between a rock and a hard place’ on immigration

    University of Notre Dame Expert Available to Comment on House Bill Regarding Immigration Legislation, Border Safety and Security Act

    American University Experts Available to Discuss President Biden’s Visit to U.S.-Mexico Border

    Title 42 termination ‘overdue’, not ‘effective’ to manage migration

    Research and Features

    Study: Survey Methodology Should Be Calibrated to Account for Negative Attitudes About Immigrants and Asylum-Seekers

    A study analyses racial discrimination in job recruitment in Europe

    DACA has not had a negative impact on the U.S. job market

    ASBMB cautions against drastic immigration fee increases

    Study compares NGO communication around migration

    Collaboration, support structures needed to address ‘polycrisis’ in the Americas

    TTUHSC El Paso Faculty Teach Students While Caring for Migrants

    Immigrants Report Declining Alcohol Use during First Two Years after Arriving in U.S.

    How asylum seeker credibility is assessed by authorities

    Speeding up and simplifying immigration claims urgently needed to help with dire situation for migrants experiencing homelessness

    Training Individuals to Work in their Communities to Reduce Health Disparities

    ‘Regulation by reputation’: Rating program can help combat migrant abuse in the Gulf

    Migration of academics: Economic development does not necessarily lead to brain drain

    How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected immigration?

    Immigrants with Darker Skin Tones Perceive More Discrimination

     

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  • FHFA’s Changes to Mortgage Fees Increases Risk in the Housing Finance System

    FHFA’s Changes to Mortgage Fees Increases Risk in the Housing Finance System

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    BYLINE: Clifford Rossi

    By Clifford Rossi

    On May 1, 2023, a set of new, loan-level price adjustment (LLPA) grids for mortgages purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mandated by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) will go into effect. FHFA’s director stated that the rationale for these changes is “to increase pricing support for purchase borrowers limited by income or by wealth.​”  

    Unfortunately, the FHFA has subverted the economically sound practice of risk-based pricing and in the process has undermined incentives for borrowers to improve their credit.  

    Imagine that as a safe driver over the years, you’ve enjoyed lower auto insurance premiums than riskier drivers. Then one day, you receive a notice that your premiums, with never having had an accident or moving violation, are going up 300%. Further, you find out that your new premiums are going to subsidize drivers with riskier driving habits and records. Essentially that’s what the FHFA is doing for mortgage borrowers.

    Differential or risk-based pricing of key attributes describing the degree of credit risk in a mortgage has been in place for years. Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac charge ongoing guarantee fees to compensate the agencies for credit risk on mortgage loans purchased from lenders. Those guarantee fees are based on the risk attributes of those loans and are embedded in a borrower’s mortgage rate. In addition, upfront delivery fees, or LLPAs, are imposed on selected risk attributes such as credit score, loan-to-value (LTV) ratio and loan purpose (e.g., purchase of a home or refinance). 

    The new LLPA grids differentiate risk via a fee based on whether the borrower is purchasing the home, refinancing the mortgage with limited cash taken back out, or a cash-out refinance. The current LLPA grids are risk-based in the sense that higher fees are assigned to riskier FICO and LTV cells. However, the new grids will increase the cost of borrowing for a sizable borrowing cohort that presents very low credit risk while greatly lowering the cost of borrowing for borrowers that pose significant credit risk to Fannie and Freddie.

    The changes between the current and new LLPA grid for purchase mortgages are shown in Table 1 below. The cells shaded in red depict increases in LLPAs while cells shaded green represent decreases.  Borrowers with credit scores between 720-759 with LTVs between 80.01- 85% will go up by .75% from .25% to 1%, or a 300% increase on May 1, for example, while borrowers with credit scores less than 620 with LTVs above 95% will drop by 2%.  

    To put this in perspective, according to Fannie Mae historical credit performance data, borrowers in the low-risk group had a net loss rate of .29% while the high-risk group’s net loss rate was 2.09%, or more than seven times the low-risk cohort. Similarly, the high-risk group has a historical late-stage (i.e., more than 180 days past due ever) that is 6.5 times the rate of the low-risk group on loans originated between 1999-2022. Credit risk clearly does not increase in a linear fashion with credit score and LTV but rather results in a sharp acceleration when lower credit scores are combined with higher LTVs.  Lowering fees invites more high-risk borrowers into the credit portfolios of both GSEs though they represent a very small portion of new GSE-eligible mortgages.  More than 25% of prospective borrowers will face an increase in LLPAs while borrowers with credit scores less than 660 make up about 2% of new originations.  

     

    Figure 1: Changes (in percent) in LLPAs Between Current and New Grids

    Note: numbers in red represent high risk credit scores or LTVs and blue represents high risk combinations of credit score and LTV.

    Table 2 provides a sense of the impact of these changes on borrowers taking out a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage assuming a loan size of $300,000 and a mortgage rate of 6.4%. Borrowers with FICOs between 720-759 with LTVs of 80.01-85% would see an annual increase of about $360 or about a 1.6 percent increase in their payment overall.  While this does not seem to be a substantial increase, on top of higher mortgage rates and inflation already embedded in the economy, it creates an additional financial headwind for these borrowers.  

    A countervailing argument can be made that higher risk borrowers will see significant reductions in their mortgage payments and that the risks to the GSEs from attracting more of these borrowers into their credit portfolios are offset by higher fees on the low credit risk borrowers.  Still, such a policy puts many high-risk borrowers at risk given their risk profile at the wrong time of the economic cycle.

     

    Table 2: Change in Monthly Mortgage Payment Under new LLPAs

    The FHFA forced both GSEs to essentially flatten the actuarially fair pricing relationships of credit score and LTV to credit risk for the sake of improving housing affordability of borrowers with poor credit characteristics. However, that policy does nothing for higher credit risk borrowers to improve the long-term sustainability of retaining their home once the loan is made. We found out during the years leading up to the 2008 Global Financial Crisis that policies intended to help marginal borrowers become homeowners ultimately resulted in many heartbreaking stories of foreclosure. While supporting homeownership across all communities and incomes is a laudable objective, imposing affordable housing policy on risk-based pricing is ultimately an ineffective policy mechanism that comes at the expense of burdening a large segment of borrowers including those intended to fare better after May 1.  

    Clifford Rossi is a Professor of the Practice and Executive-in-Residence for the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. He has nearly 25 years of experience in the financial services industry where he held senior risk management positions at several of the largest financial institutions including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

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  • Newswise Live Event for March 15: What can we expect from AI and Chatbots in the next few years?

    Newswise Live Event for March 15: What can we expect from AI and Chatbots in the next few years?

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    What: What can we expect from AI and Chatbots in the next few years? A Newswise Live Event

    When: Wednesday, March 15, 2023, 1 PM to 2 PM EST

    Who: Expert Panelists include:

    • Sercan Ozcan, Reader (Associate Professor) in Innovation & Technology Management at the University of Portsmouth
    • Jim Samuel, Associate Professor of Practice and Executive Director, Master of Public Informatics at the Bloustein School, Rutgers-New Brunswick
    • Alan Dennis, Professor of Information Systems and the John T. Chambers Chair of Internet Systems in the Kelley School of Business at IU Bloomington

    Details: Artificial intelligence news has escalated considerably in the last few months with the roll-out of Microsoft’s Bing Chatbot and the popularity of large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT. Popular social media app Snapchat has launched its chatbot called “My AI,” using the latest version of ChatGPT. Newswise Live is hosting a live expert panel on what to expect from AI in the near future, its impact on journalism, and the corporate race for AI dominance (Google vs. Microsoft, etc.). Panelists will discuss what we can expect from AI and Chatbots in the next three years.

    MEDIA REGISTER HERE

    Attention Journalists and Editors:

    A video and transcript of the event will be sent to those who register shortly after the event. Even if you can’t make this live virtual event, we encourage you to register to get a copy of these materials.

     

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  • Attributing the rising costs of groceries to “price gouging” is not accurate

    Attributing the rising costs of groceries to “price gouging” is not accurate

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    Fact Check By:
    Craig Jones, Newswise

    Truthfulness: Mostly False

    Claim:

    Grocery stores need to be brought to heel over food prices. This isn’t ‘inflation’ because it isn’t caused by monetary oversupply. It’s just price gouging and we know that because we can literally see that they’re all reporting surplus profits.

    Claim Publisher and Date: Twitter user emmy rākete among others on 2023-01-21

    On social media, complaints regarding the rising costs of groceries are trending. It’s no surprise after all, the price of groceries has gone up around 13% compared to last year. According to the data from the Labor Department, the price of fruits and vegetables increased by 10.4 percent annually, while milk rose 15.2 percent and eggs soared 30.5 percent. Like other sectors of the economy, food prices are susceptible to supply chain complications and geopolitical unrest including the war in Ukraine. But some people have expressed their disdain for grocery store companies, accusing them of “price gouging” to increase their profits, which have been reaching exorbitant heights (corporate profits are at their highest levels in nearly 50 years, according to CBS MoneyWatch).

    For example, this tweet shared by thousands blames the rising prices of groceries on retailers engaged in price gouging: “Grocery stores need to be brought to heel over food prices. This isn’t ‘inflation’ because it isn’t caused by monetary oversupply. It’s just price gouging and we know that because we can literally see that they’re all reporting surplus profits.” 

    Is putting the blame on grocery store managers for your rising costs of orange juice accurate? It’s not quite that simple. The claim of “price gouging” at the grocery store is misleading because of the complex nature of the grocery business. Professor Lisa Jack, School of Accounting, Economics and Finance and lead of the Food Cultures in Transition (FoodCiTi) research group at the University of Portsmouth explains…

    Supermarket profits are complex and care should be taken with attributing them to any one cause. There are three main factors:

    1. Commercial income, also known as suppliers payments or back margin, contributes heavily to supermarket profits. These payments and support from suppliers to the supermarket include volume discounts and marketing fees. These can represent as much as 7% of a supermarket’s income: bottom line profits can average around 1-2% of income. Primary producers are seeing rapidly increasing costs for all inputs and having been squeezed to breaking point over the last 20 years, have no choice but to increase the prices of their output. Similarly for processors, packagers, distributors and every other business supplying supermarkets. The supermarkets themselves claim to be fighting on behalf of consumers to be keeping prices down and there is evidence that they are refusing price increase requests, which implies that commercial income is still being maintained. 
    1. In the last few years, supermarkets have been increasing profits by cutting overhead costs at head offices and in support services. Counterintuitively, the only economy of scale they have is bargaining power – see above. All their activities, including large stores, increase the overhead costs which can be as much as 75% of their spend. A significant amount of recent ‘soaring profits’ come from job losses, which are not sustainable in the long run. 
    1. Since their emergence in the 1920s, the business model for supermarkets has been to sell basics at little or no profit relying on high volumes to break even. Profits come from enticing customers to buy at least one impulse, premium item of food and non-grocery items. 8 of the 10 best sellers in supermarkets are the cheaper (but still higher profit margin) alcohol, confectionery and snacks. Since the pandemic and the cost of living crisis hit, more of us are exchanging going out for buying in ready-meals, alcohol and other treats, and buying more of our non-grocery items from supermarkets. These are where the profits come from, and they are being taken away from other sectors. Unsurprisingly, the food businesses that have the highest margins are those that produce brands of alcohol, confectionery etc – ‘Big Food’.

    Note to Journalists/Editors: The expert quotes are free to use in your relevant articles on this topic. Please attribute them to their proper sources.

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  • Men may not ‘perceive’ domestic tasks as needing doing in the same way as women, philosophers argue

    Men may not ‘perceive’ domestic tasks as needing doing in the same way as women, philosophers argue

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    Newswise — Philosophers seeking to answer questions around inequality in household labour and the invisibility of women’s work in the home have proposed a new theory – that men and women are trained by society to see different possibilities for action in the same domestic environment. 

    They say a view called “affordance theory” – that we experience objects and situations as having actions implicitly attached – underwrites the age-old gender disparity when it comes to the myriad mundane tasks of daily home maintenance.

    For example, women may look at a surface and see an implied action – ‘to be wiped’ – whereas men may just observe a crumb-covered countertop.    

    The philosophers believe these deep-seated gender divides in domestic perception can be altered through societal interventions such as extended paternal leave, which will encourage men to build up mental associations for household tasks.

    Writing in the journal Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, they argue that available data – particularly data gathered during the pandemic – suggest two questions require explanation. 

    One is “disparity”: despite economic and cultural gains, why do women continue to shoulder the vast majority of housework and childcare? The other is “invisibility”: why do so many men believe domestic work to be more equally distributed than in fact it is?

    “Many point to the performance of traditional gender roles, along with various economic factors such as women taking flexible work for childcare reasons,” said Dr Tom McClelland, from Cambridge University’s Department of History and Philosophy of Science.

    “Yet the fact that stark inequalities in domestic tasks persisted during the pandemic, when most couples were trapped inside, and that many men continued to be oblivious of this imbalance, means this is not the full story.”

    McClelland and co-author Prof Paulina Sliwa argue that unequal divisions of labour in the home – and the inability of men to identify said labour – is best explained through the psychological notion of “affordances”: the idea that we perceive things as inviting or “affording” particular actions.

    “This is not just looking at the shape and size of a tree and then surmising you can climb it, but actually seeing a particular tree as climbable, or seeing a cup as drink-from-able,” said Sliwa, recently of Cambridge’s philosophy faculty and now at the University of Vienna. 

    “Neuroscience has shown that perceiving an affordance can trigger neural processes preparing you for physical action. This can range from a slight urge to overwhelming compulsion, but it often takes mental effort not to act on an affordance.”

    There are dramatic differences in “affordance perception” between individuals. One person sees a tree as climbable where another does not. Objects offer a vast array of affordances – one could see a spatula as an egg-frying tool or a rhythmic instrument – and a spectrum of sensitivity towards them. 

    “If we apply affordance perception to the domestic environment and assume it is gendered, it goes a long way to answering both questions of disparity and invisibility,” said McClelland.

    According to the philosophers, when a woman enters a kitchen she is more likely to perceive the “affordances” for particular domestic tasks – she sees the dishes as ‘to be washed’ or a fridge as ‘to be stocked’.

    A man may simply observe dishes in a sink, or a half-empty fridge, but without perceiving the affordance or experiencing the corresponding mental “tug”. Over time, these little differences add up to significant disparities in who does what.  

    “Affordances pull on your attention,” said Sliwa. “Tasks may irritate the perceiver until done, or distract them from other plans. If resisted, it can create a felt tension.”

    “This puts women in a catch-22 situation: either inequality of labour or inequality of cognitive load.”

    This gender-based split in affordance perception could have a number of root causes, say philosophers. Social cues encourage actions in certain environments, often given by adults when we are very young children. Our visual systems update based on what we encounter most frequently.

    “Social norms shape the affordances we perceive, so it would be surprising if gender norms do not do the same,” said McClelland.

    “Some skills are explicitly gendered, such cleaning or grooming, and girls are expected to do more domestic chores than boys. This trains their ways of seeing the domestic environment, to see a counter as ‘to be wiped’.”

    The “gendered affordance perception hypothesis” is not about absolving men say Sliwa and McClelland. Despite a deficit in affordance perception in the home, a man can easily notice what needs doing by thinking rather than seeing. Nor should sensitivity to domestic affordances in women be equated with natural affinity for housework.

    “We can change how we perceive the world through continued conscious effort and habit cultivation,” said McClelland. “Men should be encouraged to resist gendered norms by improving their sensitivity to domestic task affordances. 

    “A man might adopt a resolution to sweep for crumbs every time he waits for the kettle to boil, for example. Not only would this help them to do the tasks they don’t see, it would gradually retrain their perception so they start to see the affordance in the future.”

    Collective efforts to change social norms require policy-level interventions, argue the philosophers. For example, shared parental leave gives fathers the opportunity to become more sensitive to caring-task affordances.

    Added Sliwa: “Our focus has been on physical actions such as sweeping or wiping, but gendered affordance perceptions could also apply to mental actions such as scheduling and remembering.”

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  • The COVID pandemic is over? Not quite there, say scientists

    The COVID pandemic is over? Not quite there, say scientists

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    Newswise — In widely covered remarks during an interview with 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley, President Biden claimed, “the pandemic is over.” Biden elaborated, adding, “we still have a problem with COVID, we’re still doing a lot of work on it, but the pandemic is over. If you noticed, no one’s wearing masks, everybody seems to be in pretty good shape. And so I think it’s changing, and I think this is a perfect example of it.” 

    According to the Washington Post, Biden’s remarks caught some senior officials off guard, particularly since the U.S. government has started its fall vaccination campaign. Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced more relaxed COVID-19 guidelines last month, the agency specifically said that the pandemic was not over in a press release issued on August 11th. Therefore, this statement has earned a rating of “Half True.”

    With the rollout of boosters of life-saving vaccines, new treatments, and a large population already infected, the U.S. is in a less vulnerable place than it was in 2020.  However, the death toll, while lower than before, is still at around 400 deaths per day from COVID-19 in the U.S. Many health experts say we’re not out of the woods yet.

    “Saying that the pandemic is over has much larger and more serious ramifications, it means we take away resources allocated by Congress and other agencies. We must be careful about saying it is over. We still need resources to continue vaccination and to address vaccine hesitancy.” says Bernadette Boden-Albala, MPH, DrPH, Founding Dean and Director of the UCI Program in Public Health.

    The end of masking restrictions and relaxing of other major guidelines has given many Americans a sense of moving on from the national health crisis that has festered for more than two years. Biden’s remarks, though perhaps an oversimplification, reflect national sentiment. However, COVID-19 is still very much evident in our U.S. population, and will likely continue for the foreseeable future. 

    “This is in great part due to human behaviors and motivations,” says Halkitis, “including subpar vaccination uptake, which continues to place all of us at risk for infection.” 

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