calendar spelling: October 2013

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Women working in Head Start programs report poor physical and mental health

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

31-Oct-2013

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Contact: Preston M. Moretz
pmoretz@temple.edu
215-204-4380
Temple University

Women working in Head Start, the nation's largest federally funded early childhood education program which serves nearly one million low-income children, report higher than expected levels of physical and mental health problems, according to researchers at Temple University. Their findings are reported in the first-ever survey conducted on the health of Head Start staff.

In a paper published October 31 in the journal Preventing Chronic Disease, the Temple researchers, led by Robert Whitaker, professor of public health and pediatrics, reported that:
Six physical health conditionsobesity, asthma, high blood pressure, diabetes or prediabetes, severe headache or migraine, and lower back painwere each between 19-35 percent more common in Head Start staff than in the comparable U.S. population;
24 percent of the staff suffered from significant depressive symptomsenough to be diagnosed with depression;
28 percent reported that their physical or mental health was "not good" on half or more of the 30 days prior to the survey;
15 percent rated their overall health as either "fair or poor;" and
9 percent were absent from work 10 or more days in the last year due to illness.
The work of Head Start staff can be very emotionally demanding as they help children and families living in poverty who face multiple social risks, noted the researchers. Staff members also work for low pay, with teachers' salaries well below those of public school kindergarten teachers. One teacher who participated in the survey summarized her situation by writing, "My job is why I'm stressed all the time and my personal health suffers. I chose a demanding job, but the pay is bare minimum and isn't enough to get by."

The Temple researchers conducted an anonymous, online survey of staff working in 66 Pennsylvania Head Start programs. Of those who participated in the survey, the researchers focused on 2,122 female respondents, which included managers and classroom teachers of three and four year olds, as well as those making home visits to families of infants and toddlers participating in Early Head Start. The survey results were compared with previous national health surveys involving a large number of women whose social and demographic characteristics matched those in the Head Start survey.

"In the 50 years that the Head Start program has been in existence, many studies have reported on the health of the children and families," said Whitaker. "However, no study has ever examined the health of the staff, which is the group on which the program relies to achieve its goals. The staff must be well to do well by the children and their families."

The researchers noted several potential approaches to address the health of the staff, including:
Making staff wellness part of professional development activities;
Using available Head Start mental health resources for families and children to also address the mental health needs of the staff;
Adopting mindfulness-based stress-reduction techniques, now used in other emotionally demanding occupations like health care, to prevent and treat psychological distress in the staff;
Changing the workplace culture to increase co-worker support and monitor and adjust the demands placed on the staff;
Incorporating more movement into activities that are designed to promote children's cognitive and social development; and
Improving the quality of food served to staff and children.
"Those working in Head Start have been entrusted with the development and education of some of the nation's most vulnerable and disadvantaged children," said Whitaker. "The adults providing these services deserve a compassionate response to their health problems, which may be due in part to the stressful nature of their important jobs. Addressing the health of the staff may improve outcomes for children in Head Start."

###
The survey was a collaboration between Temple University's Department of Public Health and its Institute for Survey Research.

NOTE: Copies of this study are available to working journalists and may be obtained by contacting Preston M. Moretz in Temple's Office of University Communications at 215/204-4380 or pmoretz@temple.edu.

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Women working in Head Start programs report poor physical and mental health

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

31-Oct-2013

[

| E-mail

]

Share
Contact: Preston M. Moretz
pmoretz@temple.edu
215-204-4380
Temple University

Women working in Head Start, the nation's largest federally funded early childhood education program which serves nearly one million low-income children, report higher than expected levels of physical and mental health problems, according to researchers at Temple University. Their findings are reported in the first-ever survey conducted on the health of Head Start staff.

In a paper published October 31 in the journal Preventing Chronic Disease, the Temple researchers, led by Robert Whitaker, professor of public health and pediatrics, reported that:
Six physical health conditionsobesity, asthma, high blood pressure, diabetes or prediabetes, severe headache or migraine, and lower back painwere each between 19-35 percent more common in Head Start staff than in the comparable U.S. population;
24 percent of the staff suffered from significant depressive symptomsenough to be diagnosed with depression;
28 percent reported that their physical or mental health was "not good" on half or more of the 30 days prior to the survey;
15 percent rated their overall health as either "fair or poor;" and
9 percent were absent from work 10 or more days in the last year due to illness.
The work of Head Start staff can be very emotionally demanding as they help children and families living in poverty who face multiple social risks, noted the researchers. Staff members also work for low pay, with teachers' salaries well below those of public school kindergarten teachers. One teacher who participated in the survey summarized her situation by writing, "My job is why I'm stressed all the time and my personal health suffers. I chose a demanding job, but the pay is bare minimum and isn't enough to get by."

The Temple researchers conducted an anonymous, online survey of staff working in 66 Pennsylvania Head Start programs. Of those who participated in the survey, the researchers focused on 2,122 female respondents, which included managers and classroom teachers of three and four year olds, as well as those making home visits to families of infants and toddlers participating in Early Head Start. The survey results were compared with previous national health surveys involving a large number of women whose social and demographic characteristics matched those in the Head Start survey.

"In the 50 years that the Head Start program has been in existence, many studies have reported on the health of the children and families," said Whitaker. "However, no study has ever examined the health of the staff, which is the group on which the program relies to achieve its goals. The staff must be well to do well by the children and their families."

The researchers noted several potential approaches to address the health of the staff, including:
Making staff wellness part of professional development activities;
Using available Head Start mental health resources for families and children to also address the mental health needs of the staff;
Adopting mindfulness-based stress-reduction techniques, now used in other emotionally demanding occupations like health care, to prevent and treat psychological distress in the staff;
Changing the workplace culture to increase co-worker support and monitor and adjust the demands placed on the staff;
Incorporating more movement into activities that are designed to promote children's cognitive and social development; and
Improving the quality of food served to staff and children.
"Those working in Head Start have been entrusted with the development and education of some of the nation's most vulnerable and disadvantaged children," said Whitaker. "The adults providing these services deserve a compassionate response to their health problems, which may be due in part to the stressful nature of their important jobs. Addressing the health of the staff may improve outcomes for children in Head Start."

###
The survey was a collaboration between Temple University's Department of Public Health and its Institute for Survey Research.

NOTE: Copies of this study are available to working journalists and may be obtained by contacting Preston M. Moretz in Temple's Office of University Communications at 215/204-4380 or pmoretz@temple.edu.

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/tu-wwi102913.php
Tags: Tom Foley packers breaking bad Nick Pasquale Placenta

'Flipping the switch' reveals new compounds with antibiotic potential

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

31-Oct-2013

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Contact: Michael Freitag
freitagm@science.oregonstate.edu
541-737-4845
Oregon State University

CORVALLIS, Ore. Researchers at Oregon State University have discovered that one gene in a common fungus acts as a master regulator, and deleting it has opened access to a wealth of new compounds that have never before been studied with the potential to identify new antibiotics.

The finding was announced today in the journal PLOS Genetics, in research supported by the National Institutes of Health and the American Cancer Society.

Scientists succeeded in flipping a genetic switch that had silenced more than 2,000 genes in this fungus, the cereal pathogen Fusarium graminearum. Until now this had kept it from producing novel compounds that may have useful properties, particularly for use in medicine but also perhaps in agriculture, industry, or biofuel production.

"About a third of the genome of many fungi has always been silent in the laboratory," said Michael Freitag, an associate professor of biochemistry and biophysics in the OSU College of Science. "Many fungi have antibacterial properties. It was no accident that penicillin was discovered from a fungus, and the genes for these compounds are usually in the silent regions of genomes.

"What we haven't been able to do is turn on more of the genome of these fungi, see the full range of compounds that could be produced by expression of their genes," he said. "Our finding should open the door to the study of dozens of new compounds, and we'll probably see some biochemistry we've never seen before."

In the past, the search for new antibiotics was usually done by changing the environment in which a fungus or other life form grew, and see if those changes generated the formation of a compound with antibiotic properties.

"The problem is, with the approaches of the past we've already found most of the low-hanging fruit, and that's why we've had to search in places like deep sea vents or corals to find anything new," Freitag said. "With traditional approaches there's not that much left to be discovered. But now that we can change the genome-wide expression of fungi, we may see a whole new range of compounds we didn't even know existed."

The gene that was deleted in this case regulates the methylation of histones, the proteins around which DNA is wound, Freitag said. Creating a mutant without this gene allowed new expression, or overexpression of about 25 percent of the genome of this fungus, and the formation of many "secondary metabolites," the researchers found.

The gene that was deleted, kmt6, encodes a master regulator that affects the expression of hundreds of genetic pathways, researchers say. It's been conserved through millions of years, in life forms as diverse as plants, fungi, fruit flies and humans.

The discovery of new antibiotics is of increasing importance, researchers say, as bacteria, parasites and fungi are becoming increasingly resistant to older drugs.

"Our studies will open the door to future precise 'epigenetic engineering' of gene clusters that generate bioactive compounds, e.g. putative mycotoxins, antibiotics and industrial feedstocks," the researchers wrote in the conclusion of their report.

###
Editor's Note: Digital images are available to illustrate this story:
A mutated fungus producing pigments: http://bit.ly/19SMdQy
A corn stem infected with Fusarium graminearum: http://bit.ly/1h0SZK8

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

'Flipping the switch' reveals new compounds with antibiotic potential

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

31-Oct-2013

[

| E-mail

]

Share
Contact: Michael Freitag
freitagm@science.oregonstate.edu
541-737-4845
Oregon State University

CORVALLIS, Ore. Researchers at Oregon State University have discovered that one gene in a common fungus acts as a master regulator, and deleting it has opened access to a wealth of new compounds that have never before been studied with the potential to identify new antibiotics.

The finding was announced today in the journal PLOS Genetics, in research supported by the National Institutes of Health and the American Cancer Society.

Scientists succeeded in flipping a genetic switch that had silenced more than 2,000 genes in this fungus, the cereal pathogen Fusarium graminearum. Until now this had kept it from producing novel compounds that may have useful properties, particularly for use in medicine but also perhaps in agriculture, industry, or biofuel production.

"About a third of the genome of many fungi has always been silent in the laboratory," said Michael Freitag, an associate professor of biochemistry and biophysics in the OSU College of Science. "Many fungi have antibacterial properties. It was no accident that penicillin was discovered from a fungus, and the genes for these compounds are usually in the silent regions of genomes.

"What we haven't been able to do is turn on more of the genome of these fungi, see the full range of compounds that could be produced by expression of their genes," he said. "Our finding should open the door to the study of dozens of new compounds, and we'll probably see some biochemistry we've never seen before."

In the past, the search for new antibiotics was usually done by changing the environment in which a fungus or other life form grew, and see if those changes generated the formation of a compound with antibiotic properties.

"The problem is, with the approaches of the past we've already found most of the low-hanging fruit, and that's why we've had to search in places like deep sea vents or corals to find anything new," Freitag said. "With traditional approaches there's not that much left to be discovered. But now that we can change the genome-wide expression of fungi, we may see a whole new range of compounds we didn't even know existed."

The gene that was deleted in this case regulates the methylation of histones, the proteins around which DNA is wound, Freitag said. Creating a mutant without this gene allowed new expression, or overexpression of about 25 percent of the genome of this fungus, and the formation of many "secondary metabolites," the researchers found.

The gene that was deleted, kmt6, encodes a master regulator that affects the expression of hundreds of genetic pathways, researchers say. It's been conserved through millions of years, in life forms as diverse as plants, fungi, fruit flies and humans.

The discovery of new antibiotics is of increasing importance, researchers say, as bacteria, parasites and fungi are becoming increasingly resistant to older drugs.

"Our studies will open the door to future precise 'epigenetic engineering' of gene clusters that generate bioactive compounds, e.g. putative mycotoxins, antibiotics and industrial feedstocks," the researchers wrote in the conclusion of their report.

###
Editor's Note: Digital images are available to illustrate this story:
A mutated fungus producing pigments: http://bit.ly/19SMdQy
A corn stem infected with Fusarium graminearum: http://bit.ly/1h0SZK8

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| E-mail

Share

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/osu-ts103013.php
Tags: Battlefield 4 beta homeland Kerry Washington Costa Concordia Shana Tova

The Engadget Podcast is live at 3:30PM ET!

Brian's back from an exceedingly short vacation (thanks Apple!) and Joseph and Dana have come along for the right. Lots to talk about this week, so grab a beverage, pull up a chair and jump on into the chat after the break today at 3:30Pm ET for a very spooky Halloween edition of The Engadget ...

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/cLK6vN3dqhs/
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Google posts Nexus 5 'I do' commercial

Google shows off the latest features of its flagship device

Well, the Nexus 5 is here, and Google has just posted the first official commercial on its YouTube page. Take a look and see if you spy anything interesting — we just see some basic demos of the camera and gallery. We're still picking up all of the official info on the Nexus 5 and KitKat as we watch.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/yH4UYBQepzw/story01.htm
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I reversed, it saw, it braked: Hands-on with Infiniti QX80's backup intervention

The 2014 Infiniti QX80 has your back—actually, its own back. Rear sensors on this luxury SUV can detect objects behind it and apply the brakes if you don’t. It’s another step in the evolution of hyper-alert car tech that tries to sense dangers that a fallible—or momentarily distracted—driver might miss.

Introduced in the 2013 Infiniti JX, the backup intervention tech makes perfect sense for the yacht-sized QX80 (base price: $61,350). Just backing out of your driveway, you could run into a lot of carelessly placed small outdoor objects, like garden equipment, not to mention pets and kids--all too short to be seen out the QX80’s high back window.

A car as big as the Infiniti QX80 definitely needs help seeing what's in back.

To try the system, we started with the obvious: a tall trash can. The QX80 spotted the five-foot object with no problem and stopped the car. The QX80 also had no problems detecting a four-foot stroller.

For smaller objects, we had to adjust the sensor a bit. Under the Settings menu on the touchscreen, you can bump the sensitivity from its default middle to a higher or lower setting. With a two-foot bag of leaves (also about the size of a child sitting in the driveway), the QX80 rolled over it every time with the sensor on the middle setting. On high, the car stopped each time readily. To detect objects like a small kid’s chair, we also had to bump to the sensitivity to high. On the other hand, with a ladder, and the QX80 stopped on every setting except the highest sensitivity.

At night, the sensors spotted a trash can with the sensor on high, but there was a bit more of a delay. In a few cases at night, the QX80 tapped the trash can slightly.

One surprise: when the QX80 stops, it does not hold the stop. While the jolt you feel when the car brakes should make you step on the brake yourself, we expected that the QX80 would hold until the driver acknowledged the alert. Infiniti has made it very clear that the intervention tech should not replace vigilance when driving.

Image: Wayne StenderThe Infiniti QX80's rear camera and rear sensors help you see more around the car, but the driver still needs to remain vigilant.

A Mercedes S550 can spot a deer jumping out at you on the highway. A Ford Focus can parallel-park itself. An Acura RLX can keep you centered in the lane by controlling the steering wheel. And now, the Infiniti QX80 can stop before you hit something behind you. We hope the technology makes its way into every car—not just this SUV behemoth.

John Brandon , TechHive

John Brandon is a technology writer and car enthusiast. After leaving the corporate world in 2001, he embarked on a solo writing career and never looked back (except for that one time). He's tested thousands of products and reported on everything from 50 Cent starting a headphone company to BMW building a data center in Iceland. He lives outside of Minneapolis.
More by John Brandon

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Source: http://www.techhive.com/article/2059755/i-reversed-it-saw-it-braked-hands-on-with-infiniti-qx80s-backup-intervention.html#tk.rss_all
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Do We Have a Legal Right to Light?

With supertall towers popping up along Central Park's southern edge like wildly expensive luxury mushrooms, Manhattan's largest park is about to be cast into shadow—some as long as half a mile. The real estate boom is stirring up a debate: Do we have a "right to light"?

Need tech support in Russia? Give Edward Snowden a call

So, what happens after you've become an international pariah? The PRISM revelations may rattle along, but the figure who started it all is trying to return to something approaching a normal life. Edward Snowden's lawyer has revealed that, after settling at an undisclosed location in Russia, the NSA ...

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/VafuL8VRYcA/
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