Racism and Stress: How a Zero Sum Approach Harms The Sum of Us

Experiencing racism is a pervasive and persistent stressor that not only negatively impacts the health of people of color (POC), but all members of a population, including Whites. This essay discusses how experiencing racism over a lifetime may cause wear and tear on the body and increase risk for premature disease, disability, and death. The authors explore how racial capitalism has created a deeply flawed economic system that exploits POC and foments hostility among working-class whites towards POC. Blue collar workers of all races currently suffer from economic misery and social malaise. Recent alarming trends of increases in death rates among middle-aged working class White men and women supports Heather McGhee’s thesis in her book, The Sum of Us, that racism harms all members of a population

Voter Suppression Undermines Public Health for All

In the US, policies have actively suppressed the voices of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) while amplifying their oppressors’ voices. In spite of multiple constitutional amendments to guarantee access to the right to vote for those who initially were deprived of this right, attacks on this civil liberty have persisted. While some states have expanded access to voting rights in the past year, many others have made voting more difficult and some states have had a mixed approach of making voting easier in some ways and harder in others. This continued interest in creating systems in which it is harder for people to vote has had indelible effects on population health and has widened health inequities. This essay explores the overlap in restricting access to voting and Medicaid expansion, decisions that disproportionately disadvantage BIPOC while also negatively affecting White residents by hindering expanded access to healthcare. This type of zero-sum decision making, as Heather McGhee articulates in her book, The Sum of Us, exacerbates poorer health outcomes, undermines public health, and widens health inequities

Cytomegalovirus antibodies in dried blood spots: a minimally invasive method for assessing stress, immune function, and aging

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a prevalent herpesvirus with links to both stress and aging. This paper describes and validates a minimally invasive method for assessing antibodies against CMV in finger stick whole blood spot samples for use as an indirect marker of an aspect of cell-mediated immunity.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Analysis of CMV in dried blood spot samples (DBS) was based on modifications of a commercially available protocol for quantifying CMV antibodies in serum or plasma. The method was evaluated through analysis of precision, reliability, linearity, and correlation between matched serum and DBS samples collected from 75 volunteers. Correlation between DBS and plasma values was linear and high (Pearson correlation <it>R </it>= .96), and precision, reliability, and linearity of the DBS assay were within acceptable ranges.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The validity of a DBS assay for CMV antibodies will enable its inclusion in population-based surveys and other studies collecting DBS samples in non-clinical settings, increasing scientific understanding of the interaction of social and biological stress and immune function.</p

The Energy Budget in Tubular and Planar Type Solid Oxide Fuel Cells Studied through Numerical Simulation

ABSTRACT The energy budget in a tubular and a planar type solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is studied based on numerical simulation. By solving the discretized governing equations for flow, temperature, and mass fraction of gas species in the fuel cells, the detailed local parameters determining the local electromotive forces are obtained. The energy flows of electrical power, Joule heating, thermal energy from the entropy change of the electrochemical reaction, as well as the chemical reaction heat by reforming and shift reactions are delineated and compared for the two different types of SOFCs

A Longitudinal Investigation of Race, Socioeconomic Status, and Psychosocial Mediators of Allostatic Load in Midlife Women

ObjectivesThis research sought to assess racial and socioeconomic status (SES) differences in level and change in allostatic load (AL) over time in midlife women and to test whether psychosocial factors mediate these relationships. These factors were discrimination, perceived stress, and hostility.MethodsLongitudinal data obtained from the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation were used (n = 2063; mean age at baseline = 46.0 years). Latent growth curve models evaluated the impact of demographic, menopausal, and psychosocial variables on level and change in AL for 8 years.ResultsDirect effects: high levels of discrimination and hostility significantly predicted higher AL (path coefficients = 0.05 and 0.05, respectively). High perceived stress significantly predicted a faster rate of increase of AL (path coefficient = 0.06). Racial and SES differentials were present, with African American race (path coefficient = 0.23), low income (path coefficient = -0.15), and low education (path coefficient = -0.08) significantly predicting high AL level. Indirect effects: significant indirect effects were found for African American race, less income, and lower education through higher discrimination, perceived stress, and hostility on level and rate of AL.ConclusionsThis was one of the first studies that investigated AL over multiple periods, and results supported AL as a cumulative phenomenon, affected by multiple psychosocial and demographic factors. The results suggest the complex ways in which race, SES, and psychosocial factors operate to influence AL