I Was Roofied At Work

I used to sling drinks at a notoriously sketchy bar in Campustown. In the six months I spent working there, I knew five people who were roofied—including myself. One dead winter weekend, I let two lady coworkers off early and made them drinks. At the end of the bar were a few of the older creepy skeezeball-types you find prowling the college bars in search of impressionable (read: drunk) tail. The girls went to dance and I almost always set any untended drinks behind the bar as good practice. ‘Almost’ being this night

An adolescent girl with signs and symptoms of anaphylaxis and negative immunologic workup: a case report.

BackgroundThe increasing incidence of allergies and allergic reactions among children and adults has become a major public health concern. The etiology of allergic reactions can often be confirmed based on a detailed history and supportive testing. However, there are cases where the underlying factors are more complex and difficult to identify.Case presentationHere we present the case report of a 14-year-old Caucasian  girl with weight loss and a 3-year history of reported angioedema culminating in five intensive care unit admissions over the course of 2.5 months. Her initial clinical presentation included hypotension, dyspnea, and reported facial edema, but allergy and immunological workup were negative. A psychiatric workup identified an eating disorder with food restriction, comorbid major depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder. A close collaboration between Adolescent Medicine, Allergy and Immunology, and Psychiatry helped disentangle medical from psychiatric problems, including fluoxetine medication effects, as well as develop a treatment plan that was acceptable to the family. The angioedema was ultimately diagnosed as factitious disorder.ConclusionsThis patient's treatment highlights the importance of a multidisciplinary team approach, a multifactorial etiology that needed to be addressed by multiple specialists, and the importance of long-term treatment and support

Timing of poverty in childhood and adolescent health: Evidence from the US and UK

Childhood poverty is associated with poorer adolescent health and health behaviours, but the importance of the timing of poverty remains unclear. There may be critical or sensitive periods in early life or early adolescence, or poverty may have cumulative effects throughout childhood. Understanding when poverty is most important can support efficient timing of interventions to raise family income or buffer against the effects of low income, but answers may vary across social contexts. The US and the UK are a useful comparison with similar liberal approaches to cash transfers, but very different approaches to healthcare provision. Utilising data from large population studies in the US (n = 9408; born 1979–1996) and UK (n = 1204; born 1991–1997), this study employs a structured life course approach to compare competing hypotheses about the importance of the timing or pattern of childhood exposure to poverty in predicting adolescent health limitations, symptoms of psychiatric distress, and smoking at age 16 (age 15/16 in US). Household income histories identified experience of poverty (measured as <60% of the national median equivalised income for a given year) in early life (ages 0–5), mid-childhood (ages 6–10) and early adolescence (ages 11–15). The Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) compared fit across models with variables representing different life course patterns of exposure to poverty. Adolescent distress was not associated with poverty in either country. In both countries, however, variables representing cumulative or persistent experiences of poverty exhibited optimal fit of all poverty exposure variables in predicting adolescent smoking and health limitations. There was also evidence of an early life sensitive period for smoking in the US. Poverty was more persistent in the US, but associations between poverty and outcomes were consistent across countries. Although poverty can have cumulative effects on health and behaviour, early interventions may offer the best long-term protection

Black and Blue: Media Attention in Red vs. Blue States, An Analysis of Violence Against LGBT Between 2004 and 2015

Violence against any person is unacceptable; however, there seems to be a tacit collusion with perpetrators when the media non-reports or under-reports incidents of violence in which the victims are targeted because of their actual or perceived LGBT identity. One wonders if the political and religious broad brush strokes of a state influence the response of the media within that state. Close examination of this data will determine if there are discrepancies between the two types of states regarding their portrayal of anti-LGBT attacks. How does the governmental bias of a state influence the coverage of these attacks? All states with in the United States will be examined in this research, through newspaper articles and TV and radio news reports, to determine if there are significant differences in the portrayal of anti-LGBT violence as a result of the red or blue status of the state

Charter Schools, Academy Schools, and Related-Party Transactions: Same Scams, Different Countries

In the course of the last quarter century, governmental entities in both the United States and England have sought to encourage educational innovation by creating publicly funded schools that are independent from many of the rules that apply to locally controlled schools. These schools are called charter schools in the United States and academy schools (academies) in England. Private companies run a high percentage of these charter schools and academies. In the United States, these companies are commonly referred to as educational management organizations (EMOs). In England, these organizations are called academy trusts (ATs)

Anticipated Nostalgia: Looking Forward to Looking Back

Anticipated nostalgia is a new construct that has received limited empirical attention. It concerns the anticipation of having nostalgic feelings for one’s present and future experiences. In three studies, we assessed its prevalence, content, emotional profile, and implications for self-regulation and psychological functioning. Study 1 revealed that anticipated nostalgia most typically concerns interpersonal relationships, and also concerns goals, plans, current life, and culture. Further, it is affectively laden with happiness, sadness, bittersweetness, and sociality. Studies 2 and 3 assessed the implications of anticipated nostalgia for self-regulation and psychological functioning. In both studies, positive evaluation of a personal experience was linked to stronger anticipated nostalgia, and anticipated nostalgia was linked to savouring of the experience. In Study 3, anticipated nostalgia measured prior to an important life transition predicted nostalgia a few months after the transition, and post-transition nostalgia predicted heightened self-esteem, social connectedness, and meaning in life