No Time to be Sick: Why Everyone Suffers When Workers Don't Have Paid Sick Leave

Paid sick leave gives workers an opportunity to regain their health, return to full productivity at work, and avoid spreading disease to their co-workers, all of which reduces employers' overall absence expense. When used to care for sick children, it helps them get well faster and reduces job turnover of working parents. Workers who care for adult relatives, including the elderly, need paid sick leave to take care of their loved ones' chronic and acute medical problems. However, new analysis of data collected by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reveals the inadequacy of paid sick leave coverage: more than 59 million workers have no such leave.Even more -- nearly 86 million -- do not have paid sick leave to care for sick children. Full-time workers, those in the public sector, and union members have the best sick leave coverage, while part-timers and low-wage workers have very low coverage rates. Expansion of paid sick leave and integration of family caregiving activities into authorized uses of paid sick leave are crucial work and health supports for workers, their families, employers, and our communities at large

Paid Sick Days Improve Public Health by Reducing the Spread of Disease

Paid sick days can reduce the spread of disease at work and in child-care settings, creating significant public health benefits and a more productive workforce. That's why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that workers with the flu stay home. Yet many workers cannot do so without losing income or their job

Women and Paid Sick Days: Crucial for Family Well-Being

Balancing work with personal and family health-care concerns is a major stressor for many working women. Women continue to be overrepresented in part-time and low-wage positions, those least likelyto offer employer benefits such as paid sick days. Nevertheless, working women remain our families' primary caregivers. For too many women, being sick or having an ill family member presents an untenable choice: stay at work when you shouldn't, or lose pay (and perhaps a job) by staying home

Valuing Good Health: An Estimate of Costs and Savings for the Healthy Families Act

The Healthy Families Act (HFA) would ensure that all eligible workers have a minimum of seven days of paid time off annually to take care of their own health needs and those of members of their families. This report presents an estimate of the cost of that Act and of certain cost savings it would provide to employers, to workers and their families, and to the broader community. Several other likely benefits for which we currently lack estimation data are also discussed. Of course, the overall purpose of the Act is to reduce economic hardship of workers when they, or their family members, have medical care needs, and we are unable to calculate the value of that benefit

Women at Greater Risk of Economic Insecurity: A Gender Analysis of the Rockefeller Foundation's American Worker Survey

Analyzes survey data for differences in anxiety over and experiences of economic insecurity between women and men, workers and non-workers, and parents and non-parents, as well as among women of different races/ethnicities, incomes, and education levels

Neighborhood Livability in Northwest Portland: A Case Study of Portland\u27s Northwest District

Portland\u27s Northwest Neighborhood District ( the District ) has a unique character, reflecting its special role in Portland\u27s economic history and its geographical location relative to the downtown area, the Willamette River and the West Hills. Current tensions between the District\u27s function as a close-in, high density residential area and its commercial activities are the most recent iteration of tensions that have existed from the time the area was first settled. This study examines the impacts of retail and residential land use in the District and how this mixture of residential/retail affects the residential livability

Evaluating the acceptability of a co-produced and co-delivered mental health public engagement festival : Mental Health Matters, Jakarta, Indonesia

Abstract: Background: Public engagement events are an important early strategy in developing a meaningful research agenda, which is more impactful and beneficial to the population. Evidence indicates the potential of such activities to promote mental health literacy. However, this has not yet been explored in Indonesia. Aim: This paper describes a mental health public engagement festival carried out in Indonesia in November 2018 and uses evaluation data to consider the acceptability and use of such activities in Indonesia in the future. Method: Evaluation data was collected from 324 of the 737 people who attended a six-day mental health festival comprising 18 events including public lectures, film screenings, arts activities, exercise classes and panel discussions. Attendees were asked to evaluate the festival in terms of its quality, benefits and areas for improvement. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the evaluation data. 87 service users, carers, academics and professionals also engaged in a research prioritisation exercise to collaboratively determine mental health research priorities for Indonesia. Results: Participants evaluated the festival extremely positively with a significant majority (92%) rating the quality of the festival as good or excellent. Attendees reported an increase in their understanding of mental health issues and identified intended behaviour change including an increased propensity for future engagement with mental health research. Key strengths of the festival included the central role of patients, carers and the local community in the design and delivery of the festival which promoted emotional engagement and development of shared understanding and the use of international experts which in attendees’ opinion further enhanced the credibility of festival activities. Conclusion: This manuscript indicates that a co-produced mental health public engagement festival is a potentially acceptable way to increase awareness of mental health in Indonesian populations. Future festivals should be larger in scope and target men, older people and the general public to maximise benefit and incorporate rigorous evaluation of effectiveness

Inhibition of Firefly Luciferase by General Anesthetics: Effect on In Vitro and In Vivo Bioluminescence Imaging

<div><h3></h3><p>Bioluminescence imaging is routinely performed in anesthetized mice. Often isoflurane anesthesia is used because of its ease of use and fast induction/recovery. However, general anesthetics have been described as important inhibitors of the luciferase enzyme reaction.</p> <h3>Aim</h3><p>To investigate frequently used mouse anesthetics for their direct effect on the luciferase reaction, both in vitro and in vivo.</p> <h3>Materials and Methods</h3><p>isoflurane, sevoflurane, desflurane, ketamine, xylazine, medetomidine, pentobarbital and avertin were tested in vitro on luciferase-expressing intact cells, and for non-volatile anesthetics on intact cells and cell lysates. In vivo, isoflurane was compared to unanesthetized animals and different anesthetics. Differences in maximal photon emission and time-to-peak photon emission were analyzed.</p> <h3>Results</h3><p>All volatile anesthetics showed a clear inhibitory effect on the luciferase activity of 50% at physiological concentrations. Avertin had a stronger inhibitory effect of 80%. For ketamine and xylazine, increased photon emission was observed in intact cells, but this was not present in cell lysate assays, and was most likely due to cell toxicity and increased cell membrane permeability. In vivo, the highest signal intensities were measured in unanesthetized mice and pentobarbital anesthetized mice, followed by avertin. Isoflurane and ketamine/medetomidine anesthetized mice showed the lowest photon emission (40% of unanesthetized), with significantly longer time-to-peak than unanesthetized, pentobarbital or avertin-anesthetized mice. We conclude that, although strong inhibitory effects of anesthetics are present in vitro, their effect on in vivo BLI quantification is mainly due to their hemodynamic effects on mice and only to a lesser extent due to the direct inhibitory effect.</p> </div

Guided, internet based, cognitive behavioural therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder: pragmatic, multicentre, randomised controlled non-inferiority trial (RAPID)

Objective To determine if guided internet based cognitive behavioural therapy with a trauma focus (CBT-TF) is non-inferior to individual face-to-face CBT-TF for mild to moderate post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to one traumatic event. Design Pragmatic, multicentre, randomised controlled non-inferiority trial (RAPID). Setting Primary and secondary mental health settings across the UK’s NHS. Participants 196 adults with a primary diagnosis of mild to moderate PTSD were randomised in a 1:1 ratio to one of two interventions, with 82% retention at 16 weeks and 71% retention at 52 weeks. 19 participants and 10 therapists were purposively sampled and interviewed for evaluation of the process. Interventions Up to 12 face-to-face, manual based, individual CBT-TF sessions, each lasting 60-90 minutes; or guided internet based CBT-TF with an eight step online programme, with up to three hours of contact with a therapist and four brief telephone calls or email contacts between sessions. Main outcome measures Primary outcome was the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 (CAPS-5) at 16 weeks after randomisation (diagnosis of PTSD based on the criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition, DSM-5). Secondary outcomes included severity of PTSD symptoms at 52 weeks, and functioning, symptoms of depression and anxiety, use of alcohol, and perceived social support at 16 and 52 weeks after randomisation. Results Non-inferiority was found at the primary endpoint of 16 weeks on the CAPS-5 (mean difference 1.01, one sided 95% confidence interval −∞ to 3.90, non-inferiority P=0.012). Improvements in CAPS-5 score of more than 60% in the two groups were maintained at 52 weeks, but the non-inferiority results were inconclusive in favour of face-to-face CBT-TF at this time point (3.20, −∞ to 6.00, P=0.15). Guided internet based CBT-TF was significantly (P<0.001) cheaper than face-to-face CBT-TF and seemed to be acceptable and well tolerated by participants. The main themes of the qualitative analysis were facilitators and barriers to engagement with guided internet based CBT-TF, treatment outcomes, and considerations for its future implementation. Conclusions Guided internet based CBT-TF for mild to moderate PTSD to one traumatic event was non-inferior to individual face-to-face CBT-TF and should be considered a first line treatment for people with this condition