Understanding Low-Wage Work in the United States

Over 40 million jobs in the United States -- about 1 in 3 -- pay low wages ($11.11 per hour or less) and often do not offer employment benefits like health insurance, retirement savings accounts, paid sick days or family leave. These low-wage jobs are replacing jobs that have historically supported a broad middle class. This report provides a clear and sobering picture of the low-wage labor market through analysis of labor market data, including: downward wage trends over time, poor work conditions, largest occupations, and declining mobility. The authors used a social inclusion definition of low-wage work that allows for comparison among jobs in the United States

Understanding Low-Wage Work in the United States

Over 40 million jobs in the United States - about 1 in 3 - pay low wages ($11.11 per hour or less) and often do not offer employment benefits like health insurance, retirement savings accounts, paid sick days or family leave. These low-wage jobs are replacing jobs that have historically supported a broad middle class. This report provides a clear and sobering picture of the low-wage labor market through analysis of labor market data, including: downward wage trends over time, poor work conditions, largest occupations, and declining mobility. The authors used a social inclusion definition of low-wage work that allows for comparison among jobs in the United States.

Social Inclusion for the United States

This working paper calls for a new policy framework -- social inclusion -- that assesses the extent to which low-paid workers fall behind the rest of the workforce, not only in terms of wages and income, but also with respect to health, education, housing, skills, advancement and opportunity. The authors discuss how the concept of social inclusion is used in the United Kingdom and how it might be adapted for use in the United States

An examination of adolescent sexual behaviour, knowledge and education

This thesis examined the sexual behaviour, knowledge and education of Australia adolescents. The studies focused on the number of hours, the source of, and how adolescents access sexual education. The findings pointed to the preference for informal sources, greater knowledge and highlighted the ongoing challenges in implementing effective sexual education

Effectiveness of Pelvic Floor Exercises on Women with Urinary Incontinence :

Effectiveness of Pelvic Floor Exercises in Women with Urinary Incontinence Purpose: Urinary incontinence is common in women; especially those who have had one or more vaginal deliveries. The purpose of our case study was to measure the effectiveness of pelvic floor exercises and biofeedback in women with urinary incontinence (VI) in a rural midwest physical therapy clinic. Methods: Patients participating in this study were referred to a physical therapy clinic by their physician for a urinary incontinence program. During the initial evaluations, baseline biofeedback readings were recorded and home exercise programs were given. Patients were then seen for follow-ups at approximately two weeks, four weeks, and three months thereafter. Final biofeedback testing and completion of the three inventories were performed at the three-month follow up. Results: Due to a small sample size, we chose to display our results on an individual case basis. Case study 1 showed improvement subjectively, however, did not improve in objective measures. Case studies 2 and 3 showed improvement both in subjective and objective measures. Discussion: Limitations of our study included a small sample size, rural community environment, lack of normative data for biofeedback, and time constraints. All three patients reported subjective improvement from the UI program, and the continuation of this study will help to determine the significance of this physical therapy intervention

Applying the Verona Coding Definitions of Emotional Sequences (VR-CoDES) in the dental context involving patients with complex communication needs : an exploratory study

This study was conducted as part of a larger collaborative study funded by the EPSRC, between the University of St Andrews and the University of Dundee.Objective The VR-CoDES has been previously applied in the dental context. However, we know little about how dental patients with intellectual disabilities (ID) and complex communication needs express their emotional distress during dental visits. This is the first study explored the applicability of the VR-CoDES to a dental context involving patients with ID. Methods Fourteen dental consultations were video recorded and coded using the VR-CoDES, assisted with the additional guidelines for the VR-CoDES in a dental context. Both inter- and intra-coder reliabilities were checked on the seven consultations where cues were observed. Results Sixteen cues (eight non-verbal) were identified within seven of the 14 consultations. Twenty responses were observed (12 reducing space) with four multiple responses. Cohen's Kappa were 0.76 (inter-coder) and 0.88 (intra-coder). Conclusion With the additional guidelines, cues and responses were reliably identified. Cue expression was exhibited by non-verbal expression of emotion with people with ID in the literature. Further guidance is needed to improve the coding accuracy on multiple providers’ responses and to investigate potential impacts of conflicting responses on patients. Practice implications The findings provided a useful initial step towards an ongoing exploration of how healthcare providers identify and manage emotional distress of patients with ID.PostprintPeer reviewe

Impacts of Census Differential Privacy for Small-Area Disease Mapping to Monitor Health Inequities

The US Census Bureau will implement a new privacy-preserving disclosure avoidance system (DAS), which includes application of differential privacy, on publicly-released 2020 census data. There are concerns that the DAS may bias small-area and demographically-stratified population counts, which play a critical role in public health research, serving as denominators in estimation of disease/mortality rates. Employing three DAS demonstration products, we quantify errors attributable to reliance on DAS-protected denominators in standard small-area disease mapping models for characterizing health inequities. We conduct simulation studies and real data analyses of inequities in premature mortality at the census tract level in Massachusetts and Georgia. Results show that overall patterns of inequity by racialized group and economic deprivation level are not compromised by the DAS. While early versions of DAS induce errors in mortality rate estimation that are larger for Black than non-Hispanic white populations in Massachusetts, this issue is ameliorated in newer DAS versions

The Microglial Transcriptome of Age-Associated Deep Subcortical White Matter Lesions Suggests a Neuroprotective Response to Blood-Brain Barrier Dysfunction

Age-associated deep-subcortical white matter lesions (DSCLs) are an independent risk factor for dementia, displaying high levels of CD68 + microglia. This study aimed to characterize the transcriptomic profile of microglia in DSCLs and surrounding radiologically normal-appearing white matter (NAWM) compared to non-lesional control white matter. CD68 + microglia were isolated from white matter groups (n = 4 cases per group) from the Cognitive Function and Ageing Study neuropathology cohort using immuno-laser capture microdissection. Microarray gene expression profiling, but not RNA-sequencing, was found to be compatible with immuno-LCM-ed post-mortem material in the CFAS cohort and identified significantly differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Functional grouping and pathway analysis were assessed using the Database for Annotation Visualization and Integrated Discovery (DAVID) software, and immunohistochemistry was performed to validate gene expression changes at the protein level. Transcriptomic profiling of microglia in DSCLs compared to non-lesional control white matter identified 181 significant DEGs (93 upregulated and 88 downregulated). Functional clustering analysis in DAVID revealed dysregu-lation of haptoglobin-haemoglobin binding (Enrichment score 2.5, p = 0.017), confirmed using CD163 immunostaining, suggesting a neuroprotective microglial response to blood-brain barrier dysfunction in DSCLs. In NAWM versus control white matter, microglia exhibited 347 DEGs (209 upregulated, 138 downregulated), with significant dysregulation of protein de-ubiquitination (Enrichment score 5.14, p < 0.001), implying an inability to maintain protein homeostasis in NAWM that may contribute to lesion spread. These findings enhance understanding of microglial transcriptomic changes in ageing white matter pathology, highlighting a neuroprotective adaptation in DSCLs microglia and a potentially lesion-promoting phenotype in NAWM microglia