Child poverty hit record low in 2021

 

Child poverty in America has dropped by more than 80% since 1993.

The child poverty rate was 27.9% in 1993, but fell to a record low of 5.2% in 2021, according to new census data. Growing up poor affects every facet of adult life, from health to wealth.

• "Fewer children growing up in poverty is good for the future," says Renee Ryberg, a co-author of a new report from Child Trends that digs into the data. "It's as simple as that."
• Not only are there immediate improvements to the well-being of kids and families, there are also long-term benefits for society, like lower rates of crime, lower health care costs and more tax revenue.
• Academics and advocates have raised concerns that some of those additional gains may be erased now that the expanded child tax credit has expired.

Still, many of the driving factors behind the drop in child poverty are longer term.

• They include lower unemployment, state-level minimum wage increases, a rise in single mothers' participation in the workforce, and expansions of the safety net, the New York Times reports.

The big picture: The reduction in child poverty has affected all poor kids in the U.S., per the Child Trends report.

• The child poverty rate has decreased in every state.
• And it's fallen by about the same amount for Black kids, white kids, Hispanic kids, Asian kids, immigrants, and kids in one- or two-parent households.

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Air pollution during pregnancy may affect growth of newborn babies

 Maternal exposure to air pollution during pregnancy has often been linked to adverse effects on the health of the newborn. However, there are very few studies on the subject. A study has just concluded that the stages most sensitive to air pollution are the early and late months of pregnancy.

According to studies in recent years, air pollution affects the thyroid. Thyroid hormones are essential for regulating fetal growth and metabolism, and play an important role in neurological development. Thyroxine (T4) is the main thyroid hormone that is circulating and the thyroid stimulating hormone is TSH. At 48 hours newborn babies undergo a heel prick test in which thyroxine and TSH levels in the blood are measured. In fact, if the balance of these thyroid hormones is not right, the risk of developing serious diseases increases. That is why, "this study set out to analyse the relationship between atmospheric pollution during pregnancy and the level of thyroxine in the newborn," explained Amaia Irizar-Loibide, a researcher in the UPV/EHU's Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health.

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and fine particulate matter less than 2.5 micra in diameter (PM2.5) are two of the main pollutants related to air pollution and vehicle traffic. PM2.5 particles for example are very fine and easily enter the respiratory tract. "In this work we specifically analysed the effect of maternal exposure to these fine particles and to nitrogen dioxide during pregnancy and the link existing with thyroxine levels in newborn babies. We have been monitoring on a weekly basis, as the development of the fetus varies greatly from one week to the next. So we tried to conduct the most detailed research possible in order to find out which the most sensitive weeks of pregnancy are," added the UPV/EHU researcher.

So the sample of the INMA (Environment and Childhood) project in Gipuzkoa was analysed. Data on the air pollutants PM2.5 and NO2, data on TSH and T4 levels from neonatal heels, etc. collected in the project were also used.

According to Amaia Irizar, "the results obtained in this study have revealed the direct relationship between exposure to fine particles during pregnancy and the level of thyroxine in newborns. However, we have not observed a clear link with exposure to nitrogen dioxide." These results therefore coincide with the limited previous research. "What we have seen in this work," stressed Irizar, "is that exposure during the first months of pregnancy has a direct influence on the balance of thyroid hormones. These babies tend to have a lower level of thyroxine. As the pregnancy progresses, we found that this relationship gradually diminishes, i.e. the mother's exposure gradually becomes less important. In late pregnancy, however, this link becomes apparent again, but displays an opposite effect: as the concentration of these fine particles increases, we have seen that the level of thyroid hormones also increases, which has the opposite effect on the balance." "It is not clear what mechanism lies behind all this. In any case, we have come to the conclusion that the most sensitive periods of pregnancy in terms of atmospheric pollution are the early and late months," the UPV/EHU researcher stressed.

The next task would be to study the mechanisms by which these fine particles cause opposing effects in early and late pregnancy. In fact, these particles are nothing more than small spheres made up of carbon, and it is not clear whether the effect these spheres exert is because they pass from the placenta to the baby, whether other components attached to the particles are released once they have entered the body...," she explained. "We need to continue to investigate whether exposure during pregnancy affects not only thyroid hormones, but also other aspects such as neuropsychological development, growth, obesity, etc.," explained Amaia Irizar.

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Stress can turn hair gray

 

A new study offers quantitative evidence linking psychological stress to graying hair in people.

Though the legend is inaccurate -- hair that has already grown out of the follicle does not change color -- a new study from researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons is the first to offer quantitative evidence linking psychological stress to graying hair in people.

And while it may seem intuitive that stress can accelerate graying, the researchers were surprised to discover that hair color can be restored when stress is eliminated, a finding that contrasts with a recent study in mice that suggested that stressed induced gray hairs are permanent.

The study, published June 22 in eLife, has broader significance than confirming age-old speculation about the effects of stress on hair color, says the study's senior author Martin Picard, PhD(link is external and opens in a new window), associate professor of behavioral medicine (in psychiatry and neurology) at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.

"Understanding the mechanisms that allow 'old' gray hairs to return to their 'young' pigmented states could yield new clues about the malleability of human aging in general and how it is influenced by stress," Picard says.

"Our data add to a growing body of evidence demonstrating that human aging is not a linear, fixed biological process but may, at least in part, be halted or even temporarily reversed."

The investigators immediately noticed that some gray hairs naturally regain their original color, which had never been quantitatively documented, Picard says.

When hairs were aligned with stress diaries by Shannon Rausser, second author on the paper and a student in Picard's laboratory, striking associations between stress and hair graying were revealed and, in some cases, a reversal of graying with the lifting of stress.

"There was one individual who went on vacation, and five hairs on that person's head reverted back to dark during the vacation, synchronized in time," Picard says.

Blame the mind-mitochondria connection

To better understand how stress causes gray hair, the researchers also measured levels of thousands of proteins in the hairs and how protein levels changed over the length of each hair.

Changes in 300 proteins occurred when hair color changed, and the researchers developed a mathematical model that suggests stress-induced changes in mitochondria may explain how stress turns hair gray.

"We often hear that the mitochondria are the powerhouses of the cell, but that's not the only role they play," Picard says. "Mitochondria are actually like little antennas inside the cell that respond to a number of different signals, including psychological stress."

The mitochondria connection between stress and hair color differs from that discovered in a recent study of mice, which found that stress-induced graying was caused by an irreversible loss of stem cells in the hair follicle.

"Our data show that graying is reversible in people, which implicates a different mechanism," says co-author Ralf Paus, PhD, professor of dermatology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. "Mice have very different hair follicle biology, and this may be an instance where findings in mice don't translate well to people."

Hair re-pigmentation only possible for some

Reducing stress in your life is a good goal, but it won't necessarily turn your hair to a normal color.

"Based on our mathematical modeling, we think hair needs to reach a threshold before it turns gray," Picard says. "In middle age, when the hair is near that threshold because of biological age and other factors, stress will push it over the threshold and it transitions to gray.

"But we don't think that reducing stress in a 70-year-old who's been gray for years will darken their hair or increasing stress in a 10-year-old will be enough to tip their hair over the gray threshold."

More information

The study is titled "Quantitative Mapping of Human Hair Greying and Reversal in Relation to Life Stress."

All contributors (all from Columbia unless noted): Ayelet Rosenberg, Shannon Rausser, Junting Ren, Eugene V. Mosharov, Gabriel Sturm, R. Todd Ogden, Purvi Patel, Rajesh Kumar Soni, Clay Lacefield (New York State Psychiatric Institute), Desmond J. Tobin (University College Dublin), Ralf Paus (University of Miami, University of Manchester, UK, and Monasterium Laboratory, Münster, Germany), and Martin Picard.

The research was funded by grants from the Wharton Fund and the National Institutes of Health (grants GM119793, MH119336, and AG066828).

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African great apes to suffer massive range loss in next 30 years

 A new study predicts massive range declines of Africa's great apes -- gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos -- due to the impacts of climate change, land-use changes and human population growth.

For their analysis, the authors compiled information on African ape occurrence held in the IUCN SSC A.P.E.S. database, a repository that includes a remarkable amount of information on population status, threats and conservation for several hundred sites, collected over 20 years.

The first-of-its-kind study quantifies the joint effects of climate, land-use, and human population changes across African ape ranges for the year 2050 under best- and worst-case scenarios. "Best case" implies slowly declining carbon emissions and that appropriate mitigation measures will be put in place. "Worst case" assumes that emissions continue to increase unchecked -- business as usual.

Under the best-case scenario, the authors predict that great apes will lose 85 percent of their range, of which 50 percent will be outside national parks and other areas protected by legislation. Under the worst-case scenario, they predict a 94 percent loss, of which 61 percent will be in areas that are not protected.

This paper examines whether great apes can or cannot disperse away from where they are currently found, and the best- and worst-case scenarios in each case. For example, mountains are currently less suitable than lowland areas for some great ape species. However, climate change will render some lowlands less suitable -- warmer, drier, perhaps less food available -- but the nearby mountains will take on the characteristics that those lowlands currently have. If great apes are able to physically move from the lowlands to the mountains, they may be able to survive, and even increase their range (depending on the species, and whether it is the best- or worst-case scenario). However, they may not be able to travel (disperse) away from the lowlands in the time remaining between today and 2050.

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Train your brain with computer game to eat less sugar

A recent study shows that a computer game can be used to train its players to eat less sugar, as way of reducing their weight and improving their health.

More than half of American adults consume excess added sugars, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Major dietary guidelines recommend limiting foods high in added sugars. A recent study led by Evan Forman, PhD, a psychology professor in Drexel University's College of Arts and Sciences, shows that a computer game can be used to train its players to eat less sugar, as way of reducing their weight and improving their health.

"Added sugar is one of the biggest culprits of excess calories and is also associated with several health risks including cancer," said Forman, who also leads the Center for Weight, Eating and Lifestyle Science (WELL Center) at Drexel. "For these reasons, eliminating added sugar from a person's diet results in weight loss and reduced risk of disease."

As part of their study, which was recently published in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine, the researchers developed and evaluated a "brain training" game targeting the part of the brain that inhibits impulses with the hope that it would improve diet, specifically by decreasing the consumption of sweet foods. Think: Lumosity for your diet.

"Cognitive, or 'brain, training' games have been used to help people reduce unhealthy habits, like smoking," said Forman. "We were also seeing positive results from labs using computer training programs."

This research is the first to examine the impact of this type of "highly personalized and/or gamified inhibitory control training" on weight loss using repeated, at-home trainings, according to Forman.

Forman's group conceptualized a game based on cognitive training and worked with Michael Wagner, a professor and head of the Digital Media department in Drexel's Westphal College of Media Arts & Design, and a group of digital media students to develop it into a computer-based game, called "Diet DASH," for purposes of the study.

The game automatically customized the training to focus on the sweets that each participant tended to eat and adjusted the difficulty according to how well they were resisting the temptation of sweets.

The trial randomized 109 participants who were overweight and ate sweets. Participants attended a workshop prior to starting the game to help them understand why sugar is detrimental to their health and to learn which foods to avoid and methods for doing so.

"The workshop helped give participants strategies for following a no-sugar diet. However, we hypothesized that participants would need an extra tool to help manage sweets cravings," said Forman. "The daily trainings could make or break a person's ability to follow the no-added sugar diet. They strengthen the part of your brain to not react to the impulse for sweets."

Participants then played the game on a computer for a few minutes every day for six weeks and then again once a week for two weeks.

In the game, players move as quickly as possible through a grocery store with the goal of putting the correct food (healthy foods) in a grocery cart, while refraining from choosing the incorrect foods (their preferred sweet). Points were awarded for correct items placed in carts.

For over half of the participants, who showed higher preferences toward sweets, playing the game helped them lose as much as 3.1 percent of their body weight over eight weeks. Participants also indicated that they found the daily training satisfactory, that it became part of their daily routine and that they wished to continue the trainings if they were available.

"The study's findings offer qualified support for the use of a computerized cognitive training to facilitate weight loss," said Forman.

The study also randomized whether participants received a highly gamified (enhanced graphics and sounds) or a less-gamified versions of the training. While the difference between the level of gamification did not matter, overall, to whether participants reduced sugar consumption and lost weight, they did find that the few men in the study reacted better to the highly gamified version than the women in the study. The WELL Center is now conducting a new trial with the highly gamified version of this training specifically for men and is actively recruiting participants.

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