Using nationally representative data on a recent birth cohort of U.S.‐born children in low‐income households (n = 2,800–3,700), this study investigates associations between the timing and intensity ...of early childhood food insecurity and children's kindergarten reading, math, and social‐emotional outcomes. Descriptive patterns reveal that approximately 20% of low‐income 0‐ to 5‐year‐old children reside in food‐insecure households. Food insecurity experienced during early childhood is unfavorably associated with social‐emotional outcomes in kindergarten, controlling for household income and prior assessments of child social‐emotional skills. Results are less consistent for cognitive outcomes but similar in magnitude. If replicated, findings may inform policy efforts to reduce disparities in early skills for approximately 15 million U.S. children in food‐insecure households.
The HIV epidemic in the USA began as a bicoastal epidemic focused in large cities but, over nearly four decades, the epidemiology of HIV has changed. Public health surveillance data can inform an ...understanding of the evolution of the HIV epidemic in terms of the populations and geographical areas most affected. We analysed publicly available HIV surveillance data and census data to describe: current HIV prevalence and new HIV diagnoses by region, race or ethnicity, and age; trends in HIV diagnoses over time by HIV acquisition risk and age; and the distribution of HIV prevalence by geographical area. We reviewed published literature to explore the reasons for the current distribution of HIV cases and important disparities in HIV prevalence. We identified opportunities to improve public health surveillance systems and uses of data for planning and monitoring public health responses. The current US HIV epidemic is marked by geographical concentration in the US South and profound disparities between regions and by race or ethnicity. Rural areas vary in HIV prevalence; rural areas in the South are more likely to have a high HIV prevalence than rural areas in other US Census regions. Ongoing disparities in HIV in the South are probably driven by the restricted expansion of Medicaid, health-care provider shortages, low health literacy, and HIV stigma. HIV diagnoses overall declined in 2009–18, but HIV diagnoses among individuals aged 25–34 years increased during the same period. HIV diagnoses decreased for all risk groups in 2009–18; among men who have sex with men (MSM), new diagnoses decreased overall and for White MSM, remained stable for Black MSM, and increased for Hispanic or Latino MSM. Surveillance data indicate profound and ongoing disparities in HIV cases, with disproportionate impact among people in the South, racial or ethnic minorities, and MSM.
Abstract
Study Objectives
New theory and measurement approaches have facilitated nuanced investigation of how sleep loss impacts dimensions of affective functioning. To provide a quantitative summary ...of this literature, three conceptually related meta-analyses examined the effect of sleep restriction and sleep deprivation on mood, emotion, and emotion regulation across the lifespan (i.e. from early childhood to late adulthood).
Methods
A total of 241 effect sizes from 64 studies were selected for inclusion, and multilevel meta-analytic techniques were used when applicable.
Results
There was a moderate, positive effect of sleep loss on negative mood (g = 0.45), which was stronger for studies with younger samples, as well as a large, negative effect of sleep loss on positive mood (g = −0.94). For negative mood only, studies that used total sleep deprivation had larger effect sizes than studies that restricted sleep. After correcting for publication bias, a modest but significant negative effect for sleep loss on emotion (g = −0.11) was found; the valence of emotional stimuli did not change the direction of this effect, and type of sleep manipulation was also not a significant moderator. Finally, sleep restriction had a small, negative effect on adaptive emotion regulation (g = −0.32), but no significant impact on maladaptive emotion regulation (g = 0.14); all studies on adaptive emotion regulation were conducted with youth samples.
Conclusions
Sleep loss compromises optimal affective functioning, though the magnitude of effects varies across components. Findings underscore the importance of sleep for healthy affective outcomes.
To investigate associations between household food insecurity and multiple family well-being variables in an effort to illuminate previously understudied, policy-amenable mechanisms through which ...food insecurity threatens healthy development.
Data are drawn from the nationally representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Birth Cohort. The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Birth Cohort contains longitudinal data on household food insecurity and several family well-being factors including maternal physical and mental health, positive parenting practices and disciplinary strategies, and frequency and severity of spousal conflict. We use regression models with lagged dependent variables to estimate associations between food insecurity and family well-being outcomes, on a subsample of low-income families (N ≈ 2100-4700).
Household food insecurity was significantly associated with poorer maternal physical health; increased depressive symptoms and use of harsh discipline strategies; and greater frequency and negativity of conflict between parents. Associations were strongest and most consistent when children were preschool aged. Transitions into food insecurity between toddlerhood and preschool were also associated with significantly worse parental physical and mental health outcomes, and more family conflict, with similar though slightly weaker and less consistent associations for transitioning into food insecurity between infancy and toddlerhood.
Food insecurity is associated with significant decreases in family health and well-being. Clinicians and other public health officials play a critical role in assessing risk for children and families, and linking families with supportive services. Screening families experiencing or at risk for food insecurity and connecting them with resources is an avenue through which public health practitioners can support family health.
The goal of the present study was to investigate developmental differences in the effectiveness of parent support to alleviate hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenal (HPA) axis stress responses of children ...(ages 9–10, N = 40) and adolescents (ages 15–16, N = 41). We experimentally manipulated the provision of parent support during the speech preparation period before a modified Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) and examined its effect on levels of salivary cortisol secreted in response to this laboratory stressor. Analyses revealed a significant interaction of condition and age group such that social support from the parent (versus a stranger) significantly eliminated the cortisol stress response in children, but had no effect on the response among adolescents.
Parent support provided in the laboratory during the speech preparation period before a modified Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) successfully eliminated the cortisol stress response to the TSST in 9‐10‐year‐old children, but had no effect on the response among adolescents.
Pollination is known to be sensitive to environmental change but we lack direct estimates of how quantity and quality of pollen transferred between plant species shifts along disturbance gradients. ...This limits our understanding of how species compositional change impacts pollen receipt per species and structure of pollen transfer networks.
We constructed pollen transfer networks along a plant invasion gradient in the Hawaiian dry tropical forest ecosystem. Flowers and stigmas were collected from both native and introduced plants, pollen was identified and enumerated and floral traits were measured. We also characterized pollen loads carried by individuals of the dominant invasive pollinator, Apis mellifera.
Species flowering in native-dominated sites were more tightly connected by pollen transfer than those in heavily invaded sites. Compositional turnover in the pollen loads of A. mellifera was correlated (70%) with turnover in the composition of pollen transfer networks. Floral traits predicted species roles within pollen transfer networks, but many of these differed qualitatively depending on whether plants were native or introduced.
Our work indicates that pollen transfer networks change with invasion. Floral morphology and foraging behaviour of the introduced super-generalist pollinator are implicated as key in determining the roles introduced species play within native pollen transfer networks.
1. Despite high levels of disturbance and habitat modification, urban ecosystems still host substantial levels of biodiversity. The processes that maintain existing levels of diversity, however, ...remain understudied. Identifying the links between urban ecological processes and patterns has, therefore, become a fundamental research goal to support urban biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. 2. We conducted a study to determine how the diversity and composition of urban plant communities is affected by spatially and temporally variable land use legacies. We constructed a chronosequence of vacant lot properties covering a range of 3-22 years since demolition, in an urban neighbourhood in Baltimore, Maryland (USA). Surveys of herbaceous plant species abundance were conducted during the summers of 2012 and 2013 in sections of each vacant lot where the building previously stood (the "building footprint") and sections of the lot that was previously a backyard or garden (the "remnant garden"). 3. We found divergent patterns in plant community composition between areas of vacant lots with varying land use histories. This includes significant shifts in the functional composition of biotically vectored seed dispersal strategies, as well as an increase in seed mass and terminal velocity trait values of plant communities in building footprints over time. In addition, we found that plant c¦ommunities in different sections of the same vacant lot tended to become more functionally dissimilar in seed dispersal strategies over time. In contrast, we found no significant changes in taxonomic diversity over time for any of our measures. 4. Policy implications. Our study suggests that regional-scale patterns of seed dispersal interact with diverse land use legacies to structure the plant communities of urban vacant lots. Although it has been suggested that highly altered local environmental conditions and competition from introduced species limit native plant diversity in urban environments, we find seed dispersal to be a more significant driver of urban plant community assembly patterns. Implementing management strategies that focus on habitat connectivity and enhancing species pools via seeding may present an effective strategy for promoting more successful establishment of diverse plant communities in urban environments.
This paper investigates economic and psychological hardship during the COVID‐19 pandemic among a diverse sample (61% Latinx; 16% White; 9% Black; 14% mixed/other race) of socioeconomically ...disadvantaged parents (90% mothers; mean age = 35 years) and their elementary school‐aged children (ages 4–11; 49% female) in rural Pennsylvania (N = 272). Families participating in a local food assistance program reported on food insecurity (FI) and parent and child mood and behavior daily from January to May 2020. Longitudinal models revealed that FI, negative parent and child mood, and child misbehavior significantly increased when schools closed; only FI and parent depression later decreased. FI decreased most among those who received the local food assistance program; Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program receipt uniquely predicted decreases in child FI.
Worldwide, stroke is prevalent, costly, and disabling in >80 million survivors. The burden of stroke is increasing despite incredible progress and advancements in evidence-based acute care therapies ...and despite the substantial changes being made in acute care stroke systems, processes, and quality metrics. Although there has been increased global emphasis on the importance of postacute stroke care, stroke system changes have not expanded to include postacute care and outcome follow-up. Our objectives are to describe the gaps and challenges in postacute stroke care and suboptimal stroke outcomes; to report on stroke survivors' and caregivers' perceptions of current postacute stroke care and their call for improvements in follow-up services for recovery and secondary prevention; and, ultimately, to make the case that a paradigm shift is needed in the definition of comprehensive stroke care and the designation of Comprehensive Stroke Center. Three recommendations are made for a paradigm shift in comprehensive stroke care: (1) criteria should be established for designation of rehabilitation readiness for Comprehensive Stroke Centers, (2) The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association implement an expanded Get With The Guidelines-Stroke program and criteria for comprehensive stroke centers to be inclusive of rehabilitation readiness and measure outcomes at 90 days, and (3) a public health campaign should be launched to offer hopeful and actionable messaging for secondary prevention and recovery of function and health. Now is the time to honor the patients' and caregivers' strongest ask: better access and improved secondary prevention, stroke rehabilitation, and personalized care.
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