Abstract
At all levels of socioeconomic status, Black Americans can expect to live shorter and sicker lives than their White counterparts. This study advances the perspective that anti-Black stigma ...from Whites precludes Blacks from reaping the full health rewards of higher status, particularly within the context of neighborhoods. To test this hypothesis, I merge census data with rich survey and biomarker data from the Nashville Stress and Health Study, a representative sample of Black and White adults from Davidson County, Tennessee (n = 1,252). Initially, I find that Blacks who reside in higher status and mostly White communities exhibit lower levels of neuroendocrine stress hormones, relative to their peers living in disadvantaged Black neighborhoods. But Blacks in higher-status areas also report more perceived discrimination. In turn, perceived discrimination is associated with chronic bodily pain, as well as elevated stress hormones and blood pressure tied to high goal-striving stress, or fears of being blocked from reaching life goals. After accounting for racism-related stressors, Blacks exhibit comparable levels of physiological distress regardless of neighborhood context. The inverse is true for Whites, who report fewer stressors in higher-status neighborhoods, and less physiological distress than Blacks overall. Findings are discussed within the context of social evolutionary theories of the human brain and are dovetailed with broader racial health disparities in the United States.
Abstract
Cement plays a dual role in the global carbon cycle like a sponge: its massive production contributes significantly to present-day global anthropogenic CO
2
emissions, yet its hydrated ...products gradually reabsorb substantial amounts of atmospheric CO
2
(carbonation) in the future. The role of this sponge effect along the cement cycle (including production, use, and demolition) in carbon emissions mitigation, however, remains hitherto unexplored. Here, we quantify the effects of demand- and supply-side mitigation measures considering this material-energy-emissions-uptake nexus, finding that climate goals would be imperiled if the growth of cement stocks continues. Future reabsorption of CO
2
will be significant (~30% of cumulative CO
2
emissions from 2015 to 2100), but climate goal compliant net CO
2
emissions reduction along the global cement cycle will require both radical technology advancements (e.g., carbon capture and storage) and widespread deployment of material efficiency measures, which go beyond those envisaged in current technology roadmaps.
Scholars cite racist political-economic systems as drivers of health inequities in the United States (i.e., racial capitalism). But how does racial capitalism generate health inequities? I address ...this open question within the historical context of predatory lending during the 2008 financial crisis. Relevant hypotheses are tested with multiple waves of data from Black and White participants of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N = 8,877). Across socioeconomic strata, I find that Black participants report higher rates of foreclosure, eviction, repossession, delinquent bills, lost income, and new debts in the wake of the financial crisis. Using structural equation and quasi-experimental models, I then show that Black participants also self-report rapid health declines and increases in prescription drug abuse throughout this period, much of which is explained by chronic financial stress. I conclude that racial capitalism can generate health inequities by ensnaring Black Americans in a toxic web of financial exploitation and stress proliferation.
Striving While Black DeAngelis, Reed T.
Journal of health and social behavior,
03/2020, Letnik:
61, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Population health scientists have largely overlooked anticipatory stressors and how different groups of people experience and cope with anticipatory stress. I address these gaps by examining ...black-white differences in the associations between an important anticipatory stressor—goal-striving stress (GSS)—and several measures of psychophysiology. Hypotheses focusing on racial differences in GSS and psychophysiology are tested using self-report and biomarker data from the Nashville Stress and Health Study (2011–2014), a cross-sectional probability survey of black and white working-age adults from Davidson County, Tennessee (n = 1,252). Compared to their white peers, blacks with higher GSS report greater self-esteem and fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety. However, increased GSS also predicts elevated levels of high-effort coping (i.e., John Henryism), neuroendocrine stress hormones, and blood pressure for blacks but not whites. I discuss the implications of these findings for scholars interested in the stress process and broader black-white health inequalities in the United States.
There is significant evidence that, in living systems, free radicals and other reactive oxygen and nitrogen species play a double role, because they can cause oxidative damage and tissue dysfunction ...and serve as molecular signals activating stress responses that are beneficial to the organism. Mitochondria have been thought to both play a major role in tissue oxidative damage and dysfunction and provide protection against excessive tissue dysfunction through several mechanisms, including stimulation of opening of permeability transition pores. Until recently, the functional significance of ROS sources different from mitochondria has received lesser attention. However, the most recent data, besides confirming the mitochondrial role in tissue oxidative stress and protection, show interplay between mitochondria and other ROS cellular sources, so that activation of one can lead to activation of other sources. Thus, it is currently accepted that in various conditions all cellular sources of ROS provide significant contribution to processes that oxidatively damage tissues and assure their survival, through mechanisms such as autophagy and apoptosis.
Computerized clinical decision support systems, or CDSS, represent a paradigm shift in healthcare today. CDSS are used to augment clinicians in their complex decision-making processes. Since their ...first use in the 1980s, CDSS have seen a rapid evolution. They are now commonly administered through electronic medical records and other computerized clinical workflows, which has been facilitated by increasing global adoption of electronic medical records with advanced capabilities. Despite these advances, there remain unknowns regarding the effect CDSS have on the providers who use them, patient outcomes, and costs. There have been numerous published examples in the past decade(s) of CDSS success stories, but notable setbacks have also shown us that CDSS are not without risks. In this paper, we provide a state-of-the-art overview on the use of clinical decision support systems in medicine, including the different types, current use cases with proven efficacy, common pitfalls, and potential harms. We conclude with evidence-based recommendations for minimizing risk in CDSS design, implementation, evaluation, and maintenance.
The aviation industry faces a formidable challenge to cap its climate impact in the face of continued growth in passengers and freight. Liquid hydrogen (LH
) is one of the alternative jet fuels under ...consideration as it does not produce carbon dioxide upon combustion. We conducted a well-to-wake life cycle assessment of CO
emissions and non-CO
climate change impacts per passenger-distance for 17 different hydrogen production routes, as well as conventional jet fuel and biofuels. Six other environmental and health impact categories were also considered. The Boeing 787-800 was used as the reference aircraft, and a range of flight distances were explored. Contrail cirrus contributes around 81 ± 31% of the combustion climate impacts for LH
, compared to 32 ± 7% for conventional jet fuel, showing that research is needed to reduce uncertainty in the case of LH
. The life cycle impacts of the two dominant commercial LH
pathways are on average 8 and 121% larger than conventional jet fuel. Some novel LH
pathways do show considerable potential for life cycle climate impact reductions versus conventional fuel (up to -205 ± 78%). LH
from renewable energy is not climate neutral, though, at best -67 ± 10% compared to conventional over the life cycle.
This research note provides new evidence consistent with systemic anti-Black racism in police killings across the United States. Data come from the Mapping Police Violence Database (2013–2021). I ...calculate race-specific odds and probabilities that victims of police killings exhibited mental illness, were armed with a weapon, or attempted to flee the scene at the time of their killing. Multilevel, multivariable logistic regression techniques are applied to further account for the victim's age, gender, year of killing, and geographical clustering. I find that White victims are underrepresented, and Black victims overrepresented in the database. Relative to White victims, Black victims also have 60% lower odds of exhibiting signs of mental illness, 23% lower odds of being armed, and 28% higher odds of fleeing. Hispanic victims exhibit 45% lower odds of being armed relative to their White peers but are otherwise comparable. These patterns persist regardless of the victim's age, gender, year of killing, or geographical location (state, zip code, and neighborhood type). Thus, the threshold for being perceived as dangerous, and thereby falling victim to lethal police force, appears to be higher for White civilians relative to their Black or Hispanic peers. Current findings provide empirical support for political initiatives to curb lethal police force, as such efforts could help to reduce racial disparities in deaths by police nationwide.
Abstract
Does anti-Black racism harm White Americans? We advance hypotheses that address this question within the neighborhood context. Hypotheses are tested with neighborhood and survey data from a ...probability sample of White residents of Nashville, Tennessee. We find that regardless of neighborhood crime rates or socioeconomic compositions, Whites report heightened perceptions of crime and danger in their neighborhoods as the proportion of Black residents increases. Perceived neighborhood danger, in turn, predicts increased symptoms of psychophysiological distress. When stratified by socioeconomic status (SES), however, low-SES Whites also report perceptions of higher status when living near more Black neighbors, which entirely offsets their distress. We conclude that although anti-Black racism can ironically harm the health of White Americans, compensatory racist ideologies can also offset these harms, particularly for lower-status Whites. We situate our findings within broader discussions of anti-Black racism, residential segregation, and psychiatric disorders commonly observed among White Americans.
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