Exposure to rising inequality shapes Americans' opportunity beliefs and policy support.

Economic inequality has been on the rise in the United States since the 1980s and by some measures stands at levels not seen since before the Great Depression. Although the strikingly high and rising level of economic inequality in the nation has alarmed scholars, pundits, and elected officials alike, research across the social sciences repeatedly concludes that Americans are largely unconcerned about it. Considerable research has documented, for instance, the important role of psychological processes, such as system justification and American Dream ideology, in engendering Americans' relative insensitivity to economic inequality. The present work offers, and reports experimental tests of, a different perspective-the opportunity model of beliefs about economic inequality. Specifically, two convenience samples (study 1, n = 480; and study 2, n = 1,305) and one representative sample (study 3, n = 1,501) of American adults were exposed to information about rising economic inequality in the United States (or control information) and then asked about their beliefs regarding the roles of structural (e.g., being born wealthy) and individual (e.g., hard work) factors in getting ahead in society (i.e., opportunity beliefs). They then responded to policy questions regarding the roles of business and government actors in reducing economic inequality. Rather than revealing insensitivity to rising inequality, the results suggest that rising economic inequality in contemporary society can spark skepticism about the existence of economic opportunity in society that, in turn, may motivate support for policies designed to redress economic inequality.

Galactokinase deficiency in a patient with congenital hyperinsulinism.

BACKGROUND: Galactokinase catalyses the first committed step in galactose metabolism, the conversion of galactose to galactose-1-phosphate. Galactokinase deficiency is an extremely rare form of galactosaemia, and the most frequent complication reported is cataracts. Congenital hyperinsulinism (CHI) is a cause of severe hypoglycaemia in the newborn period. Galactosaemia has not previously been reported in a neonate with concomitant CHI. AIMS: To report the first case of a patient with CHI and galactokinase deficiency, and to describe the diagnostic pitfalls with bedside blood glucose testing in a neonate with combined galactokinase deficiency and CHI. PATIENTS/METHODS: A 3-day-old baby girl from consanguineous parents presented with poor feeding, irritability and seizures. Capillary blood glucose testing using bedside test strips and glucometer showed a glucose level of 18 mmol/L, but the actual laboratory blood glucose level was only 1.8 mmol/L. After discontinuation of oral feeding (stopping provision of dietary galactose), the bedside capillary blood glucose correlated with laboratory glucose concentrations. RESULTS: Biochemically the patient had CHI (blood glucose level 2.3 mmol/L with simultaneous serum insulin level of 30 mU/L) and galactokinase deficiency (elevated serum galactose level 0.62 µmol/L). Homozygous loss of function mutations in ABCC8 and GALK1 were found, which explained the patient's CHI and galactokinase deficiency, respectively. CONCLUSION: This is the first reported case of CHI and galactokinase deficiency occurring in the same patient. Severe hypoglycaemia in neonates with CHI may go undetected with bedside blood glucose meters in patients with galactokinase deficiency.