Gender Differences in Consumer Debt Stress: Impacts on Job Performance, Family Life and Health.

During periods of economic instability, women may suffer uniquely from economic stress compared to men. We examine stress effects from financial debts by gender with monthly national-level household data starting in 2006, going through the Great Recession in the U.S and into the recovery period. We find that women on average in the sample exhibit approximately 30% overall greater debt stress scores than men after controlling for income, debt levels and other socioeconomic variables. Underlying factors for both genders are examined, including impacts on job performance, family life and health. Sources of disadvantage for women and implied policy needs are explored. Our findings and their consequences are examined relative to economic circumstances for women that have been documented as a result of the pandemic-induced recession.

Taking account of asymptomatic infections: A modeling study of the COVID-19 outbreak on the Diamond Princess cruise ship.

The COVID-19 outbreak on the Diamond Princess (DP) cruise ship has provided empirical data to study the transmission potential of COVID-19 with the presence of pre/asymptomatic cases. We studied the changes in R0 on DP from January 21 to February 19, 2020 based on chain binomial models under two scenarios: no quarantine assuming a random mixing condition, and quarantine of passengers in cabins-passengers may get infected either by an infectious case in a shared cabin or by pre/asymptomatic crew who continued to work. Estimates of R0 at the beginning of the epidemic were 3.27 (95% CI, 3.02-3.54) and 3.78 (95% CI, 3.49-4.09) respectively for serial intervals of 5 and 6 days; and when quarantine started, with the reported asymptomatic ratio 0.505, R0 rose to 4.18 (95%CI, 3.86-4.52) and 4.73 (95%CI, 4.37-5.12) respectively for passengers who might be exposed to the virus due to pre/asymptomatic crew. Results confirm that the higher the asymptomatic ratio is, the more infectious contacts would happen. We find evidence to support a US CDC report that "a high proportion of asymptomatic infections could partially explain the high attack rate among cruise ship passengers and crew." Our study suggests that if the asymptomatic ratio is high, the conventional quarantine procedure may not be effective to stop the spread of virus.

The effects of meditation and visual imagery on an immune system disorder: dermatomyositis.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the relationship between a patient's "spontaneous recovery" from dermatomyositis and her practice of transcendental meditation and visual imagery without confounding effects of conventional therapies. DESIGN: Study of time-varying relationships between (1) measures of arm strength and skin condition (rash and pain) and (2) mind-body interventions-controlling for psychologic stress-in a patient with dermatomyositis, using regression analysis to determine half-lives of treatments and stress. SETTING: Institutional referral center. INTERVENTION: Transcendental meditation and visual imagery (no drugs). OUTCOME MEASURES: Daily measurements of arm strength and skin condition over 294 days. Events producing psychologic stress were also rated using a numerical scale. RESULTS: The patient recovered, which is a low-probability event without conventional therapy. Regression analysis of time dependence between measures of arm strength, rash, and pain and application of mind-body treatments revealed statistically significant relationships for both meditation (p values 0.02 to 0.001) and visual imagery (p values 0.02 to 0.002). Stress had a significant negative impact on skin symptoms but not arm strength. Beneficial effects of meditation had half-lives of 48-59 days for skin condition and no detectable decay for arm strength. Benefits of visual imagery were more transient (half-lives 4-18 days). The effects of stress had half-lives of only 1-3 days. CONCLUSIONS: The results demonstrate a statistically significant relationship between mind-body therapies and the patient's recovery from dermatomyositis, possibly mediated by influences on the humoral immune system. A key factor in the recovery was the slower decay rate of meditation and visual imagery compared to stress. As dermatomyositis is a humorally mediated immune microvasculopathy, the benefits of meditation and imagery in our patient comport with a growing body of evidence showing that these techniques influence immune system function.