Relative concerns and sleep behavior

We investigate the relationship between relative concerns with respect to income and the quantity and quality of sleep using a 6-year panel dataset on the sleep behavior of people in Germany. We find a substantial negative association between relative income and number of hours of sleep and satisfaction with sleep, i.e., sleep quality, whereas there is no particular association between absolute level of income and sleep quantity and quality. A 10-percent increase in the income of relevant others is associated with 6–8 min decrease in a person's weekly amount of sleep on average, yet this effect is particularly strong among the relatively deprived, i.e., upward comparers, as this group shows a corresponding decrease in sleeping time of 10–12 min/week. These findings are highly robust to several specification checks, including measures of relative concerns, reference group, income inequality, and local price differences. The heterogeneity analysis reveals that the relationship is mainly driven by people with relatively fewer working hours, a higher demand for household production and leisure activities, and lower physical health and well-being.     

Addressing teachers' concerns about teaching evolution

Evolution was introduced into the senior secondary school Life Sciences curriculum in South Africa for the first time in 2008. Research in other countries shows that evolution is an extremely controversial topic to teach, raising serious concerns for teachers. Curriculum change theory dealing with ‘stages of concern’ suggests that teachers implementing a new curriculum move through a predictable series of types of concerns, and that if their initial concerns are not addressed then teachers are slow to move on to more important task-related matters. This has serious implications for both professional development programmes and the development of support materials for teachers: information about teachers' concerns is needed so that those having to support teachers can do so on an informed basis. This article identifies the concerns of 125 secondary school teachers having to teach evolution for the first time. Data was gathered using an activity-based questionnaire administered in a workshop setting to four different groups of biology teachers attending inservice workshops on the teaching of evolution, at stages progressively closer to the implementation date. The majority of concerns identified were early-stage ‘self-concerns’, dealing with personal worries and a need for information. Implications of the findings for providing support for teachers with concerns about teaching evolution are discussed.     

Human health concerns with GM crops

Biotechnology was used in the first generation of so-called 'GM' crops to provide growers with complimentary and sometimes alternative crop management solutions to pesticides. Selected host genes or genes identified from other plants or non-plant sources are modified or transferred to a crop plant. The new or altered protein expression resulting from these modifications confer on the plant a desired physiological trait, such as resistance to particular herbicides or insect pests. Second generation modifications provide traits such as enhanced nutritional or health-promoting characteristics that are of benefit to consumers. The commonly raised concerns about possible implications for human health are: inherent toxicity of the novel gene and their products, the potential to express novel antigenic proteins or alter levels of existing protein allergens, the potential for unintended effects resulting from alterations of host metabolic pathways or over expression of inherently toxic or pharmacologically active substances and the potential for nutrient composition in the new food occur differing significantly from a conventional counterpart. Foods produced using biotechnology are subjected to far greater levels of scrutiny than foods produced by traditional plant breeding techniques. The accepted analytical, nutritional and toxicological methods employed to support this scrutiny and to assess and assure that a 'GM' food is a safe and nutritious as its 'non-GM' counterpart are discussed. The challenges associated with identifying unintended effects in whole GM foods and the promise new (proteomics/genomic) technologies offer opposite traditional toxicity testing paradigms are appraised.     

Ethical concerns associated with childhood depression

Children always merit special ethical concern in mental health research and treatment. But children with depression are a particularly vulnerable population because of developmental considerations and the severity of the illness. This article reviews ethical concerns regarding assessment of depression, clinical care, and research with children.