Tackling Infant Mortality Rates Among Blacks

Nationally, black babies are more than twice as likely as white babies to die before the age of 1. Here in Pittsburgh, the rate is five times.

The infant mortality rate in the United States has long been near the bottom of the world’s industrialized countries. The nation’s current mark — 6.7 deaths per 1,000 live births — places it 46th in the world, according to a ranking by the Central Intelligence Agency.

African-Americans fare far worse: Their rate of 13.3 deaths per 1,000 is almost double the national average and higher than Sri Lanka’s.

Recent studies have shown that poverty, education, access to prenatal care, smoking and even low birth weight do not alone explain the racial gap in infant mortality, and that even black women with graduate degrees are more likely to lose a child in its first year than are white women who did not finish high school. Research is now focusing on stress as a factor and whether black women have shorter birth canals.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/15/us/efforts-to-combat-high-infant-mortality-rate-among-blacks.html?_r=0

The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood

America's Most Post-Industrial Metros

The American economy has long been transitioning from goods-producing to service. But how has this transition occurred across America's cities and metro areas? What does its geography look like?



http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2013/04/americas-most-post-industrial-metros/2815/

Should We Be Zoning With Crime in Mind?

Our central finding is that blocks that include both residential and commercial zoning exhibit less crime than blocks that are zoned exclusively for commercial use. This result suggests that including some parcels with residential-only zoning on blocks that are otherwise zoned commercially might reduce crime. We also find that crime rates are lowest in residential-only blocks, even in relatively high-crime neighborhoods.



So, Anderson and colleagues conclude, "residential parcels seem to reduce crime in commercial areas." Exactly why that's the case remains an open question, though the researchers did weigh in on some of the more popular theories proposed over the years. Jacobs's "eyes on the street" got little support from the data (for instance, bars attracted eyes but also crime), while Wilson and Kelling's "broken windows" got quite a bit of support (things like litter, glass, and garbage were associated with crime too). The researchers leave that for others to address in time; for now, the idea that zoning might not just influence the nature of a neighborhood but also its safety, is enough food for thought.

REDUCING CRIME BY SHAPING
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT WITH ZONING:
AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF LOS ANGELES




http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2013/04/should-we-be-zoning-crime-mind/5217/

Pregnant women who have stressful experiences in the year before giving birth are more likely to deliver stillborn babies, a new study reports.

The study, by the National Institutes of Health, asked 2,000 women in five states about specific events, like losing a job, moving or losing a close friend or relative. Stillbirth risk increased with each event. Non-Hispanic black women were most affected. Experiences most correlated with stillbirth included being in a fight, going to jail and hearing a partner express opposition to the pregnancy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/28/health/link-is-found-between-stressfull-events-and-stillbirths.html?ref=health

More green space is linked to less stress in deprived communities: Evidence from salivary cortisol patterns

Abstract
Green space has been associated with a wide range of health benefits, including stress reduction, but much pertinent evidence has relied on self-reported health indicators or experiments in artificially controlled environmental conditions. Little research has been reported using ecologically valid objective measures with participants in their everyday, residential settings. This paper describes the results of an exploratory study (n = 25) to establish whether salivary cortisol can act as a biomarker for variation in stress levels which may be associated with varying levels of exposure to green spaces, and whether recruitment and adherence to the required, unsupervised, salivary cortisol sampling protocol within the domestic setting could be achieved in a highly deprived urban population. Self-reported measures of stress and general wellbeing were also captured, allowing exploration of relationships between cortisol, wellbeing and exposure to green space close to home. Results indicate significant relationships between self-reported stress (P < 0.01), diurnal patterns of cortisol secretion (P < 0.05), and quantity of green space in the living environment. Regression analysis indicates percentage of green space in the living environment is a significant (P < 0.05) and independent predictor of the circadian cortisol cycle, in addition to self-reported physical activity (P < 0.02). Results also show that compliance with the study protocol was good. We conclude that salivary cortisol measurement offers considerable potential for exploring relationships between wellbeing and green space and discuss how this ecologically valid methodology can be developed to confirm and extend findings in deprived city areas to illuminate why provision of green space close to home might enhance health. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169204611003665

America's Most (and Least) Religious Metro Areas