News (1,512 posts)

NIH study finds number of steps taken daily may be more important for cancer risk than the intensity of activity.

Despite government claims there will be no return to austerity, sick and disabled people face a real-terms cut to their incomes and the criteria for claiming personal independence payment (Pip) will become stricter than ever. This isn’t just a policy to save £5 billion, it’s cruelty and a devastating attack on disabled people.

Western Australia’s child protection authorities are disproportionately removing children from Aboriginal families and placing them in out-of-home care, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Children continue to be removed from their homes nearly two decades after the Australian government issued an apology to First Nations peoples for forcibly removing their children.

In the event, where social work practices in Romania and the effects of the EU process were discussed, transformations in the child protection system and social service models were examined in detail.

Delusions, hallucinations and disordered thinking are collectively known as psychosis. These “positive” symptoms are among the most widely recognized aspects of schizophrenia. For about two thirds of patients with schizophrenia—which affects approximately 23 million people around the world—traditional antipsychotic drugs are often highly effective at treating psychosis. But these drugs frequently come with problematic side effects. And they do little to help with the so-called negative symptoms of schizophrenia, such as emotional flatness and social withdrawal, or with other issues involving thinking and memory referred to as cognitive problems.

There’s reason to believe that Bisignano is being brought in to finish DOGE’s job, based on his past experience as the CEO of the oligopolist data processing firm Fiserv, the nation’s largest provider of back-office banking services. Crippling Social Security’s ability to serve customers is seen by many as a stalking horse for privatizing parts, if not all, of the system, and companies like Fiserv are waiting in the wings. “Wall Street wants part of the $1.6 trillion that flows through the agency,” said Nancy Altman, a member of Social Security’s advisory board and president of the advocacy group Social Security Works. “There’s money to be made.”

Under the proposed law, mentally competent, terminally ill adults in England and Wales with six months or less to live would be given the right to end their lives with medical help. Polls show that a majority of Britons back assisted dying and supporters say the law needs to catch up with public opinion.

Silas Xuereb: I characterize this process over the past forty to fifty years as neoliberalism. And this essentially means policy shifts that are motivated by the idea that free markets are the best way to organize everything — the provision of all sorts of goods, from natural resources to housing, health care, and transportation. In Canada, this shift has manifested itself specifically in terms of free-trade agreements that have prioritized protecting investors over supporting workers.

About one-quarter of Mipim attendees are from the UK, with every British banner and brochure focused on one thing: courting investors with the promise of growth. A billboard declares Manchester “The UK’s Growth Opportunity”. Another proclaims that in the Tees Valley, “Anything is Possible”. Newcastle’s CEO and director of investment and growth tell me how the city makes development “dead easy for investment”. But the question is: growth for whom?

Julie Jones, Senior Social Worker at Nightingale House Hospice, explained: “Our intention for the group is to allow carers a much-needed break whilst their loved ones are safely attending our wellbeing sessions here at the hospice.

Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rex Gatchalian commends the dedication and selfless acts of social workers to help families affected by disasters during the hybrid celebration of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Social Work Day at Novotel Araneta City in Cubao, Quezon City

The Department of Health and Human Services has abruptly canceled more than $12 billion in federal grants to states that were being used for tracking infectious diseases, mental health services, addiction treatment and other urgent health issues. The cuts are likely to further hamstring state health departments, which are already underfunded and struggling with competing demands from chronic diseases, resurgent infections like syphilis and emerging threats like bird flu. Above: An MMR vaccination clinic in Lubbock, Texas, last month amid a measles outbreak.

Scientists developed a compound that appeared to relieve pain in mice without adverse side effects. The finding could lead to more effective alternatives to opioids for chronic pain treatment.

The plan combines personnel cuts, centralization of functions, and consolidation of HHS divisions, including:
– The current 82,000 full-time employees will be reduced to 62,000
– 28 divisions will be consolidated to 15
– 10 regional offices will become 5
– Human Resources, Information Technology, Procurement, External Affairs, and Policy will be centralized.

The labeling of these gangs as “terrorists” — and the imprisonment of people they accuse, without any evidence, of being members in a prison designated for those who supposedly fall into this category — exemplifies crucial continuities. These can be traced through the guiding threads of the methodologies of state terror that characterized U.S. strategies and affinities during the Cold War, and which have persisted as the emphasis of U.S. hegemony has shifted to the so-called “drug war” and “anti-terror” paradigms. The elites who benefit and the victims continue to be essentially the same as they were in the 1980s. Above: Nayib Bukele during a visit at CECOT in 2023

The standards, proposed as part of a consultation launched this month, are designed for social workers in their first two years of practice after qualifying and are aligned with the statutory Children’s Social Care National Framework, published in December 2023. According to the consultation document, the post-qualifying standards (PQS) are designed to support social workers in developing confidence and capability in working with children and families.

Eight months on from being elected on the promise of “change”, we’re beginning to see what Labour’s version of that looks like: sweeping cuts to the benefits system that have outraged charities, claimants and backbenchers alike.

University of Birmingham academics secure more than £700,000 to examine how the denial of recourse to public funds affects children living in the UK.

The Department for Education (DfE) has proposed a two-year support scheme for statutory children’s social workers, to replace the assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE) from September 2027. The planned social work induction programme (SWIP) would give new practitioners “the best possible start to their careers”, said chief social worker for children and families Isabelle Trowler, in a video message to launch a consultation on the proposals.

The Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) will launch its sixth school – for social work and social development – in the third quarter of 2025…. Dr Vincent Ng will be appointed as the Dean of the school.

The Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America called a strike of thousands of workers in Chicago in 1915. The union went on to help launch the CIO in 1935, whose strikes and occupations brought millions into the labor movement.

Investigators have developed a long-acting contraceptive implant that can be delivered through tiny needles to minimize patient discomfort and increase the likelihood of medication use. Their findings in preclinical models provide the technological basis to develop self-administrable contraceptive shots that could mimic the long-term drug release of surgically implanted devices.

The end of a romantic relationship usually does not come out of the blue but is indicated one or two years before the breakup. As the results of a psychological study suggest, the terminal stage of a relationship consists of two phases. First, there is a gradual decline in relationship satisfaction, reaching a transition point one to two years before the dissolution of the relationship.

In the last five years, around 400 clubs have closed in Britain – more than a third of the total number…. “A complex matrix of factors are all conspiring against and placing pressure on the sector, making for a perfect storm for nightclubs,” says Tony Rigg, music industry advisor and programme leader at the University of Lancashire.

Amid growing concerns over low birth rates, an aging society, and the looming threat of regional extinction, Korea’s social welfare public servants—key players in addressing these challenges—are being systematically excluded from promotion opportunities. This has sparked alarm over the weakening of professionalism in welfare administration. According to the Chungnam Association for Social Welfare Administration (CASWA), a professional exchange body of welfare public servants in South Chungcheong Province, 49 members hold master’s degrees and 6 have doctorates. Despite their academic and field expertise, many remain overlooked for promotion.

Margin over Mission: When Private Equity Owns Your Hospital, a new book by former Lovelace Women’s Hospital ICU nurse James Kelly, provides numerous case studies that show just how disastrous private equity’s incursion into health care has been—for patients and workers alike. In April 2015, the Chicago-based real estate investment trust Ventas acquired Lovelace Health System, which owned the Albuquerque hospital James worked at.

Up to 25% of new mothers suffer from postpartum depression, which can significantly impact their parenting behavior and the wellbeing of their children. A new study looks at long-term effects of early maternal depression on children, underscoring the need to provide adequate support for mothers who might be struggling.

hen ministers announced an overhaul to welfare payments last week that will result in an estimated 1.2 million disabled people losing eligibility for personal independence payments (Pip), they did not mention the sweeping knock-on effects. Because Pip is a “gateway”, any disabled person who loses the benefit will not only lose that income but other entitlements too, such as free prescriptions and council tax deductions. Most starkly, removing someone’s Pip will mean their unpaid carer losing carer’s allowance – in effect pulling away two main strands of a family’s income at once.

The Notre Dame Children’s Centre in Glasgow provides vital support to around 100 families caring for children who have experienced trauma through abuse, neglect or bereavement. However, the charity has warned parents that it will have to shut its doors within 90 days after its main income streams – provided by Glasgow City Council and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde – were cut.

The growing ideological alignment between far-right movements in Europe, the United States, and Russia threatens to entrench an exclusionary, hierarchical order reminiscent of Europe’s colonial past. To resist this tide, Europe must reject austerity-driven militarisation and instead embrace a fair economic model: funding security through progressive taxation on extreme wealth and dismantling the oligarchic remnants within its constitutional order.

The study, which involved 28 researchers from 18 institutions across Europe and the United States, highlights the placenta as a key element in neuropsychiatric development. The research has demonstrated that specific epigenetic modifications in the placenta, particularly DNA methylation, can influence the expression of genes associated with psychiatric disorders. These findings suggest that genetic risk may already manifest during the prenatal stage.

Speaking at Kakamega Approved School during World Social Workers’ Day, Dr Patricia Kariaga urged communities, particularly the youth, to embrace social work courses offered in institutions to help solve arising societal issues.

What concretely could Bernie and AOC encourage people to do? Most immediately, they could ask people to become organizers for the upcoming April 5 “Hands Off!” day of action called by MoveOn, Indivisible, the Working Families Party, and others. April 5 has the potential to be huge. But the ask of their followers can’t just be to show up at their local rallies. People also need to be encouraged and assisted to spend the next two weeks actively persuading their coworkers, neighbors, and beyond to take part.

Americans have long believed that sports are one area in society that offers kids from all backgrounds the chance to succeed to the best of their abilities. But new research suggests that this belief is largely a myth, and that success in high school and college athletics often is influenced by race and gender, as well as socioeconomic status, including family wealth and education.

A new state law that eliminated the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse claims was passed in 2023 with the Catholic Church abuse scandal in mind. But now Maryland lawmakers are scrambling to address an unexpected onslaught of cases targeting the state’s juvenile justice system. They’re worried the state budget can’t support a potential payout. Above: Survivors and advocates gather in front of Baltimore City Hall… March 19, 2025

If the Supreme Court accepts an argument raised by a federal appeals court, which struck down the federal program, it would bring about one of the biggest judicial power grabs in American history, and hobble the government’s ability to do, well, pretty much anything. The Court will hear arguments in Consumers’ Research on March 26.

University College Cork (UCC) and the Cork Education Training Board (ETB) launched a new social work pathway at a tree planting ceremony this week to mark World Social Work Day. The ceremony, which took place at UCC on Tuesday, was aimed at symbolically reinforcing the values of sustainability, resilience, and community connection, which underpin both social work and education.

Some of these effects, such as chronic fatigue and brain fog, are considered long Covid, defined as symptoms from an infection that persist for at least three months. By some estimates, 400 million people worldwide have been diagnosed with some form of long Covid. But an infection can also lead to other issues, including lung and heart damage and microbiome changes in the gut, that may not always be recognized as long Covid but can still have a lasting effect on our health.

Seven million years ago, maybe more, great apes started walking. We don’t know exactly why, although theories emphasize various evolutionary advantages: energy efficiency, resource transportation, movement versatility, and the ability to scan above the tall savanna grass. Whatever the reason, these early bipeds unwittingly walked down a new evolutionary branch which would lead, millions of years later, to their descendants—the species Homo sapiens—walking all around the world.

With DOGE pushing to cut 7,000 jobs within the SSA and close at least 47 regional and local field offices, the change would particularly harm the ability of people in rural areas, with mobility limitations, and with limited internet access to obtain their monthly benefits. “The combination of fewer workers, fewer offices, and a massive increase in the demand for in-person services could sabotage the Social Security system,” said Legum, who reported on the SSA memo on Monday.

Ohio’s state-supported higher education will never be the same. The bill, which becomes law 90 days after the governor’s signature, substitutes governmental edicts for academic freedom; eliminates all diversity, equity, and inclusion activities on campuses; restricts how faculty teach; bans faculty strikes; and restructures the terms and the mission of each institution’s board of trustees.

Since 1968, when the passage of the Fair Housing Act banned discrimination in renting, mortgage lending and home sales, the bulk of enforcement duties have been outsourced to private organizations, mostly nonprofits. Private organizations processed 75% of Fair Housing complaints in 2023, according to the National Fair Housing Alliance. But those agencies are facing an existential threat after many of them received a Feb. 27 letter from HUD, notifying them that at the direction of the president and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), their Fair Housing grants were being canceled, “because it no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities,” according to one letter viewed by Next City/Shelterforce.

As with so many things in our political moment, it goes back to the initial Bernie Sanders campaign. The Democratic Party’s answer to Sanders’s propagation of economic justice and economic issues was to smear him as somebody who ignored the plight of what they love to call — their new term — “marginalized groups,” which is people of color, women, trans people, all matters dealing with sexuality. This was their counter to the Sanders campaign, and they’ve used it assiduously now for eight years.

Health secretary RFK, Jr. has repeatedly suggested that farmers should let bird flu spread through flocks. Experts explain why that’s a dangerous idea

CEBU CITY, Philippines — If you hear or witness suspicious activities involving the sale and purchase of infants, report it immediately to either the police or social workers in your barangay.

Research has tracked depressive symptoms in 7100 young people from Tokyo and London and shown girls have more depressive symptoms than boys in both cities. The study found that this gap is around twice as large in London and the year-on-year rise in depressive symptoms is around four times steeper for teenage girls in London than for teenage girls in Tokyo.

Social services on Rikers Island designed to address recidivism saw major cuts under the mayor – the administration recently committed to restoring a majority of the cuts, two years after initiating them. The city has also seen an increase in arrests since the mayor took office. The effort to build additional beds for detainees with mental illnesses, as suggested by the original commission, also significantly slowed under the mayor.

Ryan Bevard worked at a hospital within the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for eight years before he got a position he had been vying for as a social work associate. Because he changed positions within the department, Bevard was again considered a probationary employee despite his eight years of service. He was one month away from progressing from that probationary status when he was laid off in February. “I fought for my position to try and help other veterans,” he said.

When asked what “success” would look like and how it would be measured, Minister for Children and Families Janet Daby who has 15 years of frontline experience in social work, reeled off a long list of aims from “building our foster care base, keeping children as close as possible to their communities, supporting kinship care and less profiteering by children’s homes”.