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It is no secret that recent college graduates are having a tough time finding work. However, not all college majors are created equal and the unemployment rates among different disciplines are likely to vary. To answer this question, a group of researchers at the Georgetown Center on Education and Workforce analyzed employment data for recent college graduates from an in-depth US census study entitled the American Community Survey conducted in 2009 and 2010. In the study, recent college grades were defined as workers (with college degrees of course) between ages 22 and 26.

The results of the study are shown in the graph below.

The data clearly show that among recent college grads, those who studied architecture have the highest unemployment rate at 13.9%. This finding was not that surprisingly given that the collapse of the housing and construction markets were mainly responsible for the ongoing recession that began in 2007. 

Unemployment rates were lowest among college graduates with training in education and healthcare. Again, these results are not that start. Again, these results were not startling because the US population continues to age (healthcare-related jobs) and the number of school-aged children skyrocketed in the past 20 years (education jobs).

Interestingly, the unemployment rate among engineering graduate, 7.4% is relatively high despite the fact that HR and employment experts contend that there is a shortage of engineers in the US.

Finally, unemployment rates among graduates with art degrees and those who possess degrees in the humanities and liberal art are still very high at 11.1% and 9.4% respectively. That said, maybe getting that MS or PhD degree in the life sciences was not such a bad idea after all!

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!!!!

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Twitter was largely ignored by college-age students after it was introduced over three years ago. At that time, Facebook was on the rise and texting appeared to be sufficient to meet the needs of much college students. Nevertheless, over the past year or so, university researchers have begun to assess Twitter as an education tool in addition to the role it has played in shaping today’s social media usage. 

According to a recent study published in the Computer Assisted Learning, Twitter can apparently bolster student interest and engagement and grade-point average. The study followed 125 undergraduate health studies majors at a public mid-sized US university. Half of the students used Twitter whereas the other half (control) group did not. The results of the study showed that Twitter users had an average GPA half a point higher than their non-tweeting counterparts. Also, the tweeting cohort more frequently participated in class and sought out their professors to discuss course material outside of class. 

Tweeters mentioned that Twitter was a less intimidating means to express themselves in large classes. In other words, Twitter was a less anxiety ridden means to ask questions during lecture. And, perhaps more importantly, Twitter users had much greater access to instructors outside of class. Also, instructors we able to send out tweets during lectures to keep their students engaged and awake! After all, who doesn’t look at their cell phones when they are vibrating and buzzing?

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Tweeting  

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In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers at the Public Citizen’s Health Research Group tracked the civil and criminal financial penalties levied against the pharmaceutical industry for wrongdoing over the past 20 years. 

The main findings of the study revealed:

1. Of the 165 settlements comprising $19.8 billion in penalties during this 20-year interval, 73 percent of the settlements (121) and 75 percent of the penalties ($14.8 billion) have occurred in just the past five years (2006-2010).
2. Four companies (GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Eli Lilly, and Schering-Plough) accounted for more than half (53 percent or $10.5 billion) of all financial penalties imposed over the past two decades. These leading violators were among the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies.
3. The practice of illegal off-label promotion of pharmaceuticals has been responsible for the largest amount of financial penalties levied by the federal government over the past 20 years. This practice can be prosecuted as a criminal offense because of the potential for serious adverse health effects in patients from such activities.
4. Deliberately overcharging state health programs, mainly Medicaid fraud, has been the most common violation against state governments and is responsible for the largest amount of financial penalties levied by these governments. This type of violation is also the main factor in the considerable increase in state settlements with pharmaceutical companies over time.
5. Former pharmaceutical company employees and other “whistleblowers” have been instrumental in bringing to light the most egregious violations and have been responsible for initiating the largest number of federal settlements over the past 10 years. From 1991 through 2000, qui tam (whistleblower) cases made up only 9 percent of payouts to the government, but from 2001 through 2010, they comprised 67 percent of total payouts.

The companies, their missteps and the fines imposed are shown below:

The authors conclude:

"Over the past two decades, especially during the past 10 years, there has been a marked increase in both the number of government settlements with pharmaceutical companies and the size of the accompanying financial penalties. Given the relatively small size of current financial penalties when compared to the perpetrating companies’ profits, both increased financial penalties and appropriate criminal prosecution of company leadership may provide a more effective deterrent to unlawful behavior by the pharmaceutical industry."

Interestingly, about a month ago officials at the US Food and Drug Administration signaled that were willing to prosecute company executives to the fullest extent possible (including criminal prosecution) to reduce the incidence of fraud, off-label marketing and manufacturing violations that have become commonplace in the pharmaceutical industry in the past five years.

Until next time....

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!

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I came of age in the late 60s and early 70s and the women’s movement was in full swing. Other men and I worked hard to ensure that future generations of women were treated equally and have the same rights and opportunities as their male counterparts. However, some of the earlier and more radical members of the moment believed that society should be genderless and that there were no differences between the sexes. While that notion was intellectually, emotionally and psychologically appealing, nobody can deny that there aren’t obvious, anatomical, hormonal and genetic differences between human males and females. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that women behave differently than men and visa versa (of course in biology there are always exceptions).

Over the years, researchers have determined that differences in female and male behavior can be attributed to a variety of things including physiological environmental, enculturative factors. Like it or not, behavioral differences between men and women have been ascribed to hormonal differences and fluctuations. For example, it is commonly accepted that higher levels of testosterone in men are thought to be responsible for male aggressive behavior whereas in women small amounts of testosterone enhance female libido. With this in mind, a new study published last week in PNAS suggests that testosterone may also play a role in a woman’s ability to trust or distrust others: most notably men.

The study was conducted by a group of Dutch researchers at the Utrecht University. Twenty-four women participated in the double-blind study over two days. On the first day, half of the women were given a dose of testosterone under their tongue, while the other received a placebo; the treatments were switched on the second day so that each participant experienced both treatments. 

After the testosterone treatment, the researchers administered a facial trustworthiness task, in which each subject was shown a series of human faces and asked to assess how trustworthy the person in the image is. Economic exchange tasks, which are usually employed in similar experiments, were not used because of the possible confounding effects of testosterone on risk-taking and reward-seeking behavior. By administering mood tests and asking participants to guess which treatment they had received on either day, the researchers reduced the likelihood that either subjective preconceptions or mood changes may have affected the outcome.

The results of the study showed that women who received testosterone were less trusting than those who received the placebo. Moreover, the study revealed that “naturally distrustful” women were affected less by testosterone as compared with “more trusting” females where hormone-induced effects were the greatest. These findings led the researchers to postulate that the trust-reducing effect of testosterone may be adaptive and especially advantageous for less-socially aware women. For example, when competition is high and resources scarce, highly trusting women may be at greater risk for being cheated or taken advantage of and might benefit from a little jolt of testosterone-induced distrustfulness.

Interesting, female levels of testosterone have been observed to peak right around ovulation. Evolutionarily, it makes complete sense that a woman’s libido (remember testosterone stimulates this) would be highest at the time that she is most likely to conceive. However, the results from the Dutch study suggest that testosterone-induced distrustfulness may actually push potential mates away (and possibly explain why there are so many discerning women out there). 

This led Nicholas Wade, the New York Times reporter who wrote a piece on the study to quip: “So guys, you knew women were complex, but it is even worse than you thought: at the moment you are most desired, you are least trusted.” Women—go figure!

Until next time.....

Good Luck and Good Hunting (for the few cavemen who still exist)

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Somebody once said “Jews know two things—suffering and where to find good Chinese food”. Since I am Jewish, it is not surprising that I have experienced a fair amount of suffering throughout my life and, wherever I go, I seem to know where to find “good” Chinese food.  That said, my interest was piqued when I found a post in Yahoo Science News entitled “Study finds Chinese food good for your heart”. Given my lifelong fondness and penchant for Chinese cuisine, I thought that all of that eating that I had done had finally paid off. Unfortunately, after reading the subtitle of the article; “Chinese red yeast rice reduces repeat heart attacks/mortality rates” I realized that my joy and optimism were somewhat premature.

According to the report, researchers at Jefferson Medical College found that a partially purified extract of Chinese red yeast rice, Xuezhikang (XZK), reduced the risk of repeat heart attacks by 45%, revascularization (bypass surgery/angioplasty), cardiovascular mortality and total mortality by one-third and cancer mortality by two-thirds. The multicenter, randomized, double-blind clinical study was conducted on about 5,000 heart attack patients, ranging in age from 18-70 during a five-year period at over 60 hospitals in the People's Republic of China. Study participants were given 300-milligram XZK capsules or a placebo and tracked over a five-year period. The XZK extract used in the study contained a combination of lovastatin, lovastatin hydroxyl acid, ergosterol and several uncharacterized components.

Based on study results, the study’s authors believe that XZK may offer therapeutic benefits to people at risk of heart attack and cardiovascular disease. However, they cautioned that the active pharmacologic ingredient (API) of the red yeast rice is unknown and it isn’t clear how XZK works to fight cardiovascular disease.

Chinese medicine practitioners have long touted the benefits of red yeast rice for heart patients. Nevertheless, this is the first controlled clinical study of red yeast rice that tends to substantiate these claims. According to the study authors it is important to note that “the commercially available over-the-counter supplement found in your average health food store is not what was studied here. Those over-the-counter supplements are not regulated (by the US Food and Drug Administration), so exact amounts of active ingredient are unknown and their efficacy has not been studied yet.”

It is unfortunate that I didn’t know about the benefits of red yeast rice during my recent trip to China. I certainly would have gone out of my way to try some. That said, given the plethora of exotic foods that I tasted in China, maybe I ate some XZK without knowing it!

Until next time

Good Luck and Good Eating (Chinese of course)……

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