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The article titled "Wild in August" by Jenny Mary Brown, published in Harpur Palate, explores the author's experience in the marsh by the beach, specifically focusing on the shoulderbands, a rare type of air-breathing snail. The author reflects on the fragility of these snails, which are often stepped on and crushed. The author also mentions personal events, such as the birth of their nephew and the growth of hollyhocks in Vermont. The article concludes with the author's act of shifting the snails to safety and waiting for their release. Jenny Mary Brown is a poet whose work has been featured in various publications. She is originally from New Jersey but currently resides in Arcata, California, where she teaches and works for a rock and roll band. [Extracted from the article]

The article focuses on 45 percent decline in wages in 10 years of Alaska Airlines Inc. baggage handler at the Seattle-Tacoma Airport. It states that pay cut is due to firing of 500 ramp workers, Machinists union members, and hired a non-union contractor. It mentions that Seattle-Tacoma airport workers are now demanding recognition of Service Employees (SEIU) Local 6. Sea-Tac cabin cleaners and baggage handlers.

The article reports on the concerns raised by labor unions against the move of the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama to offer a breather to employers affected by the Affordable Care Act (ACA), announced on July 2, 2013. The administration will postpone the requirement set for employers to provide health insurance until January 2015. It also discusses the status of the request of labor unions for adjustments that will protect multi-employer health care funds.

The article discusses the strategy behind the rising activism of labor unions particularly in Walmart. Retail and warehouse workers are exercising their rights to redress grievances together like the one-day strikes in protest of the illegal retaliation against those who spoke at their workplaces and joined the Organization United for Respect (OUR) at Walmart. It cites attempts by the union and OUR for an adopt-a-store ideas where community members can raise a fuss when workers are fired. INSETS: Earlier Walmart Organizing Blazed Trail;BARGAINING WITHOUT A MAJORITY?.

Intracerebroventricular (icv) injection of fibroblast growth factor 1 (FGF1) elicits remission of diabetic hyperglycemia in rodent models of type 2 diabetes. Here, we present an optimized protocol to study the intracellular signaling pathways underlying the FGF1-induced sustained glucose lowering in the mouse brain. This protocol combines icv injection of FGF1 and osmotic mini-pump infusion of U0126, an inhibitor of MAPK/ERK signaling. We describe the surgical procedure and verification of U0126 inhibition of FGF1-stimulated hypothalamic MAPK/ERK signaling via western blot.

Family therapy with an individual and the relevance of family of origin themes are not new topics in the psychotherapy world. However, the richness and depth of Dr Murray Bowen's family systems and multigenerational approach to working with an individual has only been given scant attention in the Australasian context. Bowen's theory retains a strong following and solid research attention in parts of North America. In this article the author explores Bowen's model as it is applied to individual psychotherapy. Distinctions are made with traditional individual therapy where the in-session therapeutic relationship is the vehicle for change in contrast to Bowen's focus on the natural system of the client's own family. To illustrate, a case example of the author's own experience of family of origin coaching when grieving the loss of her parents will be described. This will illustrate the beginnings of reworking a narrow caretaking role amongst siblings to a more multidimensional role of welcoming help from others. The impact of this shift on the author's clinical work will be explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a court case where 4 women working at Chicago, Illinois' Ford Assembly plan filed a federal lawsuit alleging that sexual harassment at the plant is out of control. Topics discussed include their allegation that managers and co-workers touch them and say things inappropriate about sex to them, their accusation of pervasive racial discrimination against management and demands for damages from Ford and for a federal monitor for 5 years at the plant.

Scotland has a high risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) and a literature search identified the risk factors and the importance that physical activity plays in reducing the risk. The search also revealed that patients at risk of CHD find it difficult to increase their exercise levels. In an attempt to understand this, barriers to exercise were explored from a psychological perspective. The study uses the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale (MHLCS) (Wallston and Wallston, 1978) in conjunction with a specifically designed exercise questionnaire. The results show that differences in exercise levels exist between different age groups and between males and females. Differences in MHLCS scores and in barriers to exercise are also shown between the different age groups and sexes, as well as between those working and those not working. The main barriers to exercises were time, ill health, preference to do other things, money, having nobody to go with and lack of confidence.

The article discusses overtime abuses in New York state, citing employers who violate work contract clauses, such as clocking out workers before job completion, evading Saturday overtime pay, and misclassifying workers as exempt from overtime. It names United Parcel Service (UPS), Verizon, and Chrysler as prominent violators. It suggests that overtime laws will only get enforced if workers are organized to defend them, and explains that overtime pay is cheaper than hiring additional workers.

The article discusses the state campaigns being developed by Medicare for All advocates to win health care that covers everyone and eliminates insurance companies. Topics covered include the Affordable Care Act, the publicly financed universal program passed by Vermont in 2011, and the advantages of having state single-payer systems.

The article reports on an agreement signed by U.S. retailer Wal-mart Stores Inc. with Florida's Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), agreeing to pay pickers 1.5 extra cents per pound for fresh tomatoes. CIW member and organizer Greg Asbed said the strength of CIW's program, which went from theoretical to operational three years ago, is the reason behind this contract.

The article discusses the efforts by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) to help fast food industry workers to unionize in 2013. According to the article, fast food was an unlikely union target in the past due to high workforce turnover and layered franchise ownership but tyrannical bosses and rampant wage theft prompted service workers to unionize. Accordingly, SEIU is funding groups in some U.S. cities to demand for higher pay and prevent post strike retaliation.

The article reports on the move of marijuana workers in the U.S. to join labor union. Given example is the Food and Commercial Workers union that has been signing up thousands of members that grow and sell medical marijuana. According to Dan Rush, director of the Medical Cannabis and Hemp Division of the union, they are struggling in getting to all the places were workers want to joint the union.

The article discusses a growing momentum for the passage of sick leave provisions as unions and worker groups in 20 jurisdictions including Massachusetts and Illinois are actively campaign for it. Employer groups led by National Restaurant Association and other employers in the hospitality industry are resisting paid sick leave which emerged as a compelling issue for low-paid workers. It notes that there is no national law on sick pay and 40 million work in jobs with no paid sick days at all.

The article considers a claim of labor unions in the U.S. that investment in the prevention of global warming will create more jobs. A number of studies have shown that investment in renewable energy has created more jobs that investment in fossil fuel, while investments in public transportation resulted to more opportunities than new road construction. Auto Workers union in the U.S. contends that 2012 pollution-cutting regulations in the automotive sector would require additional employees. INSETS: MEANWHILE, IN THE OIL PATCH;MISSED CHANCE.

The article reports on the protest by workers at Station Casinos illegally fired for organizing, against owners of the Station chain, including Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, and brothers Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta. A total of 4,000 people marched on the chain's headquarters and demanded union recognition. The company was accused of 88 labor practice violations, which is said to be a record in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The article offers information on cross-border rallies in the U.S. and Canada to group guestworkers and protest the agricultural labor programs for guestworkers by both Canadian and U.S. governments. Food and Commercial Workers Canada member Naveen P. Mehta mentions that the programs are associated to modern-day slavery due to unsatisfactory working conditions and employer-provided lodging. Guestworker initiatives like the Temporary Foreign Worker programs are criticized by workers because they allow employers to deport workers that join labor unions.

The article reports on a trend among non-union construction firms in the U.S. in which they are seeking market share related to taxpayer-funded jobs. It mentions that residential and light industrial construction work for such non-union firms have remained flat while some publicly-funded projects are sustained by federal stimulus funds as well as state and local spending. It adds that employer group Associated Builders and Contractors has received approval for its 50-state strategy to prohibit Project Labor Agreements (PLAs).

Susceptibility to the development of asthma and other atopic diseases is known to have a genetic component. To date, several studies have linked chromosome 5q31 to asthma and atopy in human beings. This region harbors a cluster of cytokine and growth factor genes, IL-4 presenting as a prime atopy candidate gene, inasmuch as it plays a pivotal role in the atopy pathway. Our approach was to identify polymorphisms within the promoter regions of IL-4 and test their association with atopic eczema. Polymorphisms were typed in a cohort of 76 small nuclear families and 25 triads with childhood atopic eczema. The genotypes were used to test for linkage in the presence of association with atopic eczema. A new polymorphism, –34C/T, was identified and studied with a known polymorphism, –590C/T. On its own, each polymorphism showed no association with atopic eczema. The 2 polymorphisms were used to generate haplotypes, and a significant result was found for the –590C/–34C haplotype. However, after Bonferroni correction for multiple testing, the association became nonsignificant. Neither polymorphism predisposes to early-onset atopic eczema by itself, but suggestive linkage was found for the –590C/–34C haplotype in this study. (J Allergy Clin Immunol 2001;108:285-7.)

The article summarizes labor rights affairs in the U.S. in 2014, where most of the protests demanded 15-dollar wage and improved working conditions. Topics discussed include a Machinists at Boeing protest against the contract revoking their pensions that finished with a government action removing the law defending pensions, Brooklyn Cablevision workers sought membership in the Communications Workers union, and the taxi driver gridlock opposing public transport service Uber.

The article discusses the victory of American Airlines passenger service agents when 86 percent of them voted to unionize in September 2014. Topics discussed include election resulting from merger of American Airlines and U.S. Airways, 5,500 U.S. Airways agents already Communications Workers (CWA) members, and threat of outsourcing faced by American agents prior to election. It mentions that U.S. Airways contract does not allow home-based workers to have lower pay.

The article offers information on the labor situation in the U.S. in 2013. It states that unemployment declined slightly but the jobs created paid worse, New Jersey overruled the governor's veto and put a higher state minimum wage into their constitution, while transportation and hospitality workers at Seattle-Tacoma airport and the nearby town voted in a 15 dollar minimum wage. Also noted are the methods tried by unions on organizing.

The article informs that the legality of neutrality agreements, which create a form of behavior during organizing drives between the union and employer, will be scrutinized by the U.S. Supreme Court by November 2013. It states that the case involved a worker who was aided by charitable organization National Right to Work Foundation to charge the employer and the union UNITE HERE for breach of a clause in the 1947 Taft-Hartley law which prohibits employer from giving a union anything valuable.

The article reviews stories of labor union resistance in the U.S. in 2012. Workers in the public sector filed claims of deficit, while employers in the private sector, including American Crystal Sugar, ConEd and Cooper Tire, used lockouts to impose temporary contracts. Other employers like Verizon, Caterpillar and American Airlines extracted concessions from union workers. A series of short strikes were staged by Walmart workers despite high unemployment rates.

The article reports on the campaign for the improvement of scheduling and work hours in the U.S. retail industry. The Retail Action Project leads a campaign that conducts petitions and demonstrations to draw attention to what is considered as unsustainable scheduling. Part-time scheduling which requires workers to be available at any time poses problems in childcare arrangements, classes and life planning. It is said that part-time work allows employers to avoid giving health care benefits. INSET: MEANWHILE IN CANADA.

The article reports that the Communications Workers and Electrical Workers (IBEW) has proposed an agreement reached September 20, 2012 that preserves job security giving an 8 percent raise over four years. Verizon, which reported an income of 2.4 U.S. dollars in 2011, won several concessions including the payment of a portion of health insurance premiums. The contract will reinstate 37 of the 41 workers fired during the strike.

The article focuses on the Adiós Arpaio, a campaign by UNITE HERE to oust Joe Arpaio, sheriff of Maricopa County, Phoenix, Arizona, and turn around the state's anti-worker policies into a right-to-work state for Latino workers. It states that the sheriff's race will possibly be closed, with anti-Arpaio voters outnumbering supporters in the elections. Arpaio emerged as the U.S. most anti-immigrant sheriff in 2007.

The article reports on the strike staged by Connecticut union members on July 3, 2012 over the nursing home contract imposed by HealthBridge and CareOne chief executive officer (CEO) Daniel Straus. It reveals that 10 CareOne nursing home workers in New Jersey have been illegally fired, without any contract in sight. The workers also organized in New York City to protest the Straus Institute for the Advanced Study of Law and Justice.

The article discusses the struggle over Hospitality Staffing Solutions (HSS), an Atlanta, Georgia-based company, for having contracts with all the major hotels downtown in Indiana not to hire HSS workers. Workers allege that HSS and hotel managers forced them to work through unpaid breaks and forced them to come in early without clocking in. A group of HSS workers and the hotel union UNITE HERE are pushing their city council to outlaw such no-hire agreements.

The article reports that Capital Grille workers in five cities including Chicago, Illinois, Miami, Florida, and Los Angeles, California sued Darden Restaurants Inc. It says that the workers allege the firm for requiring them to work off the clock, paying them the tipped of 2.13 dollars per hour when they were not tipped and denying them breaks. According to dishwasher Alfredo Galdanez, the working condition at the Capital Grille in demeaning that he wanted to leave.

The article discusses the aftermath of a living wage deal granting limited benefits to New York's retail union. According to the deal, owners would pay their workers at least 10 U.S. dollars per hour and 11.50 dollars without health benefits for 10 years following the subsidy of developments that have profits of more than 5 million dollars a year. Direct and indirect employees of the subsidized company are covered but not workers in stores renting from a property owner.

The article discusses the extension of overtime and minimum wage protections to home health aides and personal care assistants under the new U.S. Labor Department rules. It notes that workers providing none medical assistance who were classified as companions have been excluded from federal overtime pay and minimum wage protections since 1975. It points out that Medicare and Medicaid have covered payments for home assistance work.

The article discusses efforts to organize the unemployed workers in the U.S. It cites the establishment of an Unemployed Action Center which meets once a week, a vote by the Transport Workers in New York City to pay 5 dollars extra to keep health insurance for unemployed members and the Sheet Metal Workers in Philadelphia which voted for extensions of supplements to unemployment benefits. It indicates that central labor bodies should think of themselves as representatives of unemployed workers.

The article reports on the increase in Walmart's profits despite flat U.S. sales due to an initiative to squeeze workers, according to John Marshall, a staffer with the Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). According to Venanzi Luna, member of Organizations United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart), Walmart puts full-time associates into part-time, saving the company expenses for their health care. OUR Walmart members reported that their hours are being reduced even during holidays.

The article reports on the struggle for decent work in the food production industry in the U.S. The National Farmers Union is urging its members to organize against what is perceives as increased corporate consolidation in the food supply chain. It cites how retail food markets, such as Walmart and Sodexo, indirectly set the pay of farm workers. Food and Commercial Workers and the hotel and culinary union UNITE HERE are aligning themselves with the initiative.

The article explores the divided view of U.S. unions on the planned Keystone XL, which is a 2,000 mile TransCanada-owned pipeline that will connect from Alberta to the Texas Gulf Coast. Opposition for the planned pipeline comes from two transit unions that believes that the short-term economic impact of it does not equates with the climate impact of extracting and burning more barrels of tar-sands oil. The unions campaigned instead for the enactment of a green New Deal.

The article focuses on settlement between Sodexo and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) regarding the lawsuit filed by the former under the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) in the U.S. The details of the September 2011 settlement was undisclosed, but SEIU announced after that it was halting its public campaign against Sodexo. RICO suits are commonly used by corporations against unions throughout the years to solve disputes.

The article examines the issue between the unions and U.S. Postal Service management on plans to overhaul the operation. Citing loss revenue, the Postal Service proposes to break union contract in order to lay off 120,000 workers, close 3,500 post offices and 200 processing plants and reduce benefits. Solutions include installation of kiosks and possible privatization. Accusation of union-busting and the mass protest against the Postal Service plans are described.

The article reports that Organization United for Respect (OUR) Walmart has organized groups of hourly workers in a dozen stores, some of which have 50 members or more. Demands of OUR Walmart include a wage of 13 U.S. dollars per hour, respect, affordable health care, and stable and fair scheduling. OUR Walmart is financially supported by the Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), which argues that raising standards at Walmart is vital to raising the U.S. workers' economic level.

The article discusses how U.S. airport screeners put up a labor union after nine years of rejection. On June 21, 2011, they won representation in the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) which had signed up dues-paying members and represented workers in disciplinary hearings even though collective bargaining was prohibited. Labor issues at the Transportation Security Administration that AFGE is pursuing are cited.

The article reports on a gathering of hotel housekeepers in eight cities to speak out on sexual harassment and assault by customers, organized by the hotel union Unite Here and held on June 2, 2011. Hotel housekeepers express their anger with former International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who was charged with sexually assaulting a housekeeper in Sofitel. They also complain about male customers who disrespect and humiliate them. Hotel housekeeper face the challenges of a culture of silence among hotels and sexist traditions as well.

The article reports on a strike being planned by grocery workers in Southern California to protest the healthcare givebacks being demanded by three profitable supermarket chains. Union members argue that the health care proposal offer expensive and inadequate insurance to workers despite the insistence of employers that weekly insurance premium would not increase much. The Southern California labor councils, Los Angeles County Federal Council and the regional Teamsters joint council express support to the strike.

The article reports that the U.S. National Labor Relations Board was urging Boeing in April 2011 to reinstate its workers that have conducted strikes and protests. The request of the board was a response to the 787 Dreamliner assembly jobs being removed from union shops in the state of Washington and transferred to the right-to-work state of South Carolina. Washington state government provided to 3 billion dollars in subsidies to finance manufacturing of the Dreamliner by Boeing, while workers from the Machinists union promised no strikes in 10 years.

The article reports on the struggle of hotel workers against unreasonable contracts and working conditions in three U.S. cities. The Hilton group of hotels and its programs add unreasonable work loads on its employees such as overwhelming room quotas for housekeepers that would require them to skip breaks. The unions retaliated with boycotts, strikes and unionizing. Hyatt group of hotels, in an attempt to stop ongoing boycotts, called for union elections.

The article discusses the representation election on March 9 to April 19, 2011 by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for Transportation Security Officers. AFGE and National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) are the two agencies that will compete in the election which is aimed to give collective bargaining rights to airport security workers. The article also describes the difficulties faced by airport screeners in negotiating their leave benefits and pay with the management.