Author: Mary Pat Campbell

Quotes of the Day on Rent Inflation By the Fed and Property Managers

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://mishtalk.com/economics/quotes-of-the-day-on-rent-inflation-by-the-fed-and-property-managers/

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According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, moving rates for Americans declined from 12.8% in 2021 to 12.6% in 2022.

But what is it for 2024?

My guess has been 9 percent in a range of 8 to 11 percent or so. But we will not know that for two more years.

Author(s): Mike Shedlock

Publication Date: 13 May 2024

Publication Site: Mish Talk

Pension Funds Are Pulling Hundreds of Billions From Stocks

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/pension-funds-stocks-bonds-679b8536?st=v0qwhq895irsqxn&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

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Stock portfolios at large pension funds had a blockbuster run. Now, managers are cashing out.

Corporate pension funds are shifting money into bonds. State and local government funds are swapping stocks for alternative investments. The nation’s largest public pension, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, is planning to move close to $25 billion out of equities and into private equity and private debt.

Like investors of all kinds, the funds are slowly adapting to a world of yield, where they can get sizable returns on risk-free assets. That is rippling throughout markets, as investors assess how much risk they want to take on. Moving out of stocks could mean surrendering some potential gains. Hold too much, for too long, and prices might fall.

Author(s): Heather Gillers, Charley Grant

Publication Date: 18 Apr 2024

Publication Site: WSJ

A Lawyer Abandoned Family and Career to Follow the Voices in His Head

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.wsj.com/us-news/homeless-california-mental-illness-care-court-f63d2027

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Disruptions in mental-health care during the pandemic left many Americans vulnerable. Among people ages 18 to 44, insurance claims related to psychotic episodes rose 30% to 2 million in 2023 from 2019, according to LexisNexis Risk Solutions, a data-analytics company. Around the U.S., hospitals are overwhelmed. Emergency rooms are adding security guards. Jails serve as a last resort for those unable to care for themselves. 

Author(s): Julie Wernau

Publication Date: 23 Mar 2024

Publication Site: WSJ

New data offers a more accurate picture of lightning strikes across the U.S.

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.fastcompany.com/91041966/us-yearly-lightning-ground-strikes-damage-prevention

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Lightning kills or injures about 250,000 people around the world every year, most frequently in developing countries, where many people work outside without lightning-safe shelters nearby. In the United States, an average of 28 people were killed by lightning every year between 2006 and 2023. Each year, insurance pays about $1 billion in claims for lightning damage, and around 4 million acres of land burn in lightning-caused wildfires.

Author(s): Chris Vagasky

Publication Date: 2 Mar 2024

Publication Site: Fast Company

4 out of 5 autoimmune disease patients are women. New study offers clue as to why

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/09/health/why-autoimmune-disease-affects-more-women-study-scn/index.html

Excerpt:

Why women are at greater risk of autoimmune disease such as multiple sclerosis, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis is a long-standing medical mystery, and a team of researchers at Stanford University may now be a step closer to unraveling it.

How the female body handles its extra X chromosome (the male body has just one plus a Y chromosome) might be a factor that helps explain why women are more susceptible to these types of disorders, a new study has suggested. The predominantly chronic conditions involve an off-kilter immune system attacking its own cells and tissues.

While the research involving experiments on mice is preliminary, the observation, after further study, may help inform new treatments and ways to diagnose the diseases, said Dr. Howard Chang, senior author of the paper published in the journal Cell on February 1.

….

Other researchers had focused on the disorders’ “female bias” by analyzing sex hormones or chromosome counts. Chang instead zoned in on the role played by a molecule called Xist (pronounced exist) that is not present in male cells.

The Xist molecule’s main job is to deactivate the second female X chromosome in embryos, ensuring that the body’s cells don’t get a potentially toxic double whammy of the chromosome’s protein-coding genes.

“Xist is a very long RNA, 17,000 nucleotides long, or letters, and it associates with approximately almost 100 proteins,” Chang said. Xist molecules work with those proteins to shut down gene expression in the second X chromosome.

Author(s): Katie Hunt

Publication Date: 9 Feb 2024

Publication Site: CNN Health