Household Joblessness in U.S. Metropolitan Areas during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Polarization and the Role of Educational Profiles

The authors use Current Population Survey 2016 to 2021 quarterly data to analyze changes in household joblessness across metropolitan areas in the United States during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. The authors first use shift-share analysis to decompose the change in household joblessness into changes in individual joblessness, household compositions, and polarization. The focus is on polarization, which is the result of the unequal distribution of individual joblessness across households. The authors find that the rise in household joblessness during the pandemic varies strongly across U.S. metropolitan areas. The initial stark increase and subsequent recovery are due largely to changes in individual joblessness. Polarization contributes notably to household joblessness but to varying degree. Second, the authors use metropolitan area–level fixed-effects regressions to test whether the educational profile of the population is a helpful predictor of changes in household joblessness and polarization. They measure three distinct features: educational levels, educational heterogeneity, and educational homogamy. Although much of the variance remains unexplained, household joblessness increased less in areas with higher educational levels. The authors show that how polarization contributes to household joblessness is shaped by educational heterogeneity and educational homogamy.

Observing many researchers using the same data and hypothesis reveals a hidden universe of uncertainty

This study explores how researchers' analytical choices affect the reliability of scientific findings. Most discussions of reliability problems in science focus on systematic biases. We broaden the lens to emphasize the idiosyncrasy of conscious and unconscious decisions that researchers make during data analysis. We coordinated 161 researchers in 73 research teams and observed their research decisions as they used the same data to independently test the same prominent social science hypothesis: that greater immigration reduces support for social policies among the public. In this typical case of social science research, research teams reported both widely diverging numerical findings and substantive conclusions despite identical start conditions. Researchers' expertise, prior beliefs, and expectations barely predict the wide variation in research outcomes. More than 95% of the total variance in numerical results remains unexplained even after qualitative coding of all identifiable decisions in each team's workflow. This reveals a universe of uncertainty that remains hidden when considering a single study in isolation. The idiosyncratic nature of how researchers' results and conclusions varied is a previously underappreciated explanation for why many scientific hypotheses remain contested. These results call for greater epistemic humility and clarity in reporting scientific findings.

Evidence that anaerobic oxidation of toluene in the denitrifying bacterium Thauera aromatica is initiated by formation of benzylsuccinate from toluene and fumarate

Toluene is degraded anoxically to CO2 by the denitrifying bacterium Thauera aromatica. Toluene first becomes oxidized to benzoyl-CoA by O2-independent reactions. Benzoyl-CoA is then reduced to non-aromatic products by benzoyl-CoA reductase. We set out to study the reactions employed for the initial activation of toluene and its oxidation to the level of benzoate. Evidence is provided for a novel way of toluene degradation based on experiments with cell-free extracts and with whole toluene-grown cells: Cell-free extracts oxidized [14C]toluene to [14C]benzoyl-CoA via several radioactive intermediates. This reaction was strictly dependent on the presence of fumarate, coenzyme A and nitrate as electron acceptor; acetyl-CoA and ATP were not necessary for the reaction. The first product formed in vitro was benzylsuccinate; (2H8)toluene was converted to (2H7)benzylsuccinate. Formation of benzylsuccinate from toluene was independent of coenzyme A and nitrate, but it required the presence of fumarate. Other tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates were converted to fumarate in cell extracts and therefore could partially substitute for fumarate. [14C]Benzylsuccinate was oxidized further to [14C]benzoyl-CoA and [14C]benzoate in cell extracts if coenzyme A and nitrate were present. No benzyl alcohol and benzaldehyde and no phenylpropionate could be detected as intermediates. In isotope trapping experiments with cell suspensions, two intermediates from [14C]toluene were detected, benzoate and benzylsuccinate. This corroborates the sequence of reactions deduced from in vitro experiments. A hypothetical degradation pathway for the anaerobic oxidation of toluene to benzoyl-CoA via an initial addition of fumarate to the methyl group of toluene and following beta-oxidation of the benzylsuccinate formed is suggested.

Purification and properties of benzyl alcohol dehydrogenase from a denitrifying Thauera sp

Toluene and related aromatic compounds are anaerobically degraded by the denitrifying bacterium Thauera sp. strain K172 via oxidation to benzoyl-CoA. The postulated initial step is methylhydroxylation of toluene to benzyl alcohol, which is either a free or enzyme-bound intermediate. Cells grown with toluene or benzyl alcohol contained benzyl alcohol dehydrogenase, which is possibly the second enzyme in the proposed pathway. The enzyme was purified from benzyl-alcohol-grown cells and characterized. It has many properties in common with benzyl alcohol dehydrogenase from Acinetobacter and Pseudomonas species. The enzyme was active as a homotetramer of 160 kDa, with subunits of 40 kDa. It was NAD(+)-specific, had an alkaline pH optimum, and was inhibited by thiol-blocking agents. No evidence for a bound cofactor was obtained. Various benzyl alcohol analogues served as substrates, whereas non-aromatic alcohols were not oxidized. The N-terminal amino acid sequence indicates that the enzyme belongs to the class of long-chain Zn(2+)-dependent alcohol dehydrogenases, although it appears not to contain a metal ion that can be removed by complexing agents.

Enzymes of anaerobic metabolism of phenolic compounds. 4-Hydroxybenzoate-CoA ligase from a denitrifying Pseudomonas species

The initial step of anaerobic 4-hydroxybenzoate and 3-hydroxybenzoate degradation was studied in a denitrifying Pseudomonas sp. 4'-Hydroxybenzoate and 3-hydroxybenzoate are converted into their coenzyme A (CoA) thioesters by two different specific coenzyme A ligases. 4-Hydroxybenzoate-CoA ligase (AMP-forming) was purified 350-fold. The ligase is active as a monomer of molecular mass 48 kDa, as determined by gel filtration and SDS/PAGE. At a pH optimum of 8.5, the apparent Km values for 4-hydroxybenzoate, ATP, and coenzyme A are 37 microM, 77 microM, and 125 microM, respectively. The enzyme reacts specifically with 4-hydroxybenzoate (100%) and 4-aminobenzoate (30%). Other analogues of benzoate, notably 3- or 2-hydroxybenzoate, are inactive, and 2,4-dihydroxybenzoate and 2-hydroxy-4-methylbenzoate act as competitive inhibitors (Ki = 1 microM). Polyclonal antibodies were raised and used in immunoblot assays to study the regulation of the expression of 4-hydroxybenzoate-CoA ligase. The ligase is synthesized when cells are grown anaerobically with 4-hydroxybenzoate, phenol, or p-cresol; phenol and p-cresol are degraded via 4-hydroxybenzoate. The enzyme is not present in cells grown aerobically with 4-hydroxybenzoate or anaerobically with benzoate or 4-hydroxyphenylacetate.