Monday, January 31, 2022

Living near or downwind of unconventional oil and gas development linked with increased risk of early death

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/941229

 

 News Release 27-Jan-2022
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

 

Elderly people living near or downwind of unconventional oil and gas development (UOGD)—which involves extraction methods including directional (non-vertical) drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking—are at higher risk of early death compared with elderly individuals who don’t live near such operations, according to a large new study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

The results suggest that airborne contaminants emitted by UOGD and transported downwind are contributing to increased mortality, the researchers wrote. 

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Indirect protection from COVID-19 for children, from vaccinated parents

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/941538

  News Release 27-Jan-2022
Peer-Reviewed Publication

 News Release 27-Jan-2022
Peer-Reviewed Publication
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

 

A new study based in Israel reveals that parental vaccination confers substantial protection for unvaccinated children in the same household. Vaccination exerts its effect through direct protection of vaccinated individuals, and through indirect protection of individuals living in vaccinated communities. 

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Unemployment associated with increase in violence early in COVID-19 pandemic

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/941695

 

 News Release 28-Jan-2022
Study of 16 U.S. cities shows historic level of job losses associated with an increase in firearm violence and homicide
Peer-Reviewed Publication
University of California - Davis Health

 

The sharp rise in unemployment during the five months of the pandemic was associated with an increase in firearm violence and homicide in 16 American cities. That’s the finding of a new study from researchers at the Violence Prevention Research Program (VPRP) at UC Davis.

The study was published in the Journal of Urban Health.  

The researchers did not find a corresponding increase in other crimes, such as aggravated assault, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft and robbery.

“Economic disadvantage and income inequality have long been associated with increased risk of violence,” said Julia Schleimer, the lead author of the study and a research data analyst at VPRP. “Our results indicate that the acute worsening of economic conditions, as we saw at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, may also increase violence risk.” 

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Research shows plant-based diet can help reduce the risk of severe COVID-19 and mortality

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/941733

 

 News Release 31-Jan-2022

New commentary in European Journal of Clinical Nutrition makes case for adopting ‘blue zone’ diet to stave off COVID-19
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

 

As the Omicron variant continues to cause a record number of infections, a new commentary in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition is calling for people to adopt a plant-based diet, which research shows can help reduce the risk of severe COVID-19 and mortality.

“It represents the most cost-effective approach and should be largely promoted and incorporated in everyday practice,” write Hana Kahleova, MD, PhD, director of clinical research at the Physicians Committee, and Neal Barnard, MD, president of the Physicians Committee, about a plant-based diet in the commentary. “This is a booster that is needed at this unprecedented time and that may actually work to mitigate COVID-19.”

The doctors cite several studies showing the benefits of a plant-based diet for COVID-19. One study showed that a healthy plant-based diet was associated with a 9% lower risk of COVID-19 infection and a 41% lower risk of severe COVID-19. Another study found that health care workers following a plant-based diet who had substantial exposure to COVID-19 patients had a 73% lower risk of moderate-to-severe COVID-19.

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Despite genetic makeup, following heart health guidelines can decrease risk of heart disease

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/941817

 

 News Release 31-Jan-2022
Peer-Reviewed Publication
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

 

Following Life’s Simple 7 guidelines developed by the American Heart Association (AHA) can significantly lower the risk of coronary heart disease despite a genetic predisposition, according to researchers with The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston).

The study was published today in Circulation.

Life’s Simple 7 identifies seven risk factors people can manage through lifestyle changes to improve their heart health. They include eating better, increasing physical activity, managing blood pressure, controlling cholesterol, reducing blood sugar, losing weight, and stopping smoking.  

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Brain function boosted by daily physical activity in middle-aged, older adults

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/941908

 

 News Release 31-Jan-2022
Peer-Reviewed Publication
University of California - San Diego

 

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On the days their physical activity increased, the study found, the 50- to 74-year-old participants performed more effectively on an executive function task, and on the days when their physical activity decreased, so too did their cognitive performance. 

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COVID-19 caused second-largest infection mortality disaster in Switzerland, Sweden, and Spain since 1918

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/941342

 

 News Release 31-Jan-2022
Peer-Reviewed Publication
American College of Physicians

 

A study of continuous monthly mortality data for more than 100 years in Switzerland, Sweden, and Spain found that excess deaths associated with the COVID-19 pandemic reached greater peaks than most other periods of excess deaths since 1918. The findings are published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Switzerland, Sweden, and Spain are particularly suitable for an over-time perspective of excess mortality because they have reliable continuous data on death counts and were militarily neutral during both world wars. Historical data may help to support planning and preparing for current and future pandemics.

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 After conducting statistical analysis, the authors found that for all three countries 2020 marked the highest number of excess deaths since 1918. However, excess deaths in 1918 were still estimated to be six to seven times higher than 2020. The relative excess of deaths in 2020 was 12.5 percent in Switzerland, 8.5 percent in Sweden, and 17.3 percent in Spain. According to the authors, excess mortality in 2020 might have been even higher if not for strong public health interventions worldwide.


Wednesday, January 26, 2022

Lifetime workplace exposure to pesticides linked to heightened COPD risk

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/940899

 

 News Release 25-Jan-2022
Findings independent of asthma and smoking, large long term study shows
Peer-Reviewed Publication
BMJ

 

Lifetime workplace exposure to pesticides is linked to a heightened risk of COPD, the umbrella term for a group of respiratory diseases that cause airflow blockage and breathing problems, finds a large population based study, published online in the journal Thorax.

The findings are independent of key risk factors for COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease): smoking and asthma.

Workplace exposures are important preventable causes of COPD, with recent estimates indicating that around 14% of all such cases are related to work, say the researchers.

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COVID-19 booster vaccination is safe and effective in immunosuppressed patients

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/941338

 

  News Release 26-Jan-2022
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Medical University of Vienna


Patients under immunosuppressive therapy, who do not respond to primary COVID-19 vaccination, have an increased risk for severe COVID-19 disease courses. Until now, it was not clear whether those patients at risk can benefit from an additional booster vaccination. Recent research findings from MedUni Vienna show that a third vaccination is safe and effective in those patients who were initially unable to produce antibodies after vaccination. The study was recently published in the acclaimed journal Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

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Physical activity protects against type 2 diabetes by modifying metabolism

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/941322

 

 News Release 26-Jan-2022
Peer-Reviewed Publication
University of Eastern Finland

 

Regular physical activity significantly changes the body’s metabolite profile, and many of these changes are associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, a new study from the University of Eastern Finland shows. 

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National identity predicts support for public health measures during coronavirus pandemic

 

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/940946

 

 News Release 26-Jan-2022
Peer-Reviewed Publication
New York University

 

Identification with one’s nation predicts both greater engagement with public health behaviors, such as masking and social distancing, and support for public health policies, finds an analysis of attitudes across 67 countries. The research, which appears in the journal Nature Communications, suggests that national identities play a significant and positive role in battling a global pandemic.

“History has undoubtedly shown that nationalism can be a destructive force,” observes Jay Van Bavel, a professor of psychology at New York University and one of the paper’s authors. “But research has also revealed that there is a pro-social side to group identity. This study points to a new and promising possibility—that national identity can be useful in effectively addressing the current pandemic and may serve as a public health resource in the future.”

“We see the positive effects, especially for those who feel genuinely proud and close to their nation, rather than those who are mostly concerned about how others see their country,” adds Aleksandra Cichocka, director of the Political Psychology Lab at the University of Kent and one of the paper’s authors.

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 the researchers aimed to separate national identity, which gauges how strongly people identify with their country, from national narcissism, which is a form of social identity that involves the belief that one’s group—or, in this case, nation—is exceptional but also underappreciated by others. Past studies have found that national identification tends to correlate with national narcissism because they both involve a positive evaluation of one’s nation. However, the researchers note, they are linked to very different outcomes. For example, prejudice against outgroups (those seen as different) is negatively associated with national identification, but positively with national narcissism.

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Cleaning your car may not protect you from this carcinogen

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/941255

 

 News Release 26-Jan-2022
Masks might work for more than COVID-19
Peer-Reviewed Publication
University of California - Riverside

 

It is unlikely that a cancer-causing chemical inside your car can be dusted or wiped way, according to new UC Riverside research.

This finding has now been published in the journal Environmental Research. It follows on the heels of a related study showing the longer your commute, the more you’re exposed to this chemical.

TDCIPP, or chlorinated tris, is a chemical flame retardant widely used in automobile seat foam. In addition to being on California’s Prop. 65 list because it is carcinogenic, UCR environmental toxicologist David Volz has found that TDCIPP prevents zebrafish embryos from developing normally. Other studies have associated it with infertility in certain women.

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 “Outside of a major policy change that replaces TDCIPP with something else, it might not hurt to wear a mask in your car,” Volz said. “Just like wearing a mask mitigates COVID-19 transmission, so too would aerosol-phase flame retardants be mitigated. N95s are probably best for this purpose.”


Chemicals in plastic may contribute to weight gain

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/941142

 

  News Release 26-Jan-2022
Plastic consumer products contain chemicals that may promote the development of overweight and obesity
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Norwegian University of Science and Technology

 

Every day, we come into contact with plastic products. A lot of plastic is found in food packaging. Plastic packaging is common for practical reasons, because it is cheap and because it can increase a food’s shelf life.

But plastic contains thousands of different chemicals. Some of these can affect your metabolism, and thus perhaps also your weight.
Found 55 000 different chemicals

“Our experiments show that ordinary plastic products contain a mix of substances that can be a relevant and underestimated factor behind overweight and obesity,” says Martin Wagner, an associate professor at NTNU’s Department of Biology.

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  Wagner’s team has recently shown that plastic products leach a large number of chemicals under real world conditions, thus enabling them to enter the body. Previous research also suggests that some plastics contain endocrine-disrupting chemicals that may affect our development and fertility. Now it appears that they may contribute to weight gain as well.

Chemicals from one third of the plastic products investigated in the new study were found to contribute to fat cell development in laboratory experiments. The substances in these products reprogramed precursor cells to become fat cells that proliferated more and accumulated more fat.

While some plastic products contained known metabolism-disrupting substances, others did not but nevertheless induced the development of fat cells. This means that plastics contain currently unidentified chemicals that interfere with how our body stores fat.

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Overweight and obesity contribute to some of the most common causes of death in the world, such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. They can also increase our susceptibility to various infections, such as the effects of COVID-19.

Around two billion people in the world are overweight, and the problem is growing. Approximately 650 million of these fall into the obese category.

The reasons for this are of course complex, but plastic chemicals may well be a factor that we have not previously considered. These chemicals include phthalates and bisphenols, but the new study shows that there are many more substances that trigger these problematic effects.

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How well do drivers fare after smoking cannabis?

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/941386

 

 News Release 26-Jan-2022
Peer-Reviewed Publication
University of California - San Diego

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Compared to participants who took the placebo, the THC group (who had smoked a cannabis cigarette with either 5.9 percent or 13.4 percent THC as they would “do at home to get high”) displayed significantly diminished ability on a Composite Drive Score (CDS) that assessed key simulated driving variables, such as swerving in lane, responding to divided attention tasks and following a lead car. However, not all individuals displayed significantly diminished driving skills compared to the placebo group; researchers said approximately 50 percent could be described as “impaired.”

The comparative decline was sharpest at the 30-minute and 1 hour-30 minute marks after inhaling cannabis, then leveled to borderline differences with the placebo at three hours-30 minute mark with no differences at 4 hours-30 minutes.

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tags: drug use, drug abuse,

Study finds vitamin D supplements with or without Omega-3s decreased risk of autoimmune diseases

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/941014

 

 News Release 26-Jan-2022
Vitamin D supplementation over five years reduced autoimmune disease rate by 22 percent compared to placebo
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Brigham and Women's Hospital

 

Autoimmune diseases (AD) such as rheumatoid arthritis, polymyalgia rheumatica, autoimmune thyroid disease and psoriasis, are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality as people age. Few effective treatments are available for AD, but some preclinical studies have hinted that supplements, including vitamin D and omega-3 (or n-3) fatty acids, may have beneficial effects. In a new study published in BMJ, investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital evaluated whether taking vitamin D and/or omega fatty acid supplements could affect rates of AD. The team tested this in the large-scale vitamin D and Omega-3 Trial (VITAL), a randomized study which followed participants for approximately five years. Investigators found the people who took vitamin D, or vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids had a significantly lower rate of AD than people who took a placebo.

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Athletes warned against potential dangers of natural supplements

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/940972

 

 News Release 26-Jan-2022
Peer-Reviewed Publication
European Society of Cardiology

 

Nutritional supplements taken to boost athletic performance can pose risks to the heart, according to a European Society of Cardiology (ESC) statement published today in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, a journal of the ESC.1

“Nutritional supplements are commonly viewed as risk-free substances that may improve performance,” states the paper. “Some nutritional supplements, including various plant and ‘natural’ extracts, may pose a serious health risk and athletes may even risk contravening anti-doping rules.” 

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Media not doing their job

 

NPR has said President Biden has not effectively communicated the contents of the bills to help our country in various ways, which people approve of when they find out about them.  But why isn't the media reporting on them?  That is their job.  They certainly are able to spend a lot of time reporting on disagreements between Democratic members of Congress.

Sunday, January 23, 2022

TV watching linked with potentially fatal blood clots

 

 https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/940352

 

 News Release 19-Jan-2022
Peer-Reviewed Publication
European Society of Cardiology

 

Take breaks when binge-watching TV to avoid blood clots, say scientists. The warning comes as a study reports that watching TV for four hours a day or more is associated with a 35% higher risk of blood clots compared with less than 2.5 hours.

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Can individuals’ walking pace impact their heart failure risk?

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/940491


 News Release 20-Jan-2022
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Wiley


In a study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society of postmenopausal women, those who reported a faster walking pace had a lower risk of developing heart failure.

Among 25,183 women ages 50–79 years, there were 1,455 heart failure hospitalization cases during a median follow-up of 16.9 years. Compared with women who walked at a casual pace, those who walked at an average pace or a fast pace had 27% and 34% lower risks of heart failure, respectively.

Fast walking for less than 1 hour per week was associated with the same risk reduction of heart failure as average or casual walking for more than 2 hours per week.

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Oral penicillin, not injectable, advised for people with high-risk rheumatic heart disease

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/940497


 News Release 20-Jan-2022
American Heart Association Presidential Advisory
Peer-Reviewed Publication
American Heart Association

 

A growing body of evidence indicates that some people thought to have an allergic response to injectable penicillin, the standard treatment for rheumatic heart disease, may instead be experiencing a cardiac reaction to the medicine, according to a new American Heart Association presidential advisory published today in Journal of the American Heart Association. The advisory, which represents official insights from the American Heart Association, suggests oral penicillin may be a safer option for people with rheumatic heart disease who are at high risk of a cardiac reaction.

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Dementia: how to prevent cognitive decline

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/940654

 

 News Release 20-Jan-2022
Peer-Reviewed Publication
University of Montreal

 

Physical activity, nutrition and cognitively stimulating activities are all known to be good ways to prevent Alzheimer's disease and dementia. And older adults at risk can access a variety of lifestyle services to that end, including diet regimes and exercises for their body and mind.

Now an international team of researchers led by Université de Montréal psychology professor Sylvie Belleville has determined how many of those intervention sessions are needed prevent cognitive decline in people at risk: only about a dozen.

Published in Alzheimer's & Dementia : The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association, the study by Dr. Belleville and colleagues at the universities of Toulouse and Helsinki show that 12 to 14 sessions are all that’s were needed to observe an improvement in cognition. Until now, the number of sessions or "doses” needed for optimal effect has been unknown.

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New study reports mask-wearing experiences of adults with asthma

 https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/940739

 

 News Release 20-Jan-2022
Peer-Reviewed Publication
University of Illinois Chicago

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Even though study participants almost uniformly adhered to mask wearing in public, 84% experienced discomfort, and 75% reported trouble breathing or shortness of breath at least a little of the time while wearing a mask. 

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The study team found an association between poorer asthma control and higher MES (more symptoms while wearing a mask). This finding is likely due to the fact that those with uncontrolled asthma are more likely to experience shortness of breath and trouble breathing even without a mask, Nyenhuis said. Additionally, the authors found that the longer a person wears a mask they are more likely to have a higher MES. 

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When asked to comment on their experiences wearing a mask, 45% indicated they had problems breathing and increased coughing when wearing a mask. However, 39% indicated they had no change in their asthma when wearing a mask. Notably, 5% responded they did not always wear a mask, and 2% indicated they had improved asthma/asthma symptoms when wearing a mask — likely because the mask protected them against pollen/pollutants that triggered their asthma, according to the study.

“The majority of those surveyed said about masks, ‘Just wear it,’” Nyenhuis said.  

Other survey participant suggestions include:  

    Take the time to find a comfortable, well-fitting mask. “Wear cotton masks as they are lightweight and more moisture-wicking than synthetic materials.” “Surgical masks feel better than cloth masks, easier to breathe.”
    Keep an inhaler with you. “Stay on top of your meds.”  
    Take a mask break and use breathing techniques. “Stay calm and take frequent breaks in circumstances where you can take your mask off for a few minutes.” “Make appropriate ADA accommodations with your employer for scheduled mask-off breaks.”

“Taking a mask break is important. It allows for opportunities to take large, deep breaths and do some breathing techniques,” Nyenhuis said. Employers should consider making accommodations for those with asthma to take safe mask breaks.

Other suggestions from the survey participants include using a pulse oximeter to show yourself you are getting enough oxygen when wearing a mask; make sure your mask is room temperature if cold triggers your asthma; and apologize to others around you if you must cough and verbalize you have asthma; and, stay home as much as possible.

Nyenhuis said there is no reason a person with asthma should not wear a mask, but those who have concerns about wearing a mask should contact their physician. 


 

walking may reduce Type 2 Diabetes risk for adults 65 and older

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/940683

 

 News Release 20-Jan-2022
Peer-Reviewed Publication
University of California - San Diego

 

Walking regularly and at greater intensity may help prevent Type 2 diabetes among 70 and 80 year olds, according to one of the first studies measuring steps and pace among this population.

The more steps a person takes, and the more intense, the lower their risk for developing diabetes, report researchers in a study published in the Jan. 20, 2022 issue of Diabetes Care.

“A key figure from our study is that for every 1,000 steps per day, our results showed a 6% lower diabetes risk in this population. What that means is, if the average older adult were to take 2,000 more steps every day in addition to what they were already doing, they might expect a 12% reduction in diabetes risk,” said first author Alexis C. Garduno, a third-year student in the University of California San Diego and San Diego State University joint doctoral program in public health. 

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Cancer treatment may inhibit immune response to COVID-19 vaccination

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/940751


 News Release 20-Jan-2022
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Mayo Clinic


A study by researchers at Mayo Clinic Cancer Center has found that patients with cancer who receive chemotherapy ― and some targeted therapies, such as CDK4/6 inhibitors and therapies targeted at B cells ― may mount an inadequate immune response to COVID-19 vaccination.

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Initiating peanut oral immunotherapy in peanut-allergic children under age four may be more effective, first long term study suggests

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/940531

 

 News Release 20-Jan-2022
Peer-Reviewed Publication
The Lancet

 


    The study included 146 peanut-allergic children and measured desensitisation (safe consumption of 5000mg peanut protein powder in a food challenge supervised by researchers after two and a half years of daily treatment) and remission (ability to repeat this food challenge 26 weeks after treatment ended).


    In children who received peanut oral immunotherapy 71% (68/96) achieved desensitisation versus 2% (1/50) in the placebo group, while 21% (20/96) achieved remission versus 2% (1/50) in the the placebo group.


    Further analysis suggested that children who were younger at the start of treatment were more likely than older children to achieve remission. The authors call for more research to investigate this finding, as it may indicate a window of opportunity early in life when peanut oral immunotherapy is more effective.


    Children were closely supervised in this trial, and offered small quantities of peanut protein powder which was increased gradually to 2000 mg daily (equivalent to 6 peanuts). 

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Granddaughters and great-granddaughters of men who start to smoke before puberty, have more body fat than expected, research shows

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/940526

 

 News Release 21-Jan-2022
Peer-Reviewed Publication
University of Bristol

 

A new study, led by the University of Bristol and published in Scientific Reports today [21 January], has reported increased body fat in females whose grandfathers or great-grandfathers began smoking before puberty.

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 In earlier research from 2014, they found that if a father started smoking regularly before reaching puberty (before 11 years of age), then his sons, but not his daughters, had more body fat than expected. In the newly published study, they extended this analysis to earlier generations using recently collected data on the grandfathers and great-grandfathers of study participants obtained by questionnaires. They discovered higher body fat in females whose paternal grandfathers or great-grandfathers had started smoking before age 13 compared to those whose ancestors started smoking later in childhood (age 13 to 16). No effects were observed in male descendants. Further research will be needed to confirm these observations in other longitudinal studies and to expand the investigation into other transgenerational effects and ancestral exposures.

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one of the reasons why children become overweight may be not so much to do with their current diet and exercise, rather than the lifestyle of their ancestors or the persistence of associated factors over the years.

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People who are depressed may be more susceptible to misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/940864

 

 News Release 21-Jan-2022
Among surveyed adults, those with depressive symptoms were more likely to believe false statements about COVID-19 vaccines
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Massachusetts General Hospital

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The team found that levels of depression are at least three times higher than what they were before the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants with moderate or greater major depressive symptoms on the initial questionnaire were more likely to endorse at least one of four false statements about COVID-19 vaccines on the subsequent survey, and those who endorsed these statements were less likely to be vaccinated. Specifically, the presence of depression was associated with a 2.2-times higher likelihood of endorsing misinformation, and respondents endorsing at least one misinformation statement were half as likely to be vaccinated and 2.7 times more likely to report vaccine resistance.

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Breakthrough COVID-19 infections spur strong antibody responses

 

 

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/940931

 

 News Release 21-Jan-2022
People vaccinated three times or vaccinated after an earlier COVID-19 infection had comparable neutralizing antibody activity to those with a breakthrough case.
Peer-Reviewed Publication
University of Washington School of Medicine/UW Medicine


Characteristics of the Delta and Omicron coronavirus variants of concern include enhanced transmissibility and immune evasion even in non-immunologically naïve individuals, compared to the ancestral pandemic coronavirus.

These characteristics, and the waning of immunity from vaccines, have led to breakthrough infections in vaccinated individuals.  For the most part, otherwise healthy people who are vaccinated against the SARS-CoV-2 usually do not have severe symptoms if they do end up contracting the virus.

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Characteristics of the Delta and Omicron coronavirus variants of concern include enhanced transmissibility and immune evasion even in non-immunologically naïve individuals, compared to the ancestral pandemic coronavirus.

These characteristics, and the waning of immunity from vaccines, have led to breakthrough infections in vaccinated individuals.  For the most part, otherwise healthy people who are vaccinated against the SARS-CoV-2 usually do not have severe symptoms if they do end up contracting the virus.

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Food for the goose is fit for the gander

 

I have seen comments from men that pregnancy is an "inconvenience".  Two of my close relatives almost died because of pregnancies.


There have been cases of ectopic pregnancies where the fetus attached to the abdominal wall and survived, being delivered by caesarean.  If women are not allowed to abort a fetus, esp. as a result of rape or incest, we should force the father to allow it to be transplanted into him, to carry it and deliber by caesarean.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene sold up to $15,000 worth of Activision Blizzard stock on the day Microsoft announced plans to buy the video game company

 

https://news.yahoo.com/rep-marjorie-taylor-greene-sold-014843362.html

 

Azmi Haroun
Fri, January 21, 2022, 8:48 PM

 

    Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a stock disclosure that she sold up to $15,000 worth of Activision stock on January 18.

    Microsoft's announced plans to acquire video-game giant Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion on the same day.

    Activision's stock soared that day, and Greene reported at least $200 in capital gains from the sale.

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lawmakers are not required to state the exact dollar figure for their capital gains.

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Greene ranks among Congress' most active stock traders. She was the first member of Congress to invest in Donald Trump's social media company, TRUTH social, and has had no problem investing in companies that espouse social views that clash with her own, such as those on Black Lives Matter.

Greene has also invested in the stock of three COVID-19 vaccine makers — Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and AstraZeneca — despite boasting about being unvaccinated against COVID-19.

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Thursday, January 20, 2022

Texas rejects hundreds of mail ballot applications under new voting limits By Joseph Ax

 

In Georgia, republicans have mandated that drop boxes for mail-in ballots be moved inside, instead of at the curb.  I have a friend who has a hard time walking because of nerve damage affecting a foot, and this will make it harder on her.  And of course, having to come inside makes people more exposed to Covid and other viruses, and she is more at risk for this, too.

 

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/texas-rejects-hundreds-mail-ballot-applications-under-new-voting-limits-2022-01-18/

 

By Joseph Ax

January 18, 20227:00 PM EST


Texas election officials have rejected hundreds of mail-in ballot applications, abiding by a new Republican-backed law just weeks before a March 1 primary kicks off this year's U.S. election cycle.

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Among other provisions, the law requires voters applying for a mail ballot to provide either a driver's license or Social Security number, which must match the number they gave when first registering to vote.

That leaves some voters playing a "guessing game," DeBeauvoir said, because many people cannot recall which number they provided originally and there is no easy way for voters to check.

Harris County, which includes Houston, had rejected 409 out of 1,373 applications as of last Friday for ID problems, including 309 missing ID numbers and 173 with numbers that did not match those on file, according to Leah Shah, a spokesperson for the county elections office.

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Other provisions in the law are also creating obstacles, she said. The office previously added a sticker with voters' addresses to applications that were mailed out to save them a step, but that is no longer permitted, Callanen said.

 The law also prohibits residents from obtaining applications for other people, including relatives. Callanen said her office regularly receives messages from senior citizens asking for ballots for themselves and their spouses; under the law, spouses must make their own separate requests

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Mail ballots in Texas are already sharply limited to a handful of categories, including residents 65 years and older, disabled residents or voters who will be absent from their county during early voting and Election Day.

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A Student From the Trump Family's Alma Mater Guessed the Average American Makes $800K Per Year

 

https://news.yahoo.com/student-trump-familys-alma-mater-181103208.html

 

Kristyn Burtt
Thu, January 20, 2022, 1:11 PM


The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business — attended by former president Donald Trump and his children Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. — is showing that there might be a major disconnect between the working class and what corporate America makes. Nina Strohminger, professor of Legal Studies & Business Ethics at Wharton, shared an eye-opening tweet on Wednesday that gave the results of a question posed to her students: What do they think the average American worker makes per year?

Are you ready for their answers? It seems shocking that “25% of them thought it was over six figures,” according to Strohminger’s tweet. What is particularly staggering is that “one of them thought it was $800k” for an average salary. The professor added, “Really not sure what to make of this (The real number is $45k).” 

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But the real question in all of this was summed up by one account asking, “What is the median income of the families of Wharton’s students?”

The answer, according to The New York Times, is $195,500. The fact that students of this type of privileged background seem more or less blind to the struggles of the American working class doesn’t bode well for who’s occupying powerful positions in our society

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Everything Must Be Paid for Twice

I suggest reading the whole article.

 

https://www.raptitude.com/2022/01/everything-must-be-paid-for-twice/

 

One financial lesson they should teach in school is that most of the things we buy have to be paid for twice.

There’s the first price, usually paid in dollars, just to gain possession of the desired thing, whatever it is: a book, a budgeting app, a unicycle, a bundle of kale.

But then, in order to make use of the thing, you must also pay a second price. This is the effort and initiative required to gain its benefits, and it can be much higher than the first price.

A new novel, for example, might require twenty dollars for its first price—and ten hours of dedicated reading time for its second. Only once the second price is being paid do you see any return on the first one. Paying only the first price is about the same as throwing money in the garbage.

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The miracle of industrialization has reduced many first prices tremendously, but has also given us many more of them to consider paying. With all the wonderful toys on offer, almost nobody feels like they have quite enough money, enough acquisition power. When a person receives a windfall, they immediately think of more first prices they can now pay.

But no matter how many cool things you acquire, you don’t gain any more time or energy with which to pay their second prices—to use the gym membership, to read the unabridged classics, to make the ukulele sound good—and so their rewards remain unredeemed.

-----

 

Anti-Vax Folk Singer Got COVID on Purpose. Now She’s Dead.

 

https://news.yahoo.com/anti-vax-folk-singer-got-161649983.html

 

 Barbie Latza Nadeau
Wed, January 19, 2022, 11:16 AM


-----

when her vaxxed up husband and son caught the virus, she decided it was her chance to get a health pass without rolling up her sleeve for a jab.

The 57-year-old quickly became infected and seemed to be on the road to recovery, her son Jan Rek told Czech public radio station iRozhlas.cz. Then on Sunday morning as she got up to go for a walk she was stricken with back pain. Ten minutes later she was dead after choking to death.

“She decided to continue to live normally with us and preferred to catch the disease than to get vaccinated,” Rek said after his mother’s death Sunday.

-----

Her son said that the strong anti-vax movement in parts of Europe was to blame.

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Wednesday, January 19, 2022

Georgia pastor accused of false imprisonment after 8 people, some disabled, found in basement

 

W/o government and police, th

 

https://www.news4jax.com/news/georgia/2022/01/19/georgia-pastor-accused-of-false-imprisonment-after-8-people-some-disabled-found-in-ba


Travis Gibson, Digital reporter/editor
Published: January 19, 2022, 3:30 PM
Updated: January 19, 2022, 4:40 PM


GRIFFIN, Ga. – A Georgia pastor is accused of false imprisonment after police said he was keeping at least eight people against their will in his home about an hour south of Atlanta.

According to the Griffin Police Department, Curtis Bankston, 55, and his wife were using their residence as an unlicensed group home and they locked the people who were staying there in a basement at times.

Most of the people living in the basement being used as a personal care home were mentally or physically disabled, police said.

-----

Police said that Bankston and his wife were in control of the disabled individuals’ finances, medications and public benefits, and some of the people were also denied medications and medical care.

By Friday all of the people in the home, between ages 23 to 65, were placed by the Department of Human Services into suitable care and housing, police said, and an investigation was opened into potential neglect and abuse.

 

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Tuesday, January 18, 2022

Inflation causes ignored by media

 

I notice that when the media, including NPR, talk about the causes of inflation, they avoid mentioning those that their big funding sources don't want mentioned, like climate disasters;  big profits for big business; the super rich, including from other countries, buying properties that they use part-time; zoning laws that require big houses on big lots; vampire investors that buy mobile home parks and start jacking up the lot rent.  They have recently started covering theft of goods in transit, but not mentioning that it would affect inflation, because businesses would have to raise prices to cover the loss.

The world’s richest 10 men doubled their fortunes to $1.5 trillion during the pandemic, says Oxfam

 

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-worlds-richest-10-men-doubled-their-fortunes-to-1-5-trillion-during-the-pandemic-says-oxfam-11642426379?siteid=yhoof2

 

Last Updated: Jan. 17, 2022 at 8:33 a.m. ET
First Published: Jan. 17, 2022 at 8:32 a.m. ET
By Barbara Kollmeyer
 

 

The world’s top ten billionaires increased their wealth by $1.3 billion a day, or $15,000 a second, during the global pandemic.

That’s according to a new report from global charity Oxfam International released on Monday, that said those billionaires doubled their fortunes from $700 billion to $1.5 trillion. Over the same timeframe, the incomes of 99% of humanity fell and over 160 million more people were forced into poverty.  

“If these ten men were to lose 99.999 percent of their wealth tomorrow, they would still be richer than 99 percent of all the people on this planet,” said Oxfam International’s Executive Director Gabriela Bucher. “They now have six times more wealth than the poorest 3.1 billion people.” 

-----

Forbes lists the top five wealthiest billionaires and their net worth as the following: Tesla TSLA, -1.82% CEO Elon Musk, $268 billion, Amazon’s AMZN, -1.99% founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, $188 billion, LVMH MC, -1.95% Chief Executive Officer Bernarld Arnault and family $187 billion, Microsoft MSFT, -2.43% co-founder Bill Gates, $134 billion and Oracle ORCL, -2.44% co-founder Larry Ellison, $120 billion.

The Oxfam report found that Musk has more wealth than the bottom 40%, some 131 million Americas, while U.S. billionaires own a half billion more wealth than the bottom 60%, or 197.6 million Americans. 

-----

“Billionaires have had a terrific pandemic. Central banks pumped trillions of dollars into financial markets to save the economy, yet much of that has ended up lining the pockets of billionaires riding a stock market boom,” said Bucher. 

-----

Oxfam added that twenty of the richest billionaires are estimated, on average, to be emitting as much as 8,000 times more carbon than the billion poorest people.


 

 

Saturday, January 15, 2022

Thieves target another source for stolen goods: Delivery trucks and trains full of packages

 

Another source of inflation.

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/14/thieves-find-new-source-for-stolen-goods-delivery-trucks-and-trains-.html

 

Melissa Repko

Published Fri, Jan 14 20223:11 PM EST   Updated Fri, Jan 14 20228:13 PM EST


Instead of shoplifting from stores, some thieves are zeroing in on another target: Trains and delivery trucks full of packages on the way to customers’ doorsteps.

-----

Best Buy CEO Corie Barry said the crimes — which are sometimes violent — have compounded staffing challenges for retailers who are trying to find and retain employees during the pandemic.

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29 charged in 6-state shoplifting ring that hit pharmacies

 

 

This contributes to inflation, because stores have to charge more to make up for theft.
 
 
 
 
Thu, January 13, 2022, 4:21 PM

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — State and federal authorities announced Thursday that they arrested and charged more than two dozen people for taking part in a multistate shoplifting ring that made off with more than $10 million in stolen goods over the past few years, most of which was over-the-counter medications.
 
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The ringleaders would then arrange for the sale of the items on websites such as Amazon and eBay.

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Friday, January 14, 2022

Is Covid causing an increase in deaths even when asymptotic?

 

 A lot of people are dying recently.  Since I studied probability theory, I know that things that happen totally at random have clumps.  But I'm also wondering if some of this is due to Covid infections that might not cause symptoms.  One of the problems with Covid is that it causes blood clots, which could cause heart attacks and strokes.

California deputy district attorney, outspoken critic of vaccine mandates, dies of COVID at 46

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/01/05/attorney-kelly-ernby-vaccine-critic-dies-covid/9106785002/

 

Jordan Mendoza
USA TODAY
Jan 5, 2022


Kelly Ernby, a deputy district attorney in Orange County, California, and vocal opponent of COVID-19 vaccine mandates, died at the age of 46. Her death comes a week after telling friends she was sick with COVID-19.

-----

"She was NOT vaccinated," her husband wrote. "That was the problem."

Chapman also confirmed on Facebook Ernby was unvaccinated and addressed messages he said the family have been sent.

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Mountain lion encounters are rare, but if you encounter one, here are 5 ways to stay safe

 

I suggest reading the whole article.

 

https://news.yahoo.com/mountain-lion-encounters-rare-encounter-140026062.html

 

Lindsey Botts, Arizona Republic
Fri, January 14, 2022, 9:00 AM

 ---

Make yourself big

If you do stumble into an area where a mountain lion is present, you'll want to make yourself as large as possible. Open your jacket, raise your arms, wave sticks or walking poles, anything that's going to add to your size. This is especially true for children.

"Think of opening a jacket, so you look twice as wide or holding your hands up high," Neils advises. "What you definitely do not want to do is ... make yourself look small and meek, never crouch down or run." 

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"You don't have to be aggressive because sometimes that can backfire. But just large and confident in your space and loud in your space.

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Give the animal an exit

Once you've made yourself as threatening as possible, both Neils and Young recommend giving the animal space to flee. This is key in avoiding conflict because you never want the animal to feel cornered, which could lead to altercations. That means you'll need to be aware of both your and the animal's exit strategy.

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Thursday, January 13, 2022

Nearly quarter of world’s population had record hot year in 2021, data shows

 

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/13/hot-year-temperatures-climate-crisis-2021

 

Oliver Milman
@olliemilman
Thu 13 Jan 2022 12.15 EST

 

Nearly a quarter of the world’s population experienced a record hot year in 2021, as the climate crisis continues to unleash escalating temperatures around the globe, according to new data from leading US climate scientists.

Last year was the sixth hottest ever recorded, with the global temperature 1.1C [2F] above the pre-industrial average, a new annual analysis from Nasa and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) found.

-----

 There were record-high temperatures in parts of northern Africa, south Asia and parts of South America last year, Arctic sea ice continued its decline and the oceans recorded yet another record year for heat content. “The oceans are storing a heck of a lot of heat,” said Russell Vose, a senior climate scientist at Noaa. “If it weren’t for the large heat storage capacity of the oceans, the atmosphere would’ve warmed a lot more rapidly.”

------

“It’s clear that each of the past four decades has been warmer than the one preceding it,” he added. “It’s certainly warmer now than at any time in the past 2,000 years, and probably longer.”

Earlier this week, the European climate agency Copernicus said 2021 was the fifth hottest year on record, with the last seven years the hottest ever documented. A slight edge was taken off last year’s temperatures by a La Niña, a periodic climatic event that cools the waters of the Pacific Ocean.

-----


 

Stronger evidence linking virus to multiple sclerosis

 

https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-science-health-multiple-sclerosis-b325dceb5612e4ec7f22c8f25901e5eb

 

 There’s more evidence that one of the world’s most common viruses may set some people on the path to developing multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis is a potentially disabling disease that occurs when immune system cells mistakenly attack the protective coating on nerve fibers, gradually eroding them.

The Epstein-Barr virus has long been suspected of playing a role in development of MS. It’s a connection that’s hard to prove because just about everybody gets infected with Epstein-Barr, usually as kids or young adults -- but only a tiny fraction develop MS.

Thursday, Harvard researchers reported one of the largest studies yet to back the Epstein-Barr theory.

-----

The virus appears to be “the initial trigger,” Drs. William H. Robinson and Lawrence Steinman of Stanford University wrote in an editorial accompanying Thursday’s study. But they cautioned, “additional fuses must be ignited,” such as genes that may make people more vulnerable.

Epstein-Barr is best known for causing “mono,” or infectious mononucleosis, in teens and young adults but often occurs with no symptoms. A virus that remains inactive in the body after initial infection, it also has been linked to later development of some autoimmune diseases and rare cancers.

-----

Attempts are underway to develop Epstein-Barr vaccines including a small study just started by Moderna Inc., best known for its COVID-19 vaccine.


Wednesday, January 12, 2022

Swing State Trumpers Forged Electoral Letters in Harebrained Scheme to Overturn Biden’s Win

 

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/pro-trump-groups-fake-letter-national-archives-1281966/

 

By Peter Wade

January 12, 2022 11:00AM ET


Pro-Trump groups in at least five states sent the government forged certificates of ascertainment declaring Trump the recipient of the state’s 2020 electors. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow reported on the falsified documents Tuesday night, noting that the fake certifications, which were obtained by watchdog group American Oversight, have “almost the exact same wording” to the real documents.

“They sent them into the government as if they were real documents,” Maddow said. “They actually created these fake documents purporting to be the real certifications of them as electors,” she added. “They all match, exactly. Same formatting, same font, same spacing, almost the exact same wording. All of them.”

-----

The Arizona group that sent the forgery, called “AZ Protect the Vote,” is a sovereign citizen group. Because their letter included the state seal, the state sought legal action, referring the case to the attorney general and writing a cease and desist letter instructing the group to stop using the insignia. Lori Osiecki, who leads the group, told the Arizona Republic in Dec. 2020 that a meeting with Rudy Giuliani helped convince her to send the forgery. The Michigan group did not use the state seal.

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https://www.americanoversight.org/american-oversight-obtains-seven-phony-certificates-of-pro-trump-electors

 

American Oversight Obtains Seven Phony Certificates of Pro-Trump Electors


Publish Date: March 2, 2021

 

American Oversight has obtained copies of phony electoral vote certificates from seven states that were submitted to Congress as part of the failed attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

The fake electoral certificates were assembled by groups of Trump supporters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin who sought to replace the valid presidential electors from their state — who had been chosen by voters in free and fair elections — with bogus slates of pro-Trump electors.

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The coordinated, multi-state effort to cast doubt on the 2020 election and undermine the electoral vote process tragically led to the violent Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol in which a pro-Trump mob stormed the building and sought to physically block the congressional certification of each state’s real Electoral College votes.

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Why is innovation slower?

 

 An episode on NPR's Here and Now program discussed why innovation has slowed down.  It mentioned genontocracy, dominance by older people who are less innovated.  If people have an understanding of science and mathematics, it would be obvious to them when knowledge is advanced, innovation would likely slow down, because the easier innovations would be done soonest, and as we advance, further innovation will be harder.  And another problem at this time is the dominance of a power elite which focuses on quick financial returns.

The top 10 global weather and climate change events of 2021

 

https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2022/01/the-top-10-global-weather-and-climate-change-events-of-2021/

 

 by Jeff Masters January 11, 2022


The year 2021 made an indelible mark in the annals of weather history. Not only did it feature the most extreme heat wave in history – the late June heat wave over western North America that smashed all-time records by unprecedented margins – it was also the first year to record four weather mega-disasters costing over $20 billion

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A total of eight extreme weather events were ranked in the top ten; in addition, there were two concerning climate change discoveries that may presage serious future challenges. Below is a list of the top-10 weather and climate change events of 2021, as rated by the impacts on humans and/or meteorological significance.
1. The most extreme heat wave in world history

Never in the century-plus history of world weather observation have so many all-time heat records fallen by such a large margin than in the historic late-June 2021 heat wave in western North America. The intense heat wave was the second-deadliest weather disaster of the year, with 1,037 deaths: 808 in western Canada and 229 in the northwestern U.S. The only deadlier weather disaster of 2021 was summer monsoon flooding in India that claimed 1,292 lives, according to insurance broker Aon.

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6. July 2021: Earth’s warmest month in recorded history

July 2021 was Earth’s hottest July since global record-keeping began in 1880, 0.93 degrees Celsius (1.67°F) above the 20th-century average, NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information reported. Since July is also the hottest month of the seasonal cycle, that meant that July 2021 was “more likely than not the warmest month on record for the globe since 1880,” NOAA said. July 2021 was just 0.01 degree Celsius hotter than July of 2016, 2019, and 2020, so these months can be considered to be in a statistical tie for Earth’s hottest month on record.

The record July warmth was particularly remarkable since there was a moderate La Niña event in the Eastern Pacific that ended in May 2021. La Niña events typically cause global cooling of about 0.1 degree Celsius; the peak cooling occurs five months after the La Niña peak, on average. July 2021 temperatures would have been even warmer had a La Niña event not occurred earlier in the year.

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7. Danger signs: a key Atlantic Ocean current system is near collapse

The climate over the past few thousand years has been unusually stable, helping bring about the rise of modern civilization. However, ice core studies reveal that the “normal” climate for Earth is one of frequent extreme jumps – like a light switch flicking on and off. So it is incorrect to think that global warming will lead to a slow and steady increase in temperature that humans can readily adapt to. Global warming could push the climate system past a threshold where a sudden, irreversible climate shift would occur.

That outcome would most likely happen if the increased precipitation and glacial meltwater from global warming flood the North Atlantic with enough fresh water to slow down or even halt the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), which transports warm, salty water from the tropics to the North Atlantic and sends cold water to the south along the ocean floor. The mighty Gulf Stream current forms the portion of the AMOC that runs along the U.S. East Coast. If the AMOC were to shut down, the Gulf Stream would no longer pump warm, tropical water to the North Atlantic. Average temperatures would cool in Europe and North America by three degrees Celsius (5°F) or more in just a few years – not enough to trigger a full-fledged ice age, but enough cooling to bring snows in June and killing frosts in July and August to New England and northern Europe, such as occurred in the famed 1816 “year without a summer.” In addition, shifts in the jet stream pattern would bring about severe droughts and damaging floods in regions unaccustomed to such events, greatly straining global food and water supplies.

A study published in August 2021 looked at eight independent measures of the AMOC, and found that all eight showed early warning signs that the ocean current system may be nearing collapse. “The AMOC may have evolved from relatively stable conditions to a point close to a critical transition,” the authors wrote.

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Tuesday, January 11, 2022

‘Omicron the Pandemic Killer’ Idea Ignores Dangers of Long COVID

 

I might have had long Covid for almost a year and a half after I was sick with what might have been Covid, early in 2020.  I was on my way to be tested, and got a flat tire, didn't feel up to dealing with it while I was sick, and didn't want to spread whatever I had.   It finally cleared up after I had my first two vaccinations.  Fortunately, it wasn't as bad as some people, but it would have been a big problem if I had had a job.  Every few days I would have one or several days of extreme fatigue, have to sleep 12 hours, then also take a two hour nap.  Didn't feel so great on the good days, either.


https://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/view/-omicron-the-pandemic-killer-idea-ignores-dangers-of-long-covid

 

January 11, 2022
Frank Diamond


Sometimes lost among the evidence that the Omicron variant of COVID-19 might be a way to, ironically, end the pandemic–mild symptoms and high infectivity might get us to herd immunity—is this question: What about long COVID? That’s especially pertinent to infection preventionists (IPs) and other health care professionals who find themselves yet again on the frontlines of another surge.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), long COVID “is a range of symptoms that can last weeks or months after first being infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 or can appear weeks after infection. Long COVID can happen to anyone who has had COVID-19, even if their illness was mild, or if they had no symptoms.”

Linda Spaulding, RN-BC, CIC, CHEC, CHOP, a member of Infection Control Today®’s Editorial Advisory Board (EAB), says that she’s “seen athletes in their 20s on the wait list for double lung transplants because of long COVID. That’s something that has long-term consequences. Some people talk of COVID fog. They just can’t put their thoughts together.”

-----

A preprint study by Oxford University investigators on the medRxiv website, compares brain scans for SARS-CoV-2 infections in 394 COVID-19 patients who tested positive for the infection against 388 patients in a control group. “We identified significant effects of COVID-19 in the brain with a loss of grey matter in the left parahippocampal gyrus, the left lateral orbitofrontal cortex and the left insula,” the study states. “When looking over the entire cortical surface, these results extended to the anterior cingulate cortex, supramarginal gyrus and temporal pole.”

As noted by Kevin Kavanagh, MD, another member of ICT®’s EAB, a core difficulty in society’s attempt to guide COVID-19 from pandemic to endemic is that COVID is not just a respiratory virus. Kavanagh wrote in October that SARS-CoV-2 is similar to HIV because it can “silently spread throughout the host’s body and attack almost every organ.”

-----

Bruce Patterson, MD, who works for the Chronic COVID Treatment Center, says it is too soon to determine whether Omicron can cause long COVID, but believes it will follow the same route as Delta in that regard. He tells the Deseret News in Utah that “I mean, given what we’ve heard and what we’ve seen, and Omicron just infecting everybody under the sun, we’ll see the same thing with an abundance of kids and adults.”

Kavanagh writes for ICT® that “much of the abandonment of public health measures has been spurred by a massive disinformation campaign which has successfully convinced a relatively large portion of our population that as long as one lives through COVID-19 all will be well. The young and healthy have especially embraced this narrative.”

It is a false narrative, Kavanagh warns, because “the premise that mild infections do not carry significant risks is false. In part this belief is driven by those who have not died from COVID-19 being counted as ‘recovered’ as opposed to ‘survived’. SARS-CoV-2 causes a system infection and is commonly detected in the heart and brain, exemplified by the loss of smell from brain tissue destruction and loss of cardiac function from myocarditis. Even those who develop ‘mild’ COVID-19 can develop long COVID-19 which in many cases lasts for a year or longer.”

Everybody but everybody hopes that this pandemic will end, but experts like Kavanagh point out there’s a difference between hoping and wishful thinking. In terms of evolutionary survival, viruses have billions of years of a head start on humans. And just as the world focuses less on Delta and more on Omicron, yet another variant has been spotted.

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Why are republicans hurting people?

 

 

Many people have been puzzled at why republican politicians have encouraged the members of their own party to risk their lives by refusing to protect themselves from Covid-19, leading to fewer voters in their party because of Covid deaths.  With so many doing this, it's hard to assume it is solely due to stupidity.  There are obvious political reasons.  They are playing to their base, especially Trump fans, who vote in primaries.  They are fanning the flames of partisanship and division, to keep those voters in their own party, and keep us from working together for our benefit against the big business donors whom the republicans serve.


But as time goes on, I wonder more and more if they are acting the way they did when Obama was president, deliberately hurting workers in order to turn voters against a president of the opposite party.  I would like to think that could not be the case, but the fact is they did that just a few years ago, with the result that Trump got enough votes to win the electoral college, so it would be naive to think they have suddenly become patriots who care about the good of our country.

Another possible factor is that some people may be in the pay of our enemies, like the Russians.  We know that the Russians have worked for decades to recruit people to help them.  We know that they have occasionally been successful, sometimes undetected for decades.  With the hundreds of politicians, many motivated by a desire for power and/or money, it would not be at all surprising if some were subverted by our enemies to take actions that weaken our country.  And more might be do so unwittingly.  We know that the Russians have worked thru social media to encourage resistance by our citizens to take effective measure to protect themselves and our country from Covid.
 

 

Business Insider United's CEO said one worker a week was dying from COVID-19 before the company mandated vaccines.

 

https://news.yahoo.com/uniteds-ceo-said-one-worker-145813809.html


Jake Epstein,Taylor Rains
Tue, January 11, 2022, 9:58 AM


More than one United Airlines employee on average was dying from COVID-19 each week prior to the company's vaccine mandate, CEO Scott Kirby said on Tuesday.

-----

Business Insider
United's CEO said one worker a week was dying from COVID-19 before the company mandated vaccines. Now, no vaccinated employees have died in 2 months.
Jake Epstein,Taylor Rains
Tue, January 11, 2022, 9:58 AM·2 min read
In this article:

United Airlines plane
United Airlines planes are seen at Newark International Airport in New Jersey, United States on September 29, 2021. United Airlines is firing employees over its vaccine mandate.Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

    United Airlines says an average of one employee a week died from COVID-19 before vaccine mandate.

    Since enforcing a vaccine mandate, no vaccinated employee has died from COVID-19 in two months, the airline's CEO said.

    The airline's CEO said that no vaccinated staff members are hospitalized with COVID-19.

More than one United Airlines employee on average was dying from COVID-19 each week prior to the company's vaccine mandate, CEO Scott Kirby said on Tuesday.

Now that a vaccine mandate is in place, the airline has not seen a COVID-19-related death among its vaccinated employees in two months, according to a memo sent by Kirby to United staff and obtained by Insider.

A spokesperson for United confirmed to Insider that the vaccine mandate went into place in September, and that "the memo references the stats before the mandate and afterwards."

It remains unclear if the data refers to all deaths that happened since the pandemic began or if it refers to a shorter time period.

Kirby also said that while nearly 3,000 United employees are currently positive for COVID-19, and there are no vaccinated employees currently in the hospital.

"In dealing with COVID, zero is the word that matters — zero deaths and zero hospitalizations for
vaccinated employees," Kirby said in the memo.

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Government Grant Scams

 

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/government-grant-scams

 

Offers of free money from government grants are scams. Someone might offer you a grant to pay for education, home repairs, home business expenses, or unpaid bills. But they’re all scams. Here’s how to avoid a government grant scam, and how to report it.

-----

What To Know About Government Grants

    The government won’t get in touch out of the blue about grants. It won’t call, text, reach out through social media, or email you. It won’t offer you free government grants of any kind, much less grants to pay for home repairs, medical costs, or other personal needs. Real government grants require an application, and they’re always for a very specific purpose. Learn more (for free) at grants.gov.
    Never share your financial or personal information with anyone who contacts you. Government agencies will never call, text, message you on social media, or email to ask for your Social Security, bank account, or credit card number. In fact, no matter who they say they are, don’t give out that information. Once a scammer has your information, they can steal money from your account, or your identity.
    Don’t pay for a list of government grants — and don’t pay any up-front fees. The only place you can find a list of all available federal grants is at grants.gov. And that list is free. No government agency will ever contact you to demand that you pay to get a grant. And no government agency will ever ask you to pay with a gift card, cash reload card, by money transfer, or with cryptocurrency. Not for a grant, and not ever.
    If you paid a scammer, act quickly. If you think you’ve sent money to a government impersonator like one of these grant scammers, contact the company you used to send the money. Tell the gift card, money transfer, or cryptocurrency company that it was a fraudulent transaction. Then ask them to reverse it.
 

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Report Government Grant Scams

When you report a scam, the FTC can use the information to build cases against scammers, spot trends, educate the public, and share data about what is happening in your community. If you spotted a scam, report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

 http://www.reportfraud.ftc.gov/

 

Saturday, January 08, 2022

COVID-19 – Omicron: resistant to most monoclonal antibodies but neutralized by a booster dose

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/939536

 

 News Release 7-Jan-2022
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Institut Pasteur

-----

 The scientists demonstrated that Omicron is much less sensitive to neutralizing antibodies than Delta. The scientists then analyzed the blood of people who had received two doses of the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine. Five months after vaccination, the antibodies in the blood were no longer capable of neutralizing Omicron. This loss of efficacy was also observed in individuals who had been infected with SARS-CoV-2 within the past 12 months. Administering a booster dose of the Pfizer vaccine or a single vaccine dose in previously infected individuals led to a significant increase in antibody levels that was sufficient to neutralize Omicron. Omicron is therefore much less sensitive to the anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies currently used in clinical practice or obtained after two vaccine doses. 

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The scientists began by testing nine monoclonal antibodies used in clinical practice or currently in preclinical development. Six antibodies lost all antiviral activity, and the other three were 3 to 80 times less effective against Omicron than against Delta. The antibodies Bamlanivimab/Etesevimab (a combination developed by Lilly), Casirivimab/Imdevimab (a combination developed by Roche and known as Ronapreve) and Regdanvimab (developed by Celtrion) no longer had any antiviral effect against Omicron. The Tixagevimab/Cilgavimab combination (developed by AstraZeneca under the name Evusheld) was 80 times less effective against Omicron than against Delta.

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Vaccinated women pass COVID-19 antibodies to breastfeeding babies

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/939595

 

 News Release 7-Jan-2022
Peer-Reviewed Publication
University of Massachusetts Amherst

 

Women vaccinated against COVID-19 transfer SARS-CoV-2 antibodies to their breastfed infants, potentially giving their babies passive immunity against the coronavirus, according to University of Massachusetts Amherst research.

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Slow posting

 

Sorry for the slowdown in posts.  I was sick for a couple of weeks.  And now I'm doing my Tax-Aide certification.

Monday, January 03, 2022

Need better science understanding

 

Several years ago, when some people raised concerns about the poor showing of Americans in science knowledge, some people said why people need to know anything about science if they didn't directly use it in their jobs.  Of course, it is important for the general public to understand science, for the sake of their own health and pocketbook, and to make wise voting choices. The number of people who believe silly conspiracy claims about Covid is a vivid example of the need for better science education in our country.

Choline during pregnancy impacts children’s sustained attention

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/939150

 

 News Release 3-Jan-2022
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Cornell University

 

Seven-year-old children performed better on a challenging task requiring sustained attention if their mothers consumed twice the recommended amount of choline during their pregnancy, a new Cornell study has found.

The study, which compared these children with those whose mothers had consumed the recommended amount of choline, suggests that the recommended choline intake for expectant mothers does not fully meet the needs of the fetal brain.

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 Choline – found in egg yolks, lean red meat, fish, poultry, legumes, nuts and cruciferous vegetables – is absent from most prenatal vitamins, and more than 90% of expectant mothers consume less than the recommended amount.

Several decades of research using rodent models has shown that adding extra choline to the maternal diet produces long term cognitive benefits for the offspring. In addition to improving offspring attention and memory throughout life, maternal choline supplementation in rodents has proven to be neuroprotective for the offspring by mitigating the cognitive adversities caused by prenatal stress, fetal alcohol exposure, autism, epilepsy, Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease.

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