By Kim Lyons Jan 23, 2021, 10:26am EST
Facebook says some users were logged out of their accounts unexpectedly Friday due to a “configuration change,” and the issue has been fixed as of Saturday morning.
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Saturday, January 23, 2021
Facebook says ‘configuration change’ caused some users to be logged out unexpectedly
The Bidens were reportedly left waiting outside the White House on Inauguration Day because Trump sent the staff home
https://www.businessinsider.com/bidens-reportedly-left-outside-white-house-trump-sent-staff-home-2021-1
Mikhaila Friel
Jan. 23, 2021
Joe and Jill Biden may have been waiting to enter the White House for longer than necessary on Inauguration Day because there was a lack of staff there to greet them.
In a break from White House protocol, the new President and First Lady were left standing in front of closed doors as they took photos outside of their new residence for the first time on Wednesday.
The Trumps "sent the butlers home when they left so there would be no-one to help the Bidens when they arrived," a well-placed official not associated with the Biden administration told The National Journal.
Chief usher Timothy Harleth was also fired by the Trumps before they left on Wednesday morning, the publication reports. White House press secretary Jen Psak later confirmed that Harleth's exit occurred "before we walked in the door."
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Biden's entrance was a complete contrast to Trump's first visit to the White House on his Inauguration day four years prior.
On January 20, 2017, Donald and Melania Trump were greeted by former president Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, who posed for the photos with the couple before they entered the building together through open doors.
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Trump considered ousting U.S. Attorney General and installing loyalist in push to overturn election
Emma Newburger
@emma_newburger
Published Sat, Jan 23 20211:34 PM ESTUpdated Sat, Jan 23 20212:11 PM EST
Former President Donald Trump earlier this month plotted to oust Jeffrey Rosen as acting attorney general and replace him with a Justice Department lawyer who would aid his efforts to overturn the presidential election results, The New York Times reported Friday.
The plan would have replaced Rosen with Jeffrey Clark, the lawyer who led the Justice Department’s civil division. Clark would have then supported Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud and put pressure on Georgia state officials to change the election outcome.
A Justice Department official familiar with the matter confirmed to NBC News the Times’ account of Trump’s efforts.
Trump’s plan ultimately didn’t materialize after Justice Department officials agreed during a conference call that they would resign if Rosen was dismissed, according to the Times.
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Friday, January 22, 2021
A large number of gray whales are starving and dying in the eastern North Pacific
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-01/au-aln012221.php
News Release 22-Jan-2021
It is now the third year that gray whales have been found in very poor condition or dead in large numbers along the west coast of Mexico, USA and Canada. A new international study now suggests that starvation is contributing to these mortalities.
Aarhus University
It's mid-January 2021, and the first gray whales from the eastern North Pacific population have started to arrive in the breeding lagoons in Baja California, Mexico. Since the start of their southbound migration from their high latitude feeding grounds, several sightings of emaciated gray whales have already been reported along their migration route.
This has raised concern among scientists that the unusual mortality event (UME, an unexpected phenomenon during which a significant number of a marine mammal population dies), that started in January 2019, and which so far has resulted in 378 confirmed gray whale deaths, and possibly many more unrecorded, is entering its third year.
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A decline in prey availability on the main feeding grounds is hence the most probably explanation for the current UME. Since the late 1980s, there has been a decline in the abundance and biomass of amphipods, the main prey for gray whales, in the central Chirikov Basin, the main feeding area for gray whales in the Bering Sea. This in turn is believed to be caused by warming of Arctic waters as a result of natural and/or human-induced climate change. If that is the case, UMEs like this one might become more frequent, which could result in a decline in gray whale numbers in coming decades.
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Lack of sleep, stress can lead to symptoms resembling concussion
Lack of sleep certainly affects the functioning of my brain. When I don't get enough, I can start wondering if I am getting dementia, only to have a marvelous recovery after getting a few nights of enough sleep.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-01/osu-los012221.php
News Release 22-Jan-2021
Ohio State University
A new study suggests that a lot of people might be going through life with symptoms that resemble concussion - a finding supporting researchers' argument that athletes recovering from a brain injury should be assessed and treated on a highly individualized basis.
In the national study, between 11% and 27% of healthy college athletes with no history of a recent concussion reported combinations of symptoms that met criteria for post-concussion syndrome (PCS) as defined by an international classification system. Among the nearly 31,000 student-athletes surveyed, three factors stood out as the most likely to predict PCS-like symptoms: lack of sleep, pre-existing mental health problems and stress.
The participants were cadets from four U.S. military service academies - who undergo rigorous training and are required to participate in athletics - and students who competed in NCAA sports at 26 U.S. higher education institutions.
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New maintenance treatment for acute myeloid leukemia prolongs the lives of patients
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-01/wcm-nmt012221.php
News Release 22-Jan-2021
Weill Cornell Medicine
Patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), the most common form of acute leukemia in adults, that has gone into remission following initial chemotherapy remain in remission longer and have improved overall survival when they are given a pill form of the cancer drug azacitidine as a maintenance treatment, according to a randomized, international phase 3 clinical trial for which Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian are trial sites. This is the first time a maintenance treatment for AML has shown such a strong benefit for patients, and it is already being adopted as part of standard care.
The results, which were published Dec. 24 in the New England Journal of Medicine, led to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval in September 2020 of oral azacitidine, known by the trade name Onureg, as a maintenance therapy for AML.
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"We are especially gratified that the drug is very well-tolerated, so that quality of life is not compromised."
•••••
Side effects with oral azacitidine that were somewhat more common in the
treatment group included vomiting, low white blood cell counts, and
infections, but these were generally considered manageable and did not
result in treatment discontinuation.
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NSAIDs might exacerbate or suppress COVID-19 depending on timing, mouse study suggests
I'm sure this is not surprising to many who are familiar with the subject.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-01/asfm-nme012221.php
News Release 22-Jan-2021
American Society for Microbiology
New research shows that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) reduced both antibody and inflammatory responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection in mice. The study appears this week in the Journal of Virology, a publication of the American Society for Microbiology.
The research is important because "NSAIDs are arguably the most commonly used anti-inflammatory medications," said principal investigator Craig B. Wilen, Assistant Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Immunology, Yale University School of Medicine.
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The research also suggests that the consequences of NSAID use during natural infection and vaccination should be evaluated in humans, said Dr. Wilen. "This data likely exists, particularly in the clinical trials for the vaccines, so it should be mined to see if it produces antibody responses in people."
"Taking NSAIDs during COVID-19 could be harmful or beneficial, depending on the timing of administration," said Dr.Wilen. The potent anti-inflammatory, dexamethasone (not an NSAID), is detrimental to COVID-19 sufferers when taken early in the infection, but beneficial when administered during later stages of COVID-19, said Dr. Wilen.
•••••
A reduction in neutralizing antibodies caused by NSAIDs might be benign,
or it might blunt the immune system's ability to fight the disease
during the early stages of infection. It could also reduce the magnitude
and/or length of protection from either natural infection or
vaccination, said Dr. Wilen.
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Quarter of known bee species have not been recorded since 1990
Patrick Barkham
@patrick_barkham
Fri 22 Jan 2021 11.00 EST
The number of wild bee species recorded by an international database of life on Earth has declined by a quarter since 1990, according to a global analysis of bee declines.
Researchers analysed bee records from museums, universities and citizen scientists collated by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, (GBIF) a global, government-funded network providing open-access data on biodiversity.
They found a steep decline in bee species being recorded since 1990, with approximately 25% fewer species reported between 2006 and 2015 than before the 1990s.
Although this does not mean these species are extinct, it may indicate that some have become so scarce that they are no longer regularly observed in the wild.
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5 Covid-19 vaccine scams to watch out for
https://www.nbcnews.com/know-your-value/feature/5-covid-19-vaccine-scams-watch-out-ncna1254699
Jan. 21, 2021, 10:19 AM EST
By Madelyn Fernstrom, PhD
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And even now, with more limited availability, it’s up to individual
states (and sometimes counties) to decide who is eligible for the
vaccine. Some processes are smoother than others. But one thing for sure
is that there is a great deal of uncertainty about the process, which
leads to stress, and sometimes desperation. Sadly, scammers are already
showing up with fake offers for “shortcuts” and are preying on people’s
fears.
•••••
While it’s hard to wait, it’s also essential to recognize there’s no immediate access to a vaccine through an “alternate” route. When it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Remember, whatever the pitch you’re given, never answer personal questions, or provide information like your full Social Security number or banking information. Scammers are often looking for personal information for identity, insurance and financial theft.
According to the Department of Health and Human Services, here are some scams to beware of:
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Scam #1: Being asked to pay out of pocket to receive the vaccine.
The Covid-19 vaccine is free, although there can be a very small fee attached to administer the vaccine.
Scam #2: Being asked to pay to get your name on a list for a vaccine appointment, or to get early access.
There is no special list to “cut the line” to get early access. You cannot pay for immediate access to a vaccineScam #3: Being asked to respond immediately for a vaccine through advertisements on social media, emails, telephone calls, or on-line access.
Avoid all solicitations through ads or personal calls for a reservation for a vaccine, whether they request money or not. Sometimes personal information is requested, which you should never provide.
Scam #4: Being called by someone saying they are from the “government” or someone from your “health plan” will be calling you about getting you on a vaccine list.
No one from the government will call you about getting on a vaccine appointment list. And your own health plan will notify you in a personal way, and have your key information.
Scam #5: Receiving an offer to buy a vaccine, and have it shipped to you directly.
There are no “secret” sources of a vaccine that can be purchased. If anything is shipped, it will not be an authentic vaccine.
If you think you’ve been a victim of a vaccine scam, report it to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
Thursday, January 21, 2021
A School District Vowed to Stay Open, Until Its Staffing Ran Out
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/21/us/coronavirus-schools-georgia.html
By Dan Levin
Jan. 21, 2021Updated 1:56 p.m. ET
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Twice, Lizzy was forced to stay home for 14 days after exposure to infected classmates. The school closed its doors twice during the fall. Then, just after students returned from winter break, every school in the district shifted to remote classes as staffing shortages grew unmanageable and the local hospital was overwhelmed.
“This is what you get when you don’t try to protect the people in the schools,” said Lizzy, 17.
She attends River Ridge High School in Cherokee County, a largely white stretch of suburbs north of Atlanta that is among the state’s wealthiest. Despite heated opposition from some parents and teachers, the district’s approach to the fall semester reflected the urging of former President Donald J. Trump, who won nearly 70 percent of the county’s vote in November, and Gov. Brian Kemp, also a Republican: Open the schools, and keep them that way.
The community largely supported that direction, and teachers, who lack the union protections of their peers in some other parts of the country, had little power to push back.
Some families said they felt pressured to return — the district offered an unappealing remote alternative, and students enrolled in it couldn’t take certain courses or participate in sports. As a result, nearly 80 percent of the district’s 41,000 students chose to return in August for full-time, in-person classes.
When the doors opened, classrooms and hallways were crowded, football games were packed and masks were optional for students. Nearly 1,200 students were required to quarantine, and three high schools were closed temporarily within the first two weeks of the semester’s start.
•••••
That month, the family of a hospitalized middle school math teacher started a GoFundMe campaign to help pay his medical bills, and half of the district’s six high schools and an elementary school temporarily ceased in-person instruction and gave final exams online because of a rise in cases at each campus.
Yet the district maintained course, with many parents saying they were convinced the schools did the right thing by teaching in person.
•••••
Beckett Blencoe, 11, said he was floundering in virtual sixth grade, and even his parents have struggled to help him at times. In one case, they discovered that the material in his computer applications class matched that of a university marketing course.
“This kid just came out of elementary school, and he is basically teaching himself,” said his mother, Ashley Blencoe. “It’s really tough because he’s smart, but he’s getting no actual teacher instruction.”
Throughout the fall, as infections and quarantine orders continued to rise, some parents took to Facebook, urging others to keep sick children home and to stop testing them for the coronavirus or reporting positive cases to schools, out of fear that the district might shift to remote learning if enough cases were discovered.
“No sense in affecting other kids who need in-person schooling for academic success and those who need sports,” one mother wrote.
Many teachers said they were reluctant to speak out for fear of losing their jobs. But a local group called Educators for Common Sense and Safety lobbied on their behalf throughout the summer and fall for a student mask requirement and other safety precautions — without success.
•••••
At school board meetings, some parents expressed doubt about the need for masks and said they infringed on personal freedom. Their sentiments were echoed by board members, one of whom dismissed the idea of a student mask mandate as a “warm, feel-good fuzzy thing.”
•••••
The district had no plans to change anything for the spring semester, Barbara Jacoby, a spokeswoman for the schools, said in an email in December. “As long as we are operating in-person school during a pandemic, there will be positive cases among students and staff due to the virus circulating in our community,” she wrote.
All that changed on Jan. 8, when the superintendent, Brian V. Hightower, took a drastically different position in an email to families: More than 400 teachers and other staff members couldn’t report to school, he said, because they were infected or quarantined, and there weren’t enough substitutes to fill in.
“Cases are higher in our community, our state and our nation than ever before,” Mr. Hightower said. “Health experts are voicing concerns that a new Covid-19 strain now circulating in our nation will spread faster among everyone, including school-age children. Our hospitals are full.”
As a result, he closed all of the district’s schools and shifted to remote learning for at least a week to allow students, families and staff members “to get healthier.” Then it became at least two weeks. Dr. Hightower said the district remained committed to in-person instruction but could not operate safely with so many staff absences.
Tiffany Robbins, an English teacher at Dean Rusk Middle School and the president of the Cherokee Educators Association, bemoaned the fact that it took a staffing crisis for the schools to take significant action. “It’s not about safety,” she said.
She said that many people in the district had shown little interest in slowing down the virus, and that the constant disruptions had been the cost: “Our community hasn’t looked at this and said, ‘Oh, wow, maybe we could do something to mitigate the spread.’”
Are two face masks better than one? Here's what researchers say.
https://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/2021/01/15/double-masks
January 15, 2021
"As cases of the new coronavirus continue to surge on a global scale, some of the nation's most prominent people," such as President-elect Joe Biden, "have begun to double up on masks," Katherine Wu writes for the New York Times—"a move that researchers say is increasingly being backed up by data."
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Throughout the epidemic, researchers specializing in everything from epidemiology to physics have held firm on their support for masking, Wu writes. She cites multiple studies on the efficacy of masking amid the pandemic, including several observational studies indicating that "widespread mask-wearing can curb infections and deaths on an impressive scale," another study that "found that known [novel coronavirus] cases waxed and waned in near-lockstep with mask-wearing rules," and yet another that found "face masks were 79 percent effective at blocking transmission from infected people to their close contacts."
Still more recent work is "pinning down the basis of these links on a microscopic level," Wu writes. Citing Linsey Marr, an expert on virus transmission at Virginia Tech, Wu explains the "fairly intuitive" science: The novel coronavirus and other respiratory viruses, which travel via "blobs of spittle and spray, need a clear conduit to enter the airway"—airways which masks can protect by inhibiting that potential infection. In fact, Wu writes, experiments have found that even fairly rudimentary masks, such as cloth coverings, are at least 50% effective at diverting "inbound and outbound spray."
The research has led some to begin layering masks for extra protection. If you start layering masks, "you start achieving pretty high efficiencies," Marr said. She explained, "The air has to follow this torturous path. The big things it's carrying are not going to be able to follow those twists and turns" through the obstacle course created by the mask fibers.
Overall, according to Wu, N95 masks, which provide "ultrahigh filtration efficiency" are considered the best masks—but while those are in short supply due to demand among health care providers, doubling-up on "two less specialized masks … can provide comparable protection." Specifically, Marr advised people to wear first a surgical mask, which have good filtering capabilities, and then add on a cloth mask, which tend to fit more snugly than surgical masks alone. Alternatively, she said, people can wear cloth masks stuffed with a filtering material.
But there is a point of diminishing returns, Wu writes. "[W]earing more than two masks, or layering up on masks that are already very good at filtering, will quickly bring diminishing returns and make it much harder to breathe normally."
And people can make other adjustments to improve fit and efficiency, Wu added, such as using masks that tie around the back of the head rather than looping over the ears, which can create gaps. Similarly, finding masks with nose bridges can help users wear them more tightly. As Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease physician at the University of California-San Francisco, explained, cobbling together an exceptionally well-fitting and well-filtering mask "is really simple. It doesn't need to involve anything fancy."
That said, experts cautioned that wearing masks doesn't negate the need to maintain physical distance from others and practice good hygiene. "We have to be honest that the best response is one that requires multiple interventions," Jennifer Nuzzo, a public health expert at Johns Hopkins University, said.
•••••
Intoxicating chemicals in catnip and silver vine protect felines from mosquito bites
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-01/aaft-ici011921.php
News Release 20-Jan-2021
The characteristic response of domestic cats to plant iridoids allows them to gain chemical defense against mosquitoes
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Rubbing against catnip and silver vine transfers plant chemicals that researchers have now shown protect cats from mosquitoes. The results also demonstrate that engaging with nepetalactol, which the study identified as the most potent of many intoxicating iridoid compounds found in silver vine, activates the opioid reward system in both domesticated felines and big jungle cats. While nepetalactol had been previously identified, these studies directly illuminate its extremely potent effect on cats. And by revealing the biological significance of well-known feline behaviors, the study opens the door to further inquiry into how nepetalactol's twin effects - pest repellence and intoxication - may have driven the evolution of these behaviors. Catnip and silver vine are known to hold a special place in felines' hearts. When cats encounter these plants, they rub their heads and faces against them and roll around on the ground, displaying undeniable enjoyment.
•••••
To investigate, Reiko Uenoyama and colleagues tested how 25 laboratory cats, 30 feral cats, and several captive big cats, including an Amur leopard, two jaguars, and two Eurasian lynx, responded to filter paper impregnated with nepetalactol, finding that the cats showed a more prolonged response than they did with untreated control filter papers. In contrast, dogs and laboratory mice showed no interest in the nepetalactol-containing papers.
•••••
Finally, they tested whether silver vine leaves repelled Aedes albopictus mosquitoes when cats rubbed against the plant, finding that significantly fewer mosquitoes landed on cats that exhibited this behavior. Uenoyama et al. note that nepetalactol might also be used as a repellent to protect humans from mosquitoes and suggest it could also repel the Aedes aegypti species, which transmits yellow fever, dengue, and Zika viruses.
Do antidepressants help chronic back pain and osteoarthritis?
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-01/uos-dah011821.php
News Release 20-Jan-2021
University of Sydney
Antidepressants are commonly used worldwide to treat pain, however new research from the University of Sydney shows they offer little to no help for people suffering chronic back pain and osteoarthritis and may even cause harm.
•••••
"We conducted a review of all randomised clinical trials evaluating the efficacy of antidepressants for people with back pain or knee osteoarthritis and found that for back pain the antidepressants were either ineffective or provided a very small effect, which was unlikely to be perceived as worthwhile by most patients. For people with osteoarthritis, effects were still small, but could be potentially perceived as worthwhile by some patients," he said.
"It is concerning as some antidepressants significantly increase the risk of a person to experience adverse events. Many people are being treated with these medications that may not be helping their pain and may be doing them harm."
Antibiotic resistance may spread even more easily than expected
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-01/cuot-arm011921.php
News Release 21-Jan-2021
Chalmers University of Technology
Pathogenic bacteria in humans are developing resistance to antibiotics much faster than expected. Now, computational research at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, shows that one reason could be significant genetic transfer between bacteria in our ecosystems and to humans. This work has also led to new tools for resistance researchers.
According to the World Health Organisation, antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest threats to global health, food safety and development. It already causes over 33,000 deaths a year in Europe alone.
Completely different species of bacteria can spread resistance genes to each other through plasmids - small DNA molecules where bacteria store some of their genes outside the chromosome. When two bacterial cells come into contact, they can copy plasmids to each other. This is called conjugation, and it is the most important mechanism for spreading antibiotic resistance.
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COVID-19 is dangerous for middle-aged adults, not just the elderly
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-01/dc-cid012021.php
News Release 21-Jan-2021
Study examines infection fatality rates for COVID-19
Dartmouth College
COVID-19 has been spreading rapidly over the past several months, and the U.S. death toll has now reached 400,000. As evident from the age distribution of those fatalities, COVID-19 is dangerous not only for the elderly but for middle-aged adults, according to a Dartmouth-led study published in the European Journal of Epidemiology.
"For a person who is middle-aged, the risk of dying from COVID-19 is about 100 times greater than dying from an automobile accident," explains lead author Andrew Levin, a professor of economics at Dartmouth College. "Generally speaking, very few children and young adults die of COVID-19. However, the risk is progressively greater for middle-aged and older adults. The odds that an infection becomes fatal is only 1:10,000 at age 25, whereas those odds are roughly 1:100 at age 60, 1:40 at age 70, and 1:10 at age 80."
These findings represent the culmination of a systematic review of all available studies of COVID-19 prevalence in countries with advanced economies;
•••••
Levin also emphasized the urgent practical implications of his team's research findings. "While COVID-19 vaccines are now being distributed, several more months are likely to pass before these vaccines have been fully disseminated to the public," says Levin. "We need get through this period as safely as possible. Taking basic precautions--including wearing a mask, practicing social distancing, and washing your hands often--is critical to protecting yourself, family, friends, and community members from this very deadly disease."
Tough childhood damages life prospects
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-01/uu-tcd012121.php
News Release 21-Jan-2021
Uppsala University
An adverse upbringing often impairs people's circumstances and health in their adult years, especially for couples who have both had similar experiences. This is shown by a new study, carried out by Uppsala University researchers, in which 818 mothers and their partners filled in a questionnaire one year after having a child together. The study is now published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE.
"When we studied couples where both partners stated they'd had a hard time as children, the connection between negative childhood experience and a relatively unfavourable living situation in adulthood became especially clear," says Per Kristiansson, a specialist doctor in general medicine, senior lecturer at Uppsala University's Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences and the study's principal author.
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have serious lifelong repercussions. Previous international studies (eg Felitti et al 1998, Hughes et al 2017, Merrick et al 2018) have shown that they entail a greater risk of falling ill, and of dying prematurely, from a range of common diseases and conditions. These include severe mental ill-health, cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. The more numerous the ACEs, the higher the risk of negative consequences.
•••••
The ACEs the researchers focused on were both mental and physical abuse and neglect; sexual assault; and problematic situations in the family like criminal behaviour, substance abuse, violence, mental disorders and separations.
Individual ACEs were common among all respondents, and 11 per cent of the women and 9 per cent of their partners reported having four or more such experiences. In 2 per cent of the couples, both individuals recounted at least four ACEs. If one person in a couple had undergone them, the other was more likely to have done so as well.
The greater the number of ACEs for the woman, the partner and the couple together, the worse their adult prospects turned out to be. Several couples who had experienced many problems in childhood had strikingly more problems in adulthood than the others. This group of respondents, compared with the couples who described their childhood as problem-free, were characterised by the following to a larger extent:
low educational attainment
low income
poor couple relationships
overweight
smoking habits to a larger extent
low sense of coherence (SOC)
poor self-assessed health
high stress level
very high frequency of anxiety and depression.
Kristiansson explains: "The fact that ACEs in early life can have such grave consequences is connected with the severe, toxic stress that affects children's central nervous system and other organs while they are growing up. 'Toxic stress' means strong, frequent and lasting activation of the body's stress-response system (Shonkoff et al 2009). This indicates that ACEs have a far-reaching negative impact on people's lives and health up to an advanced age, and may also affect the next generation."
Previous studies (Shonkoff et al 2009, Heckman 2006) show, he points out, that combating toxic stress in the early years brings gains for society: it improves student performance, boosts economic productivity and enhances citizens' sense of responsibility.
"That's why we hope our results will prompt public agencies - especially healthcare and social services, but also civil society - to take the initiative in detecting, supporting and providing treatment for families and individuals affected by adverse childhood experiences."
tags: child abuse,
I try to look for things to be grateful for in everyday life. This includes being grateful when I avoid a negative experience, like when I drop a glass, and it doesn't break. I feel this greatly contributes to having a good mood.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-01/uoe-og012121.php
News Release 21-Jan-2021
'Attitude of gratitude' keeps older people in Japan feeling hopeful as they age
University of Exeter
Older people in Japan have an "attitude of gratitude" which keeps them feeling hopeful despite the challenges of aging, a new study says.
Feeling thankful and grateful for the care and support they have had during their life helps pensioners in the country to be more optimistic, even when they experienced difficulties and were anxious about getting older, an expert found.
•••••
"Gratitude in Japan can be seen to a large extent as a recognition of how much one relies on others as one moves through life. Gratitude highlights feelings of interdependence in the social world."
Many people said they wouldn't be the person they were without others who played a significant part in their life. A phrase they liked to use was arigatai, "I am grateful," and sometimes kansha, "gratitude". This gratitude might exist for having been able to lead a full life, for having had a good husband who supported the family, for having understanding in-laws, or simply for an opportunity to work.
Dr Kaved�ija said: "While people in Japan might hesitate to say they are happy, gratitude is mentioned frequently. Through appreciation, dependence on others is not seen as simply a burden or a potential source of embarrassment, but also as moving and deeply meaningful. Meaningful relationships and encounters with others comprise a valuable foundation for what Japanese people call ikigai, or that which makes life worth living."
Medicated drops may help close macular holes, helping some patients avoid surgery
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-01/uocm-mdm012121.php
News Release 21-Jan-2021
University of Chicago Medical Center
Medicated drops may help close small macular holes over a two- to eight-week period, allowing some people to avoid surgery to fix the vision problem, a new study suggests.
The findings, based on a retrospective multicenter case series published Dec. 15, 2020, in Ophthalmology Retina, could lead to a better understanding of which patients may benefit from the treatment, as well as the timeline of the treatment's effectiveness.
"For certain patients, medicated drops may heal their macular hole by decreasing inflammation and increasing fluid absorption in the retina," said ophthalmologist and retinal surgeon Dimitra Skondra, MD, PhD, senior author of the study. Skondra is an associate professor of ophthalmology and visual science and director of the J. Terry Ernest Ocular Imaging Center at the University of Chicago Medicine.
Macular holes are age-related and usually affect people over 60 years old. An area located in the retina on the inside back of the eyeball, the macula allows us to have sharp, central vision. Depending on the size and location of the break in a person's macula, the holes can cause distorted, blurred or a dark patch in central vision.
•••••
Climate Change Will Be Sudden and Cataclysmic Unless We Act Now
Please read the whole article at this link. Informative, interesting, understandable.
We can do our part immediately by trying to live sustainably.
https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change-act-now-2650039989.html
World Economic Forum
Jan. 20, 2021 11:46AM EST
The speed and scale of the response to COVID-19 by governments, businesses and individuals seems to provide hope that we can react to the climate change crisis in a similarly decisive manner - but history tells us that humans do not react to slow-moving and distant threats.
Our evolution has selected the "fight or flight" instinct to deal with environmental change, so rather like the metaphor of the frog in boiling water, we tend to react too little and too late to gradual change.
•••••
But we know from multidisciplinary scientific evidence - from geology, anthropology and archaeology - that climate change is not incremental. Even in pre-human times, it is episodic, when it isn't forced by a human-induced acceleration of greenhouse gas emissions and warming.
There are parts of our planet's carbon cycle, the ways that the earth and the biosphere store and release carbon, that could trigger suddenly in response to gradual warming. These are tipping points that once passed could fundamentally disrupt the planet and produce abrupt, non-linear change in the climate.
Think of it as a game of Jenga and the planet's climate system as the tower. For generations, we have been slowly removing blocks. But at some point, we will remove a pivotal block, such as the collapse of one of the major global ocean circulation systems, for example the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), that will cause all or part of the global climate system to fall into a planetary emergency.
But worse still, it could cause runaway damage: Where the tipping points form a domino-like cascade, where breaching one triggers breaches of others, creating an unstoppable shift to a radically and swiftly changing climate.
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But as COVID-19 taught us, we need to prepare for the expected. We were aware of the risk of a pandemic. We also knew that we were not sufficiently prepared. But we didn't act in a meaningful manner. Thankfully, we have been able to fast-track the production of vaccines to combat COVID-19. But there is no vaccine for climate change once we have passed these tipping points.
We need to act now on our climate. Act like these tipping points are imminent. And stop thinking of climate change as a slow-moving, long-term threat that enables us to kick the problem down the road and let future generations deal with it. We must take immediate action to reduce global warming and fulfill our commitments to the Paris Agreement, and build resilience with these tipping points in mind.
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