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28369
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20 percent of women killed in Intimate Partner Homicides (IPH) who had restraining orders were killed within two days of obtaining it.
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What's true: A 2008 study reported that 20 percent of victims of Intimate Partner Homicide who had restraining orders were killed within two days of obtaining those orders. What's false: The study also found that just 11 percent of IPH victims overall had restraining orders in place at the time they were killed.
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mixture
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Politics Crime, domestic violence
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With October marking Domestic Violence Awareness Month in the U.S., readers contacted us regarding a graphic circulating online sharing an alarming statistic regarding homicide rates for partners who obtained restraining orders. The graphic, which was unattributed but bore the hashtag #DVAM2018, read as follows: 1/5 of homicide victims with restraining orders are murdered within two days of obtaining the order, 1/3 within the first month. The figures were taken from a 2008 study regarding intimate partner homicides (IPH). Although the data presented in the meme was accurate, it lacked some context provided by the original source and therefore could be potentially misleading when taken in isolation. According to that study: About 11% of 231 women killed by male intimates had been issued a restraining order. About one-fifth of the female IPH victims who had a restraining order were killed within 2 days of the order being issued; about one-third were killed within a month. Nearly half of those with a restraining order had been protected by multiple orders. Victims killed in a shared residence (versus elsewhere) had lower odds of having a restraining order, whereas victims from rural (versus urban) counties, married (versus dating) victims, and Latino (versus non-Latino) victim-offender dyads had higher odds of having a restraining order. The type of weapon used was not associated with whether the victim had been under the protection of a restraining order. While the numbers used in the meme were quoted accurately, we are rating this item as a Mixture because it doesn’t mention that the overwhelming majority of IPH victims reported by the survey who were killed by intimates (89%) did not have restraining orders in place. Omitting this piece of information could create a false impression regarding the effectiveness of restraining or protective orders, and more recent data supports their use as a deterrent against intimate partner violence. A 2011 study published by the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire found that the quality of life improved for the 213 women they surveyed who had received civil protective orders. Half the women reported that the orders were not violated, and the majority of respondents reported declines in “days of distress and sleep loss” after obtaining those orders. The report concluded by noting: Not only are civil protective orders effective, but they are relatively low cost, especially when compared with the social and personal costs of partner violence. The effectiveness is particularly relevant for low-income rural women. These women had more personal and social barriers to stopping the violence including higher unemployment and tighter connections to the violent partner. Rural women also had fewer community resources or alternatives available to help them. Therefore, increasing access to civil protective orders should be an important goal in helping victims and their children and in lowering societal costs of partner violence. We contacted Katherine Vittes, the lead researcher for the 2008 study cited in the meme, seeking comment but did not receive a response prior to publication.
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14699
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In 40 years of broadcast, I have never endorsed any candidate.
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Beck declared in Iowa he hadn’t previously endorsed a candidate. Beck made a kidding endorsement of a Democrat a few years ago and previously urged support for, or votes against, individuals. But we spotted no evidence of Beck lock-down endorsing a candidate before he stood with Cruz.
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true
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History, Texas, Glenn Beck,
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"Glenn Beck, the conservative former Fox News host who now has a radio show and online live-video program, declared at an Iowa rally for Texan Ted Cruz that he was breaking with his own long history simply by endorsing someone for office. ""The press today has been reporting that I’m here to endorse Ted Cruz,"" Beck said at an appearance with Cruz in Ankeny, Iowa the same week Sarah Palin endorsed Donald Trump. ""But let me tell you, in 40 years of broadcast, I have never endorsed any candidate. And I haven’t endorsed any candidate mainly because for a lot of those years, nobody really wanted my endorsement,"" Beck said with a laugh. ""And quite honestly, I have never endorsed anybody because I haven’t trusted any of the weasels, no matter how good they are."" Beck made that comment a little over seven minutes into his half-hour presentation, which concluded with Beck saying the press was right: ""I am here to announce that I am officially endorsing Ted Cruz."" We were curious about Beck’s declaration that he hadn't previously endorsed a candidate. We failed to reach Beck for elaboration. Meantime, our search of the Nexis news database indicated no previous Beck endorsement of a presidential aspirant. And while we found we found two reports of Beck endorsing a candidate, further review showed one reported endorsement didn’t happen and the other was a Beck joke. Illinois ‘endorsement’ A Feb. 2, 2010, item, in the Inside the Beltway column in The Washington Times, said Illinois businessman Adam Andrzejewski, among Republicans running for governor, had been drawing fresh ""tea-party"" support. The item continued: ""Fox News host Glenn Beck has also endorsed Mr. Andrzejewski,"" as had commentator Rush Limbaugh. We reached Andrzejewski, who replied by email: ""In real-time, many people in Glenn Beck’s radio listening audience took his broadcast as an endorsement of my 2010 campaign for governor of Illinois. However, Beck clarified the following day that he did not endorse, but instead had just replayed the endorsement of my candidacy by Polish President and Nobel Laureate Lech Walesa."" Andrzejewski pointed us to a Feb. 2, 2010, post by the American Spectator stating Beck had said on the air that day that he was ""getting a lot of mail that I endorsed"" Andrzejewski when, Beck said, he’d only intended to share audio of Walesa speaking in favor of the candidate. ""I don’t endorse candidates and I don’t know this guy, but I wish him all the best,"" Beck said. California ‘endorsement’ On May 16, 2011, Californian Dan Adler’s House campaign issued a press release headlined, ""Glenn Beck`s Surprising First Ever Endorsement Goes to Democrat Dan Adler in California`s Special Congressional Election."" The release opened: ""For the first time in his life, conservative TV and radio personality Glenn Beck has given an endorsement to a candidate running for Congress in a special election tomorrow. In contrast to conventional wisdom, the endorsement did not go to someone of Beck's political extreme but to Dan Adler, a lifelong Democrat who is socially progressive. Adler, who has been urging voters of the South Bay community area to elect a citizen legislator instead of a career politician, recently caught Beck's eye for populist-themed Send a Mensch to Congress TV spots."" The release continued: ""In a posting on Beck’s website today, the conservative talk show host said, ‘people should vote based on principles and values and not race or creed,’ he then moved to ‘heartily endorse’ Adler."" The release said that on Beck’s May 13, 2011, radio show, ""Beck and his cohorts ridiculed the Asian American and other minority voters who make up nearly 50% of California’s 36th District. Then a confused Beck endorsed Adler’s candidacy, stating that Californians deserve to see Adler in Congress and that ‘you’re going to love him.’"" We clicked next to a May 16, 2011, post on Beck’s website suggesting Beck made his endorsement tongue-in-cheek (and there’s a full Beck-sponsored summary of the not-for-real endorsement here). According to the post, Beck had included an Adler ad on his program the week before as the worst political ad ever. The post on Beck’s site continued: ""The ads, promoting Californian Dan Adler, featured a Korean woman who said that she should vote for Adler simply because she’s Korean and he’s Jewish and that minorities should ‘stick together.’ The ad also featured several offensive stereotypes of Koreans and Asians. Glenn took issue with the ad, saying that people should vote based on principles and values, not race or creed."" That doesn’t read like Beck was poised to endorse. The post on Beck’s site went on: ""Somehow, Adler took Glenn’s criticism as an endorsement and released a statement declaring himself the candidate endorsed by Glenn Beck. This morning, Dan may regret his statement. ‘It doesn’t make any sense for a progressive to want my endorsement. So, today I heartily endorse — what’s his name? — Dan Adler. I want the voters in California to know that we are practically brothers of the brain,’ Glenn said. ‘We are so like minded, he has the same positions on almost everything, although he’s not coming out and saying those things.’ ‘We both believe that the rich are paying far too much. Pay their fair share? They pay more than their fair share. They deserve a tax break,’ Glenn declared in his support for he and Adler’s shared stance. Let’s see if the progressive Adler decides to run with Glenn’s support."" Next, we reached Adler, whose current biographical entry on a business website says Adler’s candidacy drew ""Beck's first-ever political endorsement."" Adler, describing himself as a liberal Democrat, told us that after Beck criticized his ad, his campaign issued the 2011 release saying Beck had endorsed him toward building a pre-election buzz. ""I never saw it as a real official endorsement,"" Adler said though he called back to stress Beck’s statement at the time that California deserved Adler. ""Tongue in cheek or not, one would certainly count it as an endorsement,"" Adler said. Media Matters for America To our inquiry, Laura Keiter of the liberal Media Matters for America, whose declared mission is to monitor and correct conservative misinformation ""in the U.S. media,"" said by email that while Beck previously made no presidential endorsement, he had made clear who he supported or opposed, ""walking a thin line,"" Keiter said. Keitor offered instances of Beck seemingly taking a side such as Beck in January 2008 telling Republican hopeful Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, on the air that he would vote for him or Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for president. Beck went on to say that if the nominee proved to be former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee or Sen. John McCain (who later proved the nominee), ""I would look at those two guys and go, I can’t do that."" In an October 2010 web post, Media Matters said Beck had repeatedly said he doesn’t endorse candidates yet also had indicated support or opposition to specific hopefuls; that year, Beck urged listeners to oppose Democrat Richard Blumenthal in a Connecticut U.S. Senate race; called Democrat Chris Coons of Nevada a bad Senate candidate; and said he was about to break his no-endorsement policy by endorsing Marco Rubio and another hopeful for the Florida U.S. Senate seat ultimately won by Rubio. Our ruling Beck declared in Iowa he hadn’t previously endorsed a candidate. Beck made a kidding endorsement of a Democrat a few years ago and previously urged support for, or votes against, individuals. But we spotted no evidence of Beck lock-down endorsing a candidate before he stood with Cruz. The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing."
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5016
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Aldo Dávila set to be Guatemala’s 1st openly gay congressman.
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Aldo Iván Dávila Morales is poised to take up a seat in Guatemala’s congress in January, making history as the first openly gay man elected to the country’s legislature.
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true
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Legislature, Religion, Health, General News, Latin America, Guatemala City, Caribbean, International News, Guatemala
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Proudly gay and living with HIV, the 41-year-old activist says the rainbow flag will not be his only cause. He intends to begin his congressional career with three main agenda points: Fighting endemic corruption, ensuring Guatemalans’ right to health care and defending human rights, with a focus on the LGBTQ community. “I’m happy, with a lot of mixed feelings,” Dávila said in an interview with The Associated Press. “The worry is I’m putting myself in a snake pit. But at the same time I’m no slouch, and I’m ready and able to fight when it needs to be done.” While it hasn’t been officially confirmed by electoral authorities, experts say Dávila’s left-wing Winaq party won four congressional seats in Sunday’s general election, and he is set to represent a Guatemala City district. “People have to see me as just another citizen, since I was elected democratically,” Dávila said. Guatemala has taken baby steps toward guaranteeing LGBTQ rights, such as adopting measures to identify hate crimes against members of the community and allowing people to change their legal names and choose how they appear in photos on official IDs, which let transgender people better express their identity. It remains a socially conservative society, however, with the Roman Catholic Church and Protestant faiths dominant. Prejudice and fears over HIV are deeply rooted, and LGTBQ people have historically been the targets of discrimination and sometimes assault, although such treatment is slowly becoming less socially acceptable. Neither Dávila’s name nor photo was on the ballot — only the name of his party — and he didn’t emphasize his sexuality during the campaign. So Gabriela Tuch, a lawyer and former human rights prosecutor focusing on the LGBTQ community, said his election can’t be attributed to any significant shift in attitudes. “It’s not that society has said, ‘A gay man, affirmative action, let’s vote for him,’” Tuch said. “He was favored by the votes and the position he was in. Now the challenge begins.” One of the congressman-elect’s first battles will be opposing a bill proposed by the conservative party that would criminalize abortion and codify into law that same-sex couples are barred from marrying or adopting children. He also intends to propose a new commission that would report and investigate all kinds of discrimination. “You cannot be a spectator when your country is falling apart,” Dávila said. “You have to take a leading role.” That’s why Dávila was motivated to accept an offer to run for the party, founded in 2009 by Nobel Peace Prize-winner Rigoberta Menchú. Dávila lives in Guatemala City with his partner of 19 years and their gray Schnauzer, Valentino. Dávila said both inspire his activism and political participation. He said he considers himself lucky because he has the love and support of family members who were always open and accepting of his sexuality. His mother went with him to the country’s first Pride march in 2000. Until recently Dávila was the director of Positive People, an organization supporting those living with HIV. He said that people have often come to him with complaints about discrimination, and that he himself was once dismissed from a job. “Look, here are my diplomas and my trophies,” Dávila said. “But they fired me because they found out that I’m gay, and that’s how things are here.” Dávila said that when he was 22 he suffered from meningitis, which ultimately led him to discover that he had HIV. Today he is in good health, but he knows some may not understand how the virus is transmitted and may be afraid. “It’s very hard, of course, that they’re not even going to want to sit next to me,” he said. “In this country people should no longer be dying of AIDS,” Dávila continued. “It’s the stigma and the discrimination that kill you, and the lack of medicine.” José Arriaza, a 24-year-old who identifies as queer, said Dávila’s election gives him hope because he now sees himself being represented. Guatemalans will have to learn to accept diversity, he added. He “isn’t your typical privileged white man, like a majority of the congressmen nowadays,” Arriaza said. “For me he’s an example to follow, because he is someone empowered with ideals that help the community.” Carlos Valenzuela, a 36-year-old openly gay business administrator, agreed. “It’s fantastic because what we most want is to feel represented,” Valenzuela said. “All minorities should be represented.” Dávila said his path was paved by Sandra Morán, the first Guatemalan lawmaker who openly identified as lesbian. “She is a courageous woman who inspired me,” he said. But she didn’t have it easy, and was even insulted on occasion by some of her colleagues over her sexual orientation. Dávila, who said he’s been subjected to verbal abuse since he was young, is prepared to possibly go through the same thing. “A worker at congress called me and congratulated me and told me to prepare myself,” Dávila said. “But I will try to not respond to the attacks.” “With all the homophobia there is,” he added, “they could even boot me from my seat.” Dávila criticized those who have pushed legislation limiting sexual diversity rights and said he does not believe Guatemalan society will change its views in the short term. “We have to do a lot of work on educating, in demanding that the state be secular and for the church to stop intervening in things that don’t concern it,” he said. “We need to rule with the Constitution and not the Bible.”
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1436
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Fiery mailboxes and dogs in bags: fleeing California's wildfire.
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Nicole Montague and her 16-year-old daughter Destiny noticed a red glow on the horizon as they drove to school in Paradise, California, that Thursday morning. They did not think much of it as they had seen fires nearby in the past.
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true
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Environment
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Since they had not heard any warnings, they shrugged it off. But within minutes mass panic broke out, said Nicole Montague, 45. They gathered their nine dogs and a few belongings as the trailer park they live in burst into flames. “As we were driving out, the mailboxes were on fire,” Nicole said. “All you could hear were big booms and those were (neighbors’) propane tanks starting to explode.” California’s deadliest ever wildfire, the innocuous-sounding “Camp Fire,” swept into Paradise early on Nov. 8, as a rapid-moving, wind-fueled disaster that has left at least 76 people dead and more than 1,276 missing. The flames moved so fast that some of the victims died in their cars in a chaotic evacuation as gridlock formed on the two exit routes out of town. Through sheer luck or quick thinking, many of the survivors only barely managed to escape. Retirees Julie Walker and her husband, Lane, had lived in Magalia, a northern suburb of Paradise, since 2003. When the fire threatened their house, the Walkers avoided traffic jams by taking to back roads. They said they knew a route out because they spend a lot of time exploring in their Jeep. So when the fire came, the Walkers led a caravan of relatives and neighbors out to safety along dirt roads that circumvented the traffic jam. “They did not know what to do,” Julie said of those overtaken by the wildfire while trying to escape. “The fire was on us immediately.” “I DON’T THINK I’M GOING TO MAKE IT” David Wigham, 51, who splits and sells firewood to support himself, smelled smoke when he woke up early on Nov. 8. Assuming it was far away, he went back to sleep. He awoke hours later to a world turned red. Embers were blowing in through his front door as he tried to stuff his Chihuahua, Dee Dee, into a backpack. “I thought we were going to spontaneously combust,” Wigham said. His pickup truck was aflame, so he fled on foot. Three different strangers gave him rides and eventually he made it south to the town of Oroville. When the Montagues were certain they were going to die, Nicole called her husband Eric, who was trying to flee in a separate vehicle, to say goodbye. “I said, ‘Honey I don’t think I’m going to make it out of here, I love you,’” she recalled. Cars around them caught fire. People behind them on the road got out of their cars, with some fleeing on foot and some jumping into other people’s cars to try to escape. It took them five hours to drive 10 miles (16 km) to Chico, where 15 members of the family are staying in a one-bedroom apartment with nine dogs. Others would have died on the spot without help. Betty Myers, 89, wheelchair-bound and diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, was among some 50 residents of an assisted-living facility in Paradise who were evacuated in a caravan of vehicles, Myers’ son Ron Rohde said by phone from the San Francisco area. Fires surrounded them on the road and the sky turned black. One vehicle was abandoned because it was about to run out of gas and they had to try at least two escape routes before making it out. When Rohde finally reached his mother in Redding, California, she was in bed at a hotel. “Most of the staff lost their homes. They had to worry about their own families, yet they focused on getting those 50 people out to safety,” Rohde said. Not only could his mother not have escaped by herself, Rohde said, but her Alzheimer’s left her unaware of the danger. “She was sitting in the car saying, ‘Oh those are nice lights,’ waving at people,” Rohde said he was told. “When I asked her a couple days later what she thought of the fire, she said ‘What fire?’”
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8291
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Putin orders daily coronavirus projections as Russia's tally nears 37,000.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the government to provide daily forecasts of the spread of the novel coronavirus as Russia recorded almost 5,000 new cases in a single day.
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true
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Health News
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Coronavirus infections in Russia began rising sharply in April after reporting far fewer infections than many western European countries in the outbreak’s early stages. On Saturday, Russia’s official tally of coronavirus cases was 36,793, a record overnight rise of 4,785, and death toll rose by 40 to 313. The government must “provide a short-term prognosis of the number of citizens who may contract the new infectious disease (COVID-19)” and report its estimates on a daily basis, according to an order published on the Kremlin’s website. In Moscow, a city of 12.7 million people which became the epicentre of Russia’s coronavirus outbreak, cases jumped by 2,649 to 20,754, and the capital city accounted for half of all new fatalities reported on Saturday. However, Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the lockdown measures first introduced in March were bearing fruit. “The disease rate in the city is growing but not exponentially, and far from the worst-case scenario,” Sobyanin wrote on his website. “A week ago, Moscow medical institutions were working at their limit. Today, they have switched to a more normal mode with a good stock of capacity,” Sobyanin said. Initially declared on March 30, the lockdown regime banned residents from leaving their homes unless they were going to buy food or medicines, get urgent medical treatment or walk the dog. The authorities also introduced a travel permit system effective from April 15, and Sobyanin said on Saturday the authorities would use traffic cameras to catch drivers travelling without passes. Authorities and clerics have urged Christians to stay home during the Orthodox Easter weekend, although a senior cleric urged police on Saturday to be lenient on those who still try to make it to their church.
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3071
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A growing number of states call porn a public health crisis.
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More than a dozen states have moved to declare pornography a public health crisis, raising concerns among some experts who say the label goes too far and carries its own risks.
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true
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Arizona, Health, Entertainment, Sylvia Allen, North America, Social issues, Pornography, U.S. News, Public health
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The Arizona Senate approved a resolution this week calling for a systemic effort to prevent exposure to porn that’s increasingly accessible to younger kids online. At least one legislative chamber has adopted a similar resolution in 15 other states. “It is an epidemic in our society, and this makes a statement that we have a problem,” said Arizona Sen. Sylvia Allen, a Republican who blamed pornography for contributing to violence against women, sexual activity among teens and unintended pregnancies. Linking those social issues to pornography is “compete fear-mongering,” said Mark Kernes, a senior editor at the trade publication Adult Video News media network. Pornography is harmless entertainment meant for adults, he said. “We’re not really a public-health anything,” Kernes said. The Arizona resolution that passed Monday doesn’t ban pornography or create any other legal changes, but it could signal future action. Similar declarations have been passed in GOP-controlled states ranging from Tennessee to Montana and been adopted in the Republican Party’s national platform. Many of the resolutions are based on a model written by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, an anti-porn group that cites research linking it to a range of problems and argues that it’s become too ubiquitous for individuals to combat alone. But others say the public-crisis label is a misguided approach. Research has raised questions about the effect of explicit material on young kids, but links to other often-cited issues like human trafficking are tenuous at best, said Emily Rothman, a community health sciences professor at Boston University. The resolutions risk creating a stigma for marginalized groups like LGBTQ people and miss a key piece of the puzzle by leaving out calls for more robust sex education for teenagers, she said. And porn isn’t like a deadly virus, she said. “If you stub your toe, that might be something you can’t solve yourself, but that doesn’t make it a public health issue,” Rothman said. Several Arizona Democrats said the state has more important health threats to confront, such as measles, opioids, homelessness and suicide. Plus, pornography can be part of a healthy sex life for adults, said Albuquerque-based sex therapist David Ley, who sees the resolutions as a backlash against changing attitudes about sexuality. “It’s just virtue signaling, there’s literally no effect,” he said. But the legislation could pave the way for future steps, like keeping publicly funded internet at places like schools and libraries from being used to access porn, said Haley Halverson with the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, which is working on new model legislation for states taking those next steps. “We think these resolutions are really powerful, although they’re non-binding, because they raise awareness and educate the public, and hopefully can lay the groundwork to make more resources available to those people who potentially struggle with pornography,” she said. Any future steps to restrict access to pornography have to be handled carefully to avoid running afoul of the First Amendment, said David Boaz, executive vice president of the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute. “When you declare it as a public health crisis, people see that as a blank check for the government to do something about it,” he said. Utah was the first state to pass an anti-porn resolution in 2016. In the years since, lawmakers have passed bills tightening up filters on wireless internet at public libraries and getting out information to parents about controls available at home, said Republican Rep. Todd Weiler, the effort’s sponsor. Another new state law lets parents sue pornography makers if their kids need treatment for problems related to porn use, though it wasn’t immediately clear whether anyone has made a legal challenge through it. “We’re trying to shed a light on an issue that some people don’t think it’s OK to talk about,” he said. ___ Whitehurst reported from Salt Lake City.
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26426
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“The Democrats are pushing for an implanted microchip in humans, and everyone to be vaccinated.”
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There’s no evidence that implanted microchips are being contemplated in a serious way to fight the coronavirus. This notion appears to stem from an incorrect interpretation of comments made by philanthropist Bill Gates. Democrats are not “pushing” for mandatory vaccinations, because state government already has the power to compel vaccination. All 50 states use the authority, with some exemptions permitted. Some Democrats and some Republicans oppose efforts to limit mandatory-vaccination exemptions based on religious or personal beliefs.
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false
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Public Health, Privacy Issues, Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, Facebook posts,
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"Is the coronavirus pandemic going to force Americans to undergo microchip implants? What about mandatory vaccinations? That’s what a Facebook post says. ""The Democrats are pushing for an implanted microchip in humans, and everyone to be vaccinated."" says a Facebook post with text on a plain background. ""These are words of war to me!"" It was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) The claim is unsupported. We found no evidence of proposals or legislation, Democratic or otherwise, to promote implanting microchips to counter the coronavirus. Not that this would even make sense as a solution to coronavirus. Even the smallest microchips ""are rather large, such that none would ever fit into a vaccine needle — these are very small-bore needles,"" Wilbur Chen, an infectious-disease scientist at the University of Maryland’s Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health, previously told PolitiFact. Other fact-checkers have traced the assertion in the Facebook post to an inaccurate interpretation of comments made by Bill Gates, the Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist who has focused his efforts on global health. On March 18, Gates took part in a forum on Reddit in which he was asked, ""What changes are we going to have to make to how businesses operate to maintain our economy while providing social distancing?"" Gates responded, ""The question of which businesses should keep going is tricky. Certainly, food supply and the health system. We still need water, electricity and the internet. Supply chains for critical things need to be maintained. Countries are still figuring out what to keep running. Eventually we will have some digital certificates to show who has recovered or been tested recently or when we have a vaccine who has received it."" The website Biohackinfo.com soon posted a story on Gates’ comments headlined, ""Bill Gates will use microchip implants to fight coronavirus."" It included the line that by ""‘digital certificates,’ Gates was referring to implantable ‘QUANTUM-DOT TATTOOS.'"" This misinterpretation was amplified on April 13, when Roger Stone, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, told radio host Joe Piscopo, ""Whether Bill Gates played some role in the creation and spread of this virus is open for vigorous debate. I have conservative friends who say it’s ridiculous, and others say absolutely."" But, Stone added, Gates ""and other globalists are using it for mandatory vaccinations and microchipping people so we know if they’ve been tested. Over my dead body. Mandatory vaccinations? No way, Jose!"" This conversation was spread further by coverage in the New York Post and the Russian news service RT, according to BuzzFeed. None of this is correct. ""Digital certificates"" are electronic information used to securely communicate over the internet, and Gates never mentioned microchips. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation told FactCheck.org that Gates was referring to digital certificates as part of an effort to create a system of home-based, self-administered testing for COVID-19 that would involve a secure connection with health officials. Meanwhile, unrelated research funded by the Gates Foundation proposed recording vaccination history on a patient’s skin using an invisible dye that could be read by a smartphone and last up to five years. Kevin McHugh, a Rice University bioengineering professor who worked on the study, told Reuters, ""The quantum dot dye technology is not a microchip or human-implantable capsule, and to my knowledge there are no plans to use this for coronavirus."" There are legitimate concerns about privacy in some of the contact-tracing methods being considered to prevent the spread of coronavirus, experts say. However, ""the fear of insertion of tracking chips and other things like that into our bodies has been a longstanding bogeyman,"" said Mark Fenster, a law professor at the University of Florida who has written extensively about conspiracy theories. ""There is a lot of tracking that goes on, but the suggestion that it’s being used in this manner and this way seems absurd."" This part of the claim isn’t as far-fetched. Many Democrats and some Republicans do support narrowing exemptions to mandatory vaccinations based on personal beliefs. States have had the authority to require vaccinations for more than a century, and they use that authority all the time, with certain exceptions allowed. In the 1905 case Jacobson vs. Massachusetts, the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that a mandatory-vaccination law was a legitimate exercise of state power to protect public health and safety. Since that decision, every state has instituted a variety of vaccine requirements, usually for school-age children. All but five states have exceptions for non-medical reasons. Some are for religious exemptions, some are for ""personal beliefs,"" and some are for both. (The National Conference of State Legislatures has the full list.) In the past several years, certain states, led in many cases by Democratic lawmakers but often with some bipartisan support, have moved to limit the religious- or personal-belief exemptions to vaccinations. This came amid concerns about outbreaks of measles and other diseases that were believed to stem from growing opposition to vaccination. Ultimately, several states narrowed exemptions in 2019, including California, Maine, New York and Washington. They did so over the opposition of groups on the right and left who are skeptical of the value of vaccinations, a perspective the medical community strongly opposes. (Read our analysis of complaints about the safety of vaccines.) The precedent set by Jacobson vs. Massachusetts continues to be cited, three academic experts at Boston University — Wendy K. Mariner, George J. Annas, and Leonard H. Glantz — have written in the American Journal of Public Health. ""A law that authorizes mandatory vaccination during an epidemic of a lethal disease, with refusal punishable by a monetary penalty, like the one at issue in Jacobson, would undoubtedly be found constitutional under the low constitutional test of ‘rationality review,’"" the co-authors wrote, as long as regulators determined the vaccine was safe and effective. Even without an ongoing epidemic, they added, such a requirement ""would probably be upheld"" as long as the disease was still spreading to some degree and as long as the vaccine was safe. The federal government could theoretically impose stronger mandates, but it has not done so, Richard Hughes IV, a vaccine specialist at Avalere Health, wrote in the journal Health Affairs. The federal government could do this through a law pre-empting state policies or by using federal funding as leverage against the states, Hughes wrote. But Mariner said she’s doubtful about this scenario, and there is no evidence of legislation of this type for now. A Facebook post says, ""The Democrats are pushing for an implanted microchip in humans, and everyone to be vaccinated."" On microchips, there’s no evidence that implanted microchips are being contemplated in a serious way to fight the coronavirus. This appears to stem from a warped translation of comments by Gates. As for mandatory vaccinations, the idea that Democrats are pushing for this power is exaggerated, because the Supreme Court long ago decided that the government has that power. This authority is now used in all 50 states. A minority that includes some Democrats and some Republicans oppose efforts to limit religious or personal exemptions."
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10568
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Penn research: An FDA-approved Alzheimer's drug could help smokers quit
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This news release describes a report on an ongoing trial of the Alzheimer’s drug galantamine as a smoking cessation aid. The release also notes that the study on which it’s based sought to explore whether the drug would have less of an effect on participants’ “executive functions” while going through withdrawal than other methods since many people in the process of giving up tobacco experience forgetfulness and “fuzziness,” according to the release. The release does a good overall job of describing the researchers’ long-range thinking and goals with the study, and the release is clear that this approach could have downsides and side effects. The release would have been stronger had it talked about about costs and discussed how this approach compares with the alternatives. Simply stated, cigarette smoking has been found to have ill effects on almost every organ of the body. Despite decades of research and laws banning cigarette advertising people still have a hard time giving up this habit. Few people who try to quit are successful on the first try, and it’s not uncommon for people to try several different methods before they can quit for good. This study focuses on one of numerous clinical trials that explore interfering with the brain’s response-reward systems as a way to combat addiction. Re-purposing Alzheimer’s disease drugs as a potential new tool in the smoking cessation tool chest is newsworthy.
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true
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Academic medical center news release,Alzheimer's disease
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There is no mention of costs in the release. Some mention of costs would have been useful and could have taken a number of different forms such as how the cost of these drugs would compare to buying cigarettes on a daily basis, comparing the drug price to other tools for quitting smoking, or providing cost estimates of treating smoking-related diseases. The release may overstate things in the headline which claims, “An FDA-approved Alzheimer’s drug could help smokers quit.” The study didn’t look at quit rates and lasted only 23 days, so the effect on quitting is entirely unknown. We’ll give the benefit of the doubt here though since the release notes that people involved in the trials (there was also an animal trial component) reduced their cigarette use by 2.3 cigarettes a day — a 12% decrease — after being on the drug for two weeks. The volunteers also related that they felt “less satisfied” with smoking after being on the drug, although this benefit was not quantified. The release notes that people may become ill when taking the AD drugs. A source is quoted in the release says, “We know from the literature that upward of 30 percent of patients will report nausea and vomiting [when taking these drugs], and that this will limit their compliance.” The news release gives a fairly clear description of the study parameters. The study, while small with 33 volunteers, involved giving the still-smoking participants either the drug galantamine or a placebo for two weeks and then asked them to refrain from smoking for one week while on either their prescribed galantamine or placebo. The researchers measured cognitive abilities at baseline and after two weeks on the drug to determine if the drug helped reduce side effects people normally encounter while withdrawing off tobacco. The release is clear that much more evidence will be available, including on overall quit rates (the most important and relevant outcome), when the full study is completed. There is really not much of a take-away at this point as the information is so incomplete. It would be difficult to overstate the harms of cigarette smoking. The release does not engage in fear mongering. The release doesn’t explicitly state who funded the study or if there were any conflicts of interest. However, it’s strongly inferred that Penn’s Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Nicotine Addiction is the main sponsor. The study itself states that the research received funding from several government and non-profit research organizations and that there were no conflicts of interest. This is not a major omission but must be rated Not Satisfactory. The release nods briefly to the existence of other medications for smoking cessation and how galantamine would differ. “Our goal in investigating these different repurposed medications is not to replace the medications that are already available,” she said. “We know that they’re effective. Our goal is to target different populations of smokers who may be more likely to experience these cognitive deficits.” Although it doesn’t specifically mention any other smoking cessation tools and techniques by name or discuss how successful galantamine might be in comparison, we’ll give the benefit of the doubt. The story states that galantamine is FDA approved which speaks to its availability. The release responsibly points out that “There’s no data to suggest that a clinician treating a smoker should prescribe one of these AChEIs now,” according to the lead investigator. The news release makes a tepid reference to novelty with the phrase that researchers are “forging a path” with this research. The study itself says, “To the best of our knowledge, this is the first translational study to demonstrate that repeated AChEI administration decreases nicotine taking in both rats and human smokers.” While this may well be the first “translational” study on this question, a look on PubMed shows that quite a lot has been done in rats on nicotine and the cholinesterase inhibitor drugs. There has been much less in humans, although trials have been done, with mixed success, such as this modestly successful one in alcoholics. (A randomized, controlled trial in 114 patients for 12 weeks, it showed those on galantamine smoked 20% fewer cigarettes than those on placebo.) To earn a Satisfactory rating, we think the release should have acknowledged some of this previous research. There was no reliance on unjustifiable language.
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9276
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Treating pain without feeding addiction: Study shows promise of non-drug pain management
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The release focuses on a recently published journal article that reported patients with chronic pain who are fighting drug addiction can reduce their pain using an approach called Improving Pain during Addiction Treatment (ImPAT). The release notes that the intensity of pain decreased, alcohol use decreased, and ability to function increased, for patients participating in ImPAT when compared to patients who participated only in conventional support groups. Rates of drug use were approximately the same for both groups. While the release does a good job of explaining why non-drug therapies are important for patients with chronic pain and a history of addiction, it does not meet our standard for telling readers the scope of benefit of ImPAT therapy as measured in the study — what degree of benefit in what percentage of those studied. Chronic pain is a serious and widespread problem. According to the National Institutes of Health, approximately one in every four Americans has suffered from pain that lasts longer than 24 hours, and chronic pain is the most common cause of long-term disability. And, according to Senate testimony from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, “an estimated 2.1 million people in the United States suffer[ed] from substance use disorders related to prescription opioid pain relievers,” as of 2012. This tells us that many people who are suffering from chronic pain may also be suffering from substance abuse disorders that make it difficult to treat their pain using conventional painkillers. Given that effect that both chronic pain and addiction can have on both health and quality of life, this is a significant problem. New treatment approaches that can begin to address this problem in a meaningful way are certainly important. That includes quantifying the benefits of new treatments, such as ImPAT, so that doctors and patients can have a better understanding of how much such approaches may be able to help.
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mixture
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University of Michigan Health System
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Costs aren’t addressed. How much might one ImPAT session cost–given that patients may need as many as 10 sessions (or more) to see benefits? Is it possible that these sessions would be covered by insurance? It’s not clear. However, to the release’s credit, it does note that this treatment “has the potential to be easily and inexpensively adopted by addiction treatment centers and groups worldwide, through team members trained in standard psychological techniques.” That’s a positive point. But it doesn’t get at what the costs might be for patients. For example, does inexpensive adoption by treatment centers guarantee inexpensive treatment sessions? The release addresses benefits in two ways: perceived effects, and how long they last. Here’s what it said about the beneficial effects: Patients “found that the intensity of their pain decreased, their ability to function increased, and their alcohol use went down, compared to [patients] who received a less-focused approach. However, the two groups had similar rates of drug use.” Kudos to the release for highlighting the lack of effect on rates of drug use. However, it’s important to tell readers how much the patients’ pain decreased, alcohol use went down and ability to function increased. Are we talking about a statistically significant, but functionally irrelevant, margin? Or are we talking about a substantive difference? Readers want to know. The release also notes that “Just 10 weekly sessions of [ImPAT] had an effect that lasted up to a year in 55 [patients] who took part.” That’s good to know — but that’s 55 patients out of how many? If you read the paper, you’ll see that the finding was true for 55 out of 65 patients who participated in ImPAT. That’s a strong result. But readers can’t know that if the release doesn’t tell them. The release doesn’t address potential harms. But there don’t appear to be potential harms associated with ImPAT, certainly none that stand out relative to other behavioral interventions. So we’ll rate this not applicable. The release makes a good effort at describing the study, though the language is a little confusing. Altogether, there were 129 patients in the study. The release tells us that half were in the ImPAT group, while the other half had conventional group therapy. The release describes ImPAT and offers an overview of patient demographics. The information is distributed throughout the release, which is what makes it confusing. However, it appears to be a good-faith attempt to describe the work openly for readers, so we’ll give it a Satisfactory rating. No disease mongering here. The release does a good job of explaining why non-pharmaceutical interventions are needed to help patients with chronic pain who suffer from addiction. The funding source is clearly identified. And while the release does not address conflicts of interest, there do not appear to be any conflicts of interest to address. The release both addresses why some alternative treatment options are not available for chronic pain patients who suffer from addiction, and explicitly states that “people struggling with addiction who want to seek relief from pain should explore the full range of treatment options that have been shown to work in non-addicted patients, including physical therapy, exercise and psychotherapy as well as antidepressant medications.” The release notes that researchers have launched a larger, follow-up study of ImPAT, and that ImPAT could potentially be widely adopted. That seems to infer that ImPAT is not currently available outside of the treatment facility where the researchers work. However, it’s not clear whether that’s the case. Are other facilities offering this treatment technique, or something like it? Readers really have no way of knowing. The release makes clear that the two treatment techniques that constitute ImPAT are rarely used jointly, but are both fairly common in pain treatment settings. However, as the release notes, pain treatment clinics and centers often decline to work with patients who have substance abuse problems. Here’s the opening sentence: “It’s a Catch-22 with potentially deadly consequences: People trying to overcome addiction can’t get treatment for their pain, because the most powerful pain medicines also carry an addiction risk.” We get that it’s a Catch-22. But what are the “potentially deadly consequences?” Failure to seek addiction treatment? Suicide? The release doesn’t tell us. It never explains what those “potentially deadly consequences” are. To be clear, it’s not that we doubt whether there might be deadly consequences–but if you’re going to spring a line like that on readers, you need to articulate exactly what you mean.
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41083
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The starting salary for teachers increased from £21,600 in 2010 to £24,400 in 2020.
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The United States has warned its citizens to take extra care when visiting Tanzania amid concerns over Ebola, adding to calls for the East African country to share information about suspected cases of the deadly disease there.
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true
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online
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U.S. travelers should “exercise increased caution”, the State Department said on Friday in an updated travel advisory that cited reports of “a probable Ebola-related death in Dar es Salaam”. Tanzania denies the reports, saying no cases of Ebola have been confirmed, but with transparency key to combating the deadly and fast-spreading hemorrhagic fever, the government is under mounting pressure to provide clarification. The foreign affairs ministry was not immediately available on Saturday for comment on the U.S. advisory. Authorities in east and central Africa have been on high alert for possible spillovers of Ebola from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where a year-long outbreak has killed more than 2,100 people. Tanzania and DRC share a border that is separated by a lake. In a rare public rebuke, the World Health Organisation (WHO) last week said that, contrary to international health regulations, Tanzania was refusing to provide details of suspected cases. Days earlier, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention traveled to Tanzania at the direction of U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar, who had also criticized the country for not sharing information. The WHO said that, while it was concerned by the lack of transparency, it has no evidence on the presence of Ebola in Tanzania, but ruled out punitive action and reiterated it had advised against travel or trade restrictions. Tanzania on Tuesday summoned the WHO’s local representative over its assertion. In mid-September, the health minister said the government had investigated two recent cases of unknown illnesses, but they tested negative for Ebola.
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9801
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Patient’s own stem cells help heal heart, early research shows
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The story did a better job than a competing WebMD story in covering most of the necessary ground to give readers a realistic assessment of this stem cell study. It described the actual study with an appropriate level of detail. However, it missed two important points that were noted in the WebMD piece: the lead researcher’s conflict of interest and the fact that there was no significant difference in clinical outcomes between the two groups. The use of autologous stem cells to repair damaged heart muscle has been studied previously with mixed results. This phase 1 study (designed to determine the safety of the stem cell infusions) was conducted in a small group of patients who had previously suffered a heart attack and now had evidence of heart failure. Although the survival of heart attack has improved, the residual effects (heart failure) remains an elusive target. This study demonstrated small but important changes in the area of the heart attack in the treated patients. One of the best aspects of this story is how it repeatedly shows what the researchers still don’t know. Instead of presenting this as a breakthrough with a clear path to clinical application, the story uses phrases such as, “why this is happening is still unclear.” Somewhat puzzling however was the lack of improvement in the degree of heart failure in the treated patients as compared to controls. This important fact seems to have been missed in the story. Additional studies are necessary to see if in fact this approach actually improve heart function.
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true
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heart attack,stem cells
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It’s too early to have a meaningful discussion of costs. The story does not provide a lot of hard data on benefits, and we would have liked to have seen more. For example, it says that “about half of their scar tissue dissolved and the reduction in scar size appears to get bigger after the first six months.” But we appreciated some of the specific details it does provide, including: “Marbán says the amount of new heart tissue that grew was not subtle. [On average] “22 grams (about .78 ounces) of new heart tissue grew,” which he says is quite remarkable considering this had never been done before and the average weight of the part of the heart that is responsible for pumping the blood through the body is about 150 grams (about 5.3 ounces).” Having said that however, the story misses an important point. The patients treated with the stem cells did not have an improvement in their overall heart function. So while there appeared to be a considerable amount of regenerated heart muscle, it did not make any difference in the performance of the heart so that patients did not likely see any benefit to the procedure. The story at least mentioned harms. Another story on the study, by WebMD, did not. This one says, “After 12 months, researchers report only one patient appeared to have a serious side effect that may have been connected to the experimental cells.” Competing coverage discussed a broader group of patients who had bad outcomes, although it is not clear that all of those outcomes were a result of the treatment. Pinpointing the cause of a side effect can be tricky, and given the lead researcher’s financial interest in this stem cell therapy, we think stories should err on the side of providing more information about potential harms. The story did a better job than some of the other coverage of the study in explaining exactly what this study entailed and the study’s limitations. The story says, for example, “She cautions that this procedure has to be tested on many more patients and they have to be observed for longer periods than in the current study, but she says these results are all very positive.” The story does not engage in disease mongering. It makes it clear that this was a study in a particular group of patients, not just any patient with heart disease. “To qualify for this clinical trial, patients had to have suffered a recent heart attack and “had to have a significant amount of damage to begin with and weren’t squeezing [blood into the body] as well as they should have, says Dr. Peter Johnston, one of the study authors who injected the new heart cells into patients treated at Johns Hopkins Hospital.” The story could have sought a little wider circle of independent experts. But we thought the reporter elicited good comments from Sonia Skarlatos, Ph.D and deputy director of the Division of Cardiovascular Sciences at the NIH’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, which funded the study. We have to give an “unsatisfactory” here, though, because the story failed to mention the financial interest that the lead researcher has in the stem cell therapy. The press release for the study mentions this, as does a competing WebMD story. There is no discussion of alternatives in this story. One might think that the only option for heart attack patients is to wait around until stem cell treatments become available. Even an additional line about alternatives would have been appreciated. The story makes it clear not only that the treatment is experimental but that it has to clear many more hurdles before becoming a clinical option. The story improves on a competing WebMD story by explaining the novelty of this study. “This is the first instance of therapeutic regeneration,” says Dr. Eduardo Marbán, director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute. He says while nature abounds with examples of spontaneous regeneration of limbs or tissues – like a salamander’s new tail or a human liver regrowing to full size if partially damaged – doctors have not been able to help patients regrow heart tissue. This could change in the future if larger clinical trials and longer patient outcomes confirm the results of this early research published Monday in the journal The Lancet. Marbán and his colleagues first presented this research at an American Heart Association conference in November. The story goes beyond the Cedars-Sinai press release.
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155
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UK fears crisis as 11.5 million get potentially addictive drugs.
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More and more Britons are being prescribed potentially addictive medicines including sleeping pills, opioids and other painkillers, raising the risk of a drug crisis like the one in the United States, health officials said on Tuesday.
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true
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Health News
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In a government-commissioned report, researchers at Public Health England (PHE) said evidence showed that “since at least 10 years ago more people are being prescribed more of these medicines and often for longer”. In 2017 to 2018 alone, 11.5 million adults in England - more than a quarter of the adult population - was prescribed one or more of the medicines under review, the PHE analysis found. The medicines included anti-anxiety drugs called benzodiazepines and sleeping pills known as z-drugs, as well as the epilepsy and anxiety medicines gabapentin and pregabalin, antidepressants and opioid pain medicines. Many of these can be addictive and could cause problems for people taking them or coming off them, PHE said. The report also found higher rates of prescribing to women and older people. While the prescription of some drugs, including benzodiazepines and opioids, has dipped a little recently amid fears about the deadly opioid epidemic in the United States, others, such as the gabapentin, pregabalin and some antidepressants, are being prescribed more often and for longer. “This means more people are at risk of becoming addicted to them or having problems when they stop using them,” PHE said. “It also costs the National Health Service a lot of money, some of which is wasted because the medicines do not work for everyone all the time, especially if they are used for too long.” Responding to the PHE’s findings, the British Medical Association (BMA) doctors union said its members were worried: “We have seen the devastation that addiction to prescription drugs has had in the United States, and while the problem here is on a lesser scale, doctors ... are concerned at the number of patients being prescribed these medicines, and the length of time they are taking them for,” it said in a statement. An opioid epidemic in the United States has killed almost half a million Americans since 1999, and a report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) policy forum earlier this year warned that the United States “is by no means alone in facing this crisis.” The Paris-based OECD said deaths linked to opioid use were rising sharply in Sweden, Norway, Ireland, and England and Wales. Campaigners at the UK Addiction Treatment Group (UKAT) said the PHE report showed “a nation crying out for help” and being put on potentially dangerous repeat courses of painkillers and antidepressants as a stop-gap measure. UKAT said the consequences of such prescribing were already in evidence with rising numbers of people seeking treatment for prescription drug addiction. Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said it was watching the U.S. crisis closely and aiming to take avoiding action in the UK. “We take the experience in the U.S. of dependence and addiction to opioids very seriously and are following ... developments ... to learn from the actions other countries are taking to tackle this issue,” it said in a statement.
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1309
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UK signals changes on medicinal cannabis use after epileptic boy's case.
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The British government will look into possible changes to rules on the use of cannabis-based medicines, a minister said on Monday, after an epileptic boy whose medication was confiscated was hospitalized.
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true
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Health News
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Interior minister Sajid Javid used an exceptional power on Saturday to release medicinal cannabis oil that had been taken from Billy Caldwell, 12, by customs officials at London’s Heathrow Airport. Billy’s mother, Charlotte Caldwell, had been pleading for the medication to be given back because without it her son suffered from life-threatening seizures. “This case .. has shone a light on the use of cannabis medicine in this country and highlighted the need for the government to explore the issue further, and our handling of these issues further,” said Nick Hurd, a junior minister in charge of policing. “As a first step, I can announce today that the government is establishing an expert panel of clinicians to advise ministers on any individual applications to prescribe cannabis-based medicines,” he told parliament. Under British law, cannabis is listed as a schedule 1 drug, meaning that it is not recognized as having a therapeutic value. Schedule 1 drugs can be used for research purposes and clinical trials but only under a Home Office license. “I recognize the need to ensure that the approach to licensing works more effectively,” Hurd said. Billy Caldwell had been receiving medicinal cannabis oil on prescription by his family doctor for more than a year, but supplies ran out after the interior ministry ordered the doctor to stop prescribing it. Charlotte Caldwell and her son, who normally live in Northern Ireland, made a round trip to Canada to buy more supplies, but the oil was confiscated by customs when they re-entered Britain. Billy was hospitalized days later, suffering from seizures. His condition improved after the medicinal cannabis oil was handed back and on Monday he was discharged from hospital. Several members of parliament from different parties voiced support for the Caldwell family and to the idea of loosening the rules on therapeutic uses of cannabis in responses to Hurd’s statement on Monday.
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10281
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Nose treatment cuts hospital-acquired infections
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"The story centers the majority of its attention on a single study, providing little comment on an accompanying editorial and on a second study published in the same issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. And the one that got less attention was perhaps more important, as supported by the accompanying editorial. A summary of both papers and more of the ""take-home messages"" from the editorial and would have provided readers with a more complete view of the potential approaches to reducing post-operative infections. The story used only 429 words. A few more would have addressed our concerns. Hospital-acquired surgical infections are a major source of morbidity and mortality. Despite an increasing number of available antibiotics, post-operative wound infections continue to be a substantial problem. The prophylactic use of mupirocin has been reported to be of value in reducing wound infection in carrier patients undergoing orthopedic and cardiac surgical procedures. However, the practice of routinely screening patients for the presence of Staphylococcus aureus has not been generally adopted in US hospitals. This study’s demonstration of the value of a rapid screening test and of routine prophylactic use of mupirocin along with a chlorhexidine scrub is an important finding."
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false
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The story does not adequately discuss costs, an important consideration. Cost benefits are briefly mentioned. But those cost-saving implications are not validated in any way in the story. And no estimates of absolute costs were disclosed. Independent assessment of the cost implications would have been preferable. The potential benefits are quantified. We were pleased to read absolute risk reduction data following the relative risk reduction data. The potential harms of the drugs, potential false positives from screening, deaths during the study, and impact of such a prophylactic protocol on antibiotic resistance are not discussed. The
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11095
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Rare surgery brings more weight loss, more risks
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While the story begins with a small research study about two different methods of weight-loss surgery, it expands and includes context about wider debate over whether shedding pounds improves health and life expectancy. We do wish it had included cost and insurance coverage information. Size matters. Today’s obese Americans face higher risks of heart disease, diabetes and stroke because of their weight. But in this story, important questions are raised about the risks posed by one type of weight-loss surgery – known as duodenal switch surgery. An estimated 220,000 Americans had some sort of weight-loss surgery in 2009. Besides the suggestion that this specific surgical procedure may pose inordinate risk, the story also raises overall questions about whether weight-loss surgery has been overhyped. “We really don’t know if there is a survival benefit” from weight-loss surgery, said one expert. The size of weight loss may not predict the improvement of health to follow, in a simple relationship. As with many clinical controversies, it may take doctors a long time to establish guidelines for the risks vs. the benefits of this sort of surgery.
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true
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Reuters Health
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No mention in this lengthy story of the costs of the two procedures or insurance coverage. Readers need this information, and the fact that the duodenal switch may not be covered by most insurance. The total cost of gastric bypass is about $20,000. The story makes clear that the duodenal switch surgery, in comparison with the bariatric surgery, may give patients greater weight loss in pounds but the value of that reduction is not clear. The additional information from the paper published by Livingston demonstrating no advantage to surgery over medical management was very useful. The story shines in its details about the delicate weighing of risk vs. benefits for weight-loss surgery in general, and then for the duodenal vs. gastric bypass method in particular. Some readers might find it confusing that the story includes two separate publications about weight-loss surgery. The story leads with the small study comparing duodenal with gastric bypass, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, but then delves into a larger Veterans Administration study from the Journal of the American Medical Association that looked at the longer-term results of all surgeries for obesity. We salute Reuters for providing the context and the controversy within medical practice, and quoting a principal investigator on the VA study, Edward Livingstone, who wrote an editorial that appeared in the Annals beside the duodenal paper. The story reports on a very small study – just 58 patients in total and 29 received the duodenal surgery. Only one comment addressed the quality of the evidence: “Larger, longer-term studies are still needed to show whether the extra weight loss with duodenal switch” improves the health and lengthens the lives of obese patients, explained lead researcher Torgeir Sovik. We would have liked a reminder of the preliminary nature of the conclusions higher up in the story. This story does a good job of probing territory that is under-explored in most media accounts about obesity treatment. It poses the questions of long-term quality of life and life expectancy post treatment. Could obesity itself be less life-threatening than some of the radical treatments aimed at treating it? In addition to quoting the lead author of the Annals article, we liked the balance provided by Edward Livingston in his comments about both the duodenal switch procedure and his comments about the value of surgery in general over medical management. The story concentrates on patients receiving weight-loss surgery, and does not discuss non-surgical alternatives at much length. It does mention the study by Livingston questioning the value of surgery over medical management. Behavior coaching, diet and exercise are all potential treatments for obesity. The story explains that duodenal switch is “less common” and that “Duodenal switch is not a popular procedure.” In a 2008 study, it accounted for just 1 percent of weight-loss, or bariatric, surgeries done in the U.S., and 5 percent in Europe.” The story makes it clear that the duodenal switch procedure has been around for a number of years but is rarely used. No, it does not rely on a news release.
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31085
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A study determined that the active tuberculosis incidence rate for refugees in San Diego was more than 100 times higher than it was in the rest of the United States.
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While both the study and the Starbucks event were legitimate, their connection stopped there. One had absolutely nothing to do with the other except in the context of the commitment by the coffee company to hire more refugees and the hiring drive itself.
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false
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Uncategorized, breitbart, El Cajon, san diego
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On 8 August 2017, right wing news site Breitbart.com published a story suggesting that residents of the city of El Cajon, California were in danger of contracting tuberculosis, based on a study of refugees to the U.S. published in 2013: Starbucks held a hiring event exclusively for refugees in El Cajon, California on Tuesday, part of its recently announced commitment to hire more than 10,000 refugees over the next five years. El Cajon is located in San Diego County, where more than 20,000 refugees have have been resettled by the federal government in the past nine and a half years since the beginning of Fiscal Year 2008. From there it pivoted to the findings of a team led by Timothy Rodwell, an associate professor at the University of California, San Diego’s School of Medicine. Rodwell and his fellow researchers examined the results of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) tests for refugees who moved to San Diego County between January 2010 and October 2012, the majority of whom came from the Middle East. According to the study, 823 of the refugees tested positive for LTBI, while another 14 “had an abnormal result” on radiographs that was consistent with active tuberculosis. Breitbart then surmised: In other words, the incidence of active TB among the 4,280 refugees who were resettled in San Diego County between January 2010 and October 2012 was 327 per 100,000, more than 100 times greater than the incidence of active TB among the entire population of the United States in 2016. That figure was based in part on the Centers for Disease Control’s findings of 2.9 cases per 100,000 for 2016 in the U.S. Rodwell — who noted that no one from Breitbart.com contacted him prior to publishing its story — told us: I do not think that is an accurate interpretation of the data from my manuscript. Rodwell said that the site apparently took 14 (the number of cases “consistent with active TB”) and divided it by 4,280 (the total number of refugees involved in the study). That comes out to around 0.0032710. They then multiplied .0032710 by 100,000 (the standard measure for reporting incidence of disease in populations), giving them an “incidence” of 327.102, or 327 per 100,000: The 14 patients that had an abnormal X-ray result that was consistent with active TB; the reason why we didn’t call those TB-positive patients is because having an abnormal chest x-ray that’s consistent with active TB doesn’t mean you’ve got active TB. They still have to be cultured. They still have to be confirmed as TB cases. We did not have access to that data in that study, and that’s why we didn’t make that calculation: because that data was not available. I actually don’t know how many of those 14 people ended up having active TB. We did not follow them or look at that or explore that. He also took issue with the site’s extrapolation from his team’s data: Let’s just say all of those [refugees] that had a chest X-ray consistent with active TB actually ended up being TB. If they were, that would actually be a prevalence of TB and not an incident, and that’s a very big difference. Incidence says that’s how many you’re gonna get every single year. They said there was 327 per 100,000 — more than 100 times more than the incidence of active TB in the entire population of the United States. That’s just not an accurate use of any of that information. It’s not an incidence. If any of those patients with an abnormal X-ray had actually turned out to have active TB — which we don’t know if they were — you still can’t convert that into an incidence. It would be a prevalence; it would say “in general, this is how much TB there is in that group”. He also pointed out that testing positive for LTBI and having active tuberculosis are “extremely different”: That’s a really important point that was not raised in the article. People that have latent tuberculosis have an increased risk of transforming to active tuberculosis [compared to] someone who doesn’t have latent tuberculosis. When you have latent tuberculosis there is literally no chance to transmit it to somebody else. When you have latent tuberculosis, you do not have infectious TB; you cannot transmit it to somebody else. You can, however, go from latent TB to active TB. That’s the concern. That’s why we pay attention to this population: it’s because we want to treat them when they have latent TB, so they never go to active TB. When we’re treating them for latent [TB], they are not infectious. Breitbart also neglected to mention that 489 (59 percent) of the refugees who tested positive for LBTI were offered treatment. The report by Rodwell’s team stated that another 334 refugees diagnosed with the infection did not receive similar offers, mostly because they were fifty years old or older, in which case they were referred to local medical providers. According to the study, 373 refugees accepted the offer of treatment, with 219 of them (58.7 percent) completing it by the time it was published. Another 78 were still being treated at the time of publication, while 39 “defaulted” from treatment. A spokesperson for San Diego County, Craig Sturak, told us that between 2012 and 2016, resettled refugees accounted 4 percent of the county’s active tuberculosis cases. Overall, the county reported a TB incidence rate of 8.0 per 100,000 residents in 2016, down .4 percent compared to 2011.
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26381
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"Tony Evers Says Wisconsin measures have ""prevented the death of at least 300 Wisconsinites, and perhaps as many as 1,400 lives."
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We of course can’t know something like “lives saved” for certain, but this kind of claim is pretty standard in discussions of disease trajectory. This claim lines up with projections made by DHS, and experts say it’s in line with what other models projected as well. But Evers neglects to describe this as an estimate or projection.
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true
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Health Care, Public Health, Wisconsin, Coronavirus, Tony Evers,
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"Pushing back against a lawsuit seeking to block his ""Safer at Home"" extension, Gov. Tony Evers laid out his case for isolation measures in Wisconsin. He said striking down the order would ""cripple our ability to respond to the pandemic."" Places without such measures, he said, have yielded ""reports of doctors rationing ventilators and having to choose which patients will live or die"" and ""reports of needing refrigeration trucks for the deceased."" And he made a bold claim about the impact his shelter-in-place order has had in Wisconsin. ""It's working,"" Evers wrote in an April 21, 2020, Facebook post. ""We have flattened the curve here in Wisconsin and have prevented the death of at least 300 Wisconsinites, and perhaps as many as 1,400 lives."" Disease experts have been clear that social distancing can save lives, but is Evers right about saving at least 300 lives? We checked it out. We’ll start out with the obvious: There’s no way for Evers to know this for sure. He is referring to a hypothetical scenario in which actions taken to this point never occurred. But this is a standard type of statement in disease management and other fields that use predictive models — comparing initial projections with actual observations later. ""It’s quite common to project with a model sort of what would be expected in epidemiology,"" said Patrick Remington, a former CDC epidemiologist and director of the Preventive Medicine Residency Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. ""What better way to predict than … to say, particularly early in an epidemic, what if we did nothing? The early transmission velocity in an epidemic, what if that were to continue throughout the course of the epidemic?"" We should also note this language is in line with claims from the other side of the aisle. President Donald Trump asserted in an April 16, 2020, news conference, ""Our experts and scientists report that our strategy to slow the spread has saved hundreds of thousands of lives."" The models used to project the number of cases and deaths from COVID-19 are constantly evolving, tweaked to factor in the most up to date trends, new information about the virus and changes in government policies and society’s response to them. The models get better as more data on what is happening is added, which is why the wild swings in projected cases and deaths from early models have leveled out now. Evers is comparing the number of deaths we’ve seen so far to what the earliest version of those models said would happen in Wisconsin. So what did they say? Evers spokeswoman Melissa Baldauff said his numbers were based on a model created by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. A version of that released March 18, 2020 projected between 440 and 1,500 deaths in Wisconsin by April 8. The actual death toll on April 8 was 99. Some quick subtraction shows that is in line with Evers’ claim. ""While early models of the virus’s spread are less reliable the further out they project, those models showed that, by April 8, Wisconsin would have seen 22,000 cases which would have resulted in 440-1,500 deaths,"" Julie Willems Van Dijk, deputy DHS secretary, said in an affidavit filed in opposition to the Republican lawsuit. ""Therefore, we estimate that the First Safer at Home order saved between 300 and 1,400 lives by April 8th."" Evers’ claim also lines up with early projections from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, a model that has been widely used by the government and public alike throughout the pandemic. On March 25 it projected 853 deaths in Wisconsin over the following four months. Now that model projects less than half that number. Another model, detailed in an April 24 report from Johns Hopkins University, said their simulations showed about three times as many deaths in Wisconsin by May 1 if ""Safer at Home"" had not been in place. As of April 30, 316 people had died in Wisconsin of COVID-19, DHS reports. Ajay Sethi, associate professor of population health sciences at the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, said the range of lives saved Evers cited is ""consistent with near-term forecasts I had seen."" Remington agreed those figures are ""absolutely within the range of what I’d expect,"" noting that Evers was wise to cite it as a range since it is an estimate and based on many factors. One key factor here is the matter of credit. Just as the number of deaths is an estimate, so is figuring out how many of those lives saved were due specifically to ""Safer at Home."" ""You can’t tease out the effect of that order from the daily White House briefings to all the stuff on social media to late night comedy shows,"" Remington said. ""But you can say the result of all this public education is a change in our behavior."" ""Safer at Home"" was the cornerstone of the Wisconsin response to coronavirus, though, so it’s certainly fair to credit it with a large share of the change in behavior here. ""Without social distancing the virus would have continued to spread like wildfire,"" Sethi said. Evers said his ""Safer at Home"" plan ""prevented the death of at least 300 Wisconsinites, and perhaps as many as 1400 lives."" This claim lines up with projections made by DHS, and experts say it’s in line with what other models projected as well. And Evers was smart to cite a wide range of possible outcomes, since we have no way of knowing precisely how this theoretical future would have played out. But any claim like this is based on a hypothetical scenario of how COVID-19 might have progressed in Wisconsin without the array of government limitations and changes in personal behavior we’ve seen in recent months. And Evers stated this as a knowable fact rather than an estimate. With that missing context in mind."
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36242
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An average of 22 veterans of the U.S. military take their own lives every day.
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Do an Average of 22 United States Military Veterans Kill Themselves Every Day?
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false
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Fact Checks, Military
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While seeking to boost awareness and help toward United States military veterans, a long-standing online claim and the various graphics promoting it are based on some misreporting of data regarding veteran suicide rates.The claim often states that on average, 22 veterans kill themselves every day:As the Los Angeles Times reported in 2013, the figure was taken from a study released that same year by the federal Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The study said:Among cases where history of U.S. military service was reported, Veterans comprised approximately 22.2 percent of all suicides reported during the project period. If this prevalence estimate is assumed to be constant across all U.S. states, an estimated 22 Veterans will have died from suicide each day in the calendar year 2010.However, the VA’s researchers also noted that it used data provided from 21 American states — but not from California and Texas, two states with large veteran populations. The report analyzed a total of 147,763 suicides from those 21 states. Of those, 27,062 (or 18.3 percent) were “identified as having history of U.S. military service” on their death certificates.According to the Times, the spread of the claim online also failed to account for both age and outside factors, and was instead conflated with discussions of U.S. military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan.About 72 percent of veterans are at least 50. It is not surprising, then, that the VA found that people in this age group account for 69 percent of veteran suicides — or more than 15 of the 22 per day.Many experts believe that the farther a veteran is from military service, the less likely it is that his or her suicide has anything to do with his or her time in uniform. In other words, many older veterans are killing themselves for the same reasons that other civilians in the same age group kill themselves: depression and other mental health problems coupled with difficult life circumstances.A separate story in 2013 analyzed the death rate for veterans in California under the age of 35 between 2006 and 2011. The newspaper reported that out of 1,363 veteran deaths meeting that criteria, 329 were suicides.“For every 100,000 young California veterans, there was an average of 27 suicides a year — 57 percent higher than the rate for active-duty troops over the same period,” the Times reported.Taken nationally, the story added, that rate would mean that around 530 veterans under 35 were killing themselves per year, in an average of 1.5 suicides a day.That’s probably an underestimate, because there are regional variations in suicide and California tends to fall on the low side… But in talking about the aftermath of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it’s far closer to reality than 22 each day.The VA further clarified its findings regarding suicide in July 2018, when it released a separate study that did include data from all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia. The report also stated, however, that its 2012 predecessor included suicide data for active service members, National Guard members and reservists alongside non-active veterans.The latest report determined that between 2005 and 2015, on average 16.8 veterans and 3.8 active-duty service members killed themselves every day.“The key message is that suicides are elevated among those who have ever served,” the National Center for Veterans Studies executive director Craig Bryan told the military news organization Stars and Stripes. “The benefit of separating out subgroups is that it can help us identify higher risk subgroups of the whole, which may be able to help us determine where and how to best focus resources.”
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33317
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Hillary Clinton was fired from the House Judiciary Committee's Watergate investigation by Chief Counsel Jerry Zeifman.
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Hillary Clinton was not fired from the House Judiciary Committee's Watergate investigation, by Chief Counsel Jerry Zeifman or anyone else.
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false
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Uncategorized, hillary clinton, richard nixon, watergate
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On the (thankfully rare) occasions when Congress must consider whether the sitting President of the United States has committed misdeeds that merit his forced removal from office, the task of initiating the impeachment process rests with the House Judiciary Committee: A resolution impeaching a particular individual is typically referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. A resolution to authorize an investigation regarding impeachable conduct is referred to the House Committee on Rules, and then referred to the Judiciary Committee. The House Committee on the Judiciary, by majority vote, will determine whether grounds for impeachment exist. If the Committee finds grounds for impeachment they will set forth specific allegations of misconduct in one or more articles of impeachment. The Impeachment Resolution, or Article(s) of Impeachment, are then reported to the full House with the committee’s recommendations. The House debates the resolution and may at the conclusion consider the resolution as a whole or vote on each article of impeachment individually. A simple majority of those present and voting is required for each article or the resolution as a whole to pass. If the House votes to impeach, managers (typically referred to as “House managers”, with a “lead House manager”) are selected to present the case to the Senate. In 1973, after the Senate Select Committee on Campaign Activities’ investigation into the break-in at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., brought forth evidence that the Nixon administration (including the President himself) had attempted to cover-up its involvement with the crime, the House Judiciary Committee opened an an impeachment inquiry. At that time, the Judiciary Committee comprised 37 members of the House of Representatives and was chaired by Representative Peter Rodino, Jr., of New Jersey. The Judiciary Committee was assisted by a permanent staff, on which attorney Jerry Zeifman served as Chief Counsel, and (for this occasion) by a separate Impeachment Inquiry staff assembled to determine whether President Nixon had committed impeachable offenses. That inquiry staff was headed by former U.S. Justice Department lawyer John Doar, and one of his hires was a 26-year-old Yale Law School graduate then known by her maiden name of Hillary Rodham (who a few years later would marry future Arkansas governor and U.S. president Bill Clinton). A pair of articles published during Hillary Clinton’s run for the presidency in 2008, one by Northstar Writers Group founder Dan Calabrese and one by Jerry Zeifman himself, asserted that Zeifman was Hillary’s supervisor during the Watergate investigation and that he eventually fired her from the investigation for “unethical, dishonest” conduct. However, whatever Zeifman may have thought of Hillary and her work during the investigation, he was not her supervisor, neither he nor anyone else fired her from her position on the Impeachment Inquiry staff (Zeifman in fact didn’t have the power to fire her, even had he wanted to do so), his description of her conduct as “unethical” and “dishonest” is his personal, highly subjective characterization, and the “facts” on which he based that characterization were ones that he contradicted himself about on multiple occasions. Zeifman said he maintained a transcribed diary during the impeachment proceedings, which he drew up upon two decades later in authoring the 1998 book Without Honor: The Impeachment of President Nixon and the Crimes of Camelot. That book makes it clear that Zeifman did not like (personally and professionally) a good many of the people he worked with during the Watergate investigation; in particular, he continually butted heads over issues of procedures and legal approaches with his boss, Judiciary Committee Chairman Peter Rodino, and Hillary’s supervisor, Impeachment Inquiry Special Counsel John Doar. Zeifman accused both Rodino and Doar (as well as Hillary Rodham and others), without evidence, of supposedly dragging their feet on recommending impeachment and “tanking” the investigation of President Nixon’s wrongdoings, for reasons ranging from bribes offered by the Nixon White House to help with re-election bids, to a desire to enhance the Democrats’ chances of winning the 1976 presidential election by keeping a discredited Nixon in office until the end of his term, to a plot to keep Richard Nixon from defending himself by bringing up past instances of presidential abuses of power (which would include dirt on the Kennedys). A passage from Dan Calabrese’s 2008 article presents one of Zeifman’s chief complaints about Hillary, that she supposedly “dishonestly” drafted a brief that argued President Nixon’s counsel should not be allowed to participate in the Judiciary Committee’s evidentiary hearings, even though a precedent from a few years earlier had seemingly established that a federal official facing impeachment should be allowed such representation: “[Hillary] was a liar,” Zeifman said in an interview. “She was an unethical, dishonest lawyer. She conspired to violate the Constitution, the rules of the House, the rules of the committee and the rules of confidentiality.” How could a 27-year-old House staff member do all that? Zeifman said she was one of several individuals who engaged in a seemingly implausible scheme to deny Richard Nixon the right to counsel during the investigation. The actions of Hillary and her cohorts went directly against the judgment of top Democrats, up to and including then-House Majority Leader Tip O’Neill, that Nixon clearly had the right to counsel. In order to pull this off, Zeifman says Hillary wrote a fraudulent legal brief, and confiscated public documents to hide her deception. The brief involved precedent for representation by counsel during an impeachment proceeding. When Hillary endeavored to write a legal brief arguing there is no right to representation by counsel during an impeachment proceeding, Zeifman says, he told Hillary about the case of Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, who faced an impeachment attempt in 1970. “As soon as the impeachment resolutions were introduced by (then-House Minority Leader Gerald) Ford, and they were referred to the House Judiciary Committee, the first thing Douglas did was hire himself a lawyer,” Zeifman said. The Judiciary Committee allowed Douglas to keep counsel, thus establishing the precedent. Zeifman says he told Hillary that all the documents establishing this fact were in the Judiciary Committee’s public files. So what did Hillary do? “Hillary then removed all the Douglas files to the offices where she was located, which at that time was secured and inaccessible to the public,” Zeifman said. Hillary then proceeded to write a legal brief arguing there was no precedent for the right to representation by counsel during an impeachment proceeding — as if the Douglas case had never occurred. This passage leaves many readers with the belief that Hillary Rodham took it upon herself to decide that President Nixon should not be represented by counsel during evidentiary hearings, to deliberately draft a brief that ignored precedent in that area, and to personally hide evidence of the precedent she had ignored so that no one could discover her dishonesty. But nearly everything stated in this passage is wrong: Hillary Rodham didn’t draft a legal brief that was “unethical” (save that it made a legal argument Zeifman didn’t agree with), she didn’t “confiscate” public documents, and she didn’t do anything that she hadn’t been directed to do by the man who was her and Zeifman’s superior. It should be noted that the brief drafted by Hillary Rodham did not involve, as many people have misconstrued it, denying President Nixon the right to be represented by counsel during a trial on criminal charges. The brief addressed only whether Nixon had the right to be represented by counsel at evidentiary hearings conducted by a congressional committee tasked with determining whether potential grounds for impeachment existed.) Zeifman’s book plainly stated, more than once, that the viewpoint that President Nixon should not be allowed representation by counsel during hearings was not Hillary Rodham’s doing; rather, it came from the top, Committee Chairman Peter Rodino himself. Separate passages in Zeifman’s book state that “one [rule] which was also espoused by Rodino was the surprising notion that the President was not entitled to representation by counsel in the committee’s impeachment proceedings” and that “in April [1974], Rodino began recommending that we deny Nixon the right to be represented by counsel“. (Whether such a “right” existed is far from certain: the committee was engaged in neither a criminal proceeding nor an impeachment trial; they were merely investigating whether grounds for impeachment might be present.) Accordingly, Hillary drafted a brief in support of Rodino’s position under orders from her supervisor, John Doar. One might assert, as Chief Minority Counsel Frank Polk did, that Hillary could have taken a better approach to the task and “should have mentioned [the Douglas case], and then tried to argue whether that was a change of policy or not instead of just ignoring it and taking the precedent out of the opinion,” but it’s highly subjective to suggest she was “unethical” and “dishonest” for carrying out the instructions of her immediate supervisor and his boss. One could just as plausibly argue that it would have been unethical and dishonest (not to mention insubordinate) for Hillary to presume to substitute her own judgment for that of her superiors and to refuse to comply with their directions. Moreover, Zeifman plainly stated in his book that Hillary Rodham didn’t “confiscate” files related to the Douglas impeachment case. Rather, he asserted that it was her supervisor, John Doar, who — with Chairman Rodino’s assent — took possession of those files, writing that “Doar got Rodino’s permission to place all of our Douglas impeachment files in his exclusive custody.” John Labovitz, another lawyer who served on the impeachment inquiry staff, said much the same thing in a 2013 interview with Calabrese: I spoke with [John] Labovitz, another member of the Democratic staff, and he is no fan of Jerry Zeifman: “If it’s according to Zeifman, it’s inaccurate from my perspective,” Labovitz said. He bases that statement on a recollection that Zeifman did not actually work on the impeachment inquiry staff. Labovitz said he has no knowledge of Hillary having taken any files, and defended her no-right-to-counsel memo on the grounds that, if she was assigned to write a memo arguing a point of view, she was merely following orders. More important, Zeifman misleadingly suggested more than once in 2008 that he had “terminated” Hillary from her position on the impeachment inquiry staff. For example, he stated in a February 2008 article he wrote for Accuracy in Media that: My own reaction was of regret that, when I terminated her employment on the Nixon impeachment staff, I had not reported her unethical practices to the appropriate bar associations. And during a 2 April 2008 appearance with syndicated radio talk show host Neal Boortz, Zeifman said: BOORTZ: You fired her, didn’t you? ZEIFMAN: Well, let me put it this way. I terminated her, along with some other staff members who were — we no longer needed, and advised her that I would not — could not recommend her for any further positions. But as noted above, Zeifman had no authority to “terminate” Hillary. They were members of different staffs, and Zeifman had no hiring or firing authority over members of the Impeachment Inquiry staff for which Hillary worked. (That authority rested with Special Counsel John Doar and, ultimately, with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Peter Rodino.) Quite tellingly, Zeifman made absolutely no mention of having “fired” or “terminated” Hillary Rodham, nor of telling her that he “could not recommend her for any further positions,” in his 1995 book; he only started claiming so much later. Back in 1995 he noted that Hillary had remained with the inquiry staff up until the end, leaving only when President Nixon’s August 1974 resignation made the issue of impeachment moot and the Judiciary Committee’s impeachment inquiry staff was therefore disbanded: Hillary was twenty-seven when the impeachment inquiry staff was disbanded. The next morning she took a train down to Little Rock, Arkansas. She moved in with Bill Clinton and they eventually married. And again in 1998, Zeifman was quoted in a Scripps Howard News Service article as unambiguously confirming that not only did he not “fire” Hillary, but that it was not even within his power to do so: Jerome Zeifman, chief Democratic counsel on the House Judiciary Committee in 1974 … does not have flattering memories of Rodham’s work on the committee. “If I had the power to fire her, I would have fired her,” he said. Zeifman made no bones about having an ax to grind with Hillary Clinton (putting out the anti-Clinton paperback Hillary’s Pursuit of Power in 2006), and as its blade grew sharper over the years, he quite obviously shifted his recollections of events from the 1973-74 timeframe to conform to his later point of view rather than the other way around. Back in April 2008, Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign site responded to Zeifman’s claims by asserting: In a column circulating on the internet Jerry Zeifman alleges that Hillary was fired from her job on the House Judiciary Committee in the 1970s. Hillary was not fired. They also noted that the Washington Post‘s reviewer found (as we did) much of Zeifman’s book to be mere repetition of speculation with little or no evidence to substantiate it: [The book] will surely excite conspiracy buffs on the lookout for sinister coverups in high places. But those wary of such unsubstantiated theories (myself included) will find Zeifman’s book an unconvincing, if imaginative, tale of intrigue. The lack of evidence makes his theory hard to swallow. Zeifman’s most reliable source — his diary — contains few revelations and seems little more than a chronicle of his suspicions and speculations. The book’s jacket cover, which promises readers “truths even more startling than those brought out in Oliver Stone’s movies ‘Nixon’ and ‘JFK’, ” does not help matters. Perhaps the book’s publicists forgot that “Nixon” and “JFK” were, after all, only Hollywood movies. If more evidence is needed, the pay records of the House Judiciary Committee put paid to any claims that Zeifman (or anyone else) ever “fired” Hillary Rodham from her position with that body. The committee issued their final impeachment report on 22 August 1974 and then wound down their work (which had already been rendered largely moot by President Nixon’s resignation two weeks earlier), yet Hillary Rodham is shown as having been paid through 4 September 1974 — so clearly she was with the committee all the way through to its substantive end:
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9398
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Alcoholics Anonymous works for some people. A new study suggests the alternatives do too.
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This is excellent coverage of a study suggesting that Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and similar 12-step programs aren’t the only worthwhile support groups for those recovering from alcohol use disorders. Alternative programs that (unlike AA) aren’t based on a spiritual philosophy may be just as effective, the results show. The story earns high marks for thoroughly describing the evidence that forms the basis for the coverage and explaining its key limitations. It also features perspective from an independent expert and notes the big gap in availability between AA and its less established counterparts. But do these programs have any downsides and what do they cost? Readers would have benefited from hearing those specifics, but the omissions are relatively minor considering the broad scope of the coverage. The story does an admirable job of explaining the scope of the addiction problem in the U.S. and why it’s important to have alternatives to traditional 12-step programs. Here’s the key text: Based on federal data, more than 20 million people in the US have a substance use disorder, and within that group, more than 15 million have an alcohol use disorder. Excessive drinking alone is linked to 88,000 deaths each year. So finding the right solutions for this problem is literally a matter of life or death.
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true
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alcohol use disorder
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The story does not discuss costs associated with either AA or the alternative addiction treatment groups. That would be useful information for people who may not understand how these groups work. However, since these groups generally don’t charge members for participation (although they may solicit donations or require the purchase of recovery literature), we’ll rate this Not Applicable. The story reports the researchers’ conclusion that “[Women for Sobriety], LifeRing, and SMART are as effective as 12-step groups for those with AUDs.” The story also quantifies that level of effectiveness when it says that studies broadly find that “about a third of people maintain recovery from alcohol addiction due to 12-step treatment, another third get something out of the treatment but not enough for full recovery, and another third get nothing at all.” The story acknowledges that there were some differences in the data — for example that those who reported SMART as their primary group “seemed to have worse substance use outcomes,” and that “there were lower odds of total abstinence among LifeRing members.” It explains that those differences might be explained by the differing goals of the programs, as LifeRing doesn’t emphasize complete abstinence as intensely as the 12-step programs. While it would be interesting to know just how much worse the outcomes were with these alternate groups, we don’t think the omission is enough to merit a not satisfactory grade. While there is no well-established quantification of harms of mutual-help groups, we feel this potential should be borne in mind, just as we would expect reports of negative side effects and adverse events in a medication study. The story doesn’t mention potential downsides to any of these programs. For example, as a ProPublica investigation pointed out in 2014, some who participate in AA meetings are forced to do so by the criminal justice system. This group of mandatory members may include violent felons who are trading attendance for a lighter sentence. ProPublica noted that in some cases, this can create “a combustible mix of violent ex-felons and newcomers who assume that others ‘in the rooms’ are there voluntarily.” These conditions may increase the potential for sexual and financial abuse of AA members. This is a strong point of the story. It notes multiple times that the study is not the last word on this subject and calls attention to specific limitations of this type of study via an independent expert source who tells readers: It’s based on an online survey, not the kind of randomized trial that’s typically the gold standard in research. That may have led to some potentially biased results — perhaps participants in specific groups were less likely to report bad outcomes, for instance. And since it’s only one study, it’s possible that the results were biased in some other way. So it’s up to future research to verify the findings. The story references reliable sources regarding the massive impact of alcohol use disorders and doesn’t overstate their toll. The story quotes an expert source who was not affiliated with the research and who provides useful context about key limitations of this study. It doesn’t appear that there are any undisclosed conflicts of interest. The story’s main focus is to compare popular 12-step programs with their alternatives. And it explains why alternatives are necessary, since many people object to the spiritual component of AA. It would have been useful to also include outcomes associated with medication for alcohol use disorder, as well as outcomes when there is no formal treatment. The story thoroughly addresses the gulf in availability between 12-step programs and alternative approaches. Most treatment facilities in America are, according to the survey data and research, at least partly based on the 12 steps — making it the only option for many people. While alternatives like SMART or LifeRing do exist, they’re not nearly as available as AA — and they certainly aren’t built into professional treatment programs in the same way as the 12 steps. The story explains that about two-thirds of AA participants don’t derive much or any benefit from the program, and that’s why this study documenting the effectiveness of alternatives is important news. The story clearly goes beyond any news release.
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28968
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" A new strain of treatment-resistant ""super lice"" is spreading to dozens of states."
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So while it’s true that some research supports the claim lice are growing resistant to common treatment products, researchers first began to observe that trend nearly two decades ago. And although it doesn’t necessarily compromise research findings, studies on lice resistant to over-the-counter products have been funded by pharmaceutical companies concurrently marketing prescription-only treatments for head lice.
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mixture
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Medical
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In August 2015 (just as kids were heading back to school around the United States), a number of web sites published articles about a purportedly new, treatment-resistant strain of head lice. Among the articles was an 18 August 2015 piece published to TIME, titled “Head Lice in 25 States Are Now Resistant to Treatment.” (A regional news site later described it not-at-all terrifyingly as “genetically mutated super lice.”) Given head lice are a massive inconvenience to schools and families without added superpowers, the news spread across Facebook and Twitter quickly. Citing “new research presented at the American Chemical Society’s national meeting,” the article reported: Study author Kyong S. Yoon, PhD, assistant professor in the Biological Sciences and Environmental Sciences Program at Southern Illinois University, has been researching lice since 2000 … His research is still ongoing, but what he’s found so far in 109 samples from 30 states is startling: the vast majority of lice now carry genes that are super-resistant to the over-the-counter treatment used against them. In 25 of the states, lice samples had all three of these genetic mutations, making them the most resistant to treatment. Lice populations from four other states had one, two or three mutations, and in just one state — Michigan — were the pests not resistant at all to the insecticide. The articles coincided with an 18 August 2015 press release published by the American Chemical Society. While the release and subsequent reporting were largely congruent, the latter also made it clear that treatment-resistant lice was by no means a new threat. Yoon was described as first having rung the alarm as early as 2000, after separate concerns arose in the 1990s: Yoon, who is with Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, explains that the momentum toward widespread pyrethroid-resistant lice has been building for years. The first report on this development came from Israel in the late 1990s. Yoon became one of the first to report the phenomenon in the U.S. in 2000 when he was a graduate student at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. In the most recent study, he cast the widest net yet, gathering lice from 30 states with the help of a broad network of public health workers. Population samples with all three genetic mutations associated with kdr came from 25 states, including California, Texas, Florida and Maine. Having all the mutations means these populations are the most resistant to pyrethroids. Samples from four states — New York, New Jersey, New Mexico and Oregon — had one, two or three mutations. The only state with a population of lice still largely susceptible to the insecticide was Michigan. Why lice haven’t developed resistance there is still under investigation, Yoon says. So the problem of mutated head lice wasn’t necessarily a new one, as the press release clarified, adding: “The solution? Yoon says that lice can still be controlled by using different chemicals, some of which are available only by prescription.” CNN echoed the sentiment: Reports of lice resistance started appearing in the mid 1990s in the United States, Europe and Australia. A 2014 study suggested the potential for resistance is high in several areas in the United States and Canada. Among lice samples from 84 people in these countries, 99.6% of the insects had mutations in genes that could allow them to survive the insecticides permethrin and pyrethrin, which are the active ingredients in over-the-counter remedies. In the past, this group’s research has received financial support from pharmaceutical companies that make such prescription medicine. The study was presented Tuesday at the American Chemical Society meeting. It has not been evaluated by independent experts for publication in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. Yoon’s research was funded by Sanofi, a pharmaceutical company that owns Sklice lotion, which contains a newer generation lice-fighting chemical. On 20 August 2015, boston.com published an article titled “‘Mutant’ head lice study funded by companies that treat head lice” which reported: What sparked the head-lice headline epidemic was a talk by Drs. John Clark of the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Kyong Yoon of Southern University of Illinois at Edwardsville, who came to Boston Tuesday to present their findings on the state of American lice. They said their study has determined that lice in at least 25 states have developed resistance to over-the-counter treatments and recommended that patients seek out prescription treatments, which can range in cost from $100 to more than $350. “There is recourse by means of prescription drugs,” Yoon told U.S. News & World Report, another outlet that didn’t note the pharma funding. “Just go to your doctor before you go to your drug store.” A correction appended to the piece conflicted with CNN‘s assertion the data had not been peer reviewed: “Correction: An earlier version of this article erroneously stated that the study was not peer-reviewed before it was presented. In fact, it was peer-reviewed and published in the Journal of Medical Entomology.” However, the study linked by the site was dated 14 March 2014, and its findings weren’t precisely news. Moreover, the data involved were collected between 1999 and 2009 (years before news articles appeared in 2015 heralding the imminent invasion of super lice).
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37937
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A new strain of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, D614, is ten times more infectious than the predominant strain and discovered in Malaysia in August 2020.
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Reports of a “new strain of coronavirus” called D614G and described as “ten times” more infectious than circulating strains spread in non-medical news outlets, and the claim was originally reported by Bloomberg.com on August 16 2020. That seemingly viral article was quietly changed after it began circulating, changing the headline (“Malaysia Detects Coronavirus Strain That’s 10 Times More Infectious”) and adding significant context to the body of the reporting. No note from an editor appeared to explain the changes, but the additional context implied that no credible citation yet existed to support the claim.
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mixture
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Fact Checks, Viral Content
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On August 16 2020, a number of anxiety-provoking tweets discussed the purported discovery of a new strain of SARS-CoV-2 (D614G), described as “ten times more infectious” after mutating:The highly infectious Covid-19 mutation, known as D614G, has been detected in the country.Dr Noor Hisham said the virus with the D614G mutation was highly infectious and “found to be 10 times easier to infect other individuals”.Full report: https://t.co/fNfhO4NnaR pic.twitter.com/9U08KexQMF— The Star (@staronline) August 17, 2020“The mutation called D614G was found in at least three of the 45 cases in a cluster that started from a restaurant owner returning from India and breaching his 14-day home quarantine. The man has since been sentenced to five months in prison and fined.” https://t.co/lv0cDAcDnD— Adrian Carrasquillo (@Carrasquillo) August 17, 2020Social Media Posts About a ‘New Strain of Coronavirus’ Which is ‘Ten Times More Infectious’Most sources for the claim were tabloid newspapers (such as Australia’s The Star), or news organizations in Southeast Asia. Bloomberg Quint, an Indian subset of Bloomberg, published the following tweet on the evening of August 16 2020:JUST IN: Malaysia detects new coronavirus strain that’s 10 times more infectious https://t.co/HQs0FnfmkR— Bloomberg (@business) August 17, 2020A post about the claim also appeared on r/worldnews:’10 times more infectious’ D614G coronavirus strain detected in Malaysia from worldnewsSources for the Claims About D614G in MalaysiaAlthough the news seemed to be of interest in the United States, few, if any, outlets covered the purported novel strain of coronavirus.Yahoo! News India syndicated an article about the claims on August 17 2020. According to that story, the source was a Facebook post by Malaysia’s Director General of Health Noor Hisham Abdullah:Recently, scientists in Malaysia detected a strain of the new coronavirus that’s been found to be 10 times more infectious. The mutation called D614G was found in at least three of the 45 cases in a cluster that started when a restaurant owner and permanent resident returned to the country from India breaching his 14-day home quarantine.According to Director General of Health Noor Hisham Abdullah’s Facebook post, the D614G mutation was found by scientists in July 2020 and will probably lead to an existing vaccine study not to include or not effective in this mutation.However, the very next line described D614G as the “predominant strain” in Europe and the United States:The D614G mutation has become the predominant variant in Europe and the U.S., with the World Health Organization saying there’s no evidence the strain leads to a more severe disease.At the beginning of the same article, the following phrase appeared — but no citations or links to corroborating information were included:However, recent studies have shown that D614G mutation in the spike protein of coronavirus makes it more infectious, transmissible, and deadly.On August 17 2020, Bloomberg Quint reported:Southeast Asia is facing a strain of the new coronavirus that the Philippines, which faces the region’s largest outbreak, is studying to see whether the mutation makes it more infectious.The strain, earlier seen in other parts of the world and called D614G, was found in a Malaysian cluster of 45 cases that started from someone who returned from India and breached his 14-day home quarantine. The Philippines detected the strain among random Covid-19 samples in the largest city of its capital region.The mutation “is said to have a higher possibility of transmission or infectiousness, but we still don’t have enough solid evidence to say that that will happen,” Philippines’ Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a virtual briefing on [August 17 2020].That article also cited the Facebook post, and noted that it included no corroborating evidence:There’s no evidence from the epidemiology that the mutation is considerably more infectious than other strains, said Benjamin Cowling, head of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Hong Kong. “It’s more commonly identified now than it was in the past, which suggests that it might have some kind of competitive advantage over other strains of Covid-19,” he said. […]“People need to be wary and take greater precautions because this strain has now been found in Malaysia,” the country’s Director-General of Health Noor Hisham Abdullah wrote in a Facebook post, saying the strain can make it 10 times more infectious without citing a study. “The people’s cooperation is very needed so that we can together break the chain of infection from any mutation.”As of August 17 2020, the headline on the Bloomberg Quint item read: “Southeast Asia Detects Mutated Virus Strain Sweeping the World.” But the item’s URL and Google results indicated it originally featured this headline:Although it appeared the piece was originally titled “Malaysia Detects Coronavirus Strain That’s 10 Times More Infectious,” no editor’s note or other indication marked the possible post-publication edit. We were unable to locate any cached or archived versions of the article.Bloomberg.com picked up the article, where the same mismatched title and URL were visible. We located the original article on archive.is, and it did in fact feature the headline “Malaysia Detects Coronavirus Strain That’s 10 Times More Infectious.”In its original form, the article did not include comment from epidemiologists as quoted above:Malaysia has detected a strain of the new coronavirus that’s been found to be 10 times more infectious.The mutation called D614G was found in at least three of the 45 cases in a cluster that started from a restaurant owner returning from India and breaching his 14-day home quarantine. The man has since been sentenced to five months in prison and fined. The strain was also found in another cluster involving people returning from the Philippines.The strain could mean that existing studies on vaccines may be incomplete or ineffective against the mutation, said Director-General of Health Noor Hisham Abdullah.The mutation has become the predominant variant in Europe and the U.S., with the World Health Organization saying there’s no evidence the strain leads to a more severe disease. A paper published in Cell Press said the mutation is unlikely to have a major impact on the efficacy of vaccines currently being developed.Bloomberg.com did not add an editor’s note clarifying that the title had been changed from “Malaysia Detects Coronavirus Strain That’s 10 Times More Infectious” to “Southeast Asia Detects Mutated Virus Strain Sweeping the World,” and neither did it indicate the content of the article had been meaningfully altered. In its place, the dateline read:August 16, 2020, 8:27 PM EDT Updated on August 17, 2020, 6:00 AM EDTThe Facebook PostOn August 15 2020, Abdullah shared the following post:An automatic translation by Facebook converted the post to English:Latest recent results received from the Laboratory Medical Research Institute (IMR): as suspected D614G type mutation has been spotted from COVID-19 virus isolation test for three (3) cases from Cluster PUI Sivagangga (close contact to index case) and also a case from Cluster Ulu Tiram (i.e. individual from the Philippines).So far these two clusters are found quite controlled by the results of various fast-paced public health control actions in the field. This test is an early test and there are several follow-up tests in progress to test several other cases, including index cases for both these clusters.So, this means that people need to be aware and be more careful because the COVID-19 virus with this D614G mutation has been proven to be detected in Malaysia. It’s found 10 times easier to infect other individuals and spread easily if spread by the individual ‘ super spreader ‘.This D614G mutation was found by scientists in July 2020 and will probably lead to an existing vaccine study not to include or not effective in this mutation.TL;DRReports of a “new strain of coronavirus” called D614G and described as “ten times” more infectious than circulating strains spread in non-medical news outlets, and the claim was originally reported by Bloomberg.com on August 16 2020. That seemingly viral article was quietly changed after it began circulating, changing the headline (“Malaysia Detects Coronavirus Strain That’s 10 Times More Infectious”) and adding significant context to the body of the reporting. No note from an editor appeared to explain the changes, but the additional context implied that no credible citation yet existed to support the claim.Comments
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6879
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UNH gets grant to help child sex abuse investigators.
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A research center at the University of New Hampshire is getting a federal grant to support police officers and others who investigate crimes involving child sexual abuse images.
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true
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New Hampshire, Police, Mental health, Health, General News, Crime, Durham, Crimes against children, Sexual abuse
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Officials say a surge of such images online and new technology designed to intercept them means more investigators are being hired to review such material, but doing so can have toxic effects on their mental health. The university’s Crimes Against Children Research Center will use a three-year grant to interview police and forensic examiners across the country to identify best practices for workload, counseling and debriefing. The center also will use its findings to develop a screening instrument to help agencies assess whether candidates are suitable for such work. The $886,000 in funding comes from the National Institute of Justice, the research arm of the U.S. Department of Justice. It was one of five recent grant awards totaling $3.9 million related to three topics: the impact of fatigue and stress on officer performance, managing stress, burnout and vicarious trauma experienced by forensic workers and improving officer interaction with mentally ill individuals. The other recipients were the Research Triangle Institute in North Carolina, the Fund for the City of New York, Washington State University and the Research Foundation for SUNY. Their projects include a study of how police officers’ atypical work hours affect their health and an evaluation of a program to divert individuals with mental illness away from jail and toward treatment.
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10733
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Surgery For Sinus Misery: Better, But Still No Cure
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"While we typically wouldn’t advise reporters to focus exclusively on a single patient’s experience, as this story about endoscopic surgery for treating sinus infections did, the result here is a winner thanks to the patient’s familiarity with the subject and unusually dispassionate perspective. She is the relatively rare patient in a health story who acknowledges being disappointed with the outcome of a new treatment. Notable strengths of the story include its measured tone, its extensive discussion of nonsurgical alternatives, and its emphasis on the incremental benefits experienced by most patients (e.g. surgery is ""rarely a cure""). The story could have provided a bit more information about the different types of sinus problems people suffer from (e.g. sinusitis with and without polyps, etc) and what kinds of studies support endoscopic surgery for chronic sinus infections. It also failed to provide enough detail regarding the costs and harms of the treatment. Chronic sinusitis is a common problem that has a significant impact on quality of life. Chronic sinus infections can be painful, result in significant medical expenditures, and lead to lost productivity due to work absences. Although endoscopic sinus surgery has some advantages over older, more invasive techniques that caused scarring and required longer recovery periods, it is important for patients to have realistic expectations about the benefits of surgery and whether they are worth the risks. As this story makes clear, the benefits of surgery remain marginal enough that they are worthwhile only for the most severe cases."
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true
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"A comment about the overall cost of endoscopic sinus surgery, as well as insurance coverage and likely out-of-pocket expenses for patients, would have been appropriate in this story. In addition, the costs associated with the equipment and upkeep are also important considerations. However, the story didn’t mention costs. This story focuses almost exclusively on the experience of one patient, a practice we generally think should be avoided. In this case, however, the patient in question was a health columnist with the Boston Globe who brings a well-informed and appropriately skeptical perspective to the story. Whereas many stories seek out patients who embody the best possible outcome for a new technology or procedure, this patient describes an incremental benefit that was ""disappointing"" in size but in the end, still worth the trouble. Instead of getting 5 or more sinus infections per year, she now gets 3 or 4 infections that are not as bad as before. In addition, the story emphasizes that surgery is ""rarely a cure"" and should be viewed as a ""last resort"" for most patients with sinus problems. We wish more stories were this measured in their assessment of medical benefits. The story refers off-handedly to the possibility of ""poking through to the brain or into the orbit of an eye,"" but it fails to explain that these events are very rare but real risks of the surgery. While extremely unlikely, it’s possible for surgeons to accidentally damage the optic nerve, resulting in blindness, or to puncture the base of the skull, resulting in cerebrospinal fluid leakage. Other less serious, but more common complications are also possible. The story didn’t mention any of them. While we appreciated this story’s carefully calibrated tone and conspicuous lack of hype, we felt its discussion of the evidence was inadequate. The story quotes a surgeon who says that endoscopic surgery improves quality of life for patients ""probably in over 90 percent of the cases."" But we’re not given enough information to determine how this estimate was formulated or if it is representative of typical patient outcomes. The surgeon might be talking about his own personal experience treating patients, which could be much better than average if he’s an experienced surgeon working at a top-tier institution. Adding to our concerns, there is at least some published evidence suggesting that endoscopic sinus surgery is less effective than this story indicates. For example, a systematic review of randomized controlled trials couldn’t find evidence that the procedure was more effective than medical therapy. Granted, this review included only 3 studies and could have involved slightly different procedures than the one discussed in this story. But if there is more persuasive evidence to substantiate the procedure’s benefits, the story should have referred to it directly instead of passing along the surgeon’s second-hand estimates. There was no disease-mongering in this story. The story makes it clear that the surgery being described is a last-ditch approach for people with intractable problems. The story relies heavily on the perspective of Judy Foreman, the health columnist and patient, and her surgeon, Ralph Metson, neither of whom have any conflicts of interest that we could identify. While it would have been nice to hear from an expert who wasn’t involved in this particular case, the story does enough to satisfy the criterion. The story’s sidebar gives detailed descriptions of alternatives to surgery, including nasal irrigation and corticosteroid nasal sprays. The story states that about 300,000 people a year undergo sinus surgery, making it one of the most commonly performed procedures in the U.S. However, it does not provide statistics on the number or percentage of those procedures that are performed endoscopically and the type of hospital setting in which they are done. Enodoscopic surgery with CT guidance as described in the story may be out of the reach of smaller community based practitioners. We’ll call this satisfactory, but some additional detail would have been appropriate. The story didn’t attempt to oversell the novelty of this procedure. It is clear that this story didn’t rely on a news release."
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Kaine downplays presidential readiness amid Clinton illness.
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Tim Kaine’s role as Hillary Clinton’s vice presidential running mate means he’d be one heartbeat away from the presidency. Clinton’s health scare, complete with a widely-viewed video of her stumbling and being supported by aides after abruptly leaving a 9/11 memorial service in New York City, makes that fact more relevant to some — and a bit awkward.
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true
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Tim Kaine, Hillary Clinton, New York City, Campaign 2016, New York, Michigan, AP Politics, Ted Strickland, Pneumonia, Health, Ann Arbor
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Former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland found that out by offering what’s usually benign praise of any presidential running mate, telling an audience on Monday that Kaine was, “wonderfully prepared” to “be the president if that ever became necessary.” Asked the same day if there’s more pressure to prove he’s up for the presidency given Clinton’s pneumonia, the usually folksy and expansive Kaine was curt: No, he said, he absolutely does not think that. He did not elaborate. As Clinton recovers from pneumonia and prepares to resume campaigning Thursday, Kaine is emphasizing instead that her “energy staggers me. I have a hard time keeping up with her.” “She is working so hard, even pushing through. She got told, ‘Hey, you’re a little bit sick,’” Kaine told hundreds of supporters from the steps of the graduate library on the University of Michigan campus during a Tuesday rally. He characterized Clinton’s response as: ”‘Well, I’m going to still go at it.’” Clinton’s illness could put more pressure on Kaine to look more presidential — instead of just relishing his usual role as political attack dog or top Clinton cheerleader. But Kaine can’t embrace that too much without calling unwanted attention to Clinton’s health. Clinton’s illness was on the minds of some voters as Kaine briefly visited Michigan, a swing state that he promised was “going to be close” between Clinton and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in November. Kim Clarke chatted with Kaine when the candidate popped into a coffee shop just off the university’s campus shortly before his Tuesday rally. Clarke told Kaine of Clinton, “it’s OK to be sick,” to which Kaine immediately responded that the illness wasn’t a big deal and Clinton would recover soon. Clarke, a 56-year-old who works for the University of Michigan, said afterward that when she heard about Clinton’s health problems “my first thought wasn’t, ’Oh, Tim Kaine, what’s going to happen.” But she also said the stakes have risen for the Virginia senator. “You obviously want your vice presidential candidate to be of the same timber as the presidential candidate because things happen,” Clarke said. “If that person were to have to step in, you’d want to know that they have similar leadership characteristics.” During a campaign stop later Tuesday at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities in Minneapolis, 21-year-old Will Dammann gave Kaine a student government T-shirt. Dammann said he normally voted Republican but that he would support Clinton and Kaine in November because he doesn’t think Trump is good for the GOP. “He’s a very trustworthy person. He comes across as caring and assertive,” Dammann said of Kaine’s qualities as a potential president. But also said he didn’t think it would come to that: “I think Secretary Clinton is going to be fine.” Same goes for Alex Juntti, a 21-year-old English major at the University of Michigan who attended Tuesday’s rally after his Ancient Law class. He said he still sees Kaine as more of a Clinton campaigner-in-chief than someone who needs to prove he’s up for the presidency. “To me, this isn’t his audition for a potential presidency,” Juntti said.
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34750
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Virginia congressional candidate Nathan Larson admitted that he is a pedophile.
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As for Larson’s congressional campaign, his nathanlarson.org web site was not operational as of 1 June 2018, although archived versions of it were captured a few weeks earlier, and separate election-related sites still listed Larson as a candidate in Virginia’s 10th congressional district. Larson eventually withdrew from the race before the general election.
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mixture
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Politics
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On 31 May 2018 Huffington Post reporters Andy Campbell and Jesselyn Cook published an article about Nathan Larson, a Independent candidate from Charlottesville, Virginia, who was running for House seat in the U.S. Congress. The story was headlined “Congressional Candidate in Virginia Admits He’s a Pedophile” and opened as follows: Nathan Larson, a 37-year-old accountant from Charlottesville, Virginia, is running for Congress as an independent candidate in his native state. He is also a pedophile, as he admitted to HuffPost on [31 May 2018], [and] has bragged in website posts about raping his late ex-wife. In a phone call, Larson confirmed that he created the now-defunct websites suiped.org and incelocalypse.today — chat rooms that served as gathering places for pedophiles and violence-minded misogynists like himself. HuffPost contacted Larson after confirming that his campaign website shared an IP address with these forums, among others. His sites were terminated by their domain host on [29 May 2018]. On the phone, he was open about his pedophilia and seemingly unfazed about his long odds of attaining government office. “A lot of people are tired of political correctness and being constrained by it,” he said. “People prefer when there’s an outsider who doesn’t have anything to lose and is willing to say what’s on a lot of people’s minds.” When asked whether he’s a pedophile or just writes about pedophilia, he said, “It’s a mix of both. When people go over the top there’s a grain of truth to what they say.” Huffington Post quoted a “manifesto” in which Larson described Adolf Hitler as a “white supremacist hero,” urged the repeal of the Violence Against Women Act, and stated that “[citizens] need to switch to a system that classifies women as property, initially of their fathers and later of their husbands.” Cook and Campbell also quoted message board posts in which Larson purportedly “repeatedly expressed a desire to have sex with infants and children, including his own daughter.” Huffington Post was not the first news site to cover Larson’s ideology. In March 2017, the Washington Post reported that Larson, who was then seeking state office, had served time in prison for threatening to kill the President of the United States and was running on a platform that included the legalization of child pornography: When accountant Nathan D. Larson was talking to voters and collecting signatures to qualify as a candidate for Virginia’s House of Delegates, he left out some unusual details from his résumé: In 2009, he pleaded guilty to threatening to kill the U.S. president, an admission that led to 16 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release. Since then, among other things, he has advocated for legalizing incestuous marriage and making it harder to win a court restraining order against an allegedly abusive spouse. Larson’s criminal record precluded him from running for office until [2016], when Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) restored voting and other civil rights to thousands of convicted felons across the state. Larson, 36, says his candidacy is rooted in a genuine desire to bring positive changes to Virginia. He called a letter he sent to the Secret Service in 2008 that warned of his imminent plans to assassinate either President George W. Bush or President Barack Obama an act of civil disobedience meant to call attention to what he believes is the tyranny of the U.S. government. “It doesn’t allow people to secede or do anything like that,” Larson said. “If people want to break away from the majority, they’re not allowed to do that.” His platform includes legalizing child pornography as well as incestuous marriage; allowing men to have multiple wives and physically discipline them; repealing the 19th Amendment; and abolishing state funding for girls and women to attend high school and college. Even earlier, on 16 December 2015, a Colorado Springs Independent article on a court case pertaining to the custody of Larson’s then-infant daughter mentioned Larson’s acknowledgement that he was “physically attracted to children”: Nathan Larson, who acknowledges being physically attracted to children, raised eyebrows in El Paso County when he began his quest to seek custody of his infant daughter. The 35-year-old part-time accountant, who lives with his parents in Virginia, traveled to Colorado Springs in October [2015] for a jury trial. Larson hoped to prove he would be a fit parent in what’s called a dependency and neglect case. The case, which is not criminal, couldn’t terminate his parental rights. But it could prevent him from immediately taking custody of his baby daughter (who currently lives locally with her maternal grandparents), if he were found to be a danger to the girl. The jury, presented with a barrage of evidence of Larson’s pedophilic desires as well as his own admission, unsurprisingly decided he shouldn’t be left in charge of the girl … Larson, however, was free to continue seeking custody so long as he followed the orders of a judge. According to Larson, who sent the Independent several emails following up on the matter, the judge ordered that he could not be trusted with his daughter unless “a risk assessment said it would be okay.” That news outlet quoted a contemporaneous email received from Larson confirming the filing of paperwork to sever his parental rights in which he referenced being “attracted to kids” and “question[ing] the harmfulness of adult-child sex”: I had a psychological evaluation of this sort done a few years ago, and the recommendation was that I not be allowed to be around kids unsupervised … It’s evident that when a patient says that he is attracted to kids, and that he questions the harmfulness of adult-child sex, the standard procedure of mental health workers is to recommend against allowing unsupervised contact with kids. But it’s hard to raise a kid without being able to see her outside the presence of a social worker. The Colorado Springs Independent had also reported on Larson’s custody case a month earlier (“When Dad Is a Pedophile”), quoting statements and online comments about adult-child sex that Larson identified as his: Larson says he doesn’t think he would molest his own daughter but isn’t sure, since he’s “never been in that kind of situation before.” He does, however, think it’s OK for adults to engage in sexual acts with children, as long as there is what he refers to as “consent,” although the age at which a child can “consent” to such activities depends on the child, he says, because some children are “precocious.” “The way I feel about it is that if I had a son, I don’t think I would have any interest in engaging in those activities with him,” he wrote. “My attitude would be, if he’s going to [be] involved in incestuous activities, that may as well be with a sibling or his mother or something.” That article surmised that “Larson doesn’t seem clued in to the repulsion people commonly feel toward child molesters and said “he had held out hope that the jurors would see his point of view, especially since he had only met the girl once, in a supervised visit.” At the time of publication, Larson’s spouse was deceased, and the circumstances of their “rocky marriage” were evidenced in court: In an email that was an exhibit for the case, however, Larson admits to abuse, including raping Finn, and apologizes that his desire to molest their children caused Finn stress. “It didn’t concern me that given my history of raping you, as well as the gravity of what I was proposing doing with the children, I might irreparably destroy our relationship and any prospect of my ever seeing the children (especially unsupervised),” he wrote.
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The symptoms of Covid-19 are that it first infects the throat, so you’ll have a sore throat lasting 3 or 4 days. The virus then blends into nasal fluid that enters the trachea and then the lungs causing pneumonia. This takes about 5 or 6 days. With pneumonia comes high fever and difficulty breathing
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This is a roughly accurate description of the most common symptoms, although not everyone with Covid-19 gets pneumonia, and the symptoms may not come in this exact order or at these times.
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unproven
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online
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Coronavirus pneumonia is a dry cough with no runny nose. Some Covid-19 patients do get pneumonia, and one of the symptoms is a dry cough. A runny nose doesn’t rule out Covid-19. This new virus is not heat-resistant and will be killed by a temperature of just 26/27 degrees. It hates the Sun. There’s no evidence for this. There’s evidence that similar viruses transmit less well in the heat, but many countries with reported Covid-19 cases are experiencing temperatures higher than this. If someone with the new coronavirus sneezes, it travels about 10 feet before it drops to the ground and is no longer airborne How far the droplets spread from a sneeze depends on environmental factors, but it is likely to be several metres. If it drops on a metal surface it will live for at least 12 hours - so if you come into contact with any metal surface - wash your hands as soon as you can with a bacterial soap. We don’t know how long the virus survives on surfaces yet—it may be between hours and days. On fabric it can survive for 6-12 hours. normal laundry detergent will kill it. There’s no evidence yet that the virus can survive in clothing and be transmitted this way. Any soiled clothing should be thoroughly washed. Drinking warm water is effective for all viruses. Try not to drink liquids with ice. There’s no evidence that the temperature of liquids consumed can either protect you from or cure diseases caused by viruses. Wash your hands frequently as the virus can only live on your hands for 5-10 minutes. We don’t know how long the virus can last on the skin, especially not down to the minute. But you should regularly wash your hands. You should also gargle as a prevention. A simple solution of salt in warm water will suffice. There’s no evidence that this works as a preventative or a cure for the virus. The symptoms of Covid-19 are that it first infects the throat, so you’ll have a sore throat lasting 3 or 4 days. The virus then blends into nasal fluid that enters the trachea and then the lungs causing pneumonia. This takes about 5 or 6 days. With pneumonia comes high fever and difficulty breathing This is a roughly accurate description of the most common symptoms, although not everyone with Covid-19 gets pneumonia, and the symptoms may not come in this exact order or at these times. Claim 1 of 10
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2740
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Fewer U.S. children dying in car crashes: CDC.
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Fewer U.S. children are dying in car crashes, with death rates falling by 43 percent from 2002 to 2011, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday.
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true
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Health News
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But one in three of the children who died in a car crash in 2011 was not using a seat belt or child safety seat, suggesting many more deaths could be prevented, the CDC said. The results were based on a study in the Morbidity and Mortality report, the agency’s weekly report on death and disease. According to the report, more than 9,000 children age 12 and younger died in a car crash from 2002 to 2011. “The good news is motor vehicle deaths decreased by 43 percent over the past decade for children age 12 and younger. The tragic news is still with that decrease, more than 9,000 kids were killed on the road in this period,” CDC Director Thomas Frieden told reporters in a telephone news conference. “Thousands of children are at risk on the road because they are not buckled up,” he said. The study found that of the children who died between 2009 to 2010, a much higher proportion of black and Hispanic children were not buckled, compared with white kids. “The difference was nearly half (45 percent for blacks and 46 percent for Hispanics) versus a quarter (26 percent) for white kids,” Frieden said. The study did not investigate why racial differences played such a big role in seat belt use, but it did suggest socio-economic factors may play a role. For the study, CDC researchers analyzed data collected by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to find the number of deaths among occupants in cars from 2002 to 2011 for all children aged up to the age of 12. Overall, 9,182 children died in car crashes during the period. But deaths dropped sharply, from 2.2 deaths per 100,000 people in 2002, to 1.2 deaths per 100,000 in 2011, a 43 percent decline. According to the report, seat belt use increased from 88 percent in 2002 to 91 percent in 2011 among all children age 7 and under. The study also confirmed earlier findings that older children are less likely to be wearing seat belts than younger children. To prevent future deaths from car crashes, Frieden said parents should make sure their children use appropriate-sized car seats, booster seats and seat belts on every trip. The CDC recommends that children from birth to age 2 should be in a rear-facing car seat. Starting at age 2, children should be in a forward-facing car seat until at least age 5, or when they reach the upper weight or height limit of that seat. Children age 5 and older should use a booster seat until the adult seat belt fits them properly, generally when the lap belt lays across the upper thighs and the shoulder belt slays across the chest, but not the neck. More information on proper use of child safety seats can be found at www.safekids.org or other websites.
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33835
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"Buddy Holly's group named themselves ""The Crickets"" because the sound of a chirping cricket accidentally appeared on one of their recordings."
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Although the account presented in The Buddy Holly Story about the origins of the name “Crickets” is complete fiction, it does have one small element of truth to it. When Buddy and the Crickets recorded the song “I’m Gonna Love You Too,” a real cricket that had made its way into the recording studio did let loose with a chirp that was captured in the song’s fade-out, and since the sound fit the rhythm of the tune quite nicely, it was left on the tape. This occurred in July 1957, however, several months after the group had already decided on the name “Crickets” for themselves.
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false
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Entertainment, Artists, music
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The film The Buddy Holly Story depicts the name “The Crickets” being bestowed upon Buddy’s group by zealous Buffalo disk jockey ‘Madman’ Mancuso, who — after having locked himself in the studio while he plays “That’ll Be the Day” over and over — tracks down Buddy for a phone interview. Upon learning from Buddy that one of the songs the as-yet-unnamed group had recorded in Buddy’s garage “has a cricket on it,” the DJ anoints them “Buddy Holly and the Crickets”: Like much of the cinematic versions of The Buddy Holly Story, this scene is wonderful visual entertainment but bears little correspondence to the life of the actual Buddy Holly. The real story took place in January 1957, when Buddy Holly, having failed to achieve success as a recording artist for Decca Records (his first two singles had flopped, and the company had dropped his contract at the end of 1956), decided to give an independent New Mexico record producer named Norman Petty a shot at producing some recordings and promoting them to record companies. When Buddy and his group returned to Petty’s studio for their second recording session on 24 February 1957, Buddy had decided that, in additional to taping a new composition of his entitled “I’m Looking for Someone to Love,” he would have another try at performing a tune he had initially recorded for Decca the previous year, a song called “That’ll Be the Day.” After the session, Petty chose the tape of this newer, speeded-up version of “That’ll Be the Day” as the song he would pitch to his recording industry contacts as a potential single. A very large obstacle loomed in the path of their plans, however: Buddy’s contract with Decca prohibited him from rerecording any of the material from his Decca sessions for a period of five years, and this prohibition included the song “That’ll Be the Day” (even though Decca had declined to issue it on a record). It was Norman Petty who reportedly came up with the idea that if “That’ll Be the Day” were issued under the name of a group rather than under Buddy’s name alone, Decca might not realize that the vocalist was a solo artist the label had once signed and dumped. Buddy and his bandmates (Jerry Allison and Niki Sullivan) were left to come up with a suitable group name, and inspired by the Spiders, one of Buddy’s favorite rhythm-and-blues groups, they started flipping through the “Insects” section of an encyclopedia at J.I. Allison’s house, as recounted by Niki Sullivan in the biography Remembering Buddy: We were at Jerry’s house, and everything we thought of [for a band name] had been used or didn’t fit. So Jerry got an encyclopedia, and somehow we got started on insects. There was a whole page of bugs. We thought about grasshopper and quickly passed that over. And we did consider the name Beetles, but Jerry said, ‘Aw, that’s just a bug you’d want to step on,’ so we immediately dropped that. Then Jerry came up with the idea of the Crickets. He said, ‘Well, you know, they make a happy sound, they’re a happy type of insect.’ I remember him saying, too, ‘They make music by rubbing their legs together,’ and that cracked us up. So we kept going and tried some other names, but finally we settled on the Crickets. The ruse took an ironic turn when Norman Petty, unsuccessful at pitching Buddy Holly’s new version of “That’ll Be the Day” to several record companies, finally received a positive response from Bob Thiele, the head of A&R (artists and repertoire) at Coral Records. Since Coral was the home to such “prestige” acts as Debbie Reynolds and the Lawrence Welk Orchestra, Thiele decided to issue the Crickets record on Brunswick, a smaller sister label known mostly for its jazz releases and therefore more suited to “faddish” rock ‘n’ roll music. The irony was that both the Coral and Brunswick labels were subsidiaries of Decca Records, whom Buddy was trying to “hide” from. Although none of the Decca executives present when “That’ll Be the Day” was played for them initially recognized either the singer or the song (and Buddy’s name was deliberately left off the Crickets’ first contract), the smokescreen that hid Buddy’s association with the group was dispersed before the record was actually released. After “That’ll Be the Day” had been bought by Brunswick, but before it was issued, Buddy Holly recorded “Words of Love,” a song Bob Thiele felt should not be hidden away on a minor label such as Brunswick. Accordingly, Thiele arranged to release “Words of Love” on Coral under the name “Buddy Holly” rather than “The Crickets,” and when Buddy was signed to a Coral contract under his own name, his existing obligation to Decca came to light. After some grumbling about lawsuits, the situation was eventually resolved when Decca agreed to release Buddy from the obligations of his previous contract in exchange for his waiving his rights to any royalties from the earlier version of “That’ll Be the Day.” (Throughout the rest of Buddy Holly’s brief recording career, his music would appear on both records with the Crickets released on the Brunswick label and records credited to Buddy Holly alone issued by Coral.)
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9178
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Erectile dysfunction drugs are safe, possibly beneficial after heart attack
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The release summarizes a Swedish study that found men who took erectile dysfunction (ED) drugs following a heart attack had a lower risk of dying or being hospitalized for heart failure than men who did not use these drugs. The release does a good job providing information about this retrospective observational study. The study design, number of subjects and results are provided in a straightforward manner. The release also commented on the limits of observational research and didn’t make cause-and-effects claims such as that the drug “reduces risk.” The study obtained data on ED drug from national health records data and inclusion for the study was at least a single prescription for the drugs during the study period. How even a single prescription for an ED drug can in some way alter risks is unclear. There is a suggestion that the effect may be dose related but the study itself is silent on the issue. The release did note that the ability and desire to engage in sex may be a marker of reduced risks. The safety of the use of drugs to treat ED in men who have suffered a myocardial infarction (heart attack) has been in question for many years. The risks of administering both a PDE-5 inhibitor such as sildenafil (Viagra) and nitroglycerin (for improving blood flow in heart disease patients) has been a concern. An observational study that suggests that the use of the ED drugs does not add to risk is a welcomed piece of information. The study itself did not claim that ED drugs are associated with reduced risk of subsequent heart attacks. And as noted in the release, the ability and desire to engage in sexual activity may point to enhanced longevity rather than drugs used to treat ED.
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mixture
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American College of Cardiology,erectile dysfunction drugs
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The study was observational and the number of ED drug doses men took was not reported or calculated. Since the study was conducted in Sweden, it’s possible there was no cost for individual patients but the drugs were covered by the national health system. Since this release was issued by the American College of Cardiology to an American audience we think some comment on the cost of ED drugs or the cost of treating heart conditions would be appropriate for readers. The release notes, “Men who filled prescriptions for erectile dysfunction drugs in the years following a heart attack had a substantially lower risk of dying or being hospitalized for heart failure than men who did not use these drugs.” And it states there was a 33% reduction in death and a 40% reduction in hospitalization for heart failure among patients prescribed ED drugs. But these are relative risk numbers and we think absolute risk numbers are more useful for readers. A quote from Dr. Andersson; “This type of erectile dysfunction treatment is beneficial in terms of prognosis, and having an active sex life seems to be a marker for a decreased risk of death” is a bit of a stretch given the study was observational and does not prove cause and effect. The study was designed to determine if there is an association between treatment for ED and death or cardiovascular outcomes after a first heart attack. Other side effects more commonly seen were not measured. We’d still like to see at least some mention of the common harms from ED drugs in a news release distributed to a wide audience, particularly one that touts its safety and potential benefits. The release provides sufficient information on the study goals, design and outcomes. The readers is told the study was retrospective, and tracked more than 43,000 men for an average of 3.3 years. The release includes several important caveats. It notes as a limitation that “researchers did not assess the effects of untreated erectile dysfunction, or conversely, the effect of having an active sex life without taking erectile dysfunction drugs.” And it included an indirect reminder that observational studies do not prove cause and effect: “Although the results provide evidence that PDE5 inhibitors may benefit heart health, the retrospective study design makes it impossible to ascertain direct cause and effect.” What was it about the retrospective study design that made it impossible to ascertain cause and effect? The fact that it’s observational. It is possible that using erectile dysfunction drugs simply indicates a more active sex life, which could itself contribute to, or be a marker of, a heart-healthy lifestyle overall. But the study did not demonstrate a reduced risk of myocardial infarction associated with ED drug use. There is no disease mongering. The release provides some context about the condition. The release notes the funding source: the Stockholm County Council and the Swedish Heart and Lung Foundation. The published study discloses that one of the study authors received “consultancy honoraria” from Actelion and Pfizer, two manufacturers of ED drugs. This should have been included in the release as well. The treatment of ED was not the focus of the research. Still, in a release suggesting the drug’s safety and benefits in preventing future heart disease we’d like to see some emphasis on how keeping a heart-healthy lifestyle through diet and exercise could be positive alternatives for risk reduction. Since the research was retrospective, it is clear that drugs used to treat ED are available and have been for some time. As noted in the release, the study appears to be the first to examine if there is an association between treatment for ED and death or cardiovascular outcomes after a first heart attack. The release provides the reader with a reasonable review of the research results.
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15002
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Georgia has the highest flu activity in the country.
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Georgia had the highest flu activity in the country based on data provided by doctors offices across the country and mapped by the CDC for the week of Oct. 4 through Oct. 10. That information factors into the CDC’s efforts to track what goes on through flu season. But it’s based on data submitted voluntarily and that, as we have seen, can change week -to-week. That’s important context that downgrades the statement.
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true
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Georgia, Drugs, Health Care, Public Health, States, Centers for Disease Control,
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"The flu season is upon us. But is it hitting the Peach State harder than other places? We wondered after seeing a map on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website Thursday, showing Georgia with the highest flu activity in the country, and hearing television reports repeating the claim. The short answer: Not really. Flu season starts in October and can run into May. It typically peaks in Georgia by early January, with upticks after Thanksgiving and Christmas when germs are often passed like holiday feasts. Flu vaccines are designed to protect against the main flu viruses that research suggests will be the most common of the season. This year’s vaccines protect against three viruses. The CDC develops its ""flu view"" map based on weekly reports from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico of outpatient visits to doctors for treatment of flu-like symptoms. The information is voluntarily submitted by doctors’ offices to their state public health departments. States on the CDC map are assigned to one of four levels of influenza-like illness activity -- minimal, low, moderate, or high. Georgia was identified as having ""low"" flu activity in the week of Oct. 4 through Oct. 10, the most recent period for which outpatient information was available on Thursday. But that was a notch above the rest of the nation, which this early in flu season fell in the minimal range. ""The biggest takeaway is the flu is here,"" said Nancy Nydam, spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Public Health, ""and if you don’t have a flu shot, you need to get one."" Georgia did not report any hospitalizations or deaths due to the flu in that week, Nydam said. South Carolina, meanwhile, had four flu deaths but showed up with less flu activity on the CDC map because the map -- again -- is based on how many people see a doctor, not how many die. ""It’s really misleading,"" Nydam said. ""The numbers (of patients with flu-like symptoms) are so low."" Georgia reported 22,273 patients visiting doctor’ offices in the week of Oct. 4 through Oct. 10, with 379 of those patients or 1.7 percent exhibiting flu-like symptoms. Compare that to a report from a week in December 2014, when 20,835 people visited doctors, 1,643 or 7.89 percent with flu-like symptoms. Changes come quickly If Georgia was identified as the state with the highest flu activity on Thursday, it was a different story Friday. That’s because on Friday the Georgia Department of Public Health had later, data from the week starting Oct. 11. It showed Georgia’s flu activity down in the minimal range, where the rest of the country had been the week before. (Of 25,876 patients, 355 or 1.37 percent had flu-like symptoms. South Carolina and Alaska jumped ahead of Georgia in activity, but they were just higher in the minimal range, Nydam said. The CDC doesn’t look at the flu activity in isolation, said Lynnette Brammer, CDC epidemiologist. The map is just one of nine resources that the CDC uses to track increases in flu-like illnesses across the country, she said. ""You take a look at all those pieces, including laboratory data, and you can get a pretty complete picture of flu that comes in contact with health care systems,"" Brammer said. ""With flu, you should never look at just one piece."" Doctors report cases where patients complain of flu-like symptoms -- fever, cough or sore throat, she said. ""That flu-like illness may have been flu or may not have been,"" Brammer said. Our ruling Georgia had the highest flu activity in the country based on data provided by doctors offices across the country and mapped by the CDC for the week of Oct. 4 through Oct. 10. That information factors into the CDC’s efforts to track what goes on through flu season. But it’s based on data submitted voluntarily and that, as we have seen, can change week -to-week. That’s important context that downgrades the statement to ."
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12249
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Barack Obama tweets sick attack on John McCain, says he should have died.
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"Bloggers wrote, ""Barack Obama tweets sick attack on John McCain, says he should have died."" The story and the tweet it described appeared on multiple outlets, but sprang from a website devoted to writing absurd stories about liberals in an attempt to fool conservatives. Obama’s only tweet about McCain’s brain cancer was encouraging."
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false
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Fake news, PunditFact, Bloggers,
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"A fake news story that claimed former President Barack Obama tweeted that he wanted U.S. Sen. John McCain to die from a brain tumor originally came from a parody website looking to troll conservatives. The headline on a July 20, 2017, post on DailyThings.world read, ""Barack Obama tweets sick attack on John McCain, says he should have died."" Facebook users flagged the story here and on NewsFeedHunter.com as being potentially fabricated, in an effort to cut down on fake news. The story included an image of a July 19 tweet from Obama that read, ""John McCain is NOT a war hero. If there were any God in heaven, he would have died from that brain tumor."" The post said Obama quickly deleted the tweet. The story came on the heels of the announcement that McCain, R-Ariz., was diagnosed with a brain tumor called a primary glioblastoma. The American Brain Tumor Association said that a 2009 study showed almost 10 percent of patients may potentially live five years or longer. The 80-year-old is considering treatment options. McCain returned to the U.S. Senate for votes on Republican health care reform, most recently casting a deciding vote against a last-ditch ""skinny repeal"" bill to end the Affordable Care Act. But let’s be clear: This story is completely fake. There was no such tweet for Obama to delete. It was no doubt the product of any number of websites that allow you to create a fake tweet that appears to come from another account. The only thing Obama tweeted on July 19 were words of encouragement for McCain, whom Obama defeated in the 2008 presidential election. ""John McCain is an American hero & one of the bravest fighters I've ever known. Cancer doesn't know what it's up against. Give it hell, John,"" Obama wrote. John McCain is an American hero & one of the bravest fighters I've ever known. Cancer doesn't know what it's up against. Give it hell, John. There is no record of another tweet from Obama’s account that day. The fake story originated the same day on OurLandOfTheFree.com, a parody website with hidden registration information. It appears to be affiliated with a network of websites run by liberal trolls who run fake news sites in an attempt to fool conservatives. The footer note on OurLandOfTheFree.com said that the site makes ""no guarantee that what you read here is true. In fact, it most definitely is not."" It echoes the warning on its About Us page. Bloggers wrote, ""Barack Obama tweets sick attack on John McCain, says he should have died."" The story and the tweet it described appeared on multiple outlets, but sprang from a website devoted to writing absurd stories about liberals in an attempt to fool conservatives. Obama’s only tweet about McCain’s brain cancer was encouraging."
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34709
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"An 1894 treatise against the evils of marital sex exhorted young brides to ""give little, give seldom, and above all, give grudgingly."
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Did an 1894 treatise exhort young brides to 'give little, give seldom, and above all, give grudgingly'?
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unproven
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Weddings, marriage, Newlyweds, sex
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Example: [Collected on the Internet, 1996] The following is a reprint from The Madison Institute Newsletter, Fall Issue, 1894: At this point, dear reader, let me concede one shocking truth. Some young women actually anticipate the wedding night ordeal with curiosity and pleasure! Beware such an attitude! A selfish and sensual husband can easily take advantage of such a bride. One cardinal rule of marriage should never be forgotten: GIVE LITTLE, GIVE SELDOM, AND ABOVE ALL, GIVE GRUDGINGLY. Otherwise what could have been a proper marriage could become an orgy of sexual lust. On the other hand, the bride’s terror need not be extreme. While sex is at best revolting and at worse rather painful, it has to be endured, and has been by women since the beginning of time, and is compensated for by the monogamous home and by the children produced through it. It is useless, in most cases, for the bride to prevail upon the groom to forego the sexual initiation. While the ideal husband would be one who would approach his bride only at her request and only for the purpose of begetting offspring, such nobility and unselfishness cannot be expected from the average man. Most men, if not denied, would demand sex almost every day. The wise bride will permit a maximum of two brief sexual experiences weekly during the first months of marriage. As time goes by she should make every effort to reduce this frequency. Feigned illness, sleepiness, and headaches are among the wife’s best friends in this matter. Arguments, nagging, scolding, and bickering also prove very effective, if used in the late evening about an hour before the husband would normally commence his seduction. Clever wives are ever on the alert for new and better methods of denying and discouraging the amorous overtures of the husband. A good wife should expect to have reduced sexual contacts to once a week by the end of the first year of marriage and to once a month by the end of the fifth year of marriage. By their tenth anniversary many wives have managed to complete their child bearing and have achieved the ultimate goal of terminating all sexual contacts with the husband. By this time she can depend upon his love for the children and social pressures to hold the husband in the home. Just as she should be ever alert to keep the quantity of sex as low as possible, the wise bride will pay equal attention to limiting the kind and degree of sexual contacts. Most men are by nature rather perverted, and if given half a chance, would engage in quite a variety of the most revolting practices. These practices include among others performing the normal act in abnormal positions; mouthing the female body; and offering their own vile bodies to be mouthed in turn. Nudity, talking about sex, reading stories about sex, viewing photographs and drawings depicting or suggesting sex are the obnoxious habits the male is likely to acquire if permitted. A wise bride will make it the goal never to allow her husband to see her unclothed body, and never allow him to display his unclothed body to her. Sex, when it cannot be prevented, should be practiced only in total darkness. Many women have found it useful to have thick cotton nightgowns for themselves and pajamas for their husbands. These should be donned in separate rooms. They need not be removed during the sex act. Thus, a minimum of flesh is exposed. Once the bride has donned her gown and turned off all the lights, she should lie quietly upon the bed and await her groom. When he comes groping into the room she should make no sound to guide him in her direction, lest he take this as a sign of encouragement. She should let him grope in the dark. There is always the hope that he will stumble and incur some slight injury which she can use as an excuse to deny him sexual access. When he finds her, the wife should lie as still as possible. Bodily motion on her part could be interpreted as sexual excitement by the optimistic husband. If he attempts to kiss her on the lips she should turn her head slightly so that the kiss falls harmlessly on her cheek instead. If he attempts to kiss her hand, she should make a fist. If he lifts her gown and attempts to kiss her anyplace else she should quickly pull the gown back in place, spring from the bed, and announce that nature calls her to the toilet. This will generally dampen his desire to kiss in the forbidden territory. If the husband attempts to seduce her with lascivious talk, the wise wife will suddenly remember some trivial non-sexual question to ask him. Once he answers she should keep the conversation going, no matter how frivolous it may seem at the time. Eventually, the husband will learn that if he insists on having sexual contact, he must get on with it without amorous embellishment. The wise wife will allow him to pull the gown up no farther than the waist, and only permit him to open the front of his pajamas to thus make connection. She will be absolutely silent or babble about her housework while his huffing and puffing away. Above all, she will lie perfectly still and never under any circumstances grunt or groan while the act is in progress. As soon as the husband has completed the act, the wise wife will start nagging him about various minor tasks she wishes him to perform on the morrow. Many men obtain a major portion of their sexual satisfaction from the peaceful exhaustion immediately after the act is over. Thus the wife must insure that there is no peace in this period for him to enjoy. Otherwise, he might be encouraged to soon try for more. One heartening factor for which the wife can be grateful is the fact that the husband’s home, school, church, and social environment have been working together all through his life to instill in him a deep sense of guilt in regards to his sexual feelings, so that he comes to the marriage couch apologetically and filled with shame, already half cowed and subdued. The wise wife seizes upon this advantage and relentlessly pursues her goal first to limit, later to annihilate completely her husband’s desire for sexual expression. © 1894 The Madison Institute. Anyone tempted to believe this load of codswallop should see me about the swamp land I have for sale. Accept the piece for what it almost certainly is: a lovely bit of humor, playing off the notion that our forefathers lived in dramatically less sexually enlightened times. “Aren’t we so much better off now?” is the message of this piece. The wording gives it away. Although the use of the word “sex” to indicate the sex act was sort of known in the very late 1800s (it previously had been used only to indicate gender), its use in that form then would have been quite cutting edge. One wonders if a minister’s wife would have thrown it about with such abandon. Surely “conjugal relations” would have been the term of choice. Other language usages give one pause: ” . . . and turned off all the lights . . .” Would people in 1894 speak of ‘turning off’ lights? Usage changes more slowly than the technology around it, and at that time even though electric lights were in use in many households, one would still term the act of shutting them off as “putting out” or “extinguishing,” not “turning off.” The days of gas lamps weren’t that far in the past. Don’t take it too seriously, but enjoy it all the same. Read this one to your sweetie even as the two of you gigglingly imagine what poor Reverend Smythers’ life must have been like. But be careful who you pass it along to: In 1996, a Seattle ombudsman was fired by the city council after forwarding it to a female co-worker. His action was deemed misconduct.
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27794
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A Facebook message requesting Christmas cards for 8-year-old burn victim Safyre Terry is legit.
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On 15 December 2015, a nonprofit organization called Baking Memories 4 Kids, which uses funds from cookies they sell to send children with life-threatening conditions on free vacations with their families, surprised Safyre with a trip to Walt Disney World.
|
true
|
Viral Phenomena, christmas, christmas cards, facebook
|
"Christmas may be a time for giving, but it’s also a time for scams. Internet swindlers attempt to take advantage of people’s generosity during the holiday season with a variety of schemes. This is probably why some people looked at a request for Christmas cards for an 8-year-old burn victim named Safyre Terry with a skeptical eye. The request was originally posted to Facebook by Kevin “Snapshot” Clark on 4 December 2015: Facebook users who were skeptical about Clark’s request must have been a little extra wary when the account disappeared for a few hours on 8 December 2015. But this was not the result of any fraudulent activity: Last night Facebook shut my page down 6 hours… probably because of all the Safyre stuff (I was getting 50/minute friend requests! )… anyways, I made a new page BUT now don’t need it. Ignore it. Today after I nap from working all night I’m meeting Liz Terry-Dolder and Safyre after she gets outta school at her PO BOX so we can all check her mail TOGETHER! *AND A REPORTER /PHOTOGRAPHER FROM THE SCHENECTADY GAZETTE WILL BE THERE TOO! PSYCHED!!! The influx of activity on Clark’s page was likely due to Hulk Hogan’s sudden involvement in the project. On 8 December 2015, the wrestler shared Clark’s message with his loyal “maniacs”: Alright maniacs let’s make Safyre’s Christmas Dream come true! All she wants is Christmas Cards from around the world, but a little extra Christmas magic wouldn’t hurt! HH. The outpouring of support for Safyre Terry has been covered by multiple TV stations and news publications. And while a fundraising page has been set up to cover medical bills (an aspect that occasionally sets off the scam alert) this is a legitimate attempt to raise money for a young girl who suffered through a terrible ordeal. On 2 May 2013, Terry survived a fire that killed her father and three siblings: Elizabeth Dolder never imagined Safyre Terry’s stubborn ways might one day serve the girl well in her battle to stay alive. “She was a stubborn child, but that stubbornness is helping her through this,” Dolder said of her niece. “She’s going to get through this. I can’t lose her, too.” The 5-year-old girl, the only child to survive a ferocious house fire in Schenectady during the early morning hours of May 2 that claimed the lives of three of her siblings and her father, remains hospitalized in critical condition with severe burns to her tiny body. On 9 December 2015 Dodler, Terry’s sole guardian, sent a thank you message out to all of the people who sent Christmas cards and donations: BELIEVE BELIEVE BELIEVE She did. When she said she can’t wait to fill up the card tree my response was I don’t think it’s gonna get filled up but I am sure we will get a few more cards. She BELIEVED and ALL of YOU are making it happen. THANK YOU…..FAITH LOVE HOPE TO ALL Subsequent reports showed huge piles of letters and cards: (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = ""//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3""; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); When this all began Sa'fyre wanted 100 Christmas cards. This is her latest delivery. Are you sitting down? I'll wait… Posted by John Gray Fox23 on Monday, December 14, 2015"
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36005
|
"As of November 2019, koalas as ""functionally extinct"" in Australia due to bushfires destroying their habitat."
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Are Koalas ‘Functionally Extinct’ as of November 2019?
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false
|
Fact Checks, Viral Content
|
In November 2019, Facebook page “The Other 98%” was among others on social media sharing the news that koalas had become “functionally extinct” after bushfires in Australia:Under a photograph of a koala that appeared to be singed and in distress, text read:“The chairman of the Australian Koala Foundation, Deborah Tabart, estimates that over 1000 koalas have been killed from the fires and that 80 percent of their habitat has been destroyed. Recent bushfires, along with prolonged drought and deforestation has led to koalas becoming functionally extinct according to experts. Functional extinction is when a population becomes so limited that they no longer play a significant role in their ecosystem and the population becomes no longer viable. While some individuals could reproduce, the limited number of koalas makes the long-term viability of the species unlikely and highly susceptible to disease.”That page (and many others) linked to a November 23 2019 Forbes blog post headlined “Koalas ‘Functionally Extinct’ After Australia Bushfires Destroy 80% Of Their Habitat.” As of November 25 2019, the page indicated the article had been viewed roughly 2.3 million times; a mouseover pop-up indicated the post was part of the Forbes blogging platform, rather than its editorial site.The blog post claimed:As Australia experiences record-breaking drought and bushfires, koala populations have dwindled along with their habitat, leaving them “functionally extinct.”The chairman of the Australian Koala Foundation, Deborah Tabart, estimates that over 1,000 koalas have been killed from the fires and that 80 percent of their habitat has been destroyed.Recent bushfires, along with prolonged drought and deforestation has led to koalas becoming “functionally extinct” according to experts.Functional extinction is when a population becomes so limited that they no longer play a significant role in their ecosystem and the population becomes no longer viable. While some individuals could produce, the limited number of koalas makes the long-term viability of the species unlikely and highly susceptible to disease.At some point after the post went viral (but presumably after “The Other 98%” shared the post), a portion was added. We saw no notation or other indication that text had been interspersed into the above-excerpted text (between “destroyed” and “recent”):However, some researchers call into question whether koalas are actually functionally extinct, noting how difficult it is to measure total koala populations and populations could be a much larger than estimated by the AKF.On November 25 2019, an Irish radio site aggregated the news (as did another site):Koalas are now ‘functionally extinct’ due to bush firesThe impact of Australia’s recent devastating bush fires on Koala populations may be worse than initially feared.Sadly, Deborah Tabart who is the chairman of the Australian Koala Foundation, estimates that over 80% of their habitat has been burnt.This had led to the marsupials being declared “functionally extinct”.A link appeared in both the original Forbes blog post and updated version, published by the BBC in May 2019. It was titled “Koalas are ‘functionally extinct’, say campaigners,” and reported:Animal campaigners say that koala numbers have fallen so low that the animal is “functionally extinct”.The Australian Koala Foundation says there are fewer than 80,000 koalas left in the wild.On Facebook and in aggregated versions, the claim was that the November 2019 bushfires in Australia led to functional extinction of koalas.A Wikipedia page on functionally extinct species listed seven functionally extinct species and defined that condition as follows:Functional extinction is the extinction of a species or other taxon such that:¹ It disappears from the fossil record, or historic reports of its existence cease; ² The reduced population no longer plays a significant role in ecosystem function; or ³ The population is no longer viable. There are no individuals able to reproduce, or the small population of breeding individuals will not be able to sustain itself due to inbreeding depression and genetic drift, which leads to a loss of fitness.Directly beneath that part, the entry displayed claims from May 2019 about koalas being “functionally extinct.” According to that section, that rumor emerged as Australians headed to the polls:On May 10, 2019, the Australian Koala Foundation issued a press release that opened with the sentence “The Australian Koala Foundation (AKF) believes Koalas may be functionally extinct in the entire landscape of Australia.” The press release was reported on by multiple news agencies around the world, with most repeating the AKF’s statement. Despite this, Koalas are not currently considered functionally extinct; while their population has decreased, the IUCN Red List lists them only as “Vulnerable”. The AKF’s press release was released on the eve of the 2019 elections in Australia, where topics such as climate change were major issues.After the May 2019 press release was reported worldwide, New Scientist addressed the widespread claims, which at the time were reported internationally:Who has said koalas are “functionally extinct”? The Australian Koala Foundation, which lobbies for the animals’ protection, has put out a press release stating that it “believes koalas may be functionally extinct in the entire landscape of Australia”. The release triggered a flurry of worried headlines.So are they? No, although many populations of koalas are falling sharply due to habitat loss and global warming.Could they go extinct? There is no danger of koalas going extinct in Australia overall, says biologist Christine Adams-Hosking of the University of Queensland, who has studied the marsupials’ plight. “But at the rate of habitat clearing that is going on, we are going to see increased local population extinctions,” she says.Why has the AKF made this claim now? The claim was made on the eve of elections in Australia in which environmental issues such as climate change have become a big issue. The AFK has called on politicians to act. “There’s a lot of politics going on, and somehow the koala gets involved,” says Adams-Hosking.In light of the viral blog post on the Forbes platform, New Scientist included a note at the top:This story was written in May 2019. The claim that koalas are functionally extinct was repeated after forest fires in November 2019. This time it has also been claimed that 80 per cent of their habitat has been destroyed. But ecologist Diana Fisher says the fires damaged only 1 million hectares of the 100 million hectares of forest in eastern Australia, and that koalas are still nowhere near functionally extinct.CNet picked the claim up on November 24 2019, reporting:“I do not believe koalas are functionally extinct — yet,” says Rebecca Johnson, a koala geneticist at the Australian Museum. “That said, the fires are likely to have had a huge impact on what we know are some extremely valuable populations who are important for the long term survival of the species.”On May 10 [2019], the Australian Koala Foundation (AKF), a nonprofit dedicated to conservation of the iconic marsupial, dropped a press release stating the organization believes that “koalas may be functionally extinct in the entire landscape of Australia” and that koala numbers could be as low as 80,000. The declaration was made just prior to Australia’s last election, when climate change was a core political issue.The press release didn’t provide information on how koala numbers were counted. The AKF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.At the top of the article, CNet noted that reports “abound that [November 2019] bushfires have pushed the cuddly marsupial to the brink,” but the species “has actually been under threat for much longer.”Following news of Australian bushfires in November 2019, a Forbes blogger initially reported experts declared koalas “functionally extinct”; the link spread on Facebook like, well, wildfire. However, the claims it contained stemmed from a subsequently-debunked May 2019 press release issued by the Australian Koala Foundation (AKF) just ahead of elections in that country. At the time of its release in May 2019 it was widely reported — and then widely corrected. The original claim was revived in November 2019, but wildlife experts confirmed that koalas — while endangered — were not yet functionally extinct in Australia.
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27013
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Marco Rubio voted against funding health clinics that provide critical care during this public health emergency (Zika).
|
"NARAL’s TV ad said, ""Marco Rubio voted against funding health clinics that provide critical care during this public health emergency (Zika)."" The text on the screen stated that Rubio ""voted against contraception and family planning."" The ad creates a misleading impression that Rubio’s votes show he is indifferent to funding clinics to combat Zika. Actually, he has repeatedly supported Zika funding requests, including $1.9 billion sought by Obama. The ad cherry-picks votes by zeroing in on Rubio’s votes on measures that would have blocked funding to the Planned Parenthood affiliate in Puerto Rico. The ad doesn’t explain that despite that block, the bill still could have provided money to fight Zika both in Puerto Rico and the United States. Nothing passed due to the gridlock over that issue. As for the statement about Rubio’s voting record."
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false
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Abortion, Congress, Health Care, Florida, NARAL Pro-Choice America,
|
"As the number of Floridians infected with the Zika virus continues to escalate, political groups and and candidates have lobbed attacks in the U.S. Senate battle in Florida. NARAL Pro-Choice America, a liberal organization that supports abortion rights, attacked Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio’s record on Zika in an ad airing on TV in Orlando and West Palm Beach and online. NARAL endorsed Rubio’s opponent, U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter. ""The Zika virus is here. It’s dangerous to pregnant women. And it has no cure. But Marco Rubio voted against funding health clinics that provide critical care during this public health emergency,"" states the narrator while text states that Rubio ""voted against contraception and family planning."" The narrator then continues: ""And Marco Rubio continues to be against a woman's right to choose an abortion even if they are infected with the Zika virus."" The ad shows video of someone clad in protective gear spraying for mosquitoes and anxious looking women including one who is pregnant. The ad began airing as Congress returned from recess to debate Zika funding again. On Sept. 6, a Senate bill failed to receive the necessary votes to move forward. We will zero in on Rubio’s votes related to Zika. Rubio’s voting record and public statements about Zika show that he has repeatedly shown support for Zika funding requests, including by President Barack Obama. The ad is referring to Rubio’s votes in favor of Zika legislation that would have cut funding to one organization in Puerto Rico, an affiliate of Planned Parenthood. Zika bills In February, Obama requested $1.9 billion for vaccine research, testing and mosquito control related to Zika. Rubio announced his support for Obama’s request at a press conference in Miami April 8. A timeline from Rubio’s office states he was the first congressional Republican to announce his support. Since that time, Rubio has repeatedly called on his colleagues in floor speeches, media outlets and press conferences to pass a bill. On May 12, Rubio and Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla, announced they would introduce legislation to provide the full $1.9 billion request. ""There's no reason every proposal to address Zika cannot be bipartisan and earn broad support, and I'm hopeful we can reach a final outcome that fully addresses the problem,"" Rubio said at the time. On May 17, Rubio voted with the majority, 68-29, for a motion on an amendment by Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., to provide $1.1 billion to combat Zika. Rubio reluctantly voted for the compromise measure while still calling for Obama’s full funding request. Two days later, the Senate passed the full bill 89-8 with Rubio voting with the majority. The bill called for spending $1.1 billion to prevent, prepare and respond to the Zika virus domestically and internationally including on the development of a vaccine. House and Senate negotiators then got together in a conference committee. Republicans added a clause to block any money for Profamilias, the Puerto Rican branch of Planned Parenthood. The services of that family planning agency are relevant here because Zika can be transmitted through sex, and condoms can reduce the chance of getting Zika. Profamilias served 8,000 people in 2015. Democrats saw that as a ""poison pill"" intended to doom the bill, while Republicans said Democrats were refusing to compromise. While the bill would have blocked funding for Profamilias, it would not have blocked funding for Puerto Rico entirely. The ad omits that the bill provided funds that would potentially help clinics and hospitals in nearly every municipality on the island. Puerto Rico has 20 community health centers operating at 84 sites. Profamilias has seven clinics on the island, and in each area there is another type of facility that would have been eligible for Zika funding. The ad cites two Rubio votes in June on the appropriations bill that included the $1.1 billion for Zika. The first vote, on June 14, was a motion to proceed and passed 94-3. So NARAL is attacking Rubio for voting in favor of something that was supported by virtually every senator of both parties. The second vote was on June 28 when the Senate voted 52-48 to bring up the Zika measure. It failed to reach the 60-vote threshold, so the underlying bill didn’t reach an up or down vote. Rubio voted for the measure. ""Shame on Washington for failing to pass Zika funding,"" Rubio said after the bill died. ""We’ve been on top of this issue for five months, and it’s a failure of both parties in this town, including the president of the United States, that it’s taken this long to even get to this point."" One final note about the ad’s attack on Rubio for opposing abortion, including for women with Zika. Rubio told Politico in August: ""I believe all human life should be protected by our law, irrespective of the circumstances or condition of that life."" Our ruling NARAL’s TV ad said, ""Marco Rubio voted against funding health clinics that provide critical care during this public health emergency (Zika)."" The text on the screen stated that Rubio ""voted against contraception and family planning."" The ad creates a misleading impression that Rubio’s votes show he is indifferent to funding clinics to combat Zika. Actually, he has repeatedly supported Zika funding requests, including $1.9 billion sought by Obama. The ad cherry-picks votes by zeroing in on Rubio’s votes on measures that would have blocked funding to the Planned Parenthood affiliate in Puerto Rico. The ad doesn’t explain that despite that block, the bill still could have provided money to fight Zika both in Puerto Rico and the United States. Nothing passed due to the gridlock over that issue. As for the statement about Rubio’s voting record."
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26644
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“President Trump, COVID-19 coronavirus: U.S. cases 1,329; U.S. deaths, 38; panic level: mass hysteria. President Obama, H1N1 virus: U.S. cases, 60.8 million; U.S. deaths, 12,469; panic level: totally chill. Do you all see how the media can manipulate your life.”
|
Numbers that suggest H1N1 was worse than COVID-19 are misleading. It’s too early to calculate how deadly the coronavirus will be, but there are signs it’s much worse.
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false
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Corrections and Updates, Public Health, Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, Viral image,
|
"A viral image comparing Presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama argues that the coronavirus has infected far fewer Americans than did the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu — but that, due to media coverage, reaction to the coronavirus has been overblown. Here is the full claim: ""President Trump, COVID-19 coronavirus: U.S. cases: 1,329 U.S. deaths: 38 panic level: mass hysteria. ""President Obama, H1N1 virus: U.S. cases: 60.8 million U.S. deaths: 12,469 panic level: totally chill. ""Do you all see how the media can manipulate your life?"" The post, shared on Facebook on March 13, 2020, was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) The numbers — for the coronavirus, as of March 12, 2020; and for the swine flu, from April 2009 to April 2010 — are essentially accurate, based on federal government counts. The numbers in the post actually show a death rate for COVID-19 at more than 100 times that of H1N1. In any case, it is misleading to compare the two outbreaks at this point in the coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19 has been in the United States for only about two months; the swine flu figures are for one year, from April 2009 to 2010. As we’ve reported, it’s difficult this early in an outbreak for public health experts to estimate death rates for the coronavirus; early estimates often undercount mild cases and fail to take into account the fact that some recently infected patients are going to die in the future. When we published this fact-check, the latest figures from the World Health Organization, for March 17, 2020, showed a surge in COVID-19 cases in the days since the post — 3,503 cases of COVID-19 in the United States, including 58 deaths. Indeed, it’s too soon to know precisely how deadly COVID-19 is, several experts said. ""The COVID numbers in no way define the problem. We will know the problem after we do many, many tests,"" said Dr. Myron Cohen, professor of medicine, microbiology and immunology, and epidemiology at the University of North Carolina and director of its Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases. ""Comparing flu"" generally and COVID-19 ""is simply not a good idea,"" he said. ""For flu, the world has vast experience and vaccines. And treatments. And a well-defined mortality rate far lower than COVID. So, as the world faces a new, very contagious fatal infection, it is not surprising that we all feel anxious."" Said Richard Watanabe, professor of preventive medicine and physiology and biophysics at the University of Southern California: ""The raw numbers make H1N1 look worse, but in reality the risk of death is much higher for COVID-19."" As for the post’s claim of mass hysteria over coronavirus versus a totally chill response to H1N1, it’s worth noting President Barack Obama’s acting director of health and human services declared H1N1 a public health emergency when the United States had only 20 confirmed cases of H1N1 and no deaths. Moreover, as FactCheck.org reported, while the H1N1 death toll may sound high, it was far lower than initially expected. It also turned out to have a case fatality rate of just 0.02% — well below even many typical seasonal influenzas. So, given that indications are the coronavirus death rate is much higher — and given that experts warn the nation’s hospitals are under-prepared to treat the numbers of patients predicted to need care — it makes sense that state and local governments are taking significant action to limit its spread. The impact in the United States of swine flu might appear much worse than COVID-19, but it lasted for a year, whereas the coronavirus has been here only about two months. And while it’s too soon to calculate how deadly COVID-19 will be, two experts told us it is clearly more deadly than H1N1. This statement contains an element of truth in that the figures quoted were accurate at the time they were posted, but the post ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. Correction, March 19, 2020: An earlier version of this story contained a typo in the first paragraph that mischaracterized the claim being made in the viral image. The story has been updated."
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5887
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Indiana county working on invasive plants ordinance.
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A southwestern Indiana county is continuing work on an ordinance that would combat invasive plants.
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true
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Environment, Indiana, Vincennes, Invasive species
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Knox County’s proposed ordinance hasn’t been drafted yet, but County Attorney Yvette Kirchoff said the ordinance wouldn’t be retroactive so homeowners won’t have to remove existing plants. If the measure is approved, Knox County would be the first in Indiana to move forward with such an ordinance, Kirchoff told the Vincennes Sun-Commercial . Invasive species can take over and alter environments, said Will Drews, a natural resource specialist with the Knox County Soil and Water Conservation District. They can also disrupt pasture lands and agriculture. “We’ve introduced most of them, unfortunately, over time,” he said. “They’re mostly from other parts of the world, such as Europe or Asia, and the problem is that they have no natural predators, so they just kind of get out of control.” One major issue is that some invasive species — such as wintercreeper, Japanese honeysuckle and burning bush — can be found in local nurseries and are used by landscapers, Drews said. “These are plants that are literally destroying our forests,” Drews said. “That’s frustrating to a lot of the folks that I work with and those who are aware of the problem.” The state Department of Natural Resources and state lawmakers have been working on legislation that would attempt to regulate the spread of invasive species, but the process has been slow, Drews said. Drews and Kirchoff are drafting the ordinance and will present it to the county commissioners soon. ___ Information from: Vincennes Sun-Commercial, http://www.vincennes.com
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14884
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@Jorge_Elorza still think your plan is safe? Rescue Captain Kenyon just worked 96 hours straight. 96 hours.
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"No one disputes that Kenyon was on duty for 96 straight hours, Kenyon had some opportunity for sleep and it’s likely he did. But he doesn’t remember when that was, or for how long. He only recalls sleeping during the last 7 of the 96 hours The question that Doughty Tweeted: ""@Jorge_Elorza still think your plan is safe?"" was fair to ask, even if the public was not at risk as both Pare and the captain assert. (Further, Pare disputes Doughty’s charge that the plan is a ""disaster!!!"") But without clarification, Doughty’s suggestion that Kenyon ""worked 96 hours straight"" could leave the impression that Kenyon never slept. He did sleep. To be more accurate, Doughty could have said that Kenyon had been ""on duty"" for 96 hours. The job, by its nature, involves a mixture of sleep and work."
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true
|
Rhode Island, Public Safety, Unions, Paul Doughty,
|
"In early November, a Providence fire captain, Zachariah Kenyon, clocked 96 hours in a row — the equivalent of two 48-hour work weeks. The 45-year-old’s marathon tour of duty follows much argument over the restructuring of the firefighters’ shift schedule, ordered in August by Mayor Jorge O. Elorza. Instead of working 42 hours per week in four shifts firefighters are now working in three shifts of 48 hours every six days, or an average of 56 hours per week. One vocal critic of the change, Paul A. Doughty, president of the firefighters’ union, went on Twitter to address the mayor: ""...still think your plan is safe? Rescue Captain Kenyon just worked 96 hours straight. 96 hours. Your plan is a disaster!!!"" So a firefighter worked 96 hours straight? We wondered if that really happened. And if so, how? We reached out to Public Safety Commissioner Steven M. Pare, Doughty and Kenyon, who also has a leadership position in the union, serving on its board and representing about 80 fire employees in special services divisions. Of course, we were interested in Kenyon’s story, but initially we just wanted to see the records. Kenyon gave us a personnel record that shows he reported to duty on the morning of Friday, Nov. 6, around 8 a.m. and he remained on duty for a 96-hour period that ended Tuesday, Nov. 10, around 8 a.m. The personnel record also shows that Kenyon had originally been scheduled to work two 10-hour shifts, one on Friday and another on Saturday followed by two 14-hour overnight shifts on Sunday into Monday and Monday into Tuesday. This adds up to 48 hours on duty over 5 days. Kenyon ended up on duty for each of the four scheduled shifts plus all hours in between, according to the record. The captain accepted one overtime shift and he was ordered to stand duty for the other three shifts. This is how he explained how he came to be on duty for 96 hours and Pare confirmed it. Ninety-six hours seems like a very long time for someone with public safety responsibilities to be on the clock. For Doughty and other firefighters, ""working"" and being on duty are the same thing. However, Providence firefighters, unlike police officers, can often climb into bed between emergencies during their shifts. So Kenyon was not on his feet like a construction worker or an emergency room nurse for 96 straight hours. It’s also clear that he got paid for 96 hours of work. Without knowing how much Kenyon slept, it seemed reasonable for Doughty to ask the mayor if this was safe. Pare asserts that the captain had ample opportunity to get the rest necessary to perform effectively in emergency situations and Kenyon could have asked to go home if he felt he hadn’t had enough sleep to operate safely. Kenyon, who doesn’t remember how much sleep he had during the 96 hours, says he was able to operate safely. ""I feel I’m pretty capable,"" he says. Doughty disagrees, suggesting that sleep deprivation erodes a person’s ability to make good judgments about his or her capabilities. It’s against department policy for firefighters to sleep past 7 a.m., he says, and the noise at fire headquarters, with alarms sounding, is another issue. ""It’s not good sleep,"" Doughty says. ""It’s not rehabilitative sleep."" We looked at public safety records, including dispatch logs, and found that Kenyon and those who also worked on Rescue 4 handled 67 emergency calls over the course of 96 hours. The crew transported 43 patients to hospitals and 15 calls were cancelled en route, according to the records we reviewed, which are not clear on what happened with the other nine calls. Kenyon, who says he doesn’t need as much sleep as others, recalls sleeping the last seven hours of his 96-hours on duty, but he says he doesn’t remember when he slept during the first 89 hours. Records that Pare provided to PolitiFact indicate there were several other periods within that 89-hour span when Kenyon was not busy with calls and had some opportunity for sleep. The records show three periods of about four hours during the morning hours of Saturday, Nov. 7, Sunday Nov. 8, and Monday Nov. 9. Our ruling No one disputes that Kenyon was on duty for 96 straight hours, Kenyon had some opportunity for sleep and it’s likely he did. But he doesn’t remember when that was, or for how long. He only recalls sleeping during the last 7 of the 96 hours The question that Doughty Tweeted: ""@Jorge_Elorza still think your plan is safe?"" was fair to ask, even if the public was not at risk as both Pare and the captain assert. (Further, Pare disputes Doughty’s charge that the plan is a ""disaster!!!"") But without clarification, Doughty’s suggestion that Kenyon ""worked 96 hours straight"" could leave the impression that Kenyon never slept. He did sleep. To be more accurate, Doughty could have said that Kenyon had been ""on duty"" for 96 hours. The job, by its nature, involves a mixture of sleep and work."
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26319
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New York City could pay to house its homeless population in hotel rooms currently sitting vacant, but Mayor Bill de Blasio “has absolutely to this point refused to do that.”
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The number of hotel rooms being used for housing homeless New Yorkers is well short of the tens of thousands of rooms needed to house all of New York City’s homeless population. The main reason is the high cost, although the city has modestly increased the number of homeless individuals it has moved into hotels since the onset of the pandemic.
|
true
|
Homeless, Public Health, New York, Coronavirus, Coalition for the Homeless,
|
"New York City has been hit especially hard by coronavirus, and the city’s homeless population in particular has struggled to comply with social distancing practices that public health officials have urged to contain the pandemic. In an urgent letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo on April 3, 2020, a group of service and advocacy groups pressed for action. The letter, spearheaded by the New York City-based Coalition for the Homeless, said that only 16.8% of New York City hotel rooms were occupied at the time, leaving more than 100,000 rooms empty. Yet at the same time, the groups said, more than 3,588 people were living on the streets and over 19,000 were living in shelters. Five days later, Giselle Routhier, the policy director for the Coalition for the Homeless, told the New York Daily News, ""We could open up tens of thousands of hotel rooms and offer every single person on the subway access to them. The mayor has absolutely to this point refused to do that."" Is this accurate? Yes, though the assertion needs some additional context. (The mayor’s office did not respond to inquiries for this article.) There is longstanding precedent for the city paying hotels to provide emergency housing for New York City residents. In 2018, for instance, the city spent $364 million on annual contracts for emergency housing in hotels for homeless New Yorkers. The challenge is the expense of paying for these hotel rooms. ""The city has routinely used hotels as ‘emergency’ housing, but the cost has been exorbitant, ranging from $170 to $250 per night for one dwelling unit,"" Roderick M. Hills Jr., a New York University law professor, told PolitiFact. On April 23, Erin Drinkwater, the city’s deputy commissioner of the Department of Social Services, testified that prior to the coronavirus pandemic, the department paid $17 million per month to rent approximately 3,500 double-occupancy hotel rooms for homeless single adults. Under proposed legislation requiring single-occupancy rooms, that cost would increase to $28 million per month, due to the cost of additional hotel rooms as well as security and operational needs, Drinkwater testified. In her testimony, Drinkwater said that in addition to the 3,500 individuals already living in hotels, the city planned to move another 2,500 individuals — including people over 70, those with underlying health conditions, and those staying in the 10 most densely populated city shelters — to hotels by the end of April. The Coalition for the Homeless told PolitiFact that Routhier’s reference to tens of thousands of hotel rooms was not the number simply to house ""every single person on the subway,"" but rather the entire homeless population throughout the city, which is estimated to exceed 22,000. The group did not provide a specific number of homeless New Yorkers living in the subway system. ""The coalition has called for (hotels) to be used not only for homeless New Yorkers sheltering in the subway system, but also the many thousands more in congregate homeless shelters where social isolation is impossible and where Covid-19 is spreading,"" said Dan Levitan, a spokesman for the coalition. A complication is that some hotel rooms have been converted for hospital use. The city said it planned to convert 250 hotel rooms in five hotels into hospital facilities, the Daily News reported on March 19. Routhier said, ""We could open up tens of thousands of hotel rooms and offer every single person on the subway access to them. The mayor has absolutely to this point refused to do that."" The city already does contract with hotels to house New Yorkers facing emergency homelessness, and the number of homeless individuals the city has moved into hotels has increased since the onset of the pandemic. However, the number of rooms being used for this purpose is well short of the ""tens of thousands"" of rooms needed to house all of New York City’s homeless population. The main reason is the high cost."
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9400
|
What’s in the IV bag? Studies show safer option than saline
|
There have been many studies through the years comparing the pros and cons of using normal saline vs. balanced fluids (aka “balanced crystalloids” or “lactated ringers”) in IV bags. The studies mentioned in this article both come from Vanderbilt University Medical Center. They were presented at this past week’s annual conference of the Society for Critical Care Medicine, and simultaneously published in the current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). Both studies found that balanced fluids were associated with a very small decrease in kidney damage and death when compared to normal saline. This AP story was republished by many news organizations. It did a good job of discussing the costs, and included an expert not involved in the study. However, we think more information was needed about the studies themselves, and what they found specifically. For a different take, we recommend reading this CNN story. This debate is not resolved. More studies should (and will) emerge. Many hospitals and clinics have already transitioned over to using balanced fluids only, but not all of them. The stakes are huge for medical suppliers, medical institutions, and patients. As more studies emerge, we highly recommend readers keep an eye out for industry involvement in the studies trying to clarify this important issue.
|
mixture
|
IV fluids
|
In comparing the costs of normal saline vs. balanced fluids, the article states “the fluids cost about the same — a dollar or two per IV — and many suppliers make both types, so switching should not be hard or expensive.” This is sufficient for a satisfactory rating, but readers should be aware that even a difference of a few pennies per bag would have a significant impact at the institutional level, and a massive impact on the national level. The article states: For every 100 people on balanced fluids, there was one fewer death or severe kidney problem. And not much else is said. Unfortunately, this is an oversimplification, combining the findings of two studies (one on critically ill patients, one on non-critically ill patients) into one result. CNN’s reporting was much more detailed: Also, regarding this statement in the AP story: “The difference could mean 50,000 to 70,000 fewer deaths and 100,000 fewer cases of kidney failure each year in the U.S.” This should be edited to include the statement, “if the study is replicated across the country.” Given that this study is all about safety, we think the story should have provided more detail on the known harms of saline vs balanced fluids. The AP story does mention the kidney disease risk with saline, but doesn’t explore why physicians might be leery to use balanced fluids. As CNN explained: Very little information on the studies is provided. Were these randomized, controlled trials? What were the key limitations to the data? What further research is needed? As CNN noted: “Hager said he believes that other studies will spin off from this research, which was conducted at a single medical center. He also noted that the research was unblinded, meaning that doctors ‘knew they were giving one fluid versus another, and that may have an impact on other decisions that they make. '” No disease mongering here, though the study could have done more to stress that the thousands of lives saved is only if the changes are replicated nationally. The story quotes two sources: One not involved with the study, and one who’s a study leader. It’s mentioned “federal grants helped pay for the work,” which is sufficient. A discussion of other fluid replacement strategies is not germane given the subject of this study. The article does well in including this important context: IVs are one of the most common things in health care … saline — salt dissolved in water — has been the most widely used fluid in the U.S. for centuries … other IV solutions called balanced fluids include saline but also potassium and other things that make them more like plasma, the clear part of blood. They’re widely used in Europe and Australia. The story refers to a 20-year effort to better understand which IV fluids are best to use, which is helpful context. We think the story could have better stressed that’s what’s novel here is the size of the studies–lots of patients were included. But, we’ll give this a satisfactory for at least providing context. This article does not appear to rely solely upon a news release.
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30171
|
A video shows a new species of plant created by crossbreeding marijuana with a Venus flytrap.
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A video purportedly documenting a new strain of marijuana that was crossbred with a Venus flytrap actually shows a barnacle.
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false
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Fauxtography, animals, marijuana
|
A video purportedly showing a strange new plant created by crossbreeding marijuana with a Venus flytrap has racked up millions of views since it was first posted to the internet in 2016: Growers in Colorado have developed a powerful new strain of Marijuana by cross breeding it with a Venus Flytrap. However, rather than the results of crossbreeding marijuana with a Venus flytrap, what this video actually shows is a plain old barnacle caught off the coast of California. This footage was originally posted to Facebook by Matthew Wallace in August 2016 with the caption: “I would have kept it if we had a saltwater tank.” When Wallace shared a second video of this odd-looking object, he posed the question: “Are these barnacles?”: The clip went viral and was eventually licensed by Cater News and shared to YouTube with a little backstory about what it depicted. The news agency reported that the “unidentified ‘alien'” barnacle was caught in a crab net off of Port Hueneme Pier near Oxnard, California: This unidentified ‘alien’ barnacle with mussel-like appendages poking out of it was caught by crab fishermen. Minister Mathew Wallace caught the creepy crustacean while crab netting at Port Hueneme Pier, near Oxnard in California, USA, on Monday August 1. On the outside, the skin has a slippery and spiky shell with six massive openings dotted around its surface. From the various holes, organs similar to mussels and sporting what appear to be teeth shoot out from behind rainbow-coloured flaps. Although Cater News presented this barnacle as something “unidentified” and “alien,” it’s likely a Megabalanus californicus, or a California barnacle. Marine biologist Alex Warneke talked to Earth Touch News when the video first went viral in 2016 and confirmed that description: Media reports will have you know that this strange animal of “unknown origins” has been “puzzling” scientists, but while it certainly looks the part, it’s actually a critter we know well. You’re looking at a cluster of Megabalanus californicus, the California barnacle. Having seen M. californicus before, we reached out to local marine biologist Alex Warneke, who confirmed the ID after a quick look. The “alien” barnacle seen here also resembles Megabalanus californicus as featured in two videos by biologist Denis King:
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9414
|
New Findings Could Save Lives of More Stroke Patients
|
This story discusses research findings that could improve the treatment options available to stroke patients. By extending the eligibility cutoff for blood clot removal from 6 to 16 hours post-stroke, researchers found that more lives could be saved and disability among stroke patients reduced. The story included some helpful details, such as how the study’s findings will likely change current stroke guidelines. But other core details were missing, such as the costs and harms of treatment. Also, no independent sources were tapped, just a news release. We also reviewed a related news release on a different study that had a similar intervention. Like this news story, that article skimped on cost, harms and study details. A study such as this is particularly newsworthy, since strokes are among the leading causes of death and disability in the U.S. Providing a thorough look at the study’s findings and limitations–as well as the costs and harms of the treatment used–helps readers make sense of the news.
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mixture
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stroke
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There’s no mention of how much the special imaging and surgical procedure will cost patients. The article describes the impact of blood clot removal on “functional independence” and death rates for stroke patients. Readers learn that 45 percent of patients who had blood clots removed became functionally independent compared to 17 percent who did not have their blood clots removed. Additionally, the death rate was 12 percentage points lower in the group who had their blood clots removed compared to patients who didn’t have them removed. However, since the story’s headline says that extending the time window for blood clot surgery will “save lives,” it would have been more informative if the article reported on the additional lives saved by expanding the treatment window to 16 hours, by including the sizes of the treatment and control group. All we know is that there were 182 patients involved in the study. Aside from acknowledging that not all stroke patients who fall in the extended time frame are eligible for this procedure, no harms were discussed. What are the harms of standard medical therapy for stroke, therapy plus thrombectomy surgery, and the special brain imaging? The story provides some basic details about the study, but isn’t specific enough. We’re not told: There is no disease mongering in this story. The story includes a statement from an NIH doctor, taken from a news release. No independent sources were quoted. The story didn’t make it clear enough that patients in the non-surgery group still received standard medical treatment for stroke. What does that consist of, and how effective is it? We’re not told. While it’s not clear when the new 16-hour guideline will take effect, the article makes it clear that this procedure is currently available. The novelty of this research is the extended time frame for treatment rather than the treatment itself. The story does a good job of making this distinction clear. The story does not appear to rely on a news release.
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10170
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Less acid, brittler hips? Some heartburn drugs may be behind an increase in fractures
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This is a compact (only 566 words), nicely reported story that places a potentially important development in its appropriate context. The researchers went to great lengths in their published study to weed out variables other than heartburn drugs that might explain the increase in hip fractures that they observed. Nevertheless, they acknowledge that their retrospective review of a large patient database is inherently incapable of proving cause and effect. The quote from Dr. Alan Buchman in the news story summarizes this chief drawback well: The patients, he notes, may “have some other problem that increases the risk of fractures.” The study provides reasonable evidence to support the news article’s recommendations that patients should only use the drugs if they need them, and even then take them only at their lowest beneficial dose. Whether “the solution is to simply consume more calcium” remains unknown, unfortunately. Additional advice on the benefits of lifestyle and dietary changes would have been welcome, and perhaps a note on the relatively lower fracture risk associated with the class known as histamine blockers. In the end, the take home point may be that patients and doctors should periodically question the need to take any medicine used over the long term, even ones thought to be very safe.
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true
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The report notes that combined sales of these drugs account for more than $10 billion annually. The article does not mention comparative costs for other ways of managing the medical conditions these drugs treat. The news article does not quantify the potential benefits of treatment with heartburn or antacid drugs. They are very effective in preventing acid-related disease. An additional sentence or two might help readers weigh their pros and cons. The article provides balanced information about the frequency and seriousness of one potential harm of taking antacids—hip fractures. Most other research has turned up relatively minor side effects (e.g. gastrointestinal discomfort, diarrhea), though a 2005 study suggested that these drugs might make people more susceptible to virulent clostridium difficile infections that produce dangerous watery diarrhea. Though the article ably employs a quote by Dr. Alan Buchman to explain the chief limitation of the study’s design—that it cannot prove cause and effect, and that the patients simply may “have some other problem that increases the risk of fractures”—the story could have stated more clearly the drawbacks inherent in a retrospective study of a large patient database. There are no obvious elements of disease mongering. Hip fracture is common and often devastating. As the article suggests, it is the final insult on the slope toward death for one in five people. It dispatches another one in five to nursing homes for the rest of their lives. However, the article provides information only on relative risk of hip fractures, not their absolute risk. The very large relative risks cited may overstate the absolute risk of these medicines, even if there is a true risk of fracture. The news article reports the funding source for the study, cites three sources—the study’s author, an academic gastroenterologist, and a spokeswoman for the manufacturer of Prevacid—and provides adequate information to judge their potential conflicts of interest. The article explains that heartburn drugs may cause hip fractures by blocking calcium absorption. It suggests two potential solutions – either “simply to consume more calcium,” or to take the drugs in lower doses. Unfortunately, it fails to note that there is conflicting research to support the calcium-blocking hypothesis or that there is little research to show that calcium consumption can offset the increased risk of fracture among people taking antacids. More importantly, the article could have offered three additional recommendations: (1) all patients may not need to take these medicines on a regular basis; (2) lifestyle and dietary changes—cutting back on caffeine, alcohol, cigarettes, and acidic foods—can also help; and (3) some patients taking one class of drugs known as proton pump inhibitors (e.g. Nexium, Prevacid, Prisolec) could safely switch over to another class known as histamine blockers (e.g. Zantac) that were associated with fewer hip fractures in this study. Histamine blockers have a very safe long-term record (20+ years). Most readers are likely to know about heartburn drugs or antacids that suppress the production of gastric acid. They are, as the LA Times says, “among the most widely used in the United States.” Some of these medicines are also available over-the-counter without a prescription, potentially useful information omitted from the news article. The report states that the treatment is widely used and accurately implies that it is not new. No obvious use of text from a press release.
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11192
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The Promise (and Limits) of Pediatric Proton Radiation
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This magazine feature story falls firmly in the category of what science and medical journalists call an “explainer,” a relatively intensely reported effort to put context and common sense around an emerging and sometimes controversial discovery or treatment. In this case, it’s proton beam therapy (PBT), a sharply-focused form of radiation therapy whose tissue-sparing benefits are becoming somewhat clearer for pediatric cancer therapy, but whose rapidly expanding and heavily marketed availability still outstrips rigorous clinical evidence for wider use, especially in adult cancers of the prostate and other organs. Although the article offers little quantitative data or clinical trial results, it does a good job (from the headline to the end) of describing the pros and cons, costs and benefits of the treatment. For a parent with a child suffering from a life-threatening cancer, identifying the best new treatment regardless of cost or convenience would be the normal expectation. So that a new treatment, such as proton beam therapy, that sounds so reasonable–the potential for the same or higher level of radiation delivered to the cancer while sparing surrounding normal tissue–it would be hard not to want to have this for your child. This also leads to the challenge in that we actually don’t know if this theoretical benefit is in fact a real one. Though not stated in this article, it would be very hard to randomly assign children to conventional and proton beam therapies because the latter is available and thought better. So the result is the expansion of a much more expensive treatment with little or no proven advantage, and no study in the wings to help in the future.
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true
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Cancer,U.S. News & World Report
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The article does an exemplary job of reporting details of access, insurance coverage, and direct costs. It cites a December 2015 journal article that concludes that PBT for a deadly form of childhood brain cancer is “cost-effective.” The article could have used more data and research results about clinical outcomes to support that statement, but that’s a minor issue on this front. The only discussion of evidence was this passage, which includes no numbers: “Yock co-authored a study published in December 2015 in the journal Cancer, which compared the cost-effectiveness of proton radiation therapy versus traditional radiation among kids with medulloblastoma. The study, which used models to measure long-term side effects and related costs in treatment, work-force participation and quality of life, found that proton therapy was cost-effective.” In pediatric brain cancer, while the numbers are relatively small, there are data to support the claims. Readers would have had a better picture of the controversy by some mention of the relatively sparse research results available about the value of PBT in prostate cancer in adults, for example, a source of heavy marketing by PBT treatment centers. Overall, the article needed more prevalence and outcome data for all forms of pediatric cancer and its therapies. The article notes in some detail the various side effects of PBT and especially of standard forms of radiation and chemotherapy treatments for childhood brain and other cancers. The story focuses on the potential long-term harms, but it would also have been helpful to know more about the short-term risks of these two forms of radiation, as well. We are indirectly told that there’s not really much evidence on this therapy and that it is largely anecdotal: “Proton beam therapy is considered a big advance in cancer therapy by some experts. Others, however, hesitate to get caught up in the early hype without more long-term evidence.” This isn’t a sufficient effort to assess the quality of evidence, so we are rating this Not Satisfactory. The story appropriately comments upon the seriousness of these tumors and the first goal of cure and then the longer-term issue of treatment side effects. The article uses quotes and opinions from a handful of well-placed pediatric oncologists. It could have found one or two sources to comment explicitly on the controversial marketing aspects of proton treatment centers, and perhaps put a bit more balance into the cheerleading aspects of the quotes, but overall, the article offers a calm and reasoned picture of PBT’s value. The article does an excellent job of describing how PBT works compared to conventional radiation, and how newer forms of PBT are reducing “scatter” even more. Very well reported here. The story highlights that there are a limited number of centers in the U.S. that offer this and that they are not evenly distributed around the country. Many patients need to make special travel/housing arrangements to complete a six-week course of therapy. The report puts PBT’s benefits in good perspective and to its great credit, notes from the outset that the treatment is no “magic wand,” but has real potential to avoid one of the big challenges of childhood cancer therapy. No evidence of that.
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12532
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Nobody dies because they don’t have access to health care.
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"At the town hall, Labrador said, ""Nobody dies because they don’t have access to health care."" Extensive research over the previous decade generally points to tangible reductions in mortality after patients obtain health insurance. Two papers found more equivocal results, but we reached authors of both papers, and they agreed that their findings do not support Labrador’s remark. While the exact number of deaths saved by having health insurance is uncertain, the researchers we contacted agreed that the number is higher than zero -- probably quite a bit higher."
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false
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National, Health Care, Raul Labrador,
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"What Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, told a restive town hall audience in Lewiston, Idaho, was destined to go viral. And it did. At the May 5, 2017, event, questioners asked the congressman about the Republicans’ vote the previous day on a major health care overhaul that would roll back many aspects of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, including limits on expanding Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program for the poor. ""You are mandating people on Medicaid accept dying,"" one audience member said. To which Labrador responded, ""No no, you know that line is so indefensible. Nobody dies because they don’t have access to health care."" The crowd howled in protest, and the comment drew immediate national attention. Writing in CNN, political commentator Chris Cillizza awarded his ""Worst Week in Washington"" award to Labrador, saying that the congressman had essentially handed Democrats a video clip that was ""a ready-made attack line against every vulnerable House Republican."" Given all the attention to Labrador’s comment, we decided to fact-check it. It’s not our first time looking at a similar question. Because of varied results from academic papers, we have struggled since 2009 about how to rate claims that a specific number of people die every year because they were uninsured -- a common talking point for Democrats. We found it difficult to pinpoint a specific number. However, Labrador’s statement put a different twist on the question. Rather than saying that a specific number of people had died due to lack of health insurance, Labrador said that no one had. Could that be right? Labrador’s explanation When we contacted Labrador’s office, his staff pointed us to a Facebook post where he explained his remark the following day and accused the media for only focusing on a few seconds of a longer discussion. ""During ten hours of town halls, one of my answers about health care wasn’t very elegant,"" Labrador wrote. ""I was responding to a false notion that the Republican health care plan will cause people to die in the streets, which I completely reject. ... In the five-second clip that the media is focusing on, I was trying to explain that all hospitals are required by law to treat patients in need of emergency care regardless of their ability to pay and that the Republican plan does not change that."" (Here’s the full exchange as posted by Labrador’s office.) However, even if you buy the argument that emergency room care would protect the uninsured, that leaves out a whole range of chronic and potentially deadly diseases -- from heart disease to diabetes -- that can be prevented only through long-term access to physicians. A literature review We found at least seven academic papers that detected a link between securing health insurance and a decline in mortality. In general, these papers present a stronger consensus that having insurance saves lives. • In 2002, a panel of more than a dozen medical specialists convened by the federally chartered Institute of Medicine estimated that 18,000 Americans had died in 2000 because they were uninsured. In January 2008, Stan Dorn, a senior research associate at the Urban Institute, published a paper that sought to update the IOM study with newer data. Replicating the study’s methodology, Dorn concluded that the figure should be increased to 22,000. • A 2009 American Journal of Public Health study concluded that a lack of health insurance ""is associated with as many as 44,789 deaths in the United States, more than those caused by kidney disease."" • Three studies looked at state-level expansions of Medicaid and in each case found ""significant"" improvements in mortality after such expansions of coverage. These include a 2012 New England Journal of Medicine study of New York, Maine, and Arizona by Harvard researchers, and a 2014 study of Massachusetts by researchers from Harvard and the Urban Institute. • A 2014 study published by the health policy publication Health Affairs looked at states that, at the time, had declined to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. It estimated that the 25 states studied would have collectively avoided between 7,000 and 17,000 deaths. • A 2014 study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found improved survival rates for young adults with cancer after securing insurance under the Affordable Care Act. • A 2017 study in the journal Medical Care looked at a provision of the Affordable Care Act that allows young adults to be covered under a parent’s policy. The study found a decline in mortality among this population from diseases amenable to preventive treatment. (Mortality from trauma, such as car accidents, saw no decrease, as would be expected.) Any contrary views? We found two papers that might conceivably provide support for Labrador’s position. But as we’ll see, even the papers’ authors did not agree with Labrador. • A paper published in April 2009 in HSR: Health Services Research. In it, Richard Kronick of the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at the University of California (San Diego) School of Medicine, raised questions about the conclusions of the seminal Institute of Medicine study from 2002. Kronick’s study adjusted the data -- as the IOM had not -- for a number of demographic and health factors, including status as a smoker and body mass index, and found that doing so removed the excess number of deaths found in the original study. • A 2013 paper in the New England Journal of Medicine co-authored by Katherine Baicker of Harvard University compared about 6,000 patients in Oregon who got coverage through a 2008 Medicaid expansion and about 6,000 who didn’t. While the study found improvements in out-of-pocket medical spending and lower rates of depression among those who got coverage, key benchmarks for physical health -- including blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar -- did not improve in such patients. So we asked both of these papers’ authors whether their papers could be used as justification for what Labrador said. ""Rep. Labrador is misinformed,"" Kronick said. ""Common sense, as well as the accumulated weight of evidence is sufficient to convince any reasonable analyst that lack of health insurance results in excess morbidity (that is, sickness) and mortality."" Baicker, too, said she sees ""strong evidence"" that Labrador’s statement ""is false. I agree that the exact number is up for debate, but the fact that it is more than zero seems clear to me."" Every other health policy analyst who responded to us for this article agreed that Labrador was wrong. Some saw common sense as equally persuasive as the peer-reviewed research. ""I was just at a physicians’ meeting where people described patients they had treated who had died because of a lack of coverage,"" said Harold Pollack, an urban public health researcher at the University of Chicago. ""Everyone who does this for a living has personally experienced it in one way or another."" Our ruling At the town hall, Labrador said, ""Nobody dies because they don’t have access to health care."" Extensive research over the previous decade generally points to tangible reductions in mortality after patients obtain health insurance. Two papers found more equivocal results, but we reached authors of both papers, and they agreed that their findings do not support Labrador’s remark. While the exact number of deaths saved by having health insurance is uncertain, the researchers we contacted agreed that the number is higher than zero -- probably quite a bit higher."
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11194
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Tai chi eases fibromyalgia symptoms, study finds
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Four people were found dead on Sunday after massive flooding that has hit southeastern France since Friday, causing major damage in the region, local authorities said.
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false
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One person was found dead near Muy, between the towns of Nice and Marseille, after falling off a rescue boat near Muy late on Saturday, the police prefecture of the Var department said in a statement. Another body was found in a car in Cabasse and two people were found dead in Tanneron, it added. A 77-year old man has been missing since Saturday morning in Saint-Antonin-du-Var. Several rivers burst their banks in southeastern France, causing major damage as homes were flooded and cars and boats were swept along by the waters. Interior Minister Christophe Castaner travelled to the Var on Sunday to meet victims and rescue workers as rain continued to fall in the region, although it was not as heavy as in previous days and floods started to subside.
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7016
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Lovato has concert activities for mental health awareness.
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On Demi Lovato’s latest U.S. tour, she opened each show with “You Don’t Do It For Me Anymore,” an ode to shaking her addiction to substance abuse.
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true
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Mental health, Health, Entertainment, Bipolar disorder, North America, Newark, Music, Demi Lovato, Concerts
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But while the song is inspiring, it’s what happened before the show that seemed to matter most to her. Lovato, who says that she “thrives” with bipolar disorder, held what can be described as one-hour therapy sessions for a few hundred fans before she taking the stage. “It’s something that I’m passionate about, mental health, and raising the awareness and taking away the stigma away from it. So, if I can do that on tour then awesome,” Lovato said in an interview with The Associated Press. Lovato has been a mental health advocate for several years and worked with a pharmaceutical-sponsored awareness campaign at one time. For her U.S. tour, she partnered with CAST Centers , wellness clinics that treat mental health and substance abuse issues (the sessions are not a part of her European tour that kicks off later this month). Lovato became a co-owner after being treated there in 2011. Before a recent show in Newark, New Jersey, Lovato spoke about her struggles, which besides bipolar disorder have included alcoholism, drug addiction, and eating disorders. “My life has gotten a lot easier as I’ve continued to have more and more sobriety under my belt. And you know, for me it’s just about asking for help when I need it. And I think that’s the key to getting the help that you need is not being afraid to ask people when you need some assistance or support,” Lovato said. The sessions were free to those who purchase tickets to the concert but spots were limited. Lovato attended them, but was not the focus. In Newark, 18-year old Ashley Hill was near the front of the line. She said she waited for hours but was satisfied. “I’ve been in therapy for a couple of years. I just wanted to be a part of this experience,” Hill said. She added: “There (were) a lot of things I struggled with for a long time but Demi being able to come out of it, I was able to be more open about what I’ve gone through.” ___ Online: https://www.castcenters.com/ and https://www.castcenters.com/castontour
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20653
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Preventive care … saves money, for families, for businesses, for government, for everybody.
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"As a general notion, the idea that ""preventive care … saves money, for families, for businesses, for government, for everybody"" is no more true today than it was in 2009. Yes, preventive measures often save lives and keep patients healthier. Certain preventive measures may save money as well. But the findings of CBO and physicians who have studied the medical literature indicate that Obama’s sweeping generalization that preventive services save money is not accurate."
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false
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National, Health Care, Barack Obama,
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"It’s been a staple of health care politics for years -- the claim that preventive care saves money. A little money up front, lots of money saved on the back end. Patients living longer and healthier lives. That makes sense, right? But while there’s little doubt that preventive care saves lives, the money is a different story. In general, academic studies do not support the idea that paying for preventive care ultimately saves money. We first published that conclusion in 2009, when we rated True a claim by New York Times columnist David Brooks that preventive care does not save the government money. When President Barack Obama claimed it did save money in a September 2009 speech to Congress, we rated it . On Feb. 10, 2012, Obama revived this line of argument. His comments came during a media briefing to announce a partial reversal of a policy that would require church-affiliated organizations such as hospitals to provide a package of free preventive coverage, including contraception. Catholic groups criticized the policy -- which was set in motion by Obama’s health care law in 2010 -- on the grounds that it conflicted with churches’ religious beliefs. In announcing a partial shift of policy, Obama said, ""As part of the health care reform law that I signed last year, all insurance plans are required to cover preventive care at no cost. That means free check-ups, free mammograms, immunizations and other basic services. We fought for this because it saves lives and it saves money –- for families, for businesses, for government, for everybody. That’s because it’s a lot cheaper to prevent an illness than to treat one."" However, as we wrote in 2009, it’s not true that preventive care generally ""saves money."" Brooks' critique relied on estimates by the Congressional Budget Office. ""The evidence suggests that for most preventive services, expanded utilization leads to higher, not lower, medical spending overall,"" CBO director Douglas Elmendorf wrote in an Aug. 7, 2009, letter to Rep. Nathan Deal, the top Republican on a congressional subcommittee involved in the debate. Elmendorf explained that while the cost of a simple test might be cheap for each individual, the cumulative cost of many tests adds up: ""But when analyzing the effects of preventive care on total spending for health care, it is important to recognize that doctors do not know beforehand which patients are going to develop costly illnesses. To avert one case of acute illness, it is usually necessary to provide preventive care to many patients, most of whom would not have suffered that illness anyway. ... Preventive care can have the largest benefits relative to costs when it is targeted at people who are most likely to suffer from a particular medical problem; however, such targeting can be difficult because preventive services are generally provided to patients who have the potential to contract a given disease but have not yet shown symptoms of having it."" In fact, a government policy to encourage prevention could end up paying for services that people are already receiving, including breast and colon cancer screenings and vaccines, Elmendorf said. Other studies backed up the CBO's analysis, including a Feb. 14, 2008, article in the New England Journal of Medicine that was written in response to campaign promises for more preventive care. ""Sweeping statements about the cost-saving potential of prevention ... are overreaching,"" according to the paper. ""Studies have concluded that preventing illness can in some cases save money but in other cases can add to health care costs."" They write that ""the vast majority"" of preventive health measures that were ""reviewed in the health economics literature do not"" save money. ""Some preventive measures save money, while others do not, although they may still be worthwhile because they confer substantial health benefits relative to their cost,"" the authors write. ""In contrast, some preventive measures are expensive given the health benefits they confer. In general, whether a particular preventive measure represents good value or poor value depends on factors such as the population targeted, with measures targeting higher-risk populations typically being the most efficient."" Meanwhile, a separate study conducted by researchers from the American Diabetes Association, American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society concluded that, while interventions to prevent cardiovascular disease would prevent many strokes and deaths, ""as they are currently delivered, most of the prevention activities will substantially increase costs."" To make sure that the data hadn’t changed dramatically since we last looked at this issue, we contacted Peter J. Neumann, director of the Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health at the Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies at Tufts Medical Center. He was one of the three co-authors of the New England Journal of Medicine article. He said the patterns his group found in 2008 have not shifted dramatically since then. ""Sometimes preventive measures save money, sometimes not,"" Neumann said. ""The general message is that it depends."" Milton C. Weinstein, one of Neumann's co-authors, agreed. ""In general, the comparative effectiveness literature supports the general proposition that preventive care does not save money,"" said Weinstein, a professor of health policy and management at the Harvard School of Public Health. Our ruling As a general notion, the idea that ""preventive care … saves money, for families, for businesses, for government, for everybody"" is no more true today than it was in 2009. Yes, preventive measures often save lives and keep patients healthier. Certain preventive measures may save money as well. But the findings of CBO and physicians who have studied the medical literature indicate that Obama’s sweeping generalization that preventive services save money is not accurate."
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4111
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Indianapolis’ new needle exchange will enlist mobile vehicle.
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Marion County is launching a needle exchange program that will enlist a vehicle the size of a small school bus to combat Indianapolis’ soaring hepatitis C rate by distributing clean syringes and collecting used ones.
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true
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Indianapolis, Health, Hepatitis, Infectious diseases, Indiana
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The vehicle unveiled Wednesday by the county’s health department will begin visiting two east side Indianapolis neighborhoods next week. But it could eventually make stops in other neighborhoods, based on recommendations by police and health officials. Marion County’s hepatitis C cases soared 1,000 percent between 2013 and 2017, mostly due to intravenous drug use tied to the opioid epidemic. Public health director Dr. Virginia Caine says needle exchanges aim to reduce needle-sharing that can spread infectious diseases. The Indianapolis Star reports that Marion County will become Indiana’s ninth county with a needle exchange.
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10752
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Prostate drug shows safer side
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"The article describes two new studies that suggest that the drug finasteride may not be linked with a higher chance of developing dangerous types of prostate cancer, as was previously thought. The article fails to address several of our criteria including costs, the strength of the evidence, quantifiable benefits, whether this is a new treatment, treatment options, and a source of information who is not the lead author. (But what can you expect a reporter to cover in 163 words? See our recent Publisher’s Note about the harms of such ""briefs."") While a key potential harm is described–the chance that this drug may lead to developing dangerous types of prostate cancer–the story fails to adequately describe other potential harms, other than to name them. Readers don’t know if these other harms are frequent or troublesome. The story also missed a key point. Since the results came from a cancer prevention trial, the onus is clearly on the research to find more benefit than harm – since, by definition, the individual has no symptoms. But the story of finasteride for the prevention of prostate cancer still lacks strong evidence."
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false
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The article does not mention any costs. The article does not provide any quantifiable benefits. Harms of treatment are mentioned, including the possibility of an increased risk of dangerous types of prostate cancer with this drug. While this is one potential harm, the story doesn’t adequately describe other potential harms, other than to name them (e.g. impotence and decreased libido). Readers don’t know how frequent these other side effects may be or how troublesome. The article states the latest study re-analyzed previous trial data (from a 2003 study). But, readers still don’t know much, if anything, about how to evaluate the strength of the findings. For instance, it’s not stated whether the original trial was a randomized trial or something less robust. Although there is very little information given about prostate cancer as a disease, what is mentioned is not exaggerated or incorrect. The article only provides one source of information and that source is a lead author (although the article does reveal potential conflicts of interest of this author). The story does not describe other treatment options. The article does not explicitly state whether this drug is available currently or is still in research. However, one statement implies it is currently available because it states doctors have been hesitant to prescribe it for prevention purposes. The article does not tell readers whether this is a new drug or not. We can’t be sure if the story relied solely or largely on a news release. With its sparse 163 words, the story only quotes the lead researcher and offers no independent perspectives. We don’t know for sure what enterprise reporting may have taken place to produce these 163 words.
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11397
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Heart Health: New Treatments For America’s #1 Killer
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Is it possible that medicine can detect silent heart disease and save lives with technology as reliable, safe—and apparently cheap–as the ultrafast CT calcium test described in this broadcast? It is a problem that has stumped researchers for a very long time. The broadcast strikes several emotional chords in quick succession—the call to thwart America’s “ number one killer”; the “big headline” from a medical meeting announcing a “wake-up call” that we all “need”; the patient whose doctor said he was fine but was wrong—and the rosy dose of “minimal radiation” that just might have “saved his life”; the other patient who now has “peace of mind” because her test gave her a clean bill of health. But the broadcast has little enthusiasm for thorny details of this test, also known as electron beam CT or EBCT: – Evidence: The broadcast mentions none, randomized or otherwise. – Sources: The broadcast’s scientific credibility rests on anecdotal reports of two patients and one physician-correspondent. An “n” of 2 is bad science. There is vague mention of a gathering of eminent cardiologists, but none appears. – Harms: False-positives with this technology are legion, and hinting otherwise (“so this could be the key”) is misleading. The tests lead to additional legions of invasive and potentially harmful (and expensive) tests and procedures. False negatives are few, but they merit mention nonetheless. – Benefits: The broadcast does not provide a quantitative estimate of potential benefits—a major omission. According to the American Heart Association, “No study has definitively demonstrated that screening with EBCT improves outcomes by reducing mortality or morbidity from [coronary artery disease].” The broadcast suggests that the test could help people with just one risk factor for heart disease. (“They need to hear about this.”) This contrasts with recommendations from the American Heart Association, which say that testing in people at low risk (or very high risk) is futile. – Disease mongering. The broadcast teaches people to fear calcium in their arteries. Although there is good evidence showing an association between calcium scores and cardiovascular problems, the broadcast fails to point out that the test hasn’t been proven to reduce death or heart attacks. – Treatment Options: the broadcast mentions none. The AHA statement points out that the ultrafast CT scan is “one of many contenders in a crowded field of CAD [coronary artery disease] risk-assessment tools.”
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false
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"The broadcast does not mention the cost of this technology. “No study has demonstrated that EBCT reduces healthcare costs,” according to the American Heart Association. The broadcast does not provide a quantitative estimate of the benefits. Doing so is challenging. Research suggests that high calcium scores are associated with increased risk of heart attacks. But “No study has definitively demonstrated that screening with EBCT [electron beam or “ultrafast” CT] improves outcomes by reducing mortality or morbidity from [coronary artery disease],” according to the American Heart Association. (Circulation. 2006;114(16):1761-91) Moreover, the broadcast suggests that even people with one risk factor could benefit from this test. (“They need to hear about this.”) This contrasts with recommendations from the American Heart Association, which does not recommend testing in people at low risk (or very high risk). They say that people considering a calcium test should go first to the Framingham Risk Calculator (FRS). If their 10-year risk is >10%, research shows calcium scanning is futile. (JAMA 2004;291:210-15.) ""Unselected screening is of limited clinical value in patients who are at low risk for CHD events,"" acording to an AHA expert consensus statement. ""The accumulating evidence suggests that asymptomatic individuals with an intermediate FRS may be reasonable candidates for [coronary heart disease] testing using [coronary artery calcium scoring] as a potential means of modifying risk prediction and altering therapy."" (Circulation 2007;115;402-426) False-positives with this technology are legion, and hinting otherwise (“so this could be the key”) is misleading. False-positives lead to additional legions of invasive and potentially harmful (and expensive) tests and procedures. False negatives are few, but they merit mention nonetheless. Tests “dictate downstream testing, treatments, and costs,” notes the AHA statement. An AHA Science Advisory on ionizing radiation in cardiac imaging advises against routine screening. ""Routine surveillance radionuclide stress tests or cardiac CTs in asymptomatic patients at low risk for ischemic heart disease are not recommended."" The expert panel notes that coronary CT scans increases by a small amount (0.05%) the likelihood that a person will die of a cancer associated with the radiation. ""This 0.05% increase in risk is added to the 21% background risk for the US population."" The panel says that clinicians should attempt to use ""other options for answering the clinical question at hand by means that do not use ionizing radiation or choosing the type of study that exposes the patient to the lowest amount of radiation."" Young women are particularly vulnerable to radiation exposure because it increases their risk for future breast cancer. The broadcast does not describe the quality of evidence to support the use of ultrafast CT scans. (See also “Quantification of Benefits” below.) The broadcast teaches people to fear calcium in their arteries. Although there is good evidence that shows an association between calcium scores and cardiovascular problems, the broadcast fails to point out that the test hasn’t been proven to reduce death or heart attacks from heart disease. (See also “Quantification of Benefits” below.) The broadcast relies on anecdotal reports of two patients and one physician-correspondent. An “n” of 2 is bad science and inadequate reporting. The broadcast mentions none. But the ultrafast CT scan is just “one of may contenders in a crowded field of CAD [coronary artery disease] risk-assessment tools,” according to the AHA. Alternative tests include the electrocardiographic (ECG) exercise or stress test, which does not require radiation exposure. The broadcast does not mention the availability of ultrafast CT scans, a test used to measure the amount of calcium in arteries. These tests are also known as electron beam CT or EBCT. “This is a new test, well not, not new in the world, but new to a lot of us,” Dr. Marie Savard opens the broadcast. The test has been around a while. The network’s Dr. Tim Johnson did a piece on ultrafast CT scans for 20/20 in Jan, 2002. The broadcast does not appear to rely solely or largely on a news release."
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9116
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Laser Treatment Reduces Eye Floaters
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This release summarizes the results of a modest study of the ability of lasers to vaporize eye floaters, which are deposits or condensation in the vitreous, the material that fills the back of the eye. The text briefly captures the outcomes of the study: six months out, patients who received laser treatments reported seeing fewer floaters than did those who received a sham light treatment. It also mentions a couple of study limitations. But it doesn’t mention how much the treatment costs or the risks of a treatment that may be unnecessary for most individuals. Eye floaters are common; by age 70 almost all individuals have them, although many go unnoticed. In most cases, they are not dangerous and people get accustomed to having them, although their sudden appearance can be disconcerting, sending many individuals to their doctors. News releases about laser interventions, thus, need to tread carefully to avoid over-selling a treatment that is still not well validated and, for most people, would not be necessary in the first place. According to the National Eye Institute: “For people who have floaters that are simply annoying, no treatment is recommended.”
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mixture
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eye floaters,laser surgery
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Cost does not make an appearance. Given the ubiquity of these floaters, some reflection on cost is warranted, as laser treatment of both eyes can run into the thousands of dollars. The release briefly summarizes the results. It states, “A total of 19 patients (53 percent) in the YAG laser group reported significantly or completely improved symptoms vs 0 individuals in the sham group.” It also notes that both the small sample size and short follow-up period were limitations of the study. No harms were mentioned in the release. Laser treatment can produce such irritants as “dry eye” and temporary visual halos, and a small number of patients have experienced increased eye pressure and the development of cataracts. These harms are apparently rare, but they deserve attention. The published study noted that there were few adverse effects and they were minor, but that the small sample size and length of follow-up were not adequate to make any firm statement about harms. While the release could have included much more detail about the sham-controlled, randomized trial design, it at least noted the study’s small sample size and short follow-up period (6 months). The study excluded patients who had symptoms that were less than six months duration. It would have been good for the release to briefly describe the “natural history” of these floaters and how likely it is that floaters will resolve spontaneously over time. The study design was very good with blinding on the part of patients and masking (a form of blinding) on the part of the physician assessing the follow-up photos looking for floaters. Cases of eye floaters that need medical intervention occur, but as the release notes, “most patients grow accustomed to them.” Most people adapt to their floaters or the floaters settle at the bottom of the eye — out of the line of sight — without treatment. The release doesn’t note that laser treatments would be relevant in those few serious cases, thus setting the stage for over-use in the majority of cases that would not require treatment. The release doesn’t name any funders. ClinicalTrials.gov states that Ophthalmic Consultants of Boston sponsored the study. The journal article notes that neither coauthor had conflicts of interest. The release mentions three treatment options for eye floaters — patient education and observation, surgery, and laser treatment — but didn’t comment on how these treatments compared in effectiveness. That’s probably because the study did not compare laser surgery against other treatments for eye floaters. The American Association of Opthalmology, as of 2015, viewed the evidence for laser treatment benefits as too limited to offer its official support. Although wording of the release makes it clear that laser treatments are an option for eye floaters, the release does not provide information about availability. However, there is enough information in the published study for any ophthalmologist who is skilled in the use of the YAG laser to be able to use the treatment. The journal article makes the claim that it reflects the first prospective, sham-controlled design of laser intervention for eye floaters, an assertion ignored by the release. The release is factual and straightforward. Its primary problem is one of omission. It doesn’t note that that data on the effectiveness of this procedure are still limited and that most individuals with eye floaters will not need it.
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11861
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‘The largest bust in U.S. history’ 412 Muslims arrested from Michigan!
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"Fresh Media News wrote in a headline "" ‘The largest bust in U.S. history’ 412 Muslims arrested in Michigan!"" The federal government announced the bust of 412 people in a health care fraud scheme in July, but the suspects were from across the nation. We found no evidence that all the suspects are Muslims."
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false
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Fake news, Legal Issues, Crime, Religion, PunditFact, Freshmedianews.com,
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"Hundreds of Muslim doctors in Detroit were arrested by the federal government in a record-breaking bust, stated an article on Facebook. ""The largest bust in U.S. history: 412 Muslims arrested from Michigan,"" stated a headline we saw in November on Fresh Media News. Facebook users flagged the post as being potentially fabricated, as part of the social network’s efforts to combat fake news. While the headline is fake, because it describes all of the suspects as Muslims from Michigan without evidence, a key element of the story is based on real events: The federal government did charge 412 people nationwide in a health care bust in July. Fresh Media News calls itself a website that provides ""daily updates of the hidden things."" We found no disclaimer or contact information on the website and sent a message via Facebook and did not get a reply. Similar articles ran on other websites in July. The article portrays Michigan Muslims as rampant criminals. ""The state of Michigan is clearly turning into a Sharia swamp, thanks to the reckless immigration policies of Obama over the last 8 years,"" stated the article. Fresh Media News claims that federal officials made a bust in a $1.3 billion fraudulent scheme involving Medicare fraud, ripping off insurance companies and prescribing opioids. Some of the basic details are muddled -- the headline says the 412 suspects were from Michigan while part of the article says officials arrested 412 people nationwide. Here is what actually happened: On July 13, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the ""largest health care fraud takedown operation in American history."" Federal authorities charged 412 defendants across about two dozen states, including doctors, nurses and other licensed medical professionals, for their alleged participation in health care fraud schemes involving approximately $1.3 billion in billings. Thirty-two of the defendants were from the Eastern District of Michigan. Fresh Media News cited some accurate details in the case, including that the FBI raided medical offices in Detroit’s historic Fisher building and named one of the actual Michigan defendants: Mashiyat Rashid. Prosecutors allege that Rashid ran a conspiracy starting in 2008 that involved six other defendants and various companies in which they recruited homeless people as patients and sent phony bills to Medicare, according to The Detroit News. The Detroit News described Rashid as a ""Muslim businessman, who moved to the United States from Bangladesh and is a U.S. citizen."" While Fresh Media News wrote without evidence that the 412 suspects were Muslims, nothing in the federal documents we reviewed, including Sessions’ remarks, mentioned the religion of the defendant. We contacted Sessions’ press office and did not get a reply. It’s not surprising that a fake news story would target Muslims in Michigan. The Muslim population has been growing in Michigan for decades and is now about 2.75 percent of the state’s population as of 2015, according to a report by Muslims for American Progress, a project by the Institute for Policy Studies and Social Understanding that aims to educate the public about Muslims. (A Pew study estimates that Muslims comprise about 1 percent of the U.S.) Michigan Muslims comprise more than 15 percent of the state’s medical doctors and more than 10 percent of the state’s pharmacists. Fresh Media News wrote in a headline "" ‘The largest bust in U.S. history’ 412 Muslims arrested in Michigan!"" The federal government announced the bust of 412 people in a health care fraud scheme in July, but the suspects were from across the nation. We found no evidence that all the suspects are Muslims."
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42094
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A photo circulating online claims to show a border patrol officer badly injured on Nov. 25 when a group of migrants tried to breach the U.S. border in San Diego.
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Piles of debris, decaying human and animal corpses and fetid water on storm-hammered Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas are posing a new risk for those who survived Hurricane Dorian’s wrath: Disease.
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false
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Customs and Border Protection, immigration,
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As the insect population temporarily cleared when Dorian slammed into the islands on Sept. 1 with top sustained winds of 185 miles (298 km) per hour, water-borne and insect-borne diseases, including malaria and dengue fever, are fresh threats for those who remain or return to the island, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said in a report this week. Disease outbreaks could further drive up the death toll of one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record, which currently stands at 50, but which Bahamian Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said he expects to significantly increase. Some 1,300 people have been registered as missing in the storm’s wake and the Bahamian Ministry of Health has requested 500 body bags, according to the PAHO. Former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham believed hundreds of people were dead on Abaco, the local Nassau Guardian newspaper reported on Thursday, citing an interview with Ingraham after he toured that island. The health risks could be compounded on Abaco, where officials plan to erect two tent city relief centers to house about 4,000 people near Marsh Harbour, John Michael-Clark, co-chairman of the Bahamas’ disaster relief and reconstruction committee, told reporters this week. That figure matches the number of people PAHO estimates remained on Abaco after the storm. Many who evacuated Abaco to Nassau told Reuters this week they ultimately plan to return to the island to rebuild their homes and lives. In addition to the vast of destruction on Abaco, some hospitals and health clinics across the islands are only partially operational after sustaining severe storm damage, and face a shortage of personnel and medical supplies. “Getting the infrastructure back up and running is really key in safety planning,” said Dr. Elizabeth Greig, a physician and disaster response expert with the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. “Having safe sources of potable water and effective sanitation is key to keeping populations healthy in temporary housing conditions, along with making sure those shelters are structurally safe and not overcrowded, which can lead to the passing around of respiratory and gastrointestinal viruses.” Still, efforts to recover and keep disease at bay may be sabotaged by further weather events. The Caribbean basin remains in the midst of hurricane season with heavy weather over the islands on Thursday, and the U.S. National Hurricane Center was monitoring a system that has a 70% chance of becoming a tropical storm. The World Health Organization earlier this week said the establishment of early warning systems would be critical to staving off sickness. It emphasized the need for short-term healthcare, water and sanitation improvement, disease monitoring, and widespread collection of health statistics on the most affected islands for at least the next six months. The Bahamian Ministry of Health has requested extra supplies of Diphtheria and Hepatitis A vaccines for health care providers working in storm-hit areas, the PAHO said. Around Marsh Harbour, where officials estimate that 90% of the homes and buildings were damaged or destroyed, survivors remained worried. “Every day, they’re picking up bodies, who knows how many died?” said Izlaine Jean, 39, a housekeeper and private chef. “We don’t know if it’s safe to live here ... we know we can’t drink the water, so how can we survive?”
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8978
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New stroke imaging technology could reduce potential for patient brain damage
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The news release focuses on new software that, it claims, could expedite the ability of health care providers to identify cause of stroke and the site of whatever is causing the stroke. This, in turn, could then allow health care providers to provide treatment more quickly, which would improve patient outcomes. However, the release leaves out virtually all of the study’s key details regarding the technology. What hardware is required to go with the software? Has it been tested in humans? How much does it cost? Does it require special training? Is it publicly available? If not, when might it become available? The release addresses none of these questions. According to the CDC, stroke is responsible for approximately one out of every 20 deaths in the United States each year. And rapid response is crucial to patient outcomes. As the Mayo Clinic notes: “A stroke is a medical emergency. Prompt treatment is crucial. Early action can minimize brain damage and potential complications.” Most strokes are due to blockages in blood flow to parts of the brain that cause cell death unless blood flow is restored. Treatment of acute stroke focuses on quickly identifying the underlying cause of the stroke and then implementing therapies. Traditionally, identifying the cause, such as a blood clot, a narrowing of the blood vessel or a broken blood vessel that is causing bleeding into the brain, is accomplished using a CT brain scan. If a blood clot is suspected, then therapies may include clot busting medicines with or without attempts to remove the clot itself. This study focuses on efforts to more quickly identify patients for blood clot removal. The goal is to bypass the standard CT scan and do it in the place where the procedure to remove the clot is done. But before new diagnostic techniques such as this one become routine, a lot more work needs to be done. The authors of this study focus on speeding up the time to performing the blood clot removal, but it is unclear if this is intended to be in place of clot busting medicines or not. If meant to replace clot busting medicines for most patients, then future studies will need to show whether this alternative initial treatment is better than getting a standard CT scan and giving a clot busting medicine. This is a very preliminary step in a longer process to identify new and effective ways to manage patients presenting with stroke in whom the cause may be one of several possibilities. New technologies that can improve response time, and improve patient outcomes, are of widespread interest. We can understand why an institution would be excited about announcing discoveries in this field, but it is important to do so responsibly. That makes the failure to address even basic questions about the new software problematic.
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false
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Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery,stroke imaging technology
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Costs are not addressed, either of this form of CT imaging compared to standard, or to the overall cost of care for acute stroke management. Nor does the release outline any factors that may influence potential cost. Is software the only thing new here? Or is new hardware also needed? This part is confusing. The release tells readers that the relevant study is titled “New Multiple CT Assessment of Acute Stroke Patients: Are We Ready for Prime Time?” This indicates that the software relies on CT scans. The release further states that “recent advances in imaging software in the angiosuite give neurointerventionalists the essential details required to diagnose a patient [with a particular type of stroke]. This study suggests that in the future, stroke patients can bypass the CT scan…” But, if they are bypassing the CT scan, what images is the software working with? Benefits are not quantified. The release says only that the new software “could decrease delays in care…giving patients a better chance at making a full recovery.” In addition, it’s not clear here if improved response times are purely hypothetical, or if they are based on some sort of study. The release provides no direct information on how the new test results compared to the standard version. Moreover, the study was not intended to see whether outcomes were improved as a result of this new test because it was added to the standard assessment. As a result, it may have actually delayed care for patients included in the study. Harms aren’t discussed. Are there potential risks associated with using the new software? The release doesn’t say one way or the other. As noted previously, the study involved adding the new technology to standard care. So it may have actually harmed study patients. More broadly, the study was not designed to assess the relative benefits/harms of this new technique compared to the current standard. The closest the release comes to mentioning evidence of any kind is a reference to “preliminary results.” Are those results based on computational models? Pre-clinical testing in laboratory animals? Early results from a phase 1 clinical trial? The release doesn’t tell us. Almost no information is provided on what actually happened to patients enrolled in the study. No disease mongering here. Minimizing the consequences of acute stroke is an important health topic. It would have been helpful if the release had included some context about the prevalence of stroke or how many patients might potentially be candidates for the new technology. The release does not tell readers who funded the research, who developed the software, or whether there are any conflicts of interest among the researchers. The release briefly discusses alternatives in this sentence: “Preliminary results show that the cone beam imaging software compares favorably with baseline and follow-up CT scans.” It would have been helpful to note if the software compared favorably in terms of speed, accuracy, or both. What sort of testing was done? What were the results? How does that compare with baseline and follow-up CT scans? The release also says that “This study suggests that in the future, stroke patients can bypass the CT scan or emergency department and go directly to the angiosuite for imaging and proper care.” Thus the comparison is mentioned but it could have been made clearer. It also could have noted that medicine-based treatment (clot busting drugs) is an alternative to the procedure described here. It is not clear if this software is already on the market or if it is in the early stages of development. Given that the study, which was presented at a conference, is subtitled “Are We Ready for Prime Time?” this is an issue that the researchers were planning to address — but no hint of that information is in the release. It’s clear that this is a new technique, but the parts fitting the novelty bill could have been better described. The software appears to be what’s new here. The title of the release is unjustified. There is nothing in the study that supports the claim that this technology reduces brain damage. At best one can say it could lead to faster treatment. Whether that would be better or not requires future research.
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35326
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"Americans without disabilities can legally use a federal ADA ""loophole"" to avoid wearing a mask in stores that require them. "
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What's true: Businesses that require customers to wear masks during the COVID-19 pandemic are required to accomodate people who may not be able to wear masks due to a medical condition. What's false: Americans without disabilities are not protected under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Further, the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) does not pertain to customers at a grocery store.
|
false
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Medical, COVID-19
|
In April 2020, as major stores such as Costco started requiring customers to wear masks in order to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus disease, a message started to circulate on social media that appeared to encourage Americans to lie about having medical conditions in order to exploit a “mask loophole.” The message generally read: ✨MASK LOOPHOLE✨ Store clerk at the door: “Excuse me, but do you have a mask? I can’t let you in without one”. 😬 Me: “No I’m sorry, I have a medical condition that prohibits the use of anything that could restrict the flow of oxygen to my lungs or brain”. 😶 Their answer 90% of the time: “Oh, okay, sounds good to me, 🤷🏻♀️ Go ahead, have a great day” Their answer 10% of the time: “What kind of medical condition is THAT”? Gentle Answer: “According to HIPAA regulations, you’re not allowed to ask me that. Please don’t discriminate against those who can not wear masks, we need our essentials too. I’ll be in and out” As long as you’re polite and non aggressive, this has not failed me yet. # staaayfreeeee 🙌🏼 These “mask loophole” posts sometimes opened with the declaration “Don’t want to wear a mask? Try this!” and ended with “What have you got to lose?” They were frequently accompanied by one of two images supposedly showing flyers issued from the U.S. Department of Justice that could be presented to stores to explain that these people were “exempt” from these rules: However, these flyers were not issued, endorsed, or distributed by the Department of Justice, and the advice relayed in the “mask loophole” flyer is both legally and morally questionable. The social media post above essentially argues that able-bodied people can lie about having a medical condition in order to avoid wearing a mask in a store that requires customers to wear them. If the store presses them on the issue, they can claim that the store would be violating the federal American Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) by asking them about their medical conditions. This social media post doesn’t relay a “mask loophole” so much as it encourages people to exploit a law designed to provide protections to disabled people. We reached out to several regional ADA centers for more information about the flyers. While their answers varied in length and content, they all hit on one major theme: Americans without disabilities are not protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act: New England ADA Center: The ADA protects the privacy of people who have disabilities. People who lie about a medical condition and don’t have one, do not have rights under the ADA. We are not in favor of people lying in order to get the modifications of policies and procedures that are the legitimate right of people with disabilities for whom wearing a face mask would be detrimental to their medical conditions. Great Lakes ADA Center: “Individuals without disabilities do not have protected rights in terms of the conditions set forth by a business, etc. in order to come into their establishment but a person with a disability does have rights (ADA plus many state civil rights laws) and thus, business entities must understand these issues and look at what they can do, how they can do it and creative ways of addressing any concerns that they have.” Northeast ADA Center: The ADA protects individuals with disabilities. As with many things in our society, there are people that attempt to take advantage of our system. There are typically remedies for this in criminal and civil law. A spokesperson for the Justice Department told us the department did not issue the flyers. All of the ADA centers we contacted also told us that they were unfamiliar with the flyers. The scenario depicted in this social media post (a citizen refusing to wear a mask at a grocery store) is also unrelated to HIPAA. (It’s worth noting that one of these viral flyers misspelled this acronym “HIPPA”). The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act was passed in 1996 with the aim of protecting private medical records. HIPAA restricts hospitals and health care providers from sharing protected information and gives patients better access to their own records. This law has little to do with customers at a grocery store. Kathy Gips, the director of training at the New England ADA Center, told us: HIPAA only applies to three types of covered entities: health plans, health care clearinghouses, and health care providers. It restricts their ability to share protected health information. It also gives patients access to their own medical records. It has nothing to do with customers or stores or employment or anything else. HIPAA does not apply to individuals (in this case, store clerks) asking a customer to wear a mask. It applies to the release of medical records from health personnel. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reiterates this point on its website, explaining that HIPAA regulations apply only to “covered entities,” including health plans, health care providers, and health care clearinghouses. HHS writes: The Privacy Rule, as well as all the Administrative Simplification rules, apply to health plans, health care clearinghouses, and to any health care provider who transmits health information in electronic form in connection with transactions for which the Secretary of HHS has adopted standards under HIPAA (the “covered entities”). The HHS website also notes that HIPAA does not apply to other entities, such as law enforcement, employers, and schools. While this social media post appeared to be widely circulated by able-bodied people seeking to exploit a “mask loophole,” the ADA does truly protect individuals who cannot wear a mask due to medical conditions from being discriminated against. This means that stores that implement mask requirements have to find ways to accommodate individuals who cannot wear a mask.
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24604
|
Health care reform legislation is “likely to mandate free ‘sex change’ surgeries.”
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"Conservative news release says health care bill ""likely"" to cover sex change surgery"
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false
|
National, Health Care, Bloggers,
|
"In trying to build opposition to President Barack Obama's health care proposal, critics have suggested that health care would be government-controlled , that people would be left to die if their treatment exceeded a certain cost and that it would require counseling telling people "" how to end their life sooner ."" (We've ruled versions of each of those or .) Now comes a new one: that taxpayers may soon be footing the bill for free sex-change operations. On Aug. 4, a news release to that effect went out under the name of Matt Barber, who is director of cultural affairs with Liberty Counsel, a conservative legal group, and the associate dean of Liberty University School of Law, which was founded by the late televangelist Jerry Falwell. It was quickly spread by blogs on the left and the right. Titled, “ObamaCare Likely to Mandate Free ‘Sex Change’ Surgeries,” the release asserted that “the weight of the evidence indicates that cosmetic ‘gender reassignment’ surgeries for both U.S. citizens and illegal immigrants who suffer from [the American Psychiatric Association-] recognized ‘Gender Identity Disorder’ (GID) may also be provided – free of charge – courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer. The current price tag for such a procedure can exceed $50,000.” To confirm Barber’s authorship and learn more about his reasoning, we tried to reach him through the phone number and e-mail address listed on the release, as well as through a call to a different number at Liberty Counsel. But he did not respond. Because we couldn't confirm his authorship, we're attributing this item to our generic category ""bloggers,"" since they have spread it so widely. Before we delve into our findings in detail, here's an overview of why we found the claim was : The news release tries to stitch together a patchwork of unrelated items to back up the sex-change claim, but the health care bills as they appear today simply don't do what the release alleges. There is no mandate for sex-change coverage. The news release offers three pieces of evidence: • An exchange between Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., about the legislation covering treatments that would be ""medically necessary."" • Language in the House version of the health care bill that provides for ""standards, as appropriate, for the collection of accurate data on health and health care"" based on ""sex, sexual orientation [and] gender identity."" • And language in a draft Senate bill that requires the Department of Health and Human Services to “‘develop standards for the measurement of gender’ (i.e., officially recognize subjectively self-determined ""transgender"" or ""transsexual"" gender identities). It further mandates ‘participation in the institutions’ programs of individuals and groups from ... different genders and sexual orientations.” Let’s take these assertions one by one. The Hatch-Mikulski exchange It came during a session held by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to revise a Senate version of the health care bill. The committee was discussing an amendment by Mikulski that would require health insurance plans to include preventive women's health services. Hatch asked his colleague whether that meant that coverage of abortions would be required. She replied that the measure would not “mandate” abortion coverage but would “provide for any service deemed medically necessary or medically appropriate.” The amendment narrowly passed the committee and was appended to the bill. It's worth noting that Mikulski's amendment may not survive to enactment. And her comments quoted in the news release aren’t, in and of themselves, binding. Still, the news release used Mikulski’s explanation on abortion to assert that sex-change treatments would also be covered under the same doctrine. Before we get to the substance of that claim, let’s look at the significance of Mikulski's phrase ""medically necessary."" Seth Chandler, the co-director of the Health Law and Policy Institute at the University of Houston, said that the phrase does carry weight. “That is kind of a magic word in health insurance, in that virtually every private insurance plan I know of contains an exclusion for procedures that are not medically necessary,” he said. “It’s designed to preclude fraudulent or highly experimental procedures.” The American Medical Association, the nation’s leading doctors’ group, has already gone on record saying that gender-reassignment surgery can be medically necessary. In 2008, the AMA passed a resolution on gender identity disorder that opposes coverage limitations “when such care is based upon sound scientific evidence and sound medical opinion.” Even so, insurers have not made such coverage universal today. The Web site of the National Center for Lesbian Rights posts a fact sheet that says that such surgeries have long been banned by Medicare and CHAMPUS, the federally run military health plan. Medicaid does not specifically bar those surgeries, the fact sheet added, but some states have statutes barring them. As for the private sector, neither America’s Health Insurance Plans, the trade group for private insurers, nor the Transgender Law Center could provide us with figures on how common it is for transgender surgeries to be covered by insurance. But AHIP’s vice president of communications, Susan Pisano, said that, anecdotally, “my understanding is that there is less coverage for those procedures and treatments. … Some employers do provide it, but I don’t think most people have coverage for those services.” Indeed, the AMA resolution noted that “many health insurance plans categorically exclude coverage of mental health, medical, and surgical treatments for GID, even though many of these same treatments, such as psychotherapy, hormone therapy, breast augmentation and removal, hysterectomy, oophorectomy, orchiectomy, and salpingectomy, are often covered for other medical conditions.” Still, there is at least a nugget of plausibility in the news release citing Mikulski’s language. It may indeed make it into the final version of health reform, and if so, it could provide justification for expanding (though not necessarily mandating) coverage of procedures that are controversial but deemed medically necessary. The House and Senate language But in its other points, relating to language in the House and Senate bills, the news release offers little evidence to back up its claim. The release's discussion of the House bill's language focuses on one mention of collecting health care data based on “sex, sexual orientation [and] gender identity.” We looked up the passage, and it comes in a section that lays out the job description for a new assistant secretary of Health and Human Services for health information. That official is charged with setting standards for data collection on a number of factors, including such commonplace categories as race, sex, ethnicity, primary language and geographic setting in addition to “sexual orientation” and “gender identity.” While it’s true that the section mentions gender identity, it merely addresses how health care data on a wide variety of subgroups should be collected. It is not a green light to cover sex-change surgeries. The evidence is even flimsier in the release's claim about the Senate bill’s language. The first phrase the news release cites – that a Senate draft bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services to “develop standards for the measurement of gender” – would, according the release, “officially recognize subjectively self-determined ‘transgender’ or ‘transsexual’ gender identities.” We find that's a ridiculous leap of logic. The passage in question is the equivalent of the House bill’s language on data collection, not mandated coverage. The full passage cites the development of statistical standards to measure not just for gender but also for “geographic location, socioeconomic status, primary language and disability measures.” The second passage cited from the Senate bill addresses mental and behavioral health grants that may be awarded by the federal government to students. Its reference to “participation in the institutions’ programs of individuals and groups from ... different genders and sexual orientations” merely constitutes a requirement that schools receiving support under the grant program adhere to principles of nondiscrimination and diversity in “racial, ethnic, cultural, geographic, religious, linguistic, and class backgrounds” as well as for “different genders and sexual orientations.” That's simply a requirement that the participating educational institutions not discriminate — not a mandate for covering sex-change surgeries. The bottom line is that neither bill talks specifically about gender-reassignment surgery. The news release has attempted — poorly, in most cases — to piece together a patchwork case. But the health reform plans as they stand now don't do what the release claims. In theory, the House bill does offer one path by which coverage of sex-change surgeries could be made mandatory. If that part of the bill survives to enactment, a new panel called the Health Benefits Advisory Council could eventually recommend that sex-change surgeries be covered. The council, chaired by the surgeon general, would be tasked with recommending to the HHS secretary what “treatments, items and services” constitute “essential benefits.” If the HHS secretary agreed with the recommendations, they would initially take effect for public-option plans if such plans were part of the final legislation. After a five-year transitional period, private plans would have to adhere to this basic package of services. So in theory, it would be in the Health Benefits Advisory Council’s power to decide to include gender-reassignment surgery in the package of essential benefits. But that's a far cry — and many political hurdles away — from ""mandating"" sex-change coverage. Given the public’s squeamishness about the topic, it doesn't seem to us that it's “likely,” as the news release suggested. So let’s recap. The release may have a point that Mikulski’s comment could open the door to ""medically necessary"" coverage which conceivably may include sex-change operations. But it's unclear whether her amendment will remain in the legislation, and there's nothing specific in the legislation on sex-change procedures and nothing else solid that indicates such coverage will be provided. The news release cherry-picked a few fleeting references to “gender” and “sexual orientation” in completely unrelated contexts to argue that proposed health care legislation would mandate free sex-change surgeries (and allow them for illegal aliens, no less). To us, these bits of evidence are wholly unpersuasive. We find the claim ."
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11607
|
New drug may put jet lag to rest
|
"This is an incomplete story about an early stage study of a drug in Phase 2-3 development. The headline and the opening paragraph suggest that the drug does in fact work for jet lag. It is far too early to jump to that conclusion. The study design and sample size are noted as well as a word of caution from an expert not involved in the research. The failure of the report to note the availability of Rozerem, a close cousin to the test drug is significant as it relates to the novelty of the finding. The recently completed but unpublished study with Rozerem for real jet lag is an example of why the context for this type of report is of significance. The sponsor of the study, Vanda Pharmaceuticals, recently suspended all commercial and developmental work as a result of ""not approvable letter"" from the FDA for its antipsychotic drug iloperidone. This suspension of all activities is also important contextually given the apparent instability of the company. It’s odd that this story never commented on this issue. See: http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2008/10/27/daily85.html"
|
mixture
|
"If it’s not too soon to talk about experimental results that brought ""relief to jet-lagged travelers and night-shift workers,’ then it’s not too soon to expect some discussion of costs. Even projections. The story might have also reported on the cost associated with existing drugs noted in the article as a reference point for readers for calculating the value of the improvements in sleep effciency. Although the story reported that the drug was found to restore near normal sleep and that the individuals who took the drug performed normally the next day, it failed to include quantitative information about these two benefits. Did everyone experience ‘near normal’ sleep? And how close to a regular sleep pattern is ‘near normal’? In addition, the headline of the story is misleading when it says the drug in question may ""put jeg lag to rest."" The study is an early phase investigation and was conducted in a relatively small number of subjects. Suggesting the drug may work is a bit premature based on the evidence to date. The story mentioned that there weren’t significant harms associated with the treatment but failed to list what the harms were or how many individuals were affected. A quick review of the literature on a close cousin (ramelteon, Rozerem) would have provided a more complete picture of the possible side effects from drugs that work in this way. Headache, daytime sleepiness, dizziness, tiredness, nausea and worsening insomnia are listed as common side effects with Rozerem. In addition, the story should have mentioned that this was a single use of the drug in a clinical setting and that there is no information about potential side effects from more frequent use of this medication. While the story did an acceptable job reporting about the evidence about this drug, the headline provided an inaccurate picture of what is and is not known about this medication. The story mentioned that it was reporting on results of a recent study published in the journal Lancet. It then provided some information about the smaller (phase II) study but did not provide information about the larger (400 person, phase III) clinical trial. The story did indicate that the study and the researchers involved in the study received funding from the company that manufactures the drug. It is important to note that the people studied did not suffer from either jet lag or night shift work but instead were people in whom an artifically created sleep time chance was created. As such and as pointed out by an unaffiliated expert in the story, there is still not evidence that this drug will provide benefit in the target population. The story did not engage in overt disease mongering. The story included quotes from one person involved in the study reported on as well as one individual who was not involved in the study. In addition – an annoymous group of ‘experts’ provided some information about limitations about the recent study. The story mentioned the use of melatonin as a substance that has some potential to improve sleep related issues and prescription sleep-aids. But it did not contain any information about sleep hygeine which also might be leveraged by individuals with sleep-related problems. It also failed to describe other sedative hypnotics, such as Rozerem, a drug with the same mechanism of action. The first mention of the drug reported on included the adjective ‘experimental’, accurately reflecting treatment availability. The study indicated that the drug reported on was considered experimental but that it mimicked the effects of the hormone melatonin which itself is an available product. The story failed to note the availability of the drug ramelteon (Rozerem) which has a similar mechanism of action. The lack of comment on the close relationship between a commercially available drug (Rozerem) and the drug under study is a significant lapse. This story does not appear to rely on a press release."
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28960
|
A pair of memes accurately describes the benefits and downside of the social system in Denmark.
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In short, it’s true Denmark’s taxes are far higher than those in the United States, but that’s offset by significantly reduced costs to citizens for expenditures such as healthcare, education, and child care. A gallon of gas doesn’t cost Danes anywhere near $10, but tax on new cars is 180%. We were unable to find any ranking of Denmark as the “highest-taxed” nation in the world (or even just Europe), and home ownership rates are near what they are in the U.S. (There are far more privately-owned vehicles in the United States than Denmark, however.) Denmark’s suicide rate is lower than that of the U.S., and antidepressant usage is higher among Americans. Finally, while some young Danes moved abroad due to high taxes on income, we were unable to find any evidence that was the case for companies.
|
mixture
|
Politics, denmark, socialism, taxes
|
On 20 October 2015, the web site The Federalist Papers shared a meme in a post titled “BRUTAL Meme Reveals Truth About European Socialist Countries” which included a photograph of a woman and various criticisms about Denmark’s general way of life: That meme was something of a rebuttal to an earlier, similar graphic that had lauded Denmark’s social infrastructure: (The woman pictured in both these memes is Danish actress Mille Dinesen, her photograph taken from promotional material for the TV show Rita.) The text of the “rebuttal” meme began by stating: I am a school teacher in Denmark making about $61,000/year. We get free education. You don’t have to pay for the doctor or the hospital, and students even get paid to learn. It all sounds so great … right? However, I forgot to mention that nothing is ever free … The minimum income tax in Denmark is 40%. A reliable estimate of the average salary for teachers in Denmark is somewhat tricky to calculate due to variables such as tenure and location. However, a 2014 estimate provided an income figure of just under $42,000 per year for Danish teachers (not $61,000). And it’s slightly simplistic to say all healthcare is free in Denmark, as the cost of medical care varies depending upon residency status and coverage level. The rebuttal also states that the minimum income tax is 40% in Denmark (where tax revenue indeed comprised 48.6% of the country’s GDP in 2013). Taxpayers in Denmark are subject to a progressive tax structure under which total taxes are between 41 to 56 percent of income [PDF]: Most personal income is subject to AM tax of 8%. This tax is deducted from the income before the other taxes are calculated. The income tax rates are progressive and comprise state, municipality and church taxes. The lowest tax rate is approx. 36% up to a marginal income tax rate of 51.95% exclusive of church tax. Including AM tax, the rates are 41% and 56%. Another portion of the meme indicated that Denmark’s citizens were “deeply dependent” on welfare to survive, but the country’s unemployment rate of 6.3% was not much higher than the United States’ 5.3% in the same period. The meme continued: Also, [we] pay a sales tax of 25%, and on top of that the Government applies duties and fees. A gallon of gasoline is about $10. Tax on a car is 180%, meaning that a car that sells for about $25,000 in the United States (Honda Accord) to an astounding $45,000 in Denmark. Value-added tax (VAT) in Denmark is indeed 25%, though additional “duties and fees” weren’t specifically described by the meme. Gasoline is typically sold by the liter (not gallon) in Europe overall, and recent estimates provided a cost of $1.69 per liter in Denmark (or just under $6.40 a gallon, not $10). It’s true that new cars in Denmark are taxed at 180%, in large part because Denmark (like some other countries) imposes higher costs of operation for private automobiles to encourage residents to use public transport and more energy efficient and lower polluting forms of transportation. Denmark is the highest-taxed Nation in the World — taxed an average 80% on every dollar earned. Danes have the highest personal debt in the World. Few will ever own a car or a house. Anyone who makes over $80,000 annually pays a personal tax of 68%. This means that people with higher earnings have either found ways to evade the tax or have left the Country, taking their companies with them. Definitively selecting a single country to claim the title of “highest-taxed” is a slippery endeavor, as the structure of taxation varies significantly from one country to the next. Reports on taxes across the globe (including a popular annual data set released by firm PwC) almost never declare any one country the most-taxed (in a vacuum). Myriad confounding factors (such as relative cost of living, and whether social programs cover basic needs like healthcare) render a binary comparison of that description virtually meaningless. However, a list titled “These are the 19 countries with the highest tax rates in the world” (based on the World Economic Forum’s latest Global Competitiveness Report), published on 8 October 2015 didn’t include Denmark among countries listed. By the metric of income tax rates, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) data for 2015 placed Denmark third-highest (behind Belgium and Germany). Similar, earlier data ranked Denmark behind France, Italy, and Croatia. As such, Denmark doesn’t even have the highest tax rate in Europe (much less the world). We were unable to corroborate the claim that “80% on every dollar earned” in Denmark goes toward taxes, and determining which nations could be accurately described as having the highest amount of personal debt in the world again hinges largely on variable factors such as GDP, average income, and number of citizens. (Without specifics, those numbers could easily be distorted by fluctuations in population, for instance.) OECD data for 2014 indicated Denmark had the highest percentage of household debt based on percentage of disposable income: OECD Chart: Household debt, Total, % of net disposable income, Annual, 2014 That same table placed Denmark mid-to-high for comparative household net worth: OECD Chart: Household net worth, Total, % of net disposable income, Annual, 2014 In 2013 Denmark’s home ownership rate was roughly 63% (versus a comparable 65% in the U.S.), making the statement that “most residents would never own a home” not very accurate. Similarly, recent OECD data indicated that there are 70 cars for every 100 Danes (indicating car ownership may be expensive, but it isn’t rare). A 2007 New York Times article reported that some young Danes opt to move abroad (creating a skills drain), but that piece focused on individuals and not companies with business roots in the country. The meme concludes: Denmark’s suicide rate for the past five decades has averaged 20.8 per 100,000 people, with a highest rate of 32. The American suicide rate has averaged 11.1 during the last five decades and has never exceeded 12.7. More than 11% of adult Danes — supposedly the happiest people in the World — are on antidepressants. Everyone wants the American dream. In Denmark’s neo-communism economy, no one will ever own or accomplish anything. According to the World Health Organization (WHO)’s most recent statistics, Denmark’s suicide rate was 8.8 people per 100,000 (versus 12.1 per 100,000 in the United States) in 2012. WHO data from roughly a decade ago reported a suicide rate of 11.9 per 100,000 people in Denmark (versus 11.0 in the United States). While the U.S. and Denmark maintained similar rates of suicide per capita in years past, Denmark’s suicide rate was markedly lower than that of the States by 2012 (and didn’t appear to ever have been three times as high). Determining which percentage of the Danish population takes antidepressants is currently complicated by the fact that such data aren’t readily available as standard metrics on health care reports. A 2013 Guardian article cited a survey conducted by Eurobarometer indicating that 93 percent of Danes reported never having taken antidepressants in their lives. Presumably, the remaining seven percent weren’t all currently taking antidepressants, indicating the meme’s claim was likely unsupported. OECD data from 2012 indicated that 85 doses of antidepressant medications were dispensed per thousand people per day (DDD) in Denmark. Directly comparable data from the United States with respect to DDD wasn’t available (as that metric appears unique to Europe). Estimates suggest that between eight and eleven percent of [PDF] Americans are on antidepressants, and the 2013 study “Depression and Antidepressants: A Nordic Perspective” suggested fewer Danes than Americans took antidepressants at any given time (while maintaining that Nordic countries exhibited a higher rate of antidepressant use than Europe overall): The overall sales of antidepressant drugs in the Nordic countries in 2009 (74.1 DDD/1000 inhabitants per day) is [considerably] higher than the OECD average (52.5), but also higher than for example in the UK (60.9) (20). However, there are great variations between the countries, where Iceland by far has the highest level of antidepressant sales, almost double that in Norway. In total, approximately 2 million Nordic inhabitants were prescribed an antidepressant, almost a share of 8.5% at a total cost of €236 million according to latest available statistics (ranging from 2010 to 2012). Danish medical statistics shows that there were sales of antidepressants in 2011 of €68 million and over 460 000 Danes were prescribed an antidepressant (8.3% of the population) (21). With respect to the claims made in the initial meme, it’s (again) not entirely true that Danish schoolteachers earn $61,000 per year across the board. It’s true that Danes are paid a stipend to go to university, and that college education is free for Danish students (and EU residents studying in that country). As indicated above, healthcare is often administered at no charge to Danes, depending on the service and their coverage status. And to reiterate, portions above addressed the prevalence of home ownership in Denmark, which is roughly equivalent to that of the U.S; personal ownership of vehicles is less common, but not by any means rare. As for vacation time, workers in Denmark are entitled to five paid weeks of it (as well as additional compensated time off totaling about nine days, from which the “six weeks” figure was most likely derived). Denmark’s parental leave policies are among the most generous in the world, but 52 weeks (or one year) is on the upper end of leave with partial or total pay: The Danish parental leave system is among the most generous and flexible in the EU. Mothers are entitled to 4 weeks of maternity leave before the expected date of birth and 14 weeks of maternity leave after the birth. Fathers are entitled to 2 weeks of paternity leave within the first 14 weeks after the birth. Furthermore, each parent is entitled to 32 weeks of parental leave. Parents can receive maternity leave benefits from the State for a maximum of 52 weeks per child if they meet the employment criteria set out in the Maternity Leave Act. It’s true that pension kicks in for Danes at the age of 65. The original meme claimed that the average American spent $8,500 per year in deductibles, while the Centers for Disease control placed average total spending per patient per year at $9,255 in 2013. We were unable to find a figure that specifically referenced “deductibles” as a health care expenditure-related metric, but the number cited closely matched World Bank figures for per capita health expenditures. Cited college costs for students in the United States in the first meme weren’t exaggerated either: data from 2014 place the yearly cost of tuition at a low of $18,943 (for in-state public schools) and a high of $42,419 (for out-of-state private schools). If it’s surmised that three out of four students attend a local college at the cheaper tuition and one heads off to a private university, the average tuition between those four students would be $24,812. Finally, Denmark’s novel “flexicurity” policy deviates from other European nations’ worker protection policies (which are unlike American “at will employment” standards). While Danes can be more easily fired than those in other European countries, the country offers robust unemployment insurance compensation to level out labor market fluctuations.
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34436
|
A blow to the testicles can kill a man.
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While there have been cases in both the media and the scientific literature that report a connection between testicular trauma and fatalities, these case reports are speculative, sparse, and do not provide enough information to confidently demonstrate the mechanisms hypothesized behind them. A kick in the balls may lead to serious complications, but most urologists agree that death is not one of them.
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unproven
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Medical, balls, gonads, reproductive science
|
Kicking, punching, or squeezing testicles has long been prized as an effective means to briefly incapacitate men, as it brings about a powerful full-body pain. The reasons for such a blow’s power stems from the lack of protection the testes receive from the scrotum, the high concentration of pain receptors called nociceptors surrounding them, and the myriad interconnections between testicular nerves and organs throughout your body. The pain, medically called “blunt scrotal trauma,” typically subsides without incident. However, more serious complications can arise with enough force. Have such injuries resulted in death? Potentially, though most agree that other exacerbating factors have to be considered in addition to the testicular trauma. Perhaps one the earliest purported cases of death resulting from injury to the testicle was found in a brief but terrifying case report from 1843, which reads: In some parts of Germany a barbarous custom exists, in cases of quarrel, of violently compressing the testicles. M. Schlesier, of Peitz, relates a case of sudden death from this species of injury. The patient fell to the ground, was seized with violent convulsions, and died in a few minutes. Without further information, it is impossible to say what exactly happened in that specific incident. The reported heart attack suffered by thirteen-year-old boy whose testicles were squeezed as part of a schoolyard prank in 2014, however, may be illustrative of how (under rare and specific extenuating circumstances) stress from that kind of trauma could result in an immediate reaction similar to the 19th-century German account. Speaking to Vice News about the 2014 incident, Dr. Marc Bjurlin, a clinical instructor in Urologic Oncology at New York University, said that he can “only speculate” that the teenager had a hidden condition: “If that’s true in the case, I suspect the boy had an underlying etiology and that the scrotal injury, perhaps from the pain, resulted in a vasovagal response which may have lowered his blood pressure and exacerbated a cardiac etiology,” Bjurlin said. The sheer pain response from having one’s testicles yanked is more than enough to exacerbate any number of underlying conditions, he said. A 2008 case report of a different thirteen-year-old who had been kicked in the groin during a football game describes how he came down with a life-threatening, infection-mimicking condition called systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) after the trauma. This case report concluded that death from testicular trauma is a possibility that must be considered: In our case, the patient initially presented with a minor scrotal injury; swelling and pain without ecchymosis were the only symptoms. Then, without evidence of infection, he gradually progressed to a life-threatening condition, unresponsive to empiric antibiotics and standard fluid resuscitation. Now recovered, the patient continues to be monitored for any long-term consequences of his injury. Initially patients with acute scrotal pain are told to look for signs of injury and infection, but they should also be aware of the signs of sepsis and SIRS. Although rare, death is no longer beyond the realm of consequences from testicular injury and physicians must be prepared to deliver appropriate care. SIRS was, additionally, blamed for the death of an eighteen-year-old male in India who injured himself riding a bicycle: Few cases of acute scrotal pain might lead to Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS), which is a life threatening condition. We report a case of an 18 year old boy who sustained testicular trauma while riding a bicycle and two months post trauma developed severe pain in left inguino-scrotal region, fever and subsequently died. The authors intend to report this unusual case as cases of testicular trauma resulting in shock and SIRS have been reported in literature but were unable to find cases of death occurring due to SIRS. Outside these rare (and still somewhat ill-defined) examples, the most plausible complications from testicular trauma are generally not life-threatening, though some (most notably trauma-induced testicular torsion) can lead to a loss of fertility or even the removal of a testicle if not properly treated. A 2004 consensus paper in BJU International outlined the potential injuries as a result of testicular trauma: Blunt trauma may cause local haematoma, ecchymosis of the scrotum, or injuries to the testicle, epididymis or spermatic cord. In testicular rupture the tunica albuginea is disrupted, while in intratesticular haematoma the tunica albuginea remains intact. Haematoceles, in which blood accumulates in the space between the tunica albuginea and tunica vaginalis, and hydroceles, can be the result of trauma. Traumatically induced testicular torsion is another well recognized entity.
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1631
|
U.S. fast-food meat still mostly raised on antibiotics: consumer groups.
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Most large U.S. fast-food chains still serve meat from farm animals that have been routinely fed antibiotics, consumer groups said in a new report, which concluded that many companies have not yet laid out plans to curb the practice.
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true
|
Health News
|
Subway, Starbucks, KFC and Domino’s Pizza were among the industry leaders graded “F” for their antibiotic policies in the report from consumer and health groups, titled “Chain Reaction,” released on Tuesday. The groups, which did not release results to companies prior to publication, based their grades on public statements, survey responses and correspondence with individual chains. As a result, companies given failing grades were not immediately able to comment. An estimated 70 percent of antibiotics important to human health are sold for use in meat and dairy production. Concern is growing among public health experts that the overuse of such drugs, particularly those important to human medicine, are contributing to rising numbers of life-threatening human infections from antibiotic-resistant bacteria dubbed “superbugs.” The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 2 million people are infected with drug resistant bacteria each year and 23,000 die. “From bacon cheeseburgers to chicken nuggets, most meat served by America’s chain restaurants comes from animals raised in industrial-scale facilities, where they are routinely fed antibiotics to prevent disease that is easily spread in crowded, unsanitary, stressful conditions,” said Kari Hamerschlag, a lead author of the report who is senior program manager at Friends of the Earth. Subway was cited, in particular, for failing to publicly state a policy or plan to cut antibiotic use in the meats it buys, despite repeated requests by the report’s authors for clarification. Chipotle Mexican Grill and Panera Bread, were top finishers with “A” grades. These popular chains have won loyal followings for policies that include strict limits on antibiotic use. Chick-fil-A, which is making meaningful progress toward its goal of only buying chicken raised without antibiotics by 2019, got a “B” in the report. McDonald’s Corp and Dunkin’ Donuts got “C” grades. McDonald’s plans to only source chicken raised without antibiotics important to human medicine by 2017. Dunkin’ Donuts aims to prohibit suppliers from using medically important antibiotics or antimicrobials in healthy animals, but it has not set a timeline.
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10122
|
Some evidence vitamin D might fight colds
|
The story points out that the results of the study provided only weak support for the idea that vitamin D has a protective effect and that in fact for the main outcome of this trial there was no statistically significant difference between the participants given vitamin D and those who took placebo pills. It almost feels as if the writer or editor wondered why they were doing the story at all and then decided to gussy up the headline and lead in order to justify running the piece. After all, a headline saying “Study unable to tell whether or not vitamin D helps fight colds” isn’t likely to attract as many readers. One alternative approach to the story might have been to focus on what this trial adds to the body of evidence suggesting that the winter dips in vitamin D levels (because people don’t get as much sunlight) may help explain why colds and flu are more common in the winter. That story frame could have attracted interest without hyping the trial results. In sum, this is a careful story undone a bit by a careless head. When trial results are not statistically significant, headlines shouldn’t tease readers. And – as always – we wish there had been an independent expert voice offering perspective on this study.
|
true
|
This story does not mention cost. Sure, vitamin pills cost only pennies a day, but treating everyone would cost billions of dollars a year. Assuming just a nickel a day for 400 IU of vitamin D (the dose used in this study), the cost of treating everyone in the U.S. would exceed $5 billion a year. That bill has to be compared to the expected benefits of supplements given to healthy people, which in this trial were not statistically significant, so those billions might just be flushed down the drain. As noted above, the body of the story makes clear that the results of this trial did not show a clear benefit from taking 400 IU daily. However, the headline and lead sentence both state that vitamin D might fight colds, something this trial failed to clearly demonstrate. We’ll give the story the benefit of the doubt for what’s in the middle, not at the top. The story cautions that vitamin D can cause problems including nausea, vomiting, constipation, poor appetite, weight loss and even higher blood pressure or heart rhythm abnormalities. This rating is a close call. The story notes the limitations of the study of vitamin D and winter colds, including the fact that there was no statistically significant difference in the main outcome measure between the treatment and placebo groups, that the study was small, and that the extent of any benefit was not clear. The story also does a nice job of providing readers with some background, including results of other recent trials, as well as recommendations and opinions of health agencies and experts. However, the cautionary notes in the body of the story are drowned out by the headline and the lead sentence that tout potential cold-fighting properties of vitamin D. Also, while the story says that 164 men took part in the trial, it fails to tell readers that 60 of them dropped out before the study was done and that the high number of drop-outs made it impossible for the researchers to determine if there was a statistically significant difference in absenteeism between the treatment and placebo groups. We’ve made our point about the headline and lead, so we won’t ding the story for that again in this criterion. But the grade could have gone either way for reasons noted. This story does not exaggerate the effects of common winter colds. Although this story refers to the findings of other studies and the recommendations of health agencies and experts, there is no identified independent source to comment on the trial. In their journal article, the researchers reported no potential conflicts of interest. It would have been helpful to tell readers that the trial was funded by the Medical Research Fund of Finnish Defence Forces, in order to distinguish this trial from studies funded by supplement manufacturers or others with a vested interest in the results. The story points out that experts generally recommend supplements only when people aren’t getting enough vitamin D from their diet or sunlight. And as noted above, the story points out that supplements expose people to some risks of vitamin D toxicity. The availability of vitamin D supplementation is really not in question. There was no claim that there is anything new about tests of vitamin D for prevention of respiratory illness. This story missed the opportunity to explain what was different about this trial. In their article in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, the researchers pointed out that by studying military conscripts much of the variability that complicates population studies was filtered out. All the participants were from a narrow age group, had passed the same entry physical examination, lived in the same military housing, ate the same food, followed the same daily routines and so on. Also, the classification of their daily status (healthy or ill) was more uniform than would be expected in a study of people in varied civilian occupations. The strengths of the study would be expected to filter out much of the background noise that fogs typical population studies. It is notable that despite those features, this trial failed to reach statistically significant results (partly because of the high drop out rate, which the story should have mentioned.) One word usage nit: the story refers to military “recruits,” but the study participants were not recruited to join the military, they were performing mandatory service. The story quotes an e-mail exchange with the lead researcher, so it’s clear it didn’t rely solely on a news release.
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40034
|
This is a plea to send a boy with an inoperable brain tumor birthday cards.
|
Birthday Cards for Danny Nickerson
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true
|
Miscellaneous, Pleas
|
According to a July 24, 2014, article by KJRH, a CBS news affiliate in Tulsa, OK, Danny Nickerson has made a special request for his birthday, “a big ol’ box of cards.” Nickerson has an inoperable brain tumor and turned 6-years-old on Friday, Jul. 25. The article said that “Danny’s already received a mountain of cards,” and readers are encouraged to send a card to: Danny Nickerson P.O. Box 212 Foxboro, MA 02035 Posted 07/24/14 Comments
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1074
|
Scientists warn a million species at risk of extinction.
|
One million animal and plant species are at imminent risk of extinction due to humankind’s relentless pursuit of economic growth, scientists said on Monday in a landmark report on the devastating impact of modern civilization on the natural world.
|
true
|
Environment
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Scientists made an impassioned appeal to governments and businesses worldwide to confront “vested interests” they said were blocking reforms in farming, energy and mining needed to save the Earth’s ecosystems. “If we want to leave a world for our children and grandchildren that has not been destroyed by human activity, we need to act now,” said Robert Watson, who chaired the study, produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), which groups 130 countries, including the United States, Russia and China. “If we do not act now, many of the million threatened species will become as extinct as the dodo on this tie,” Watson told a news conference in Paris, gesturing to his tie, which bore a design of the flightless bird. Known as the Global Assessment, the report found that up to one million of Earth’s estimated eight million plant, insect and animal species is at risk of extinction, many within decades. It identified industrial farming and fishing as major drivers of the crisis, with the current rate of species extinction tens to hundreds of times higher than the average over the last 10 million years. Climate change caused by burning the coal, oil and gas produced by the fossil fuel industry is exacerbating the losses, the report found. “We are facing a human extinction crisis,” said Hoda Baraka of 350.org, a climate change campaign group based in the United States. “We must work together to push back against the fossil fuel industry fuelling the climate crisis and for long-lasting and meaningful change.” The largest, most comprehensive study ever undertaken of the conjoined fates of human wellbeing and the natural world, the report was finalised in Paris after intense negotiations between IPBES members that concluded at 0300 a.m. on Saturday. The report represents a cornerstone of an emerging body of research that suggests the world may need to embrace a new “post-growth” form of economics if it is to avert the existential risks posed by the cascading effects of pollution, habitat destruction and climate change. Compiled over three years and based on 15,000 scientific papers, the report identified a range of risks, from the disappearance of insects vital for pollinating food crops, to the destruction of coral reefs that support fish populations and the loss of medicinal plants. The threatened list includes more than 40 percent of amphibian species, almost 33 percent of reef-forming corals, sharks and shark relatives, and more than a third of all marine mammals. The picture was less clear for insect species, but a tentative estimate suggests 10 per cent could become extinct. Publication of the report has coincided with an upsurge in environmental activism by groups including Extinction Rebellion, whose civil disobedience campaign forced the British parliament this month to declare a climate emergency. The report’s blunt language echoed the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which said in October that profound economic and social changes would be needed to curb greenhouse gases quickly enough to avert the most devastating consequences of a warming world. The findings will also add to pressure for countries to agree bold action to protect wildlife at a major conference on biodiversity due to take place in China towards the end of next year, reinforcing a growing recognition among policy-makers that the extinction and climate crises are deeply interconnected. “We have reconfigured dramatically the life of the planet,” said Eduardo Brondizio, a professor of anthropology at Indiana University in the United States who co-chaired the report. “The key message: business as usual has to end.”
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31609
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"Mark Zuckerberg said that he was ""disgusted with social media"" and that he was leaving Facebook as a result."
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Reports that the social media maven is stepping down were fiction created to sell a skin care product -- or an April Fool's Day joke.
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false
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Junk News, ecomaxx, facebook, get ink news
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In March 2017, an advertisement disguised as a news story appeared to report that Facebook CEO’s Mark Zuckerberg was leaving the company in order to sell skin care products. The hoax report was published on the web site GetInkNews.co: This fake news article is full of deceptive information, including digitally manipulated images that appear to show Zuckerberg with celebrities such as Katy Perry, Selena Gomez, Oprah Winfrey, Savannah Guthrie, and President Barack Obama, along with fake quotes from them endorsing “EcoMaxx” skin care products: Neither Katy Perry nor any of the other aforementioned celebrities have endorsed this product, and the web site took unrelated images of Zuckerberg and various celebrities (the image of Katy Perry was taken in 2011) to make it seem as if they had endorsed Zuckerberg’s skin care line together. The advertisement also claimed that Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan were giving away free samples of the product (as long as customers paid for shipping and handling): ZUCKERBERG GIVES PRODUCTS AWAY FOR FREE! So, what if you aren’t rich or famous? Chan and Zuckerberg don’t care. After all, they are already worth more than $556 billion. “We aren’t in this to make a fortune,” Chan told a friend recently. “We already have amassed a fortune. I just want to help people.” That is why she is now offering readers the opportunity to experience the joys of younger looking skin for FREE! The only cost to you is a $4.95 shipping and handling fee, so you can try the EcoMaxx Ageless Moisturizer and EcoMaxx Ageless Eye Revitalizer have it delivered right to your front door. Simply click on the link here for ordering details. This a relatively new form of the ubiquitous fake news: an advertisement designed to mimic a genuine news item in order to convince people to buy a skin care product. At the very bottom of this web page, below the comments section, below several links to purchase this product, and below several fake celebrity endorsements, appears a disclaimer: THIS IS AN ADVERTISEMENT AND NOT AN ACTUAL NEWS ARTICLE, BLOG, OR CONSUMER PROTECTION UPDATE This website is not intended to provide medical advice or to take the place of medical advice and treatment from your personal physician. Visitors are advised to consult their own doctors or other qualified health professional regarding the treatment of medical conditions. The author shall not be held liable or responsible for any misunderstanding or misuse of the information contained on this site or for any loss, damage, or injury caused, or alleged to be caused, directly or indirectly by any treatment, action, or application of any food or food source discussed in this website. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration have not evaluated the statements on this website. The information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. MARKETING DISCLOSURE: You should know that the owner of this website has a monetary connection to the product & services advertised and provided. The owner receives payment whenever a qualified lead is referred. All of the information regarding the goods and services mentioned on this website is provided by the owner. ADVERTISING DISCLOSURE: This website is an advertisement and not a news publication. Any photographs of persons used on this site are models. Any photographs of before/after images used on this site are not real and are only used to illustrate the results some may achieve. Many of the articles featured on this site are what is commonly referred to as an advertorial, a combination of advertisement and editorial written in an editorial format as an independent news story. However, unlike an independent news story, an advertorial may promote a particular product or interest. Advertorials take factual information and report it in an editorial format to allow the author, often a company marketing its products, to enhance or explain certain elements to maintain the readers interest. A familiar example is an airline’s in-flight magazines that provide editorial reports about travel destinations to which the airline flies. In 2018, the same conceit of Facebook’s head announcing that he was stepping down was used as fodder for an April Fool’s Day joke: Last year in June, when Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg gave the company a new mission statement, it was too late for him to try to change how things worked at Facebook’s offices. While it wasn’t made public, Cambridge Analytica had already used data from millions of users for voter profiling and other purposes. In the wake of the recent data misuse revelation, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has resigned from the company. While demands were already being made for his resignation, this has come as a big surprise for many. Zuckerberg publicly informed the world via a post on Facebook.
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27255
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"Senator John McCain's remains were carried to Washington, D.C., on a Boeing C-32A airplane commonly used as ""Air Force Two."
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The aircraft normally designated “Air Force Two” carried John McCain and his family to Washington, D.C. on the late senator's final flight across the country.
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true
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Politics, donald trump, john mccain
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When Senator John McCain passed away from cancer in his home state of Arizona in August 2018, a memorial service was held for him in the capital city of Phoenix, then his remains were transported to Washington, D.C., to lie in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. Another memorial service was held for the late senator in Washington before he was laid to rest at the U.S. Naval Academy Cemetery in Annapolis. One of the more prominent elements of the news coverage surrounding John McCain’s death and funereal services was the “disrespect” that critics maintained President Donald Trump had shown towards the late senator, with whom Trump had feuded: Leadership from two prominent veterans groups blasted White House officials for “disrespect” in their response to the death of former Arizona Sen. John McCain, insisting the Navy veteran deserved more national recognition. Flags at national buildings were lowered when McCain’s death was announced but raised just two days later, bucking a tradition of honoring well-known members of Congress for longer periods of time. President Donald Trump also did not issue an official proclamation marking McCain’s passing, instead writing a tweet that stated, “my deepest sympathies and respect go out to the family of Senator John McCain. Our hearts and prayers are with you!” AMVETS officials said McCain — “a war hero, twice a presidential contender, and a national treasure who devoted his entire adult life to protecting and improving the American way of life” — deserved more. “It’s outrageous that the White House would mark American hero John McCain’s death with a two-sentence tweet, making no mention of his heroic and inspiring life,” Joe Chenelly, AMVETS national executive director, said in a statement. “By lowering flags for not one second more than the bare minimum required by law, despite a long-standing tradition of lowering flags until the funeral, the White House is openly showcasing its blatant disrespect for Senator McCain’s many decades of service and sacrifice to our country as well as the service of all his fellow veterans.” It was something of a surprise to many onlookers, then, to learn afterwards that McCain’s body had been flown to Washington on a U.S. government Boeing C-32A typically reserved for the use of the vice president or first lady — an act which would typically require the approval of the President himself. It shouldn’t have been a surprise, however, as President Trump had issued a statement days in advance (only after being pressured to do by intense public disapproval, critics maintained) accommodating the family’s request by authorizing the use of military transport for Senator McCain’s remains: Despite our differences on policy and politics, I respect Senator John McCain’s service to our country and, in his honor, have signed a proclamation to fly the flag of the United States at half-staff until the day of his interment. I have asked Vice President Mike Pence to offer an address at the ceremony honoring Senator McCain at the United States Capitol this Friday. At the request of the McCain family, I have also authorized military transportation of Senator McCain’s remains from Arizona to Washington, D.C., military pallbearers and band support, and a horse and caisson transport during the service at the United States Naval Academy. Finally, I have asked General John Kelly, Secretary James Mattis, and Ambassador John Bolton to represent my Administration at his services. Washington television station WUSA described the flight that carried John McCain to Washington for the last time: JOINT BASE ANDREWS, MD — Members of the National Guard loaded the flag-draped casket into the familiar state blue and white aircraft, a symbol of American power serving presidents, vice presidents and first ladies for 20 years. The aircraft normally designated “Air Force Two” carried John McCain and his family to Washington, D.C. as he made his final flight across the country. The plane arrived with clear airspace just before 8 p.m., as President Donald J. Trump held a campaign-style rally in a different time zone, 700 miles away. McCain’s Air Force Boeing C-32A is indeed equipped to carry the president on short-range trips, and is usually reserved for the vice president or first lady. McCain’s motorcade left Andrews for an undisclosed location, awaiting the casket’s procession to the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. The trip marked the first time McCain returned to the Washington area since he left for Arizona, a week before Christmas 2017.
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10410
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Statins May Lower Rates of Prostate Cancer Recurrence
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A relatively clear breakdown of the unclear picture of whether statins may help in this specific area of research. One thing that made this story better than its WebMD competition was the expert source who put this study in the context of other studies that have been done and raised questions about statistical problems in the study (although we wish we’d heard more about this).
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true
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"The story says statins can cost $5 a day or more. Only relative risk reduction figures were used. So when the story said ""30% less likely"" – readers need to know ""30% of what?"" The story explained that statins may cause liver problems and muscle damage, ""although the likelihood of that is low."" The story raised ample questions about the quality of the evidence. No disease mongering was evident. The senior study author and one independent expert were quoted. The alternative of NOT taking statins was raised: ""However, not every prostate cancer patient may need to take them."" The story states that ""statins are among the most widely prescribed drugs in America."" The story explained that there has been prior conflicting research on this question. Because of multiple sources quoted, it does not appear that the story relied on a news release."
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10758
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New Drug for H1N1 Flu Offers Hope
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This story about giving some people hospitalized with H1N1 flu emergency access to an unapproved antiviral drug, peramivir, does a good job of emphasizing how much is unknown about the potential benefits of the drug and that the drug will be offered to patients who don’t have other treatment options. The story also highlights the financial stakes for the company developing the drug and its investors… and how those conflicts can color the comments of those speaking about the drug. However, the story introduces readers to only one patient and includes a quote from the patient’s father claiming the experimental drug saved his daughter’s life. There is no independent corroboration of that claim, nor are readers introduced to any patients who either received the experimental drug and did not benefit or received standard therapy and responded well. Also, readers are not told that the president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, who is quoted urging broader access to the drug, works in the University of Alabama department that developed peramivir and that the university has ties to the company that is trying to bring the drug to market.
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true
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The story says the federal government is paying about $2,250 per patient for a standard 5-day treatment course. It also notes that the approved alternative treatments are less expensive. The story points out that the benefits of peramivir have yet to be proven and that it is being offered only because some patients are not helped by approved drugs or are they are so sick they need a drug that can be given intravenously. The approved antiviral drugs are currently available only in pill or inhaled form. The story should have mentioned the side effects seen in clinical trials so far, as well as the risk that patients could suffer harms like those sometimes seen in people who have been given similar antiviral drugs. These side effects are clearly spelled out in an FDA fact sheet prepared for patients and caregivers: “The most common side effects of PERAMIVIR are: • diarrhea • nausea • vomiting • white blood cell count decreased These side effects may go away after you stop receiving PERAMIVIR. These are not all the possible side effects of PERAMIVIR. Peramivir is still being studied so it is possible that all of the risks are not known at this time. Other medicines that are used to treat people with 2009 H1N1 flu have side effects that may also happen in people who receive PERAMIVIR. These side effects include: • Signs of unusual behavior. People with the flu, especially children and adolescents, may be at a higher risk for seizures, confusion, or abnormal behavior early in their illness. These events may happen after starting PERAMIVIR or may happen if the flu is not treated. These events are not common. Patients should be watched for signs of unusual behavior. • Allergic reaction or severe rash Not a lot of people have taken PERAMIVIR for 5 days or longer. Serious and unexpected side effects may happen. The side effects of getting any medicine by vein are brief pain, bleeding, bruising of the skin where the needle enters, soreness and swelling at that spot, and possible infection at that spot.” Patient fact sheet available at: http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/DrugSafety/PostmarketDrugSafetyInformationforPatientsandProviders/UCM187799.pdf Provider fact sheet available at: http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/DrugSafety/PostmarketDrugSafetyInformationforPatientsandProviders/UCM187811.pdf The story points out more than once that peramivir is still being tested and that questions remain about its potential effectiveness. The story points out that the experimental drug is being offered only to patients who are already in the hospital and aren’t being helped by approved drugs. The story did not point out that one of the supporters of faster and broader access to peramivir, Dr. Richard Whitley, has long been a booster of the drug, which is being commercially developed by a spin-off of the University of Alabama department he works in. See Whitley comments in a 2005 article promoting the potential of peramivir: http://main.uab.edu/show.asp?durki=87834 Here we also point out that the story profiled only one patient and includes a quote from the patient’s father crediting peramivir with saving his daughter’s life. The story does not give any examples of similar patients who either survived after getting approved drugs or who received peramivir and yet did not survive. Despite the clear caveats in the story, the reliance on only a single anecdote may give readers a skewed sense of the benefits of the unapproved drug. The story makes clear that the approved antiviral flu drugs are Tamiflu and Relenza. The story makes very clear that peramivir is experimental and is being offered only because some patients cannot take or aren’t helped by approved antiviral drugs. The story is quite clear that peramivir is still being tested. The story does not appear to rely on a news release.
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5750
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Parents rally at state Capitol to keep vaccine exemptions.
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Hundreds of parents and vaccine skeptics have called on New York lawmakers not to narrow existing exemptions to the state childhood immunization rules.
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true
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Immunizations, New York, Measles, Health, Childhood immunizations, Public health
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The group stood in the rain outside the state Capitol Tuesday urging lawmakers to protect a state law that permits people not to vaccinate their children for religious reasons. They say that parents are best suited to make medical decisions for their children — even if the vaccines are recommended by public health experts. Some lawmakers have proposed eliminating the religious exemption amid an ongoing measles outbreak. Most of the cases seen in New York are among unvaccinated people in Orthodox Jewish communities. Measles was once common in the U.S. but gradually became rare after vaccination campaigns that started in the 1960s.
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10673
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Beyond wrinkles: Botox is a salve for everything from cerebral palsy to writer’s cramp
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This is a thoroughly reported story on a medical therapy that merits skepticism but which has also earned a reasonable amount of scientific respect in recent years. It does a nice job of explaining the myriad uses of Botox in medicine today and issues some needed cautions about potential harms, nonapproved uses, and misuse. The story’s sources are plentiful and appear to be balanced. But is this enough? How good is the evidence to support the various uses of Botox? Are there reasonable alternatives to Botox for some of the conditions it treats? Is it okay to tease a national audience with a headline that shouts one thing, but place deeper in the story the caveats that suggest another? There is extraordinary variability in the quality of the research on Botox from one medical condition to another—missing information important for a national audience that inevitably includes people searching desperately for solutions to intractable problems. For example, our quick literature search turned up more than a score of randomized, controlled trials and systematic reviews on the use of Botox for the involuntary muscle contortions that cause the painful neck disorder known as cervical dystonia–and just one, very small, inadequate trial on Botox treatments for low back pain. The story fails to quantify side effects, most of which seem to be dismissed as transient. And readers might be better served if the story put more meat on the bones of alternative approaches (including no treatment) to some of the conditions Botox treats. Indeed, one could argue that the story’s ultimate effect is that of treatment mongering—simply because it shines so much (mostly flattering) light on Botox. The admonition from one source—“Don’t demand a certain treatment just because you saw a headline”—can’t compete with the magazine cover’s actual headline: “The Botox Boom” followed inside by, “You thought Botox was all about looks? It's also a salve for everything from cerebral palsy to writer's cramp”. In spite of the story’s multiple caveats about Botox, the headline hypes a therapy that may be a boon for some, but a bust for others.
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mixture
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"The cover story points out that Botox is big business—accounting for some $830 million in annual sales. It explains that insurance companies will reimburse treatments for FDA-approved uses and in some cases nonapproved uses. It mentions cost of wrinkle treatments in a sidebar, but it doesn’t compare the costs of Botox with the costs of the alternatives–for wrinkles, neck pain, or other problems—nor does it attempt to account for the expense of office visits and other associated costs. The story provides no quantitative estimates of the benefits of using Botox. The story mentions several of the major side effects of Botox, points out that the long-term effects of multiple injections over many years are unknown, and cautions readers about the potential dangers of using Botox for off-label uses. A sidebar in the story warns readers about the dangers of highly concentrated injections derived from bootlegged Botox. But the article could have added more about the frequency of side effects that are listed in the package insert. About a fifth of patients treated for spasmodic eye-blinking develop drooping lid; about a fifth of those treated for cervical muscle spasms have difficulty swallowing; and recipients of wrinkle treatments frequently suffer bruising or swelling. Though the news article hints that there are good studies and bad (“Where the science is sound…”), urges caution for unapproved uses, and notes that rigorous trials are underway for several conditions, it provides no true description of the quality of evidence to support the use of Botox for the painful neck condition known as cervical dystonia or any other condition. In fact, there is extraordinary variability in the quality of the literature on Botox from one condition to another–important information for a national audience that inevitably includes people searching desperately for solutions to intractable problems. High-quality research to support many of its unapproved uses has yet to be published. The news article suggests that some of the conditions Botox treats are legitimate medical problems. But it also seems to medicalize other conditions such as facial wrinkles and sweating that are simply the normal consequence of life, and details how off-label uses are considered ""quality-of-life saving."" One could argue that the story’s ultimate effect is that of treatment mongering–because it shines so much (mostly flattering) light on Botox. The admonition from one source—“Don’t demand a certain treatment just because you saw a headline”—can’t compete with the U.S. News cover headline itself: “The Botox Boom” followed inside by, “You thought Botox was all about looks? It's also a salve for everything from cerebral palsy to writer's cramp”. This story cites 8 sources who represent a range of views and interests. Where appropriate, the article lists potential conflicts of interest; several have received funding from pharmaceutical companies and others appear to be unbiased professionals. This story mentions treatments other than Botox (deep brain stimulation for cervical dystonia, drugs for headaches, and drugs or surgery for urological problems). But these are light sketches against a bold tapestry of information on Botox. There is no discussion of surgical or topical alternatives for wrinkles, medical alternatives for dystonias, or non-treatment for several conditions, including sweating. Readers would benefit from more subtle comparisons to see how Botox measures up against other therapies. The US News story explains that botulinum toxin (brand name Botox) is FDA-approved for some medical conditions and not approved for many others, and rightly suggests that Botox is widely available. The news story explains that the use of Botox has expanded rapidly since it was first rolled out a decade ago as a fix for wrinkled brows. No obvious use of text from a press release."
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9920
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Patients May Benefit From New Heart Device
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This is a reasonably well written story about the impending release of data on a new medical device. The news of the soon-to-be released study might have specific interest for investors in Abbott or those in the medical device industry. For the rest of us, however, little of value could actually be discerned from the story other than that Abbott is about to present data. The pace of innovation in the interventional management of coronary artery disease has been impressive. First generation interventions included balloon angioplasty, quickly followed by angioplasty and placement of a stent to hold the vessel open. The third generation was heralded with the introduction of drug eluting stents. In each case, new technology was developed in response to what was perceived to be the failings of the existing approach. So, it is not surprising that a bioabsorbable stent would represent the fourth generation intervention. While the forthcoming case series mentioned in this story will add to previous data suggesting benefits from this new approach, only a randomized trial comparing a bioabsorbable and non-bioabsorbable stents will provide convincing evidence of its value.
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true
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Devices,heart disease,Wall Street Journal
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We were happy to see some attention to the potential cost of the stent and in comparison to the existing drug eluting stents. In addition, the story provided information on the market size at the present time. The story really does not provide a crisp rationale for a bioabsorbable stent. An important limitation of existing stents is that they are associated with increased risk of clots. The absorbable stents are designed to help with this problem, but the story doesn’t communicate this. It only refers to the possibility that the new stents may also cause clots in some people. The comments of the Abbott spokesperson aside, the reader is not provided with any idea of how often the existing stents create difficulties and why the Abbott stent will alleviate the problem. We liked the fact that the potential downsides of the bioabsorbable stent were included in the story. The story notes that the bioabsorbable stent is thicker and may require patients to be on potent anti-clotting drugs, thus exposing the patient to a risk of bleeding. The story also notes that previous studies have shown a low rate of complications. We would have liked to have seen some information about the complications seen. The results of the latest study examining the bioabsorbable stent haven’t yet been released, and the story does not delve into optimistic speculation about what the study may show. We liked the way in which the theoretical advantages are stated and that the many unknowns and questions that remain are included. The story could have provided a bit more information on the previous studies of bioabsorble stents that are alluded to in the story, especially since there are no new data to discuss. There was no disease-mongering in the story. The statements made by a company representative are counterbalanced by comments from Dr. Virmani, an independent expert in coronary artery disease and a very outspoken individual. We would have liked to have a comment or two on the parallel developments ongoing in this field. Coronary artery disease is more than a singe blockage. It is a systemic disease that is progressive unless systemic interventions are employed. Aggressive medical therapy is now viewed as an essential element to ongoing care and should have been included for completeness The story makes it clear that while the absorbable stent is available in Europe, Abbot will not be seeking approval for marketing in the United States until 2015. The idea of a bioabsorbable stent is not new or unique to Abbott. The concept was proposed in the early 1990’s and the other players are also working on their own version. Although the story alludes to the fact that competitors might seek to follow Abbott’s lead, it doesn’t convey that other companies are already quite far along in their research. Since the story quotes an unaffiliated expert in the field of cardiac pathophysiology, it is clear that it did not rely solely on a press release. We do wonder, however, why the story ran prior to the issuance of the preliminary results on the new study.
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11294
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Pot may provide some chronic pain relief: study
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The story did a great job evaluating the evidence, providing outside voices, discussing alternatives to marijuana smoking, and presenting both the benefits and the potential harms. It could have done a better job discussing possible costs, availability and conflicts of interest. From the headline to the last sentence, this report avoided overstatement of the applicability of the potential benefit and used clear incisive language that left the reader with a good understanding of the study and its implications. This topic lends itself to jokey, pun-filled writing, but this story played it straight. Chronic pain can ruin lives, and a breakthrough with an alternative approach would be important news. As this story makes clear, until some larger studies with fewer limitations are undertaken, we are far from the point where marijuana can be considered a safe and effective treatment for chronic pain.
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true
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"It is less surprising that neither story discussed costs, given that so few stories do. But sample costs could have been obtained by calling any of the numerous medical marijuana outlets in states where it is legal. Both stories did a decent job of quantifying the benefits.This story provided more details, though, including the differences in patient experiences between the three different concentrations of marijuana. It also repeated this important bit of information: ""There was also no difference in the quality of life or mood scores that participants reported when they were on any of the four treatments."" The story also does a great job of pointing out that the treatment duration of five days in each dosage phase is too short to judge utility for chronic pain, which is a long-term affliction. Neither story actually quantified the harms, but they both noted there were side effects. This story did a better job, though, by noting that the only dose that seemed to work also seemed to produce the most side effects and by raising the issue of long-term safety concerns. It also was the only story to answer the question that readers surely would have when reading about an illegal narcotic being used as medicine. Did these patients feel high as a result? This story says that most did not. Because of the additional information and context, the rating here is satisfactory. This story, unlike the competing WebMD piece, establishes in the first sentence — even in the first three words — that this was ""a small study."" It then discusses the limitations of the study at several points. The second sentence says, ""The pain reduction was ""modest"" – less than 1 point on an 11-point scale for the strongest marijuana – and patients reported no overall difference in their quality of life based on what they smoked."" The writer elegantly and succinctly described the study design — a complex randomized cross-over trial with double blinding and delved into an important feature of the study, that the subjects in retrospect may have been able to detect during which phase of their experience they inhaled placebo versus the most potent drug. This story avoids disease mongering, and, in fact, goes beyond that to note how few people actually suffer from the type of chronic pain that was the subject of the study: ""About 1 to 2 percent of adults in the U.S."" The story quotes two outside experts, one of whom is completely independent from the study and the journal, Dr Andrea Hohmann. Beyond that, we would bet that the reporter spent more time interviewing Dr. Mark Ware, the lead researcher, or at least asked tougher questions. Because Ware is more measured in this story than in the WebMD story. He even goes so far as to say, ""What about long-term safety issues?"" he asked. ""These need to be considered before the drug becomes prescribable."" As with the WebMD story, it would have been nice to see who funded the research. Unlike the WebMD story, this one did not point out the conflicts of interest of Dr. Henry McQuay. This story talks about a range of treatment options and even has the study’s lead author suggesting, that ""these patients should also be getting behavioral and physical therapy."" Strangely, neither story we reviewed pointed out that marijuana is illegal in most states and in Canada, where the study took place. The story could have, at a minimum, mentioned which states have medical marijuana laws or talked about whether any other countries currently allow cannabis to be sold in pill form the way it was used in this study. The story alludes to the fact that this study ""supports a limited number of trials that have suggested marijuana may be helpful for people suffering from chronic pain,"" indicating that the treatment is not very novel at all. It would have been nice to see more context around that. The WebMD story provides a little more information in this regard. If the news release is to be believed, ""This is the first trial to be conducted where patients have been allowed to smoke cannabis at home and to monitor their responses, daily"". That could have been made clear. The story goes well beyond the release. Here’s the release."
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38146
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“Fun Facts About the NFL” claims that the NFL has taken an uneven approach to free speech. While no action has been taken against national anthem player protests, there are many examples of the league fining or threatening players for exercising free speech over the years.
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Fun Facts About the NFL's Stance on Free Speech
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mixture
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9/11 Attack on America
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Examples in the “Fun Facts About the NFL” commentary about players being fined or threatened for exercising free speech are either true or mostly true. The NFL has had a notoriously strict dress code over the years. Rules dictate that players can be fined for wearing unapproved clothes before, during and after games — and the NFL has routinely come under fire for enforcing those policies. National anthem demonstrations, however, don’t fit into the same category as uniforms or dress codes. When protests started in 2016, it was largely uncharted territory for the NFL. By 2017, however, it appeared that NFL owners were taking steps to prevent player demonstrations before, during and after games. It remains to be seen how that will be resolved. Regardless, here’s a more specific look at claims made in “Fun Facts About the NFL”: The NFL Had a Problem With Tim Tebow Praying, Wearing John 3:16 Eye Black We couldn’t find any indication that the NFL “had a problem” with Tim Tebow kneeling in prayer before, during and after football games. He was never penalized or reprimanded for it by the NFL, but Tebow’s Christian views did generate a lot of discussion. It it is true that Tim Tebow wasn’t allowed to wear eye black inscribed with “John 3:16” like he did in college. However, the NFL doesn’t allow players to have any hand-written messages on their bodies or equipment during the game at all, and the NCAA has long since adopted the same policy. As an aside, Tebow famously threw for 316 yards in a 2012 playoff game after not being allowed to have “John 3:16” written on his eye black. This has been seen by many as divine intervention. Brandon Marshall Was Fined in 2013 for Wearing Green Cleats Brandon Marshall was fined $10,500 by the NFL for wearing glean cleats in 2013. He later explained that he wore the cleats to raise awareness about mental illness and the importance of mental health: Football is my platform not my purpose. This fine is nothing compared to the conversation started & awareness raised. pic.twitter.com/P9GNygFpH9 — BEAST (@BMarshall) October 16, 2013 Russell Griffin III Was Forced to Turn Christian Tee-Shirt Inside Out Russell Griffin III appeared for a 2014 post-game press conference wearing an inside out tee-shirt that read “Now Jesus, Know Peace/No Jesus No Peace,” which led some to assume that an NFL spokesperson had forced him turn the shirt inside out. The Washington Post reports, however, that Griffin had been injured during the game and came to the press conference without first changing into the post-game outfit that he planned on wearing. Because Griffin had been fined $10,000 for wearing an unapproved shirt with a visible Adidas logo earlier in the year, he took it upon himself to turn the unapproved “Know Jesus” shirt inside out to avoid another fine. And it’s important to note that the NFL has strict guidelines for post-game apparel. Players are barred “from wearing, displaying, or orally promoting equipment, apparel or other items that carry commercial names or logos of companies, unless such commercial identification has been approved in advance by the League office.” That means Griffin’s shirt wouldn’t have been prohibited because of its Christian message, but because it wasn’t approved in advance by the league office. DeAngelo Williams Fined for Wearing Pink to Promote Breast Cancer Awareness The NFL fined DeAngelo Williams for wearing pink on his uniform in 2015. While players were allowed to wear pink to promote breast cancer awareness in October that year, Williams took it upon himself to continue wearing pink after that point in honor of his mother who had died from breast cancer. In the end, Williams dyed the tips of his dreadlocks pink to work around the NFL uniform rule without getting fined. Dallas Cowboys Weren’t’ Allowed to Wear Decal for Slain Police Officers The NFL came under fire in 2016 when it denied the Dallas Cowboys’ request to wear an “Arm-in-Arm” decal on team helmets during the regular season to honor officers killed in a protest shooting. The NFL has allowed teams to wear decals for people who were affiliated with the league, but never for outside causes. It refused to deviate from the policy, and has never made exceptions. NFL Threatened Players in 2016 for Wearing 9/11 Commemorative Cleats The NFL announced in 2010 that it would not fine players for wearing 9/11 commemorative cleats on the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks. In 2016, however, the NFL was not willing to make the same exception for the 15th anniversary of the attacks. Players were notified in advance that they’d be fined for wearing unapproved commemorative cleats. Comments
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1921
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For snow and lawn machines, gasoline remains king.
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In America’s quest for cleaner fuel, at least one major U.S. industry is holding on to the sputter and grime of the internal combustion engine.
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true
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Environment
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Groundskeepers cut the grass on the first fairway following the final practice round for the 2008 Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, April 9, 2008. REUTERS/Gary Hershorn From log splitters to snow blowers, the $15 billion outdoor power equipment industry sells tens of millions of oil-powered machines a year to U.S. landscapers, loggers, homeowners and a litany of other buyers. While lawn mowers get faster, snow blowers cover more ground and handheld products get lighter, their propulsion has barely changed beyond getting more mileage out of gasoline. This week, at the annual Green Industry and Equipment Expo in Louisville, Kentucky, manufacturers will once again unveil new equipment with some promise of a cleaner, greener future. “We do anticipate the trend moving in the direction of alternative energy,” said Jeff Salamon, director of marketing at MTD Products Inc. “Some customers do like the experience of being unencumbered by exhaust and gasoline.” However, the answers offered will likely be more of the same. “Gas engines, by and large, are the most efficient way to go,” Briggs & Stratton Corp Chief Executive Todd Teske told Reuters in an interview shortly after a press conference to unveil the company’s latest engine. Briggs & Stratton sells electric mowers, but only in Australia. For decades, garden and snow machines were a poster child for harmful emissions. In fact, when auto executives were confronted by regulators for their contributions to pollution, they pointed to the lawn industry as a more offensive culprit. In the mid-1990s, that began to change as the Environmental Protection Agency began pressuring engine makers with tougher standards. “These aren’t your father’s lawn machines,” Kris Keiser, president of the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute, said. At Briggs & Stratton, for example, Teske said emissions have been cut by 75 percent since the mid-1990s thanks to manufacturing upgrades and design improvements. Another 35 percent reduction will come in 2012. The auto and other industries are under constant pressure to raise fuel economy or tap new technologies because their customers often burn through dozens or more gallons of gasoline each month. As gas prices rise, so does the strain on pocketbooks. But outdoor equipment users don’t face these pressures. “People who use our products typically use no more than five gallons of gasoline per year,” Keiser said. This lessens the likelihood that customers will demand huge advances in fuel economy or solutions that lessen their operating expenses. Even commercial landscapers here in Louisville do not seem to be budging, despite high weekly fuel costs. Wang Xiaoguang, general manager of Wenling Leo Garden Machinery Co — which claims to be the largest exporter of Chinese garden machines — is learning this lesson first hand. Standing at his exhibition booth, he talks about Leo’s successful business of exporting electric mowers to Europe. “This customer is different,” Wang said of the U.S. market which Leo has yet to crack. “They have different standards.” But some companies, including a handful of start-ups, aren’t waiting for customers to change their minds. Lincoln Jore, a 28-year-old entrepreneur from Ronan, Montana, launched a new “GasLess” outdoor equipment company called Core Outdoor Power on Thursday aimed at commercial landscapers and higher-end homeowners. His first product, a $249 weed whacker weighing 11 pounds, is powered by an unconventional motor and lithium-ion battery that slips in and out of the machine so it can be charged on a separate dock. It will begin appearing at independent U.S. dealers early next year. The “market has missed the mark on developing alternative energy products that meet performance expectations,” he said. By 2013, Jore plans to have a broader range of products, including a lawn mower and leaf blower that don’t use gas. But even the most established global players are finding it hard to turn the tide. Honda Motor Co sells thousands of hybrid snow blowers in Japan annually and is bringing a hybrid model to the United States. This model promises to be the Cadillac of its class, capable of clearing 83 tons of snow in an hour and sweep a city sidewalk in one pass. But, at $8,000, this machine is twice as expensive as the company’s previous top-of-the-line model, and hybrid technology is driving up the cost. Honda’s expectations for sales of the Japan-built hybrid are extremely modest, but it wants to test the market before committing to other alternative-energy models. If Wisconsin-based Ariens Co’s experience during last year’s tough winter is any indication, there may be hope for Honda. Ariens put on sale an electric snow blower priced 60 percent higher than a conventional model. The company sold out of its limited quantity of electric snow blowers amid heavy snowfall and tight industry capacity. Stihl Inc, which says it is the No. 1 seller of handheld outdoor power devices, is also branching out. It has a new lineup of chainsaws, leaf blowers, weed whackers and hedge trimmers that are powered by lithium-ion batteries. The products cost 30 percent more than conventional gas-powered versions and, while initial demand has outstripped expectations, the company said it is too early to break out specific sales results. Cub Cadet, a brand owned by MTD, has a lithium-ion-powered product line on display similar to those sold by Stihl, but demand so far is only from a “faction” of customers, Salamon said. Still, Cub Cadet is poised for a shift at some point, even if it is slow going, he noted.
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3813
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Trump aims to reduce drug costs under Medicare.
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President Donald Trump will propose lowering prescription drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries by allowing them to share in rebates that drug companies pay to insurers and middlemen, an administration official said Thursday.
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true
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Seniors, Medication, Health, Politics, North America, Prescription drug costs, Business, Medicare, Prescription drugs, Donald Trump
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A senior administration official outlined the plan on condition of anonymity ahead of the release of Trump’s 2019 budget plan next week. Pharmaceutical companies now pay rebates to insurers and pharmacy benefit managers to help their medications gain a bigger slice of the market. Insurers apply savings from rebates to keep premiums more manageable. Under Trump’s proposal, seniors covered by Medicare’s popular “Part D” prescription benefit would be able to share in the rebates for individual drugs that they purchase at the pharmacy. Trump’s budget would also expand Medicare’s “catastrophic” drug benefit so that many seniors with very high costs would not face copayments. Seniors with high drug bills are currently still responsible for 5 percent of the cost of their medications. With some new drugs costing $100,000 a year or more, patient costs add up quickly. The White House proposal would put Trump in the middle of a tug-of-war between drug companies on one side and insurers and pharmacy benefit managers on the other, with billions of dollars at stake. Insurers and pharmacy benefit managers say the reason drug costs are so high is that drug companies are free to charge what the market will bear. The pharmaceutical industry says middlemen are the problem, because they keep rebates paid by drug makers instead of passing them on to patients. Insurers counter that rebates are passed on in the form of lower monthly premiums for everybody. The drug industry lobbying group, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, had no immediate reaction. The Trump administration’s new proposals come on top of a long list of Medicare changes in the congressional budget deal. Medicare is the government’s premier health insurance program, covering about 60 million seniors and disabled people. Lawmakers would shift a greater share of Medicare drug costs to the pharmaceutical industry. They also want to eliminate the drug coverage gap known as the “doughnut hole” one year earlier than currently scheduled, in 2019 instead of 2020. “On the whole, I think this is a good bill for people with Medicare,” said Joe Baker, president of the Medicare Rights Center, said of the congressional legislation. “This tilts toward getting a lot of good things done.” But his group opposes a provision that would raise premiums paid by the wealthiest retirees for coverage of outpatient services and prescription drugs. Here’s a look at some of the major Medicare provisions in the budget deal that Republican leaders are trying to push through Congress. Democrats are split over the overall measure, but the Medicare provisions appear to have support from both parties: — PRESCRIPTION DRUGS Originally, beneficiaries in the “doughnut hole” coverage gap were responsible for the full cost of their medications, but the Affordable Care Act passed under former President Barack Obama gradually closes the gap. The budget deal accelerates the timetable by one year, to 2019. Drug makers are already required to provide discounts to close the coverage gap, but the budget deal raises the level of company discounts, which in turn lowers the government’s costs. That should act as a brake on the monthly premiums paid by beneficiaries. “In theory when Medicare spending goes down, premiums would go down, too,” said Tricia Neuman, a Medicare expert with the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. The drug industry is criticizing the proposal, saying it will mainly benefit insurance companies that act as middlemen providing the benefit. The coverage gap starts when beneficiaries hit $3,750 in total drug costs. — CAPS REPEALED ON REHAB The budget deal permanently repeals limits on therapy services commonly used by stroke patients and people recovering from major surgeries. Those services include physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy. In previous years, Congress had routinely held off on applying the caps. Groups including AARP were pressing for a full repeal. It takes effect this year. __HIGHER PREMIUMS FOR WEALTHIEST RETIREES Premiums for outpatient coverage and prescription drugs would rise for about 1 million wealthy seniors with annual incomes of at least $500,000 for an individual, or $750,000 for a couple filing jointly. Hiking premiums on the well-to-do is an idea that has bipartisan support among lawmakers, but advocates worry that Congress will ultimately start raising costs for middle-class seniors as well. __TELEMEDICINE AND CHRONIC CARE The budget deal expands Medicare’s ability to pay for telemedicine in a wide variety of situations, including for patients with stroke symptoms. It also incorporates a bipartisan Senate bill that is intended to improve care coordination for patients with chronic illnesses, such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. —COST CONTROL BOARD REPEALED The deal would repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board, a Medicare cost-control agency authorized under the Affordable Care Act. It was controversial from the beginning, and the Obama White House did not move forward to set up the board.
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31259
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A Californian and Ecuadorian couple proved it is possible to live on nothing but air.
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Although claims of “breatharians” surviving and thriving pop up every few years, we were unable to find any evidence contradicting the body of science demonstrating humans require water and food to stay alive. It’s possible the couple profiled by The Sun in June 2017 both genuinely made and believed their own claims, but we found no proof the impossible assertion was actually true. When tested, purported breatharians such as Jasmuheen failed to last more than a few days without food and water.
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false
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Medical, breatharian, breatharianism, dangerous woo
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In mid-June 2017, tabloids and similar sources published articles about a couple that purports to survive by eating little to no food. Akahi Ricardo and Camila Castello, the articles said, call themselves “breatharians,” and say they survive on “the universe’s energy,” along with pieces of fruit and vegetable broth eaten 2-3 times per week. This is not the first time that people have made this claim. A Wikipedia page for the practice perhaps best sums it up in noting that “[t]hough it is common knowledge that biological entities require sustenance to survive, breatharianism continues.” Notably, The Sun and many regurgitators of the piece repeated claims purportedly made by Ricardo and Castello without checking them against very basic science understood across humanity: Camila and Akahi – who have a five-year-old son and two-year-old daughter together – have survived on little else besides a piece of fruit or vegetable broth just 3 times per week since 2008. And Camila even practised a Breatharian PREGNANCY – not eating anything during the entire nine months that she carried her first child. The married couple-of-nine-years claim that their “food-free lifestyle” has improved their health and emotional well-being as well as meaning they can spend money on travelling rather than the weekly shop … Camila explained: “I was completely open to changing my food-free lifestyle when I first became pregnant because my child came first. But I just never felt hungry so I ended up practicing a fully Breatharian pregnancy. “I didn’t feel the need or desire to eat solid food during the entire nine months and so I only ate 5 times, all of which were in social situations. Throughout the profile (which was republished across the web with no additional fact checking), the couple alternately claimed to eat occasionally and to describe themselves as “food free.” Whether the couple claimed to eat very little or nothing at all, no apparent verification of their claims was made before pushing the dangerous suggestion one could live without food or water out to large audiences. Predictably, the practice has indeed proved fatal. Victims in Scotland, Australia, and Switzerland were among individuals who died in an attempt to survive without food or water. A 1999 Guardian article about the deaths quoted an expert on survival medicine: Experts differ as to the absolute maximum length of time that human life can continue without water, but the broad consensus rests at somewhere between seven and 10 days – though severe dehydration and confusion (due to the build-up of sodium and potassium in the brain) would set in sooner. In the desert, of course, lack of water can kill in a matter of hours. “It depends on the climate, and how much exercise you’re taking, but if you’re lying in bed you would probably be just about all right for a week,” says Dr Charles Clarke, who specialises in high-altitude survival medicine and has accompanied the climber Chris Bonington on expeditions to Mount Everest. “But towards the end of the first week, you’d become pretty gravely ill. Your blood would become thicker, your kidneys can’t cope; multiple organ failure follows, you get hypothermic and eventually you die.” Moreover, the couple profiled by The Sun weren’t the first “breatharians” to admit to or be caught eating food while claiming not to eat or drink. Jasmuheen, an ex-business woman and founder of the movement has never proved she doesn’t eat, demonstrates signs of eating, and nutritional experts believe the claim may be a delusion shared among individuals who underestimate their “occasional” eating: Jasmuheen freely admits to drinking orange juice regularly and occasionally nibbling chocolate biscuits for a “taste sensation”. In the past she has described her diet as including tea with honey and soya milk, chocolate, crisps, soup and the odd piece of fruit. Thoeretically, a diet consisting of those foods in small amounts could represent a calorific intake to which the body could adjust without significant weight loss. Reporters visiting Jasmuheen’s Brisbane home have been bewildered to find her fridge well-stocked with vegetarian food which, she says, belongs to her partner Jeff Ferguson, a convicted fraudster. And a British journalist accompanying Jasmuheen to her check-in desk at Heathrow last December was astonished when the BA clerk asked her to confirm that she’d ordered an in-flight vegetarian meal. “No, no,” she replied. “Well, yes, OK, I did. But I won’t be eating it.”
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26358
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We’ve still had more deaths to the flu this year than we've had COVID-19.
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North Carolina Lt. Governor Dan Forest, a Republican, is running for governor against Democratic incumbent Roy Cooper and has criticized Cooper's stay-at-home order as too heavy-handed. In an interview on April 24, Forest said coronavirus deaths hadn't topped flu deaths for the year. He cherry-picked from the CDC's prediction that flu deaths could be as low as 24,000 or as high as 62,000. Forest then compared that 62,000 estimate to the CDC's ongoing tally of coronavirus deaths -- a comparison experts say is unfair and inaccurate.
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false
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Public Health, North Carolina, Coronavirus, Dan Forest,
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"Some people have tried to put COVID-19 into perspective by comparing it with the flu. On April 24, North Carolina Lt. Gov. Dan Forest told a group of young Republicans that the flu had actually killed more people than the novel coronavirus. Forest, who’s running for governor against incumbent Democrat Roy Cooper, has suggested that North Carolina’s stay-at-home order might be disproportionate to the effects of COVID-19 in his state. In a video interview, Forest said: ""You know, we’ve still had more deaths to the flu this year than we’ve had COVID-19,"" Forest said, adding: ""There’s been about three times more deaths for HIV/AIDS, remember that was a pandemic at one time that still has no vaccine. This one’s bad. It’s obviously worse than the normal flu year, but it hasn’t hit the extremes of other pandemics yet."" Forest also compared COVID-19 with HIV. But let’s focus on Forest’s claim about the flu, since that’s what it’s most commonly compared with. It isn’t clear from Forest’s claim if he is talking about the United States or North Carolina. So we’ll address those stats at the both state and national level. Is Forest right? No. And there are several reasons why Forest’s comparison is neither fair, nor accurate: He compared diseases that entered the United States at different times. When it comes to flu deaths across the U.S., he based his claim on an estimate — and cherry-picked the worst case scenario from that estimate. He overlooked data from his home state, where publicly available information showed there had been more COVID-19 deaths than flu deaths. It’s important to note first that the flu and COVID-19 did not enter the U.S. at the same time. While the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention started tracking the flu in 2019, authorities didn’t report the first case of the novel coronavirus until Jan. 20. The first death occurred on Feb. 29. If the diseases were in a race, the flu got several months of a head start. ""Comparing deaths from laboratory confirmed cases of COVID that occurred between Feb. 29–April 24 to statistical model estimations of all flu deaths (detected and undetected) from October 1–April 4 is not at all equitable,"" said Dr. Ben King, clinical assistant professor of public health at the University of Texas Dell Medical School. With that said, let’s look at the numbers that are available. As of April 25, the day after Forest made his claim, more than 50,000 people had died from COVID-19, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The estimate has grown to 65,700 by May 4. Some experts believe the CDC’s numbers to be low. A study released by the Washington Post and the Yale School of Public Health on April 27 found that experts missed as many as 15,000 coronavirus deaths in the first weeks after the virus arrived in the U.S. What about flu deaths? The CDC doesn’t have up-to-date flu death numbers. Forest based his claim on the CDC’s estimate that flu deaths could be as high as 62,000, Forest spokesman Andrew Dunn told PolitiFact in an email. A problem for Forest’s claim? That CDC estimate also predicted flu deaths could be as low as 24,000. That’s a wide range, which has recently drawn criticism. In an April 28 Scientific American column titled, ""Comparing COVID-19 Deaths to Flu Deaths Is Like Comparing Apples to Oranges,"" a Harvard Medical School instructor explains the CDC’s prediction methods — and argues they should change. Dr. Jeremy Samuel Faust, who practices emergency medicine at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston, noted that the CDC tries to account for unreported flu deaths ""by multiplying the number of flu death counts reported by various coefficients produced through complicated algorithms,"" he wrote. Indeed, the CDC’s estimation process is ""fairly elaborate,"" said William Schaffner, professor of infectious diseases at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville and medical director for the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. The CDC estimates deaths, rather than counting raw numbers, in part because death certificates ""can be mushy,"" Schaffner told PolitiFact in a phone interview. Deceased people can sometimes have multiple health problems, leaving the cause of death up for debate. Compounding matters, processes for determining and recording causes of death vary across the country. Faust, who wrote the column, argued that the number of actual flu deaths could be much lower than the CDC’s estimate. As the Washington Post pointed out on May 2, the number of actual deaths directly contributed to the flu has been less than 10,000 each of the past two seasons. In the past, Faust said it was justifiable to err on the side of substantially overestimating flu deaths ""in order to encourage vaccination and good hygiene."" But now, ""the CDC’s reporting about flu deaths is dangerously misleading the public and even public officials about the comparison between these two viruses."" Without a clear idea of how many flu deaths might be tallied for the 2019-20 season, we turned to past totals and estimates. The CDC preliminary estimates show that 34,000 people likely died from the flu in the 2018-2019 season and that 61,000 died over the 2017-18 season. Finalized CDC data shows that 38,000 died between 2016-17 and 23,000 died between 2015-16. That’s an average of about 39,000 flu deaths over the last four seasons, (assuming death estimates from the last two seasons turn out to be accurate.) The 2017-18 season stands out as one of the highest in history, according to Reuters. Flu deaths only topped 60,000 on three other occasions. About 100,000 Americans died of the flu in 1967, about 116,000 died in 1957, and nearly 675,000 died from the 1918 flu. We asked Schaffner if it’s possible to predict flu deaths and flu severity based on reports from prior years. It’s difficult, he said. ""There’s a saying: If you’ve seen one flu season, you’ve seen one flu season,"" Schaffner said, emphasizing that each season can be different and unpredictable. The CDC hasn’t offered a prediction of how many Americans might die from COVID-19 over the course of this year’s season. Modeling from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation has offered death counts in the range of 48,000 to 123,000. On April 24, the day of Forest’s claim, Politico reported that the institute was predicting about 67,000 deaths. On May 4, the institute’s model predicted 134,000 deaths by Aug. 4. Information on flu deaths is limited. But Lisa Maragakis, senior director of infection prevention at Johns Hopkins, recently wrote that coronavirus deaths are ""thought to be higher than that of most strains of the flu."" Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Columbia University, agreed. In an email, she said, ""SARS-CoV-2 is at least as deadly as the highest flu estimate, and over the year will undoubtedly be more so."" What if the flu does turn out to kill 62,000 over the course of the season? That would still make it less deadly than the coronavirus on a per-day basis, CNN reported on May 1. If 62,000 people died from the flu between Oct. 1 and April 4, that would mean the U.S. had an average of about 331 flu deaths a day, CNN reported. By contrast, CNN estimated that an average of 739 people died per day from coronavirus between February and the end of April, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. While flu deaths across the U.S. have yet to be determined, flu data is more definitive in Forest’s home state. And it further proves him wrong. Mandy Cohen, North Carolina’s health secretary, announced on April 20 that COVID-19 deaths had surpassed flu deaths in less than a month. Cohen said in a press conference that 179 people died between March 24, when North Carolina recorded its first coronavirus death, and April 20. By contrast, WUNC reported, 167 people had died over the course of the flu season, which started in September. By April 25, a day after Forest made his claim, the NC Department of Health and Human Services, had reported 177 flu deaths and more than 300 coronavirus deaths. By May 3, there had been 183 flu deaths and 430 coronavirus deaths. On April 24, Forest said: ""We’ve still had more deaths to the flu this year than we’ve had COVID-19."" Forest phrased his claim in a way that makes it seem like health experts were keeping and publicizing an ongoing log of flu deaths across America. That’s not the case. The CDC predicts that the number of flu deaths will be anywhere between 24,000 and 62,000. Forest cherry-picked the highest number possible, and then compared it to the CDC’s running tally of coronavirus deaths. That’s unfair because he compared an estimate to an actual number, and because the diseases entered the U.S. at different times. Forest’s claim isn’t true for his home state either. In fact, Forest never proved that there have been more flu deaths than coronavirus deaths as of April 24."
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13453
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"Hillary Clinton Says Donald Trump ""publicly invited Putin to hack into Americans’ (emails)."
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Johnson & Johnson said on Friday it is recalling around 33,000 bottles of baby powder in the United States after U.S. health regulators found trace amounts of asbestos in samples taken from a bottle purchased online.
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mixture
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National, Civil Rights, Homeland Security, Crime, Foreign Policy, Technology, Hillary Clinton,
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J&J shares fell more than 6% to close at $127.70. The move marks the first time the company has recalled its iconic baby powder for possible asbestos contamination, and the first time U.S. regulators have announced a finding of asbestos in the product. Asbestos is a known carcinogen that has been linked to deadly mesothelioma. The recall is the latest blow to the more than 130-year-old U.S. healthcare conglomerate that is facing thousands of lawsuits over a variety of products, including baby powder, opioids, medical devices and the antipsychotic Risperdal. A jury last week ordered the company to pay $8 billion to a plaintiff in a case claiming J&J downplayed the risks of Risperdal. That award is not expected to stand, the company and legal experts have said. J&J faces more than 15,000 lawsuits from consumers claiming its talc products, including Johnson’s Baby Powder, caused their cancer. On a conference call with reporters on Friday, Dr. Susan Nicholson, head of Women’s Health in the company’s medical safety organization, called the asbestos finding “extremely unusual,” adding that it was “inconsistent with our testing to date.” The voluntary recall announced on Friday is limited to one lot of Johnson’s Baby Powder produced and shipped in the United States in 2018, the company said. J&J in a news release said that testing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as recently as a month ago found no asbestos in their talc. The FDA said in a statement that the latest sampling took place during its testing for asbestos in talc-containing cosmetics that it began reporting this year. A second Johnson’s Baby Powder sample from a different lot tested negative for asbestos, the agency said. The FDA said it stands by the quality of its testing and results and recommended consumers stop using the product if it comes from the affected lot. J&J said on the conference call that it received a report from the FDA on Oct. 17 alerting the company about the asbestos finding. It said it has started an investigation and is reviewing manufacturing records and collecting data on the distribution of the lot to determine where the product was shipped. J&J added that it is working with the FDA to determine the integrity of the tested sample as well as the validity of test results. The type of asbestos discovered by FDA testing has not been found in the mine where the company sources its talc, J&J’s Nicholson said. She described it as an environmental contaminant most commonly found in building materials and industrial applications. J&J said it was too early to confirm whether cross-contamination of the sample had caused a false positive, whether the sample was taken from a bottle with an intact seal or whether the it was prepared in a controlled environment. It added that it could not confirm whether the tested product was authentic or counterfeit. “It is so critical that we perform a thorough investigation of the sample to determine the source of contamination,” Nicholson said. Since 2003, talc in Johnson’s Baby Powder sold in the United States has come from China through supplier Imerys Talc America, a unit of Paris-based Imerys SA and a co-defendant in much of the talc litigation. Imerys and J&J said the Chinese talc is safe. J&J has known for decades that asbestos lurked in its talc, Reuters reported last year. Internal company records, trial testimony and other evidence show that from at least 1971 to the early 2000s, the company’s raw talc and finished powders sometimes tested positive for small amounts of asbestos. Company executives, mine managers, scientists, doctors and lawyers fretted over the problem and how to address it, while failing to disclose it to regulators or the public, Reuters found. J&J has repeatedly said that its talc products are safe, and that decades of studies have shown them to be asbestos-free and that they do not cause cancer. The FDA test indicated the presence of no greater than 0.00002% of chrysotile asbestos in the tested sample, J&J said. The World Health Organization and other authorities recognize no safe level of exposure to asbestos. While most people exposed never develop cancer, for some, even small amounts of asbestos are enough to trigger the disease years later. Thousands of the lawsuits against J&J have been consolidated before a New Jersey federal judge, who is currently weighing company motions to disqualify plaintiffs’ expert witnesses, including the head of an asbestos testing lab who has testified in earlier trials that he found the contaminant in J&J powders. Leigh O’Dell, one of the lead plaintiff attorneys, on Friday said the recall “vindicates the position we’ve been taking for months.” Wells Fargo analyst Larry Biegelsen said in a research note that the recall could encourage additional lawsuits and prompt the company to pursue a broader settlement. Jefferies healthcare strategist Jared Holz said J&J has already lost close to $10 billion in market value due to the talc issue over the past year. He said further downside to J&J stock is likely to be limited because legal concerns over talc are well known and have already taken a toll on the share price. “This is one single bottle within one lot with barely a trace here,” he said. J&J said in February that it had received subpoenas from the U.S. Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission for documents related to the asbestos contamination allegations. A Bloomberg report, which Reuters has confirmed, said those inquiries include a criminal grand jury investigation into how forthright J&J has been in its statements about the safety of its powders. While talc products make up less than 1% of J&J sales expected by analysts to reach $82 billion in 2019, the New Jersey-based healthcare-products maker considers its Baby Powder to be an essential facet of a carefully tended image as a caring company.
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11356
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Flu shots a tough sell to health care workers
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This story, which explores healthcare workers’ compliance with flu vaccine recommendations, is flawed in two fundamental ways: Its sourcing and its lack of reporting on the vaccine’s effectiveness. The main source in the story is the leader of a group funded by the vaccine industry, whose mission is to educate the public about the benefits of vaccination. While the reporter discloses this connection, that’s insufficient. A self-interested party should not be a story’s central source. In this case, a public health expert with no industry connection should have been. The story fails to report on the effectiveness of the flu shot in preventing influenza in a population of healthy working adults. The story is premised on the belief that the flu shot prevents the flu in everyone who gets the shot. The data are far more complicated. Readers should be helped to understand this. The journalist does some good reporting by finding out about vaccination policies and compliance at several health care facilities. But this does not compensate for the story’s fundamental flaws.
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mixture
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The story should have mentioned the cost of a flu shot. It’s not vital to this story, but during a period of such close scrutiny of health care costs, the price of procedures should be reported whenever possible, as a matter of course. And the economics of the flu vaccine could have been mentioned; According to the CDC the return on the relatively inexpensive vaccine is up to $4,000 per person in avoided costs (see: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/rr/rr55e209.pdf ). The majority of the savings is in reductions of sick time due to illness. The article makes no attempt to report how effective the flu shot is in preventing the flu in healthy, able-bodied adults. It uses only anecdotes provided by the foundation supported by vaccine makers. The story mentions that the flu shot does not cause the flu, which is the potential harm of greatest relevance here. Other risks are minor and serious reactions are rare. The story should have mentioned the risk for those who have allergy to eggs. The story fails to cite evidence demonstrating the vaccine’s efficacy in preventing flu among healthy, able-bodied adult workers. The CDC estimates that it is 70-90 percent effective, depending on the match between each year’s vaccine and the flu viruses most prevalent each year. This is an unfortunate omission. The reporter could have used this as an opportunity to educate the public about what a flu shot can and can’t do for this kind of population. The story cites two cases in which health care workers’ failure to get flu shots may be linked to deaths. The links in these two cases are not based on convincing data, but the writer states the connections as fact. Still, the story properly states that no conclusive data shows a danger to the public from workers’ not getting vaccinated, so the story earns a satisfactory rating. The main source in the story, who advocates health care worker vaccination, is the leader of a group funded by vaccine makers. While the reporter discloses this conflict of interest properly, he or she should have given this self-interested source less prominence in the story. The story includes three additional medical sources representing health care institutions, and cites data about health worker vaccination from the CDC. The report focuses on health workers getting or not getting the vaccine. It mentions, in passing, other ways health care workers can reduce risk of passing along the flu: hand-washing and face-masks. Ideally the story also would have mentioned anti-viral drugs, which can be used judiciously to reduce the impact of outbreaks. The availability of the flu shot is not in question. It would have been ideal for the writer to advise readers on the general availability venues for the vaccine. No claims are made for the novelty of the flu vaccine. There does not appear to be a press release associated with this story.
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9074
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Genetic test could help fight secondary breast cancer
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The news release gives a strong impression that a new genetic test could help women “fight” secondary breast cancers, specifically bone metastases. The genetic test would direct treatment to include (or not include) a specific class of drugs called bisphosphonates. Although the published study reports results from an international clinical trial, there was no mention of cost or context of the results seen by researchers. The release did mention that the results found in the UK needed to be confirmed in a second trial before any specific recommendation is made to incorporate testing for this new genetic marker. Prematurely announcing a new genetic marker to be used in determining treatment courses for breast cancer patients is confusing for patients.
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false
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bisphosphonates,genetic testing,University of Sheffield
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There was no mention of the cost of the proposed genetic testing for MAF amplification (MAF is a gene expressed in certain cancers and used as a biomarker for bone metastasis) nor any mention of the cost of treatment with a bisphosphonate. Treatment with a bisphosphonate is often recommended for 5 years so this cost should be included. As is the case with many new genetic tests when they become available, there’s a lag between when a test is approved and when insurance will actually cover the cost. The news release did not provide numerical context for the specific benefits of having the MAF amplification genetic testing nor of taking a bisphosphonate drug. All readers, but especially those diagnosed with breast cancer, deserve to know specific benefits of testing and treatment. General statements such as “…could benefit thousands of breast cancer patients…” and “…can help prevent the disease from spreading to the bone” do not inform decisions. The published study used invasive disease-free survival as the outcome. “Disease-free survival” is a surrogate or proxy for overall survival — which is the outcome that patients care about most. To learn more see our toolkit page on the use of surrogate markers in clinical trials. Finally, readers should have been provided some context as to what extent the researchers found positive outcomes. The release does not mention any of the possible side effects of taking a bisphosphonate. For some women, those side effects are significant and thus they should be included. Additionally, we’re wondering how the genetic test is performed since there was no description offered. Is it a blood test or is it more invasive, complex and risky, requiring acquisition of tumor tissue? While readers are told the study was part of a phase 3 clinical trial that involved 3,360 women with stage II or III breast cancer, the news release does not explain that this part of the study included only 865 of the women in the broader trial. No specific information was provided about other characteristics of the patients who may have benefited from taking bisphosphonates beyond the quote from a study leader, Professor Robert Coleman, who noted that “It only seems to be effective in some patients, particularly older women…” The release should have pointed out that the treatment seems most effective in postmenopausal women. In addition, the study results were mixed when taking into account menopausal status. There was no disease mongering and as the study co-author, Professor Roger Gomis, observed the current study could help clinicians “… avoid unnecessary treatment of patients who would not benefit or could be harmed by the treatment.” The release didn’t note any funding sources. The published study stated that the study was funded by Novartis, which makes the bisphosphonate drug Zometa, and by Inbiomotion which developed the MAFTest that tests for amplification of the MAF gene. (The release does mention that the test was developed by Inbiomotion.) Clearly, both companies would benefit from positive study results and positive news coverage and thus must be mentioned in the news release as funders of the study in the interest of transparency. The release doesn’t name any alternatives for preventing metastasis in women with breast cancer. It would have been helpful to note in the news release that the drug was given in addition to “standard adjuvant systemic therapy, ” according to the journal article, which presumably would include chemotherapy and hormone therapy. The release states that “The results need to be confirmed in a second trial, currently underway in the United States, before the test is likely to receive approval for wider use in patients.” A direct statement that the test is not yet available anywhere would have been more helpful to readers but the quote does let readers know that the test is part of another trial and has not yet been approved. The news release claims novelty with the statement that this is “…a potential new genetic test.” It would be more clear to readers if they were told whether there are existing tests for MAF amplification or whether this is the first test available to determine MAF amplification. It’s not completely clear to us that the test is novel or a new application of an already available tool, but we’ll give the benefit of the doubt here and rate it Satisfactory. There is no unjustifiable language.
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26584
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Facebook post Says to leave objects in the sun to avoid contracting the coronavirus.
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There’s no evidence that sunlight can kill the coronavirus. Experts say ultraviolet light in the sun isn’t strong enough. The best way to avoid contracting COVID-19 is to wash your hands with soap and water, avoid touching your face, disinfect surfaces in your home daily and avoid close contact with people.
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false
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Environment, Public Health, Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, Facebook posts,
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"Advice attributed to a delivery driver calls for leaving objects in the sun as a way to avoid contracting the coronavirus. This is what was shared in a Facebook post: ""I received an Amazon delivery this morning. The driver was almost to his truck by the time I opened the door, bent to pick up the box and said thank you. He turned and walked back toward the house. He said, ‘Ma’am, these deliveries come from the distribution center. We’ve had positive testing for the virus. Leave the box out here in the sun for six to eight hours, then open the box and take the item out of any packaging before you take it in the house. Leave the box and packaging outside. Then go wash your hands immediately.’ Wow. Good information but this is getting freaky."" If only. Sadly, there still is no proof that the sun can kill COVID-19. The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) It was soon deleted, but we found the same claim elsewhere. Preliminary research into coronavirus indicates it can live on cardboard surfaces like boxes for up to 24 hours. But there is no evidence that sun exposure kills the coronavirus, as we said in rating a claim that ""being exposed to the sun for two hours"" kills the virus. We also rated a more general claim — that sun can kill the coronavirus. That claim was made by U.S. Rep. Greg Murphy, a North Carolina Republican and a physician. Experts said ultraviolet rays in sunlight aren’t intense enough to kill the virus. That sunlight isn’t strong enough has also been reported by AFP Fact Check. So what should you do about your cardboard packages? After digging into the research and advisories from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Wirecutter’s Ganda Suthivarakom on March 24 wrote: ""The CDC’s advice on protecting yourself does not include advice on disinfecting packages. Its general advice stands: Wash your hands frequently and avoid close contact with people."" To be extra cautious, she writes, ""you can dispose of the outer packaging outside your home and wash your hands immediately after handling."" There isn’t evidence that leaving items in the sun can protect you from contracting the coronavirus. The best way to avoid COVID-19 is to wash your hands with soap and water, avoid touching your face, disinfect surfaces in your home daily and avoid close contact with people."
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4882
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Officials investigate possible meningitis case at NC college.
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Health officials in North Carolina are investigating a possible case of bacterial meningitis at Methodist University.
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true
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Meningitis, Health, General News, North Carolina, Fayetteville
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Officials in Cumberland County say the Department of Health was told Saturday that a person affiliated with the university was hospitalized with a “possible diagnosis of a bacterial meningitis infection.” They did not say if the ill individual is a student. Officials say they are coordinating with the school and the state to provide antibiotics to anyone who had direct close contact with the individual. The university sent a campus-wide notification Saturday. Meningitis is an infection of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. The bacteria that cause the infection can spread through kissing, coughing and sharing beverages. Signs and symptoms of infection include high fever, headache, stiff neck and a rash.
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340
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Without vaccine, hundreds of children die in Madagascar measles outbreak.
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Two months ago, giggles floated through the home of fisherman Dada as his four-year-old son played ball outside with his two younger cousins on one of Madagascar’s famed sun soaked beaches.
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true
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Health News
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A few weeks later, all three children were dead, victims of the worst measles outbreak on the Indian Ocean island in decades. Measles cases are on the rise globally, including in wealthy nations such as the United States and Germany, where some parents shun life-saving vaccines due to false theories suggesting links between childhood immunizations and autism. In Madagascar, one of the world’s poorest countries, parents are desperate to vaccinate their children, many trudging for miles to get to clinics for shots. But there are not enough vaccines, the health ministry says, and many people are too poor to afford them. Fisherman Dada – like many Malagasy, he only uses one name – had taken his son Limberaza to be vaccinated once already in their home in the southern district of Fort Dauphin. But a second-dose booster shot cost $15 at a clinic - and the whole family survives on less than $2 a day - so he took the boy to a back-street doctor instead. “I could not afford to take him to the hospital,” Dada said quietly as his young wife silently held Limberaza’s two-year-old brother. In January, Limberaza began to cough. A rash followed. After a week, he died, his body afire with fever. By then Dada’s niece, three-year-old Martina, was also sick. Her weeping mother Martine stroked her face as her fever spiked. She died eight days later. That evening, his other sister Pela’s three-year-old son Mario died as she clutched his hands. “They were so full of life,” Dada said, his voice breaking. The three cousins are among the almost 1,000 people, mostly children, who have died from measles in Madagascar since October. Their deaths show the grim reality for those left unprotected from one of the world’s most contagious diseases. The virus, which can cause blindness, pneumonia, brain swelling and death, is able to survive for up to two hours in the air after a cough or sneeze, where it can easily infect people nearby. Even though there is a highly effective vaccine, globally, around 110,000 people died from measles in 2017, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Most, like Limberaza and his cousins, were children under the age of five. During 2000 to 2017, the WHO estimates that widespread use of measles vaccinations prevented 21.1 million deaths - making the shots one of what the United Nations’ health agency calls the “best buys in public health.” Yet misinformation is knocking confidence in the safety of vaccinations and has jeopardized progress against measles - allowing the disease to gain a hold again in places where it was considered almost beaten. Europe last year saw its highest level of measles cases in a decade, and in January, the WHO named “vaccine hesitancy” - the reluctance or refusal to vaccinate - as one of the top ten global health threats for 2019. In Madagascar, poverty is a bigger risk. While wealthy tourists flock to its rainforests to spot wide-eyed lemurs and business people bargain for its luminous sapphires and fragrant vanilla, nearly half of Madagascar’s children are malnourished, the highest rate in Africa. The former French colony has been battered by decades of coups and instability. Foreign aid plummeted after a 2009 coup sparked bitter political street fighting. Corrupt leaders ignored the crumbling healthcare system despite frequent outbreaks of plague, hemorrhagic fevers and deadly viruses. Measles is endemic on the island but the last vaccination drive was in 2004. Nearly two-thirds of children have not been vaccinated, according to the WHO and coverage needs to be around 95 percent to prevent the virus spreading in communities. The country is $3 million short of the $7 million needed for enough measles vaccines to cover its population, the WHO said last month. There are other hurdles. The vaccines must be kept cold, but less than 15 percent of people in Madagascar have electricity. Roads are mostly mud in the tropical country; journeys are arduous and expensive. At least 922 people - mostly children - have died of measles in Madagascar since October, the WHO says, despite an emergency program that has vaccinated 2.2 million of the 26 million population so far. Some of those, like Limberaza, had previously been vaccinated but had only received one shot, and still needed a second booster jab. Madagascar hopes to roll out a free routine two-dose vaccination program this year. Currently, the first shot is free but the booster is not. Despite the difficulties, some parents walk miles seeking shots, said Jean Benoît Mahnes, deputy representative for the United Nations Children’s Fund in Madagascar. But they often arrive to find the clinic closed, or a doctor with no vaccine, or a vaccine that has expired. “Vaccinating a child can be a real obstacle course here,” he said. Lydia Rahariseheno, 33, said she had to walk an hour and a half to a clinic along a road plagued by robbers to get her three children vaccinated. She has only managed to get one shot so far because the doctor is often not there. The health system’s failures mean poverty-stricken parents often take sick children to traditional healers who prescribe a herb, tingotingo, which is boiled and given to them to drink. The children are only brought to a hospital when their condition deteriorates, said Manitra Rakotoarivony, director of health promotion at the Ministry of Public Health. Limberaza’s father hoped a second, cheaper shot would protect him - but it didn’t. His cousins Mario and Martine weren’t vaccinated at all. Now the family is desperate to protect their remaining children. “We did not expect the failure to vaccinate him would kill him,” wept Pela, Mario’s mother. “My other child, for sure, I am going to take him to get vaccinated.”
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12649
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Seven out of ten doctors are not taking any new Medicaid patients as lower reimbursement rates make it cost-prohibitive.
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"Campbell said: ""Seven out of ten doctors are not taking any new Medicaid patients as lower reimbursement rates make it cost-prohibitive."" Texas Medicaid payment rates indeed trail those for other kinds of insurance. But the crux of this statement, the 7-in-10 statistic, lacks factual footing partly because it combines different answers to an outdated Texas physician survey. In contrast, a 2016 national survey indicated about 2 in 10 U.S. physicians were not accepting Medicaid patients with about 6 in 10 accepting them. The same year, a survey found about four in 10 Texas doctors weren't accepting new Medicaid patients. It's worth noting, still, a 2017 study suggesting far more Texas specialists weren't accepting new Medicaid patients."
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false
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Health Care, Medicaid, Texas, Donna Campbell,
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"In a March 2017 email blast, a Texas state senator who's a physician said that in a meeting with President Donald Trump, she’d promoted federal block grants as a way to give states more sway over the costs of Medicaid, the decades-old federal-state insurance program for the poor and disabled. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, then declared: ""Seven out of ten doctors are not taking any new Medicaid patients as lower reimbursement rates make it cost-prohibitive."" Really? Let’s gauge physician acceptance of Medicaid patients, then the program's payments. A Senate aide to Campbell, Curtis Buckley, said by email that Campbell based her 7-out-of-10 statistic on a 2012 Texas Medical Association survey indicating 44 percent of doctors were declining new Medicaid patients, 26 percent limited such patients and 31 percent accepted new Medicaid patients without restriction. Indeed, in 2013, we found a claim tied to that survey that 31 percent of Texas physicians were accepting all new Medicaid patients. Those figures, we noted, were based on poll responses rather than hard numbers. There's fresher data. The group's 2016 survey, which we fielded from TMA spokesman Steve Levine, found 38 percent of physicans accepting no new Medicaid patients, 21 percent limiting such patients and 41 percent accepting new Medicaid patients without restriction. Both surveys, that is, indicated about four in 10 Texas practices not accepting new Medicaid patients. Levine, asked why the association surveys suggest some inching up in the share of Texas physicians accepting all Medicaid patients, said a factor was a provision in the 2010 Obamacare law that temporarily raised Medicaid rates paid for services by certain physicians. Buckley, Campbell’s aide, also pointed out a 2014 study by Merritt Hawkins, a Dallas-based health-focused consulting firm, testing Medicaid acceptance rates in Dallas and Houston. His nudge led us to find another Merritt Hawkins study, were released just before Campbell made her claim. It indicates that nationally as of early 2017, 53 percent of 1,414 contacted physician practices in major metro areas were accepting Medicaid insurance with 60 percent of 494 practices in mid-sized metro areas doing so. Acceptance rates were lower, though, in cities where different kinds of practices (cardiology, dermatology, obstetrics-gynecology, orthopedic surgery and family medicine) were queried by phone in January-February 2017. On average, 17 percent of Dallas practices, 26 percent of Odessa practices and 37 percent of Houston practices, respectively, reported accepting new Medicaid patients. The 2017 report said: ""The rate at which physicians accept Medicaid can vary for a number of reasons. In some cases, reimbursement rates provided by Medicaid to particular specialists may be below their cost of providing services. If not actually below costs, Medicaid reimbursement often is relatively low compared to that offered by other payers, and busy physicians may have no economic incentive to see Medicaid patients. In other cases, the process of billing for and receiving Medicaid payment can be problematic and some physicians choose to avoid it."" A Merritt Hawkins spokesman, Phil Miller, pointed us to yet another report, though its focus wasn't on acceptance of ""new"" Medicaid patients. The 2016 national survey of 17,200 physicians conducted by the company for the Physicians Foundation, which says it seeks to empower physicians to lead in the delivery of high-quality, cost-efficient healthcare, found 16 percent not seeing Medicaid patients, 20 percent limiting such patients and 64 percent accepting Medicaid patients. A chart based on the survey showed variations among states -- and that nearly 30 percent of Texas physicians did not accept Medicaid patients. State data Next, we asked the Texas Health and Human Services Commission for data on Texas physicians and Medicaid patients. By email, Christine Mann sent a spreadsheet indicating that in fiscal 2016, which ran through August 2016, 63,915 Texas physicians were enrolled in Medicaid, including 31,585 primary-care doctors. The sheet further says that as of September 2016, per the Texas Medical Board, 74,098 physicians were licensed to practice in Texas. So, about 85 percent of the state’s physicians had a connection to Medicaid, though Levine separately said that could overly represent doctors who only occasionally treat Medicaid patients in emergency rooms and in unusual circumstances. But the commission’s data showed that only 32,130 Texas physicians reported a paid Medicaid claim in fiscal 2016. Those doctors amounted to about 43 percent of physicians licensed to practice in the state. Yet there’s a twist to that too, Miller helped us recognize: Data tracked by the Texas Department of State Health Services shows that in 2016, the state had 50,948 ""direct patient care physicians,"" meaning doctors who worked directly with patients as opposed to those who were researchers, administrators or teachers. If you assume direct-care doctors predominantly submitted the tallied paid claims, then you can hypothesize that 63 percent of active physicians had a paid Medicaid claim. Levine commented: ""Still–having one Medicaid claim paid is not nearly the same as taking new (let alone all new) Medicaid patients."" Other analyses For broader perspective, we turned to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, which focuses on national health issues and said in a March 2017 web post that nationally, about 70 percent of office-based physicians accept new Medicaid patients. That figure is a little old; it traces to a 2015 study based on the 2013 National Electronic Health Records Survey, a nationally representative survey that collects information on physician and practice characteristics. According to the results, 68.9 percent of U.S. office-based physicians who accepted any new patients were accepting new Medicaid patients--with 57.6 percent of such Texas physicians doing so: We sought more recent data and Jeff Lancashire of the National Center for Health Statistics emailed us an excerpt from the 2015 NEHRS survey indicating 28.2 percent of primary-care physicians weren't accepting new Medicaid patients with 71.6 percent accepting such patients--with Texas-specific results yet to be posted, the center's Corey Slavitt told us. After Campbell made her statement, FactCheck.org, a fact-checking effort based at the University of Pennsylvania, posted a lengthy analysis of flaws in claims about low physician participation in Medicaid. ""There are no continuous measures on Medicaid participation,"" that story says, ""but federal statistics gathered over recent years show that the percentage of physicians accepting new Medicaid patients has remained around 70 percent,"" though the story says participation rates have been affected by differences in state-specific reimbursement rates. Medicaid fees Campbell’s aide, Buckley, said her reference to lower Medicaid fees tied to her professional background and her understanding that Medicaid fees have long been a factor in doctors not accepting or limiting new Medicaid patients. Buckley also pointed out a June 2016 analysis published by the TMA confirming that in Texas, ""reimbursement amounts for the same procedures differ among payers, with public payers (Medicare and Medicaid) setting a much lower rate than"" what private payers offer. Our hunt for expertise led us to Stephen Zuckerman, co-director of the Health Policy Center at the Washington, D.C.-based Urban Institute, which has surveyed state-set Medicaid fees since 1993. On March 5, 2017, the institute posted a report co-authored by Zuckerman indicating that in July 2016, Medicaid fees paid Texas physicians amounted, on average, to 65 percent of fees paid in the state by federally funded Medicare; nationally, Medicaid fees averaged 72 percent of Medicare fees. In Texas, the report says, Medicaid fees paid for primary care services in 2016 were 58 percent of Medicare fees; for obstetric services, 66 percent; and for other services, 85 percent. A chart in the report indicates 2016 Medicaid fees paid Texas physicians were up slightly, 0.2 percent, from 2014 and those fees amounted to 88 percent of average Medicaid fees paid nationally. By phone, Zuckerman said Medicaid’s relatively lower fees definitely influence some physician decisions to accept patients. Zuckerman said doctors also cite the hassles of signing up for Medicaid and submitting claims. Another expert, the Kaiser foundation’s Julia Paradise, said by phone that Medicaid fees and physician participation comprise part of the story. A broader issue, she said, is whether Medicaid beneficiaries have access to providers. In that vein, Zuckerman pointed out a University of Pennsylvania study published in March 2017 finding that in 2016, appointments could be scheduled by phone by Texas Medicaid patients with about 60 percent of primary-care physicians--an insignificant change from 2013, the researchers wrote. Texas private-pay patients were able to schedule appointments with more than 80 percent of primary-care physicians, the researchers found. Our ruling Campbell said: ""Seven out of ten doctors are not taking any new Medicaid patients as lower reimbursement rates make it cost-prohibitive."" Texas Medicaid payment rates indeed trail those for other kinds of insurance. But the crux of this statement, the 7-in-10 statistic, lacks factual footing partly because it combines different answers to an outdated Texas physician survey. In contrast, a 2016 national survey indicated about 2 in 10 U.S. physicians were not accepting Medicaid patients with about 6 in 10 accepting them. The same year, a survey found about four in 10 Texas doctors weren't accepting new Medicaid patients. It's worth noting, still, a 2017 study suggesting far more Texas specialists weren't accepting new Medicaid patients. – The statement contains an element of truth but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression."
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27870
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Photographs show an infant Egyptian girl with a second head.
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There had been ten previous surgical cases like Maged’s, but she was the only one to survive the procedure.
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true
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Fauxtography
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Images that appeared on the Internet in early 2005 were photographs of a 10-month-old Egyptian girl named Manar Maged who was born with craniopagus parasiticus, a very rare birth defect that develops when an embryo starts to split into identical twins but does not complete the process. Often the second, undeveloped twin forms as an extra limb or trunk, but in Magar’s extremely unusual case it formed as a second head attached to her skull. The twin could blink and smile but was not capable of independent life: On 19 February 2005, Manar underwent a 13-hour operation performed by a 13-member surgical team to remove her conjoined twin. As of mid-April 2005, Reuters reported that Manar had been transferred out of intensive care and was eating normally: “She has been transferred to ordinary care two weeks ago and she is showing good signs of improvement as she can eat normally without the aid of a tube,” said Abla el-Alfy, a consultant in the paediatric intensive care at Benha Children’s Hospital, north of Cairo. She said Manar’s mother was allowed to have direct contact with her baby after being separated for almost two months after the operation on Feb. 19. “Manar is bonding well with her mother,” Alfy said. Doctors have said Manar’s case was extremely rare and just surviving the operation was a big achievement. “I think she will be able to leave hospital as soon as we feel that her mother is capable of taking care of her,” said Alfy, adding that Maged’s medication was being reduced. Manar had five subsequent surgeries to insert valves to drain excess fluid from her brain. Unfortunately, on 25 March 2006, a little over a year after her original surgery, and just days shy of what would have been her 2nd birthday, Manar Maged died. During the few hours she was in the hospital prior to her death, she was found to be suffering from a brain infection, pneumonia, and heart trouble. Her condition deteriorated rapidly after she failed to respond to medication.
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12498
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Barack Obama arrested in a Japanese drug bust.
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Conspiracy theorists concoct fake report of Obama arrest for drug smuggling
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false
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Fake news, PunditFact, Bloggers,
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"A fake news story that said former President Barack Obama was busted for his links to a drug smuggling operation is part of an extensive and completely unsupported conspiracy theory popularized online. A May 2, 2017, headline on AmericanFlavor.news declared, ""Just in: Barack Obama arrested in a Japanese drug bust."" The story was flagged by Facebook users, as part of the social media site’s efforts to cut down on fake reports in its users’ news feeds. The post was exceptionally short, saying that Obama had ""informed on his drug-dealing bosses,"" citing ""Japanese military intelligence."" It explained that ""an airplane filled with Afghan Heroin and North Korean amphetamines was impounded at Argyle International Airport on St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean."" Obama had been arrested for some unspecified connection to a ship that was carrying more than 4 tons of cocaine. The proceeds of the future drug sales were to fund ISIS, the post read. The story is nonsense, because obviously Obama had not been arrested. And he was too busy negotiating $400,000 for speaking appearances to smuggle cocaine. The AmericanFlavor.news post was the latest stop for a conspiracy theory that goes back a few weeks. The article linked to a YouTube video: The video was created by Denise Stark, a conspiracy theorist who was citing an online radio show called Stillness in the Storm, a show its creators describe as ""an ongoing conversation about world events, hidden truths, and empowering information."" Stillness in the Storm’s website linked to a blog post written by Benjamin Fulford, who on March 31 had written the piece that later appeared on AmericanFlavor.news. Stillness in the Storm had warned on its site that ""Fulford's claims should not be considered to be true without substantiation."" Fulford, in turn, used his original post to link to a March 15 screed on WhatDoesItMean.com, a site rife with conspiratorial meanderings. The essay said that Obama had some nebulous link to a fishing boat called Lady Michelle, which had been busted in the Caribbean while smuggling cocaine. The post was written by Sorcha Faal, the pseudonym of a conspiracy theorist with a series of posts on WhatDoesItMean.com. Faal’s post makes some pretty big leaps in logic, including that George W. Bush and Obama operated cocaine-smuggling operations and that U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions had ordered their arrest. The photo that accompanied Faal’s post was of a ship called Lady Michelle, which had been stopped by the U.S. Coast Guard off the shore of Suriname on Feb. 16, 2017. Four Guyanese men were arrested for transporting 4.2 tons of cocaine worth about $125 million. There’s no mention of Japan, or any connection to Obama. Previously PunditFact had checked a claim that Obama was arrested at the Canadian border for wiretrapping Trump, which earned a rating. This post also is contrived, stemming from unfounded conspiracy theories that drew ridiculous conclusions and made provably untrue claims."
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34047
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"U.S. President Donald Trump said people with Down syndrome ""risk being subjected to the too-often terminations of their lives before birth."
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Prenatal screening tests performed beginning at around 10 weeks’ gestation can provide an estimate of the risk of a given child being born with Down syndrome, which may then factor into a parental decision to terminate the pregnancy. According to the most recent data available, the rate at which parents choose to terminate a pregnancy after a Down syndrome diagnosis is about 68 percent in the United States. A 2015 study estimated that between 2006 and 2010, approximately 3,100 Down syndrome-related elective pregnancy terminations were performed in the U.S. annually.
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true
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Politics
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In October 2019, during a month celebrated annually since the 1980s as Down Syndrome Awareness Month, Snopes received inquiries about the authenticity of a quote attributed to U.S. President Donald Trump. It was shared in meme form on social media as follows: “Those thought to have Down syndrome also risk being subjected to the too-often terminations of their lives before birth. Every human life possesses immeasurable value, and my Administration will continue to embrace and defend the inherent truth that all of God’s children should be loved and cherished.” The quote is correctly attributed. It consists of two sentences drawn from Trump’s Oct. 1 presidential message on Down Syndrome Awareness Month, presented in full below: Presidential Message on Down Syndrome Awareness Month, 2019 Issued on: October 1, 2019 During Down Syndrome Awareness Month, Melania and I join in celebrating the lives and achievements of Americans with Down syndrome. We thank individuals with Down syndrome for their incredible contributions to their families, their communities, and our great Nation, and we pledge to empower them to achieve their full potential. My Administration also renews its commitment to bring attention to and a deeper understanding of the challenges these remarkable Americans face, including their struggle against discrimination. Those thought to have Down syndrome also risk being subjected to the too-often terminations of their lives before birth. Each year, approximately 6,000 babies are born in the United States with Down syndrome. Though these newborns will experience many challenges, American innovation and research are helping these beautiful souls lead independent, full, and happy lives. My Administration is dedicated to fostering opportunities for persons with Down syndrome, so they are better able to participate in our workforce and pursue their dreams. Every human life possesses immeasurable value, and my Administration will continue to embrace and defend the inherent truth that all of God’s children should be loved and cherished. This month is an important opportunity for Americans to reaffirm our commitment to creating a society that better appreciates and respects the dignity of life at all of its beautiful and miraculous stages. We must devote our efforts to ensure that the United States continues to exhibit reverence for human life—both born and unborn. Together, we can create an inclusive Nation, one where Americans with Down syndrome are embraced in schools, workplaces, and communities—one where discrimination can no longer cast a shadow of inequality. Our country is incredibly enriched by Americans with Down syndrome. As a Nation, we are inspired by the spirit and exuberant joy with which these treasured Americans live each day. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), approximately 6,000 babies (1 in 700) are born in the U.S. each year with Down syndrome, a genetic condition in which a person has an extra chromosome. It affects how an infant’s body and brain develop, potentially creating both mental and physical challenges for persons born with the condition.
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10409
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Concussion-Related Measures Improved in High School Football Players Who Drank New Chocolate Milk, UMD Study Shows
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Got facts? They are almost absent from this boastful release touting vague neurological benefits of a specific chocolate milk. The release says high school football players, including some who suffered concussions, who drank the milk improved their scores on a computer-based concussion evaluation, but the release not only doesn’t say how much improvement was seen, it doesn’t even say which of the 36 measurements in the test improved. The release highlights the protein, calcium and electrolyte content of the milk, without ever mentioning each serving also contains the equivalent of eight teaspoons of sugar. Perhaps the most worrisome aspect of this case is the status of the “study” it is based on. The study does not appear to have been independently reviewed or published. This review and a related blog post calling attention to the issues raised within have sparked much news coverage and led to a University of Maryland investigation into policies surrounding research quality, conflict of interest, and public relations. More links to our coverage can be found here. This quote from the release eloquently demonstrates why it matters: “There is nothing more important than protecting our student-athletes,” said Clayton Wilcox, superintendent of Washington County Public Schools. “Now that we understand the findings of this study, we are determined to provide Fifth Quarter Fresh to all of our athletes.” There are real consequences to PR spin of health research. If this story were to gain traction, it may further the health haloing of a beverage that drop per drop has more calories and nearly as much sugar as Coca-Cola. [Editor’s note: This review initially stated, incorrectly, that 5th Quarter Fresh has more sugar, drop per drop, than Coca-Cola. This milk in fact has 3 g of sugar per ounce, compared with 3.25 g per ounce for Coca Cola. However, children would ingest more total sugar from a bottle of the chocolate milk compared with a can of Coke because of the larger serving size (14 oz vs. 12 oz).]
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false
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University news release
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The price of the chocolate milk product used in this study is not mentioned, even though it is being sold to schools. The release says that high school football players who drank the chocolate milk had higher scores after the season on nine of 36 measures in a computer-based concussion evaluation, and that among the players who suffered a concussion, those who were drinking the milk had improved scores on four measures compared to those who didn’t drink the milk. But the release doesn’t say how much difference there was or even which measures showed positive changes. Potential harms are not mentioned. While a chocolate milk product may seem benign, the release could have referred to the fact that each serving of this product contains as much sugar as the total daily intake of added sugar recommended for an adult man (and almost twice the amount recommended for women) by the American Heart Association. The release, which touts the protein, calcium and electrolyte content of the product, and notes that it is “fat-free”, should not have hidden the sugar content. Then there is the harm of believing that downing chocolate milk could protect a teenager’s brain from harmful effects of a concussion. Concussions in high school football games and practices are especially dangerous, sometimes even fatal, when a player gets hit a second time within a few days after an initial concussion. If a belief in protective effects of chocolate milk lead to teenagers being put back in the game too soon after a hard hit, the consequences could be devastating. Product label: http://dairymaiddairy.com/products/fifth-quarter-fresh/ AHA “Sugar 101” information sheet: http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/NutritionCenter/HealthyEating/Sugar-101_UCM_306024_Article.jsp CDC Sports Concussion Policies and Laws: http://www.cdc.gov/headsup/policy/ The news release not only fails to explain the quality of the evidence, it misleads readers by highlighting claims that were not tested. For example, readers are led to believe that this chocolate milk product is somehow superior to other varieties of milk, but the study did not measure intake of other milk. The release does not even say whether the study included a placebo control. And about that “study”… according to a representative Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS) program, the research has not been peer-reviewed or published, so it has not been examined by any independent experts. This release might be the opposite of disease-mongering. As mentioned in the “harms” section, promoting belief in a protective effect of chocolate milk could lead someone to minimize the danger of a concussion. It’s safe to assume that the Fifth Quarter Fresh company was closely involved, but the release does not explain the nature of the relationship. The release says the study was made possible by the Maryland Industrial Partnerships program, but it does not say whether Fifth Quarter Fresh provided any additional funding or free product. There are no disclosures about any relationships between the researchers and the company, including whether they could profit from any sales boost following the use of research results in marketing campaigns. Also, did the company have any involvement in the design, conduct or reporting of the study and its results? The release doesn’t say. The release promotes the belief that this chocolate milk product provides benefits that other products do not… yet the study did not actually compare this product to any others. The release mentions an earlier study that compared this product to “commercial workout recovery drinks”, but those drinks apparently did not include any other types of milk. The release says the product is bottled by Dairy Maid Dairy, but there is no information about whether it is available in stores. Other news reports indicate that it is sold only to schools. There are other studies listed on www.PubMed.gov that look into the potential effects of chocolate milk on athletic performance. None of this background is mentioned in the release. Even so, we fail to see how other athletic performance studies (conflicted as many are) and the lone study linked which looked at the effect of dietary branched chain amino acids on mice cognition, bolsters the claims of a study purportedly designed to look at concussion recovery in high school athletes. The release paints a picture of benefits that goes far beyond any specific research results that are provided. The most troubling comment comes from a local school official who says that based on this study the school district plans to provide this commercial milk product to all athletes, because “There is nothing more important than protecting our student-athletes”.
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3703
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50 children killed by measles in Samoa as outbreak worsens.
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Samoa’s government said Monday that another five children had died within the past day from a measles outbreak, bringing the death toll from the epidemic to more than 50 as authorities race to vaccinate the entire population.
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true
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Samoa, Health, Measles, General News, New Zealand, Epidemics, Asia Pacific, International News
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Samoa declared a national emergency last month and mandated that all 200,000 people living on the South Pacific island nation get vaccinated. The government has closed all schools and banned children from public gatherings. In all, 53 people have died in the outbreak since late October, including one adult and two older teenagers. Most of those who have died have been babies and young infants, including 23 children aged less than 1 and 25 children aged between 1 and 4. The government said more than 1,100 people have been admitted to hospitals since the outbreak began and about 180 people remain hospitalized. Among those hospitalized are 19 children who are in critical condition. Samoan authorities believe the virus was first spread by a traveler from New Zealand. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday that her country was doing everything it could to help curb the epidemic, including sending more than 50 medical professionals and thousands of vaccines to Samoa. Other countries including Britain have also sent teams and supplies. Ardern said the natural curve of infection rates meant that “sometimes things can be worse before they are better.” Figures from the World Health Organization and UNICEF indicate that fewer than 30% of Samoan infants were immunized last year. That low rate was exacerbated by a medical mishap that killed two babies who were administered a vaccine that had been incorrectly mixed, causing wider delays and distrust in the vaccination program. The government said about 33,000 people were vaccinated before last month and since then, another 58,000 people have been vaccinated. The World Health Organization has set a target of wiping out measles from most of the world by next year. It says the disease is entirely preventable thanks to a safe vaccine that has been in use since the 1960s, and that measles deaths worldwide decreased by 84% between 2000 and 2016 to about 90,000 annually thanks to better immunization.
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5120
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Whitefish man reaches plea agreement in father’s stabbing.
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A Whitefish man has reached a plea agreement in the July 2018 stabbing death of his father.
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true
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Homicide, Mental health, Health, Kalispell, Montana
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Attorney Will Managhan filed court records saying 27-year-old Tanner Hosek planned to plead guilty to mitigated deliberate homicide by reason of mental disorder. An autopsy found 65-year-old Eric Hosek had been stabbed 10 times. Tanner Hosek’s change-of-plea hearing is set for Nov. 7. He is expected to appear via video from the Montana State Hospital, where he has been committed since last year. Court records say Tanner Hosek has long struggled with mental health issues and has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. He was a ward of his parents as the time of his father’s death. Linda Hosek told investigators her son had been in a psychotic state for two weeks prior to the stabbing.
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35198
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"In 2016 Mike Bloomberg said he ""could teach anybody to be a farmer"" but information technology required ""a lot more gray matter."
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Despite the significant volume of words, Bloomberg’s basic argument can reasonably be summarized as follows: Income inequality is not as chronic as it was in the past, but is still a significant problem. The primary cause for concern is educational inequality, and in particular the extent to which older people who previously worked in agriculture and in relatively low-skilled manual work can transition to participating in the information economy.
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true
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Politics
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In February 2020, we received multiple inquiries from readers about remarks attributed to U.S. presidential candidate and former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg, in which the billionaire businessman appeared to say he could teach “anybody” to be a farmer, but that information technology required greater intelligence. On Feb. 16, Wisconsin Republican official Anna Kelly posted a 60-second clip of Bloomberg to Twitter, writing: “Billionaire Bloomberg claims he ‘could teach anybody to be a farmer,’ even implying that farmers don’t have the same level of ‘skill set’ or ‘grey matter’ as folks in tech jobs. So demeaning, elitist, and out-of-touch it’s appalling.” Her post was retweeted by Donald Trump Jr., son of President Donald Trump. The younger Trump added: “Bloomberg wouldn’t last 3 seconds as a farmer… you can tell he really hates regular hardworking Americans. He will never fight for them because he couldn’t care less about them.” In the clip, Bloomberg can be heard saying: “I could teach anybody — even people in this room, no offense intended — to be a farmer. It’s a [process]: you dig a hole, you put a seed in, you put dirt on top, add water, up comes the corn.” Later, he contrasts the nature of that work with that of the “information economy”: “[…] The information economy is fundamentally different because it’s built around replacing people with technology and the skill sets that you have to learn are how to think and analyze, and that is a whole degree level different. You have to have to have a different skill set, you have to have a lot more gray matter.” Bloomberg wouldn’t last 3 seconds as a farmer… but like his comments on minorities, you can tell he really hates regular hardworking Americans. He will never fight for them because he couldn’t care less about them. https://t.co/03CmskF5Vn — Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) February 17, 2020 The 60-second clip, and Bloomberg’s remarks, garnered widespread coverage and prompted an angry response from some right-leaning observers. In an interview with Fox News, South Dakota’s Republican Gov. Kristi Noem accused Bloomberg of exhibiting “pompous ignorance” in his comments. The video footage contained in Kelly’s Twitter post, and subsequently shared widely online, was authentic and not doctored. Although clearly it was cut from a much longer video, its removal from its original context did not substantively alter its tone or sense, nor deprive the viewer of context which might significantly change or impinge upon their understanding of Bloomberg’s remarks. As such, the claim that Bloomberg had said he could “teach anybody to be a farmer” and that information technology work required “more gray matter” was accurate. The original video was recorded at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School on Nov. 17, 2016. Bloomberg appeared there as part of the school’s “Distinguished Speaker Seminar Series.” The full video can be viewed on YouTube, below. When he made his remarks about farming and technology, Bloomberg was responding to a question, placed by an audience member, about the role of business leaders in addressing or alleviating public perceptions of economic inequality, especially in the context of Trump’s 2016 election victory, which had taken place only days earlier. The following is a complete transcript of that question, and Bloomberg’s full response. The segment shown in the 60-second clip is in bold type: Ewen Hollingsworth: Ewen Hollingsworth, doing my MBA here. Mr. Bloomberg, Trump got in on a great sense of inequality, not just in the United States but across the world. There’s been a divide, and there’s an increasing divide, between the haves and the have-nots. What do you think business leaders — what’s their responsibility to addressing that divide and uniting, perhaps, the central America [read: ‘Middle America’] and the coasts? Mike Bloomberg: Well, number one, I question whether you’re right. We have, in the last four decades, cut poverty in half in the world, if you measure poverty by people who go to bed without a roof over their head, a meal in their stomach and [who] can’t read. So society is making some progress. Life expectancy is going up, we’re [inaudible] cure more diseases, and we’re about to eradicate — thanks to [Bill] Gates and a little bit of money from us — eradicate polio. So we’re doing some things to help. Number two, the bottom 20% is a lot better off than the bottom 20% in the past. The bottom 20% in America — the bottom 20% in New York City, 80% have cars, 30% have two cars, virtually everybody has a cellphone, they all have 72-inch TV screens and sort of thing. So there is some of this, so you’ve got to be careful in this. And, incidentally, before we address the basic issue, if you measure poverty by the top 1% versus the bottom 20%, you get very different numbers than if you measure it by the two to 20% down from the top here, and the bottom 20%. Because of very low interest rates, you have inflated values of fixed assets, which are almost always owned by the very wealthy, and so, they’ve shot up — maybe it’s the top 5% — but if you adjusted for that, it’s not as disparate as you would think. So that’s what the real world is. We have a problem of income inequality, nevertheless. I would argue what’s more important is we have educational inequality. There was a story on the front page of the FT [Financial Times] today, I think it was, that said there’s nobody from the poor districts of London that comes to this great school, one of the great universities of the whole world, and zero from poor neighborhoods, at least I assume the statistics are right and they didn’t just cherry-pick one neighborhood. So that is more important than net worth because that says what the future is going to be for the young people. Having said all of that, you can fix the inequality. You take money from the rich and you give it to the poor. We’ve always done that, we have a tax system, generally, around the world, that is graduated at the top end, progressive tax system, takes more money from the rich per capita and redistributes it. Tuition in a university, in America certainly, is a Robin Hood plan. You want — the kids are always on the wrong side of that, they always want lower tuition, no you don’t, you want to raise tuition in the university, as high as you can, so the wealthy will contribute more money, and then use the extra money to subsidize those kids who have no money. If you reduce the amount of money you take in from the rich, it’s the poor that get hurt, not helped. So some of these things are a little bit counterintuitive. But you take the money from the rich, you give it to the poor, you do it for altruistic reasons, you do it because you don’t want the poor on your doorstep and there are a variety of things. But I think what you’ve got to understand is the people who are getting the subsidy want the dignity of a job. They want the dignity of being responsible for their family and being able to take care of it. And that’s the conundrum we’re going to have here because technology is reducing the ability to give them the jobs. We just — more and more, if you think about it, the agrarian society lasted 3,000 years, and we could teach processes. I could teach anybody — even people in this room, no offense intended — to be a farmer. It’s a [process]. You dig a hole, you put a seed in, you put dirt on top, add water, up comes the corn. You could learn that. Then you have 300 years of the industrial society. You put the piece of metal on the lathe, you turn the crank in the direction of the arrow and you can have a job. And we created a lot of jobs. [At] one point, 98% of the world worked in agriculture, today it’s 2%, in the United States. Now comes the information economy. And the information economy is fundamentally different because it’s built around replacing people with technology, and the skill sets that you have to learn are how to think and analyze. And that is a whole degree level different. You have to have a different skill set, you have to have a lot more gray matter. It’s not clear that teachers can teach or the students can learn. So the challenge for society is to find jobs for these people — who we can take care of giving them a roof over their head and a meal in their stomach, and a cellphone and a car and that sort of thing. But the thing that’s the most important, that will stop them from setting up the guillotines some day, is the dignity of a job. And nobody’s yet come up with a simple solution, in this day and age, to how we create jobs, particularly for people already out of school. I can tell you how to fix the school system so that the kids come out with better skills, more ability to appreciate life and to work collaboratively and collectively and read the instruction manual and follow orders. But it’s very hard to figure out where the jobs they’re going to get will come from, and for those that are already out in the work force, to get them back into the system and teach them new skill sets, is almost impossible. It’s very very hard to do and nobody’s really shown they could it. There’s individual cases where you can retrain them, I don’t want to overstate it. But the coal miner I talked about in West Virginia is not going to move, and his family, out to California where the solar jobs are, and even if he got there he’s not going to get those jobs. Nobody’s going to hire an older person. It’s fascinating to me — older people are always willing to hire younger people; younger people are not willing to hire older people. I think it’s just they’re afraid of older people that may have skill sets they don’t have, and you know, they make fun of them, they say they’re not able to change and think — none of those things are true, there are plenty of older people who are really smart and really can do new things if you gave them the opportunity. But there’s a discrimination from young managers to hire older people. It’s reasonably well documented I think, and certainly observable. So your basic premise is, it’s not that bad, it’s better than it was before, but it’s a big problem and the problem is not the redistribution of wealth, it is the job where you’re going every day. And you say ‘What’s business’s responsibility?’ It’s not business’s job. Business’s job is to take the investors’ money and to maximize the money by creating products that the public wants and are willing to pay for. And you can’t say to them they should go and create jobs deliberately. You can have a tax policy that encourages that, and that’s one of the things you should do, and then use the collective wisdom of all of the heads of companies, to create small pockets, and it adds up to a lot of jobs. That’s what I would do right away. Your taxes are lower the more people you hire, and higher the fewer people you hire. And let capitalism work, because government’s not going to be able to solve the problem directly. But short of that, who’s going to create the jobs? Well if it’s not industry, there’s only one group left to do it. And so the next time you want more efficient government, think twice. I’m not so sure you do want more efficient government. Back in the ’30s, we created an inefficient government. We put people to work building infrastructure we needed. They weren’t maybe the — you could have had other people do it more efficiently but we wanted to create jobs and we did, and it took us — World War II was really what took us out of the Depression, but it got us through the Depression. And maybe that is the answer, that we’re going to say ‘government’s got to create no-show jobs,’ or jobs that you have to show but that aren’t needed. We can pass a law that says you’ve got to move all the paper from the left to the right side of the building every day, and back again. Okay. And then the government are going to hire people to do it. But it’s better than people being out on the streets, desperate for a job, not being able to find it, [destabilizing] society.”
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37916
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Jeepers Creepers last woke up in 1997... & he rises every 23 years.... 2020...... at this point I won't be surprised seeing him.
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A viral meme maintained that “Jeepers Creepers last woke up in 1997″ and “he rises every 23 years,” the latter part of the claim being true. The meme was one of innumerable posts about 2020 being a “bad year,” with the joke hinging on 2020 also being 23 years since 1997, the year Jeepers Creepers‘ monster last “woke up.” However, Jeepers Creepers was released and presumably set in 2001, making his next likely appearance — as the 2003 review excerpted above noted — in 2024, not 2020.
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false
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Fact Checks, Viral Content
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On August 29 2020, the Facebook page “90’s Kids Only” shared the following post concerning the film Jeepers Creepers — and purported film lore that holds its monster “rose every 23 years,” most recently in 1997:Black text against a white background read:Jeepers Creepers last woke up in 1997… & he rises every 23 years…. 2020…… at this point I won’t be surprised seeing him.Two days prior, identical text was shared in a very popular tweet:Jeepers Creepers last woke up in 1997… & he rises every 23 years…. 2020…… at this point I won’t be surprised seeing him.— carpe diem✨ (@iloveironmom) August 27, 2020Jeepers Creepers’ PlotAccording to a Fandom.com page for the original Jeepers Creepers, the film debuted in 2001 (not 1997):Jeepers Creepers is a 2001 horror film written and directed by Victor Salva. The movie takes its name from the song “Jeepers Creepers” which is featured in the movie. Incidentally, the song was first featured in the Warner Bros. film Going Places, which at one time was owned by this film’s distributor United Artists (along with the rest of the pre-1950 Warner library).A “Plot” section of the same page explains the beginning of the film, and establishes the “every 23 years” element of the claim:Darry Jenner and his sister Trish Jenner were coming home from college to visit their family for spring break. As they drove through the North Florida countryside in Trish’s 1960 Chevrolet Impala, they played a game of guessing the meaning of vanity license plates (such as 6A4EVR being “Sexy Forever”). After passing an RV, a mysterious driver in a rusty old delivery truck–with the license plate BEATNGU–tried to run them off the road. After a stressful moment with Darry trying to convince the driver to go around, the truck finally passed them by. Afterward, Darry tried to guess the meaning of the vanity plate, assuming it read “Beating You.” The two then began talking about two students, named Kenny and Darla, who disappeared while driving on the same road 23 years prior.The brother and sister in the film then stop to use a restroom near an abandoned church, stumbling upon a grisly scene and multiple bodies. Darry, the brother, “found a dying boy, with a huge stitch across his torso”; the “boy tried to tell him something but was unable to before he died.”They then decide to go to a diner to contact police:Finding a diner, Darry called the police. While waiting for the cops to arrive, they received a phone call at the pay phone in the diner. The lady identified Darry’s rose tattoo and knew his name. She plays the song “Jeepers Creepers” on the phone, and told them that when they hear that song, they need to run. Badly frightened, Darry cursed at the woman and hung up. […]In order to verify the story, the police escorted Darry and Trish back to the church. Unknown to them, the police received a report that the church was being burned down. While they were driving along, the man from the truck attacked and killed the police. Leaving their car to investigate, Darry and Trish saw the man pick up an officer’s head and try to eat his tongue. Terrified, they got back into their car and fled.Jeepers Creepers was followed by two additional movies in the same universe — Jeepers Creepers 2 and Jeepers Creepers 3.A Fandom.com page for the “Creeper” character noted he was active “every 23 years for 23 days,” but we were unable to find anything indicating that the film was set specifically in 1997. The film was the subject of much examination among horror buffs in the 19 years between 2001 and 2020, including a January 2020 ScreenRant.com piece about the titular character’s mysterious origin:The Creeper is an ancient monster, and from far away it can sometimes be mistaken for a person, thanks to the coat, hat, pants – and sometimes – boots ensemble it wears to blend in when hunting. Once up close though, it’s clear The Creeper is far from human, although it does have some humanoid qualities, and would appear to be the male of its species, assuming there are any more like it. Exactly when The Creeper was born, or exactly what it is – many believe it to be a demon of some kind – remain unclear, but a deleted scene from Jeepers Creepers 2 confirms that the monster has at least been around and claiming victims since medieval times.No results of a time-restricted search appeared to suggest the last 23-year cycle occurred in 1997, per the film’s lore.A scathing Arizona Daily Star review of Jeepers Creepers 2 published on August 29 2003 included a reference to the year in which the original Jeepers Creepers was purportedly set — 2001:It’s tough enough to figure why the nonsensical, unimaginative 2001 horror film “Jeepers Creepers” had to be made, let alone its unasked-for sequel.The rail-thin story of “Jeepers Creepers 2”: a winged, sharp-toothed, invulnerable monster who gets to feed on human flesh for 23 days every 23 years terrorizes a farm, then moves on to stalk a bus carrying a high-school basketball team. […]Among questions that pop up throughout: If the Creeper can only come out every 23 years, and he was last out in 2001, shouldn’t this movie be set in 2024? Why don’t any of these kids call for help on cell phones? If the Creeper is strong enough to punch one hole in the bus, why doesn’t he punch another? But the biggest enigma is: Why is this movie in theaters?Like the reviewer, we found no explicit reference to support the claim original Jeepers Creepers was set in 1997, rather than the year in which it came out, 2001.TL;DRA viral meme maintained that “Jeepers Creepers last woke up in 1997″ and “he rises every 23 years,” the latter part of the claim being true. The meme was one of innumerable posts about 2020 being a “bad year,” with the joke hinging on 2020 also being 23 years since 1997, the year Jeepers Creepers‘ monster last “woke up.” However, Jeepers Creepers was released and presumably set in 2001, making his next likely appearance — as the 2003 review excerpted above noted — in 2024, not 2020.Comments
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1950
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Obesity to worsen, weigh heavily on healthcare costs.
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Obesity is most widespread in Britain and the United States among the world’s leading economies and if present trends continue, about half of both men and women in the United States will be obese by 2030, health experts warned on Friday.
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true
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Health News
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"Clifford Clark, weighing 485 pounds waits in line for an open casting call for season 11 of ""The Biggest Loser"" television show in Broomfield, Colorado July 17, 2010. REUTERS/Rick Wilking Obesity is fast replacing tobacco as the single most important preventable cause of chronic non-communicable diseases, and will add an extra 7.8 million cases of diabetes, 6.8 million cases of heart disease and stroke, and 539,000 cases of cancer in the United States by 2030. Some 32 percent of men and 35 percent of women are now obese in the United States, according to a research team led by Claire Wang at the Mailman School of Public Health in Columbia University in New York. They published their findings in a special series of four papers on obesity in The Lancet. In Britain, obesity rates will balloon to between 41-48 percent for men and 35-43 percent for women by 2030 from what is now 26 percent for both sexes, they warned. “An extra 668,000 cases of diabetes, 461,000 of heart disease and 130,000 cancer cases would result,” they wrote. Due to overeating and insufficient exercise, obesity is now a growing problem everywhere and experts are warning about its ripple effects on health and healthcare spending. Obesity raises the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, various cancers, hypertension, high cholesterol, among others. Because of obesity, the United States can expect to spend an extra 2.6 percent on its overall healthcare bill, or $66 billion per year, while Britain’s bill will grow by 2 percent, or 2 billion per year, Wang and colleagues warned. In Japan and China, 1 in 20 women is obese, compared with 1 in 10 in the Netherlands, 1 in 4 in Australia and 7 in 10 in Tonga, according to another paper led by Boyd Swinburn and Gary Sacks of the WHO Collaborating Center for Obesity Prevention at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia. Worldwide, around 1.5 billion adults are overweight and a further 0.5 billion are obese, with 170 million children classified as overweight or obese. Obesity takes up between 2 to 6 percent of healthcare costs in many countries. “Increased supply of cheap, tasty, energy-dense food, improved food distribution and marketing, and the strong economic forces driving consumption and growth are the key drivers of the obesity epidemic,” Swinburn and Sacks wrote. The health experts urged governments to lead the fight in reversing the obesity epidemic. “These include taxes on unhealthy food and drink (such as sugar sweetened beverages) and restrictions on food and beverage TV advertising to children,” wrote a team led by Steven Gortmaker at the Harvard School of Public Health, which published the fourth paper in the series."
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12085
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"North Carolina is home to ""two rivers of the top five most polluted rivers"" in the U.S."
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"Richardson said that N.C. is home to two of the ""top five"" most-polluted rivers in the state. His assistant acknowledged that he might've misquoted the American Rivers ""most endangered"" list – but PolitiFact looked around to see if other data might support his claim. There’s evidence that the Neuse River and Cape Fear River, in particular, are threatened not only by waste from local farms but by a chemical that state regulators want to investigate. However, PolitiFact found no basis for Richardson’s claim that North Carolina rivers rank among the top five most polluted in the United States."
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false
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Environment, North Carolina, Billy Richardson,
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"It’s one thing to say a couple of North Carolina’s rivers — the Neuse and the Cape Fear — are in danger of becoming very polluted. A report from one reputable environmental advocacy group supports that, and other groups are worried too. It’s another thing to say what state Rep. William ""Billy"" Richardson said about the Cape Fear and Neuse Rivers on Aug. 31. Richardson, a Fayetteville Democrat, urged his fellow legislators to commit more funding to the state Department of Environmental Quality during a speech on the state House floor. ""There are 250,000 rivers in this country,"" Richardson said. ""Two rivers of the top five most polluted rivers are right here in North Carolina."" He was referring to the Cape Fear and the Neuse. Are the Cape Fear and the Neuse among America’s top five most-polluted rivers? And where is this ""most polluted rivers"" list he alludes to? We’ll get to that. First, some background on why Richardson and others, including Gov. Roy Cooper, are so worried about the Cape Fear, in particular. This summer it came to light that the Chemours plant near Fayetteville may have improperly dumped a chemical called GenX into the Cape Fear, which provides drinking water for much of southeastern North Carolina. GenX is used to make Teflon, the nonstick substance that Chemours makes at its Fayetteville Works plant. The state is accusing the company and its predecessor, DuPont, of failing to inform regulators that they were releasing GenX into the river — and earlier this month the state sued Chemours over the discharges. Meanwhile, Cooper and other Democratic legislators want to allot more resources to DEQ so the department can research the spill’s effects. But they’re mad because the Republican-controlled legislature in June cut DEQ’s budget by $1.8 million over the next two years, and DEQ’s leader says the department doesn’t have the funds needed to deal with the Cape Fear chemical pollution long-term. Enter Richardson and his claim about North Carolina being home to two of the top five ""most polluted"" rivers in the country. The dangers of hog waste Richardson wasn't immediately available for comment. His assistant, Leigh Lawrence, said Richardson was referencing the 2017 edition of the American Rivers organization’s annual ""America’s most endangered rivers"" list. The list ranks the Cape Fear and Neuse together as the seventh most endangered rivers in America. On the phone, Lawrence acknowledged that Richardson might’ve misspoke but that he ""cares deeply"" about the environment, referencing a bill he filed earlier this year to try to protect part of the Cape Fear from regulation rollbacks. Richardson, for his part, later called PolitiFact to say that he once saw a list of America's most polluted rivers that supports his argument – but that he's had trouble finding it. Regardless of any lists or rankings, he said, the rivers have serious issues that need to be addressed. ""My intention was not to mislead anyone,"" Richardson said. ""Between the numerous articles that point to the troubles on the Neuse and Cape fear basin ... and then you throw in GenX, it’s clear we’ve got a huge issue that we’re not dealing with."" Nonetheless, American Rivers told PolitiFact that their ""most endangered"" list shouldn’t be viewed as a ""most polluted"" list. In fact, the first page of the report says: ""This report is not a list of the nation’s 'worst' or most polluted rivers, but rather it highlights rivers confronted by critical decisions that will determine their future."" ""The big difference between ’most polluted’ and ‘most endangered’ is that when we list a river as ‘most endangered’ it is because there is a decision that is coming up that depending on how that decision is made will have a major impact on the river,"" said Peter Raabe, the group’s conservation director for rivers of Southern Appalachia and the Carolinas. In this case, American Rivers is calling on state lawmakers to restore funding to a program that helps farmers move hog waste lagoons out of the floodplain. Hog waste lagoons are outdoor basins where farmers store hog waste. The group’s ""most endangered"" report doesn’t mention GenX, but is very concerned about hog waste getting into the rivers. The Neuse and Cape Fear River basins ""have endured two 500-year floods from hurricanes in less than 20 years, during which dozens of animal waste lagoons within the 100-year floodplain were flooded or breached, discharging millions of gallons of raw animal waste directly into the rivers,"" the report says. Hurricane Matthew, specifically ""partially submerged 10 industrial hog facilities with 39 barns, 26 large chicken-raising operations with 102 barns, and 14 open-air pits holding millions of gallons of liquid hog manure, releasing untreated waste directly into the rivers."" The North Carolina Pork Council, for its part, told The Washington Post in October that reports of spills were exaggerated and that there’d been zero waste pits breached and just 11 flooded. Endangered vs. polluted Raabe, among other environmental experts PolitiFact spoke with, said it’s difficult to determine which rivers are the ""most polluted"" because there are different types of pollution that are all similarly bad. ""There are so many things that ‘pollute’ our rivers — GenX, 1,4-Dioxane, untreated sewer water, heavy metals, algal growth, bacteria, wastewater from failing septic, too much water, too little water, spills from oil pipelines, spills from trucks on highways, etc.,"" Raabe said. ""The Neuse and the Cape Fear Rivers have a lot of issues that need to be addressed but so do all the streams that have been impacted by human activity."" Should residents be worried? City and county water treatment plants do a great job of testing for and eradicating many pollutants from the water, he said. ""The problem is, that water is only treated for pollutants we know about. Chemicals like GenX and many other contaminants of emerging concern are not tested for,"" Raabe said. Other pollution rankings? So American Rivers doesn’t have a ""most polluted"" list. PolitiFact wondered if the federal government tracks which rivers are the most polluted. Turns out, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (the federal government body that aims to protect human health and the environment) ""does not rank waterbodies and we don't keep a list of the most polluted rivers,"" spokeswoman Enesta Jones said. Experts at other environmental groups that PolitiFact spoke with – including the Upper Neuse Riverkeeper, Environment America and the EPA – echoed Raabe in saying it’s difficult to determine which rivers are most polluted. Every two years, state governments are required to tell the EPA which of their local rivers are impaired. Davina Marraccini, an EPA public affairs specialist, warned the public against comparing reports. ""Note that because of differences in state assessment methods, the information on the website should not be used to compare water quality conditions between states or to determine water quality trends,"" Marraccini wrote in an email. Through Google searches, PolitiFact couldn’t find a comprehensive, definitive list by a reputable organization that describes a North Carolina river as one of the ""top five most polluted."" Our ruling Richardson said that N.C. is home to two of the ""top five"" most-polluted rivers in the state. His assistant acknowledged that he might've misquoted the American Rivers ""most endangered"" list – but PolitiFact looked around to see if other data might support his claim. There’s evidence that the Neuse River and Cape Fear River, in particular, are threatened not only by waste from local farms but by a chemical that state regulators want to investigate. However, PolitiFact found no basis for Richardson’s claim that North Carolina rivers rank among the top five most polluted in the United States."
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24648
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In Wisconsin, the stimulus paid for a bridge to a bar called Rusty's Backwater Saloon. They've got great burgers, but no new jobs.
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Boehner ad says stimulus paid for a Bridge to Rusty's
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false
|
National, Economy, Stimulus, John Boehner,
|
"In a hokey Web ad from House Republican leader John Boehner last week, the GOP ""releases the dogs on the money trail"" to find jobs created by the Obama-backed economic stimulus package. The stimulus was supposed to be all about jobs, according to the folksy narration by Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, R-Ga., ""but after five months and billions in debt on our kids and grandkids, where are the jobs?"" Here's what the job-sniffing GOP bloodhound Ellie Mae finds: ""In Wisconsin, the stimulus paid for a bridge to a bar called Rusty's Backwater Saloon,"" Westmoreland says. ""They've got great burgers, but no new jobs."" The 85-foot bridge in question spans Rocky Run, a creek off the Wisconsin River in Stevens Point, Wis. The project to replace the bridge got $840,000 in stimulus money. State bridge inspection reports show the bridge carries an average of 260 vehicles a day. According to Dale Peterson, Portage County assistant highway commissioner, most of the traffic using the bridge is people going to and from the Wisconsin River Golf Course (a public course). It's also used by crews for Consolidated Paper driving to the company's waste treatment plant. And there's a small development going in, about 20 homes, whose residents will use the bridge. That's why the 20-year projections show the average daily usage doubling to nearly 600 cars per day. So what about Rusty's Backwater Saloon? A few of its customers may use the bridge. But not many, according to Peterson and someone we spoke with at the saloon. The main route to Rusty's is via a more direct highway access nearby. Peterson suspects the Republicans used Rusty's as the example because ""I imagine it made good print."" The ad makes it seem like this is a bridge only to Rusty's. It's not. In fact, Rusty's business would do just fine without it because there are other routes to get to the bar. But we don't want to ignore the ad's bigger point, which is that stimulus money is being spent on a little-used bridge. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel did an investigative report of stimulus-funded bridge projects in Wisconsin and found that the vast majority of the bridges awarded money in the first wave of stimulus funding are small, rural bridges that carry less than 1,000 vehicles a day. The Stevens Point bridge is one of 37 little-used bridges that got nearly $16 million in stimulus funding, while many higher-priority, well-traveled bridges were ineligible for the first round of stimulus funding. That's because so-called ""shovel-ready"" projects moved to the front of the line for the first round of stimulus money, state highway officials said. The idea of the stimulus was to get people working on projects that could be started fairly quickly. What does shovel-ready mean? It means the projects have environmental assessment and Army Corps of Engineers permits in hand and engineering and design work is finished. In the case of our little Stevens Point bridge, it has been in the works since 2006. It was designed and ready to go when the stimulus passed in February. In fact, it was originally slated to be replaced in 2009 but got pushed back to 2010 due to lack of available federal funding. ""This wasn't some project we cooked up when the stimulus was passed,"" Peterson said. ""All it needed was funding."" Construction is set to begin in August and is expected to take about three months. Peterson estimates a crew of about a dozen will be used to build the bridge. And the concrete and steel will be purchased locally. So presumably that will create some economic ripple as well. Built in 1937, the bridge is in need of replacement, Peterson said. If it isn't, he said, ultimately they'd have to shut the bridge down, and ""that would affect quite a few people. And more people would be out of work."" ""It does serve a purpose,"" Peterson said. ""I'm happy this is being replaced."" The GOP ad ends with Boehner kneeling behind a hound dog on a manicured lawn. ""I'm John Boehner,"" he says. ""This is Ellie Mae. She hasn't found any stimulus jobs yet. And neither have the American people. It's time to stop runaway spending in Washington and help small businesses get the economy running once again."" Boehner didn't just pluck the Rusty's crack from thin air. On his Web site, he cites a June 16, 2009, story from the Wall Street Journal that mentions the bridge. It comes in a story about a report from Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., called ""100 Stimulus Projects: A Second Opinion."" Coburn's report says, ""One small bridge is receiving $840,000, though it only carries 260 vehicles a day on average. It primarily provides access to a golf course and Rusty’s Backwater Saloon, which boasts pontoon rentals and a Steak-A-Rooni for just $5.25."" We realize this Web ad from Boehner was a tongue-in-cheek attack. And let's face it, ""Rusty's Backwater Saloon"" creates a nice visual. But when you single out a project — as Boehner did with the ""Bridge to Rusty's"" — we think he ought to have his facts straight. And the fact is, this Wisconsin bridge is not a bridge solely to Rusty's, as the ad implies. In fact, it's not even the main access point for Rusty's. And as for the project not creating jobs, we think Ellie Mae's sniffer is a bit off there too. The main point of the stimulus wasn't so much to create burger-flipping jobs on the other end of bridge construction projects, but to to create jobs for people doing the bridge work itself, thereby creating an economic ripple effect. And according to a Wisconsin highway official, at least a dozen construction workers will be used to replace the bridge. But because some people may use the bridge to get to Rusty's, and because there's a legitimate argument to be made that many small, rural and barely used bridges got stimulus money while other bigger (arguably more important) projects were ineligible."
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22347
|
Since Corey Stewart became chairman in November 2006, unemployment is up 150% and average home price sales are down $150,000.
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Babur Lateef says unemployment up 150 percent since Corey Stewart became Prince William chairman
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mixture
|
Economy, Housing, Jobs, Virginia, Babur Lateef,
|
"As Republican Corey Stewart contemplates a 2012 bid for the U.S. Senate, he also faces a re-election battle back home in Prince William County this fall for the chairmanship of the board of supervisors. Because of Stewart’s statewide aspirations, his backyard challenge is being widely watched. He is being taken on by Babur Lateef, an eye surgeon from Woodbridge making his making his first bid for public office. Lateef, a Democrat, posted a YouTube video March 26 attacking Stewart’s record. The video says that since Stewart was elected chairman in November 2006, unemployment is up 150 percent in the county, the average price on home sales is down $150,000, 47.4 percent of mortgages are now ""under water"" and the number of students per classroom in county schools has climbed 40 percent. That’s a lot to chew on, but we’ve got the choppers. This story will examine Lateef’s claims about unemployment and home sale prices. We’ll follow up with a second report. Michael McLaughlin, Lateef’s campaign manager, told us the unemployment figures come from the website of the Virginia Employment Commission, which compiles jobs data for the state and localities. Ann Lang, a VEC economist, helped us pull the numbers for Prince William. In November 2006, the month Stewart was elected chairman and took office, VEC data show Prince William had a 2.2 percent unemployment rate. In January 2011, the most recent month for which statistics are available, the county’s unemployment rate was 5.7 percent. That’s an increase of 159 percent, slightly higher than the 150 percent cited in Lateef’s video. We should include a note of caution here. Experts have often told us that politicians get too much credit and blame for the economy. They’ve said that even presidents and governors have limited effects in controlling economic trends. So it seems reasonable that a county board chairman would have an extremely limited impact over a region’s economic performance. Prince William’s economy is closely tied to that of the larger Washington, D.C. metro area, as well as to the state and national economies. Lateef’s video suggests Stewart shoulders blame for the collapse of the financial system in 2008, the rise of oil prices that summer to $140 per barrel and the massive recession that took national unemployment to 10 percent. While Prince William’s unemployment rate has certainly climbed, it remains below Virginia and national levels. In January 2011 Virginia’s unemployment rate was 6.9 percent and the national rate was 9 percent. CNNMoney, a joint project of CNN and Money Magazine, also said Prince William is 17th in the national list of counties that have seen the most job growth between 2000 and 2009. Lateef based his claim about home sale prices on numbers from Real Estate Business Intelligence, which is part of MRIS, a massive realty listing service and database covering the mid-Atlantic. The average price of a Prince William home sale was $414,714 in November 2006, while the median price was $376,000. By February 2011 the average sale price was $260,830 and the median sale price was $228,925. That’s a $153,884 drop in average sale price and a $147,075 drop in median sale prices, straddling the $150,000 decline Lateef mentioned. But Stewart took office in an environment where home prices were already falling in the county. Between November 2005 and November 2006 the average sale price fell 8.1 percent and the median sale price dipped 6 percent, data show. Again, home sales are private transactions. They are not governed or controlled by the board of supervisors. And the county was hardly the only place in America to see a drop in home values. Stewart has noted Prince William’s housing market is closely tied to overall demand and economic activity in the larger D.C. metro area. And the S&P/Case-Shiller Housing Index, a highly-respected source of housing prices, notes the entire Washington, D.C. metro area saw a 24 percent decrease in home prices between November 2006 and January 2011, compared to a 39 percent decrease in Prince William’s median home prices. Let’s review our findings. Lateef’s raw numbers are mostly correct. Unemployment in Prince William is up 159 percent since November 2006, when Stewart took office. But Lateef campaign video omits the facts that the county’s unemployment rate is well below the Virginia rate and even farther below the national rate. Workers in Prince William are much more likely to have a job than the average American. Prince William housing sale prices are down during Stewart’s tenure by roughly $150,000. But prices were already dropping when Stewart took office, and he has little control over home sales. Prices also dropped sharply across the Washington, D.C. area Lateef’s figures are fine, but he wrongly uses them to imply Stewart is responsible for financial problems that not only shook Prince William County, but the nation."
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35100
|
A video demonstrates there have been exponentially more cases of new coronavirus than other diseases such as SARS, MERS, Ebola, and swine flu.
|
What's true: The video documents that tens of thousands of cases of coronavirus were reported over a short period of time. What's false: However, the video that went viral was not the full video but a clip. The longer version clearly shows that, although the coronavirus has spread quickly, it is nowhere near as widespread as previous epidemics such as swine flu or the Spanish flu.
|
mixture
|
Medical, COVID-19
|
In February 2020, as fears about the spread of a new coronavirus reached a fever pitch, a video clip circulated on social media supposedly showing how this disease was spreading farther and faster than previous epidemics. The video, which has racked up nearly 2 million views, supposedly shows how diseases such as Ebola, SARS, MERS, swine flu and coronavirus spread over time. The graph starts on “Day 1” of the initial outbreak of each disease and then tracks how many reported cases and deaths each disease saw as time progressed: Graph shows the exponential and dangerous growth of corona virus compared to other major viruses such as Ebola and SARS.#Corona #CoronaVirus #CoronaOutbreak #ChinaVirus pic.twitter.com/QOco1JQDf5 — Farhang F. Namdar (@FarhangNamdar) February 20, 2020 Watching this video may give some viewers the impression that coronavirus was far more widespread than each of the aforementioned diseases. However, this tweet contains just a short clip from a video that was created by YouTube user Abacaba. In the full video, just after the clip above ends, the graph changes dramatically as cases of swine flu skyrocket. By day 260, the coronavirus, SARS, MERS, and Ebola are dwarfed by the swine flu epidemic: The video goes on to show how another epidemic, the Spanish flu of 1918, spread faster and to far more people than the coronavirus: The viral clip above accurately shows how tens of thousands of cases of coronavirus were reported over a short time span. However, it seems to have given viewers the incorrect impression that the outbreak was unprecedented. Here’s the original video. The portion containing the above-displayed graph starts around 1:20: We have not fact-checked every second of this 10-minute video. We can say, however, that it appears that the numbers reported in this viral graph are accurate. YouTube user Abacaba posted sources for all of the data shown in this graph and we have verified the final numbers shown in this viral portion of the video.
|
38984
|
Social media posts warn dog owners not to give their dogs Canine Carry Outs brand dog treats because an anti-freeze called propylene glycol is listed in its ingredients and will poison their pet.
|
Canine Carry Outs Dog Treats Poison Dogs with Antifreeze
|
false
|
Animals, Food / Drink, Health / Medical
|
This one has a sliver of truth, but it’s mostly fiction. The panic was started by Facebook posts like this one that warn dog owners not to feed their pets bacon flavored Canine Carry Outs because it contains propylene glycol, an anti-freeze agent: “Please check the ingredients of the dog foods and treats you are feeding your pets. If it contains propylene glycol, DO NOT feed to your pets. Propylene Glycol is just another name for Antifreeze!! !” It’s true that propylene glycol is listed as an ingredient in Canine Carry Outs dog treats, but that doesn’t mean that they are hazardous to your dog’s health. In fact, chances are that many pet owners that worry about feeding their dogs propylene glycol eat or drink it themselves on a regular basis. It’s commonly used as an anti-freeze by the food and beverage industries to prevent leaking water from coming into contact with food, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports: “Propylene glycol has been approved for use at certain levels in food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical products. If you eat food products, use cosmetics or take medications that contain it, you will be exposed to propylene glycol, but these amounts are not considered harmful.” The FDA says that humans and pets can safely eat propylene glycol if it doesn’t account for more than 5% of total food intake. Canine Carry Outs are made by Big Heart Pet Brands (formerly Del Monte Pet Products). TruthorFiction.com has reached out to the company for comment. Future updates will be posted here. Comments
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8876
|
Femara Cuts Cancer Recurrence Even if Started Late.
|
Taking the breast cancer pill Femara can significantly reduce the chances that a woman’s cancer will return, even long after she has stopped taking the estrogen blocker tamoxifen, U.S. researchers said on Monday.
|
true
|
Health News
|
They said post-menopausal women who took the Novartis AG NOVN.VX drug Femara anywhere from one to seven years after finishing a five-year regimen of tamoxifen reduced the risk the cancer would come back by 63 percent. “What our results have shown for the first time in breast cancer treatment history is that taking an anti-estrogen anywhere along that line appears to have a dramatic reduction in the risk of recurrence,” said Dr. Paul Goss of Massachusetts General Hospital, whose study appears in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The drug, known generically as letrozole, cut the risk of cancer spreading to other areas of the body by 61 percent, and cut the risk that a tumor would develop in the unaffected breast by more than 80 percent. Letrozole belongs to a new class of breast cancer drugs known as aromatase inhibitors, which block the production of estrogen that can lead to cancer. It is recommended for use in women past menopause. The most widely used estrogen-blocking drug is tamoxifen, which was shown to cut the risk of cancer recurrence by close to 50 percent. But benefits of the pill, sold by AstraZeneca (AZN.L) under the brand Nolvadex and also sold generically, fall significantly after five years. Tamoxifen also raises the risk of death from strokes and endometrial cancer. But more than half of breast cancer recurrences and deaths occur five or more years after completing tamoxifen. “What is important for doctors and patients to recognize unfortunately is that the risk of recurrence of this type of breast cancer does not end at five years,” Goss said in a telephone interview. “The risk continues and the benefit remains substantial of starting late on therapy,” Goss said. Goss’ findings are based on an analysis of 1,579 women who decided to switch to letrozole from a placebo after the trial was halted. Their results were compared to about 800 women who stayed on the placebo. Almost three years after the study ended, those who began letrozole had only a 2 percent risk of tumor recurrence, compared with almost 5 percent in those choosing no treatment. Goss said the findings were limited by the fact that women made the decision about whether they would take the drug or not. Nevertheless, he said the findings are strong and likely to change how women with breast cancer are treated. “The risk that hormone-dependent breast cancer will recur continues indefinitely, and our results imply that aromatase inhibition is effective whenever initiated,” said Goss, who is also a professor at Harvard Medical School. He said the study looked at the effects of letrozole only, but said the results will likely apply to all aromatase inhibitors. Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) makes an aromatase inhibitor called exemestane, which it sells under the brand Aromasin, and AstraZeneca Plc (AZN.L) makes anastrozole, sold under the brand Arimidex. Another study in the journal showed that taking another exemestane soon after completing tamoxifen treatment reduced the risk of recurrence by 56 percent. Breast cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death among U.S. women after lung cancer. It kills 500,000 people globally every year.
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