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33603
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Facebook will donate money to help a child with cancer every time an appeal for help is liked or shared.
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Long-running hoax falsely claims Facebook will donate money to help a child with cancer every time an appeal for help is liked or shared.
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false
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Inboxer Rebellion, ASP Article, Medical Appeals
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This appeal to help a child with cancer is merely yet another reiteration of a long-running class of hoax (often built around like farming), one which lures the gullible into spreading such messages by promising that some entity (such as Facebook) will donate money towards the medical treatment of a child with cancer (or some other disease) every time the message is forwarded, posted, liked, or shared. Multiple charities and companies have been unfairly dragged into such hoaxes over the years by being named in messages like these, causing them to have to spend considerable time and effort disclaiming them. The child whose photograph was appropriated for this hoax is not displaying visible symptoms of cancer. He’s identified on multiple other online sites as a boy experiencing a reaction to the MMR vaccine and/or a case of rubella. Others versions of this hoax positing that Facebook will donate money every time such an item is liked or shared have circulated using a variety of different (unrelated) pictures: this child’s got a cancer. facebook is ready to pay 3 cent for every share. we don’t know is it true or not, but let’s everybody share. maybe it’s true and then… >SHARE She’s suffering form cancer! Facebook has promised to give $1.20 Dollars on each share! Please, share and make it. On the account of: Imran Khan He is terribly sick :( What if this was your baby? Would you care at all? Facebook will donate $1 for every share This child has lost his 4 limbs in a school bus accident. Facebook will pay 1$ for every share….. ”
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10602
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Walk on: New device helps paraplegics walk again
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"This CBS Early Show segment on the three-year-old WalkAide medical device manages to put a check next to nearly every item on a list of Health Journalism Worst Practices. 1. It is full of loaded, technically incorrect language: new, revolutionary, miracle. The device is none of these. Twice the segment refers to the device as a ""miracle in a box."" It’s not even in a box. 2. The segment makes two statements that are technically correct as worded but broadly misleading through implication: It says the device is ""a promising development in restoring full function"" to people once confined to a wheelchair. [Reality: It can temporarily improve the gait of some patients with foot drop syndrome.] It says it can ""restore mobility to patients with multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy and traumatic brain injuries."" [Reality: It can improve the mobility of patients who are already mobile, and only a fraction of the patients with the conditions listed can be helped by it.] 3. The segment does not report on any research done on the device, or even indicate whether there is any. The evidence of effectiveness cited is a single anecdote. 4. The segment does not mention potential harms, contraindications or limitations. People with pacemakers can’t use it; neither can pregnant women. One cannot wear it while driving. 5. While the segment celebrates the patient as a determined young woman who has earnestly undertaken eight years of rehab, it fails to make clear that she is [therefore] an outlier with untypical results. 6. No independent expert was interviewed to provide some perspective and reality check. 7. The whole ""I had to snowboard again"" conceit is just a foolish stage show, a clinically irrelevant fatuity. Indeed, the device cannot possibly function when the patient’s feet are strapped into a snowboard. All that said, the WalkAide appears to be a useful device for some people with foot drop–not new, not a revolution, not a miracle, but a device that can help improve the quality of life for some patients. It can help them walk more normally, perhaps reducing risk of falls, joint damage and muscle atrophy. It may help make their limbs healthier and stronger–though this has not been proven. The WalkAide cannot help the paralyzed rise miraculously from their wheelchairs any more than a circus-tent preacher can. Yet the report implies this, almost cruelly misleading ""the many Americans who have lost the ability to walk."" Why would a TV network, medical correspondent, producer and host do this in front of millions of people?"
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false
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"The correspondent does an excellent job citing the patient cost [$5,000] and noting that Medicare pays for the device under some conditions, and that some private insurance companies cover it on a case-by-case basis. The story cites no data to verify the treatment’s effectiveness. The segment mentions none of the potential harms of the device, which include a failure to help some individuals. It may lead to irritation and burns; some patients have reported not being able to use it for this reason. The consequences of long-term use on nerves and muscles are unknown. The device is not recommended for those with heart disease, seizures, pacemakers or pregnancy. It can’t be worn while driving. Aside from the story of the young woman featured, the segment provides no evidence the device is safe or effective. It does not appear that rigorous clinical trials documenting outcomes across a patient population have been done. The reporter should have mentioned this. The story suggests the device can help people who have had spinal cord injuries, a stroke, brain injury or who have MS or cerebral palsy. The device can help only those who have foot drop as a symptom of these conditions. This exaggerates the prevalence of the conditions treatable by this device. The correspondent interviewed nobody aside from one very satisfied patient. The story refers to other approaches to foot drop only in passing and to dismiss them as inadequate–braces, metal, plastic, joints, etc. It fails to mention the most common approach to foot drop, an orthotic and continued rehab. Surgery is useful in some cases. It fails to mention other devices in development. The segment should have been more clear on availability. But by citing price and Medicare coverage it accurately implies availablity for clinical use. It minimally earns a ""satisfactory"" rating. For the record, it is available by prescription from certified providers. The segment calls the device new and revolutionary. It is neither. New? The WalkAide has been on the market since 2006. It was approved for marketing by the FDA under a process that requires it to be substantially similar to an existing product. Revolutionary? Electrical stimulation to help people move limbs with limited or no mobility has been in development since the 1960s. Brain-machine interfaces–devices that allow people to control limb movements with their brains–are currently in development. Now that’s revolutionary. We can’t be sure if the story relied on a news release. But why did the story run at this time? How did they find this extraordinary young woman and why did they choose to run the story like an infomercial?"
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7493
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Liberian girl’s song about COVID-19 being played on radio.
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The voice is strong, and the words are resolute: “Let’s protect ourselves to save our family and our country; let’s stop the public gatherings.”
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true
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Liberia, AP Top News, Religion, Health, Ebola virus, Epidemics, One Good Thing, Africa, International News, West Africa, General News, Virus Outbreak, Public health, Lifestyle
|
The singer? She’s 9 years old. Joselia Kollie’s song has been getting airplay on Liberian radio, and praise from health officials. She said she wanted to do her part to stop the spread of COVID-19 because “whenever bad things happen, we, the children, will always suffer.” At least 16 people have died since Liberia’s first confirmed case on March 16, and the West African country is still rebuilding its public health sector after the Ebola epidemic killed 4,810 people between 2014 and 2016. “I believe this song will help fight the virus because the song says prevention. We need to prevent ourselves from coronavirus by washing our hands, not shaking hands and not sneezing on one another,” she said by phone from her home in Gbarnga, 180 kilometers (112 miles) from the capital. Joselia began singing at the age of 3, and recently told her mother she wanted to do a song about fighting coronavirus. “God called her to certain things and she wants to fulfill her destiny,” said Amanda T. Kollie, herself a popular gospel singer. Her mother helped her write the song, which was recorded in a local studio and then sent out to radio stations. The song reminds Liberians of how much the country has been through. “Some years back, we suffered from a civil war, we suffered from Ebola that took away many lives,” she sings. “This time around, it’s coronavirus --- coronavirus is so terrible.” Joselia already has accomplished more than many adults: She was just 6 when her parents helped her set up a charity to allow friends to stay in school when their families faced financial difficulties. The charity, Build My Future Foundation, or BUFF, currently is helping five girls and two boys in rural Liberia. Dr. Francis Kateh, Liberia’s chief medical officer and one of those on the front lines against COVID-19, said he was “overwhelmed with gratitude” for Joselia’s effort. And veteran DJ and radio entertainment journalist Patrick Okai offered high praise for the girl’s song. “The message is powerful” he said, “especially with the chorus line that says ‘prevention is better than cure.’” ___ While nonstop global news about the effects of the coronavirus have become commonplace, so, too, are the stories about the kindness of strangers and individuals who have sacrificed for others. “One Good Thing” is an AP continuing series reflecting these acts of kindness. ___
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16561
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I was able to go and buy an automatic weapon … Most people can go out and buy an automatic weapon.
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CNN’s Lemon said that many people can go out and buy an automatic weapon. Lemon spoke as though the gun he had purchased was an automatic. It was not. It was a semi-automatic, meaning each shot requires a separate pull of the trigger. The ease of purchase that Lemon described applies to semi-automatic guns. The legal status and availability of semi-automatic and fully automatic guns are quite different. Lemon was further incorrect when he didn’t revise his language and insisted that the distinction was just a matter of semantics. Acquiring a machine gun is prohibited in some states, while much more heavily regulated in others.
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false
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PunditFact, Guns, Don Lemon,
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"Fans of the Second Amendment have been chiding CNN’s Don Lemon for his comments about the sorts of guns you can legally buy in this country. They’ve said Lemon was confused, and his exchange with conservative radio host Ben Ferguson on Aug. 20, 2014, was embarrassing. It began when Lemon, broadcasting live from Ferguson, Mo., said he supported the Second Amendment but that he doubted the Founding Fathers were thinking about automatic weapons when they wrote it. Ferguson shot back. ""Let’s deal with the facts here,"" Ferguson said. ""A semi-automatic weapon is a gun that you or I is allowed to own and in different places they have different rules. But to imply that anyone can just go out and buy an automatic weapon is just not true, Don."" ""What do you mean?"" Lemon said. ""During the theater shooting in Colorado, I was able to go and buy an automatic weapon, and I maybe have shot a gun three, four times in my life. I don’t live in Colorado. I think most people can go out and buy an automatic weapon."" This fact-check zeros in on Lemon’s claim that ""most people can go out and buy an automatic weapon."" The gun Lemon bought in Colorado was an AR-15. The version sold by the Bushmaster company is described as a semi-automatic. When Ferguson pointed out the difference between a fully automatic and an semi-automatic weapon, Lemon dismissed the distinction as a matter of semantics. ""An automatic weapon is something that you can shoot off a number of rounds very quickly,"" Lemon said. That is not the legal definition of an automatic weapon, but this debate pulls back the curtain on a couple of wrinkles in what federal law says and does not say. For starters, the law fails to define the term ""automatic."" Semi vs. fully automatic The 1968 Gun Control Act defines a semi-automatic as ""any repeating rifle which utilizes a portion of the energy of a firing cartridge to extract the fired cartridge case and chamber the next round, and which requires a separate pull of the trigger to fire each cartridge."" The key part there is the ""separate pull of the trigger."" One pull = one shot. The law speaks clearly about what it means by the term semi-automatic. When it comes to the term ""automatic,"" a little inference is required. The 1934 National Firearms Act defines a machine gun as ""any weapon which shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot, automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger."" Note that part about more than one shot by ""a single function of the trigger."" One pull = many shots. That’s the legal difference between a semi-automatic and a fully automatic weapon. The AR-15 that Lemon bought was a semi-automatic. People can go out and buy such guns at many stores across the country. Buying a fully automatic gun is a very different and more restricted process, which we’ll get into in just a bit. But it’s interesting that while the legal definition of a machine gun talks about firing automatically, there is no definition of an automatic weapon as such. We asked the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms and a couple of top legal experts on federal gun laws. No one could point to legal language, court ruling or federal rule that make a machine gun interchangeable with an automatic, even though in a practical sense, they are. Yes, you can buy a machine gun During the exchange between Lemon and Ferguson, Ferguson said ""the majority of private citizens are not allowed to own full automatic weapons."" Steven Howard is a lawyer and firearms expert based in Lansing, Mich. Howard said the ban on machine guns is not quite as complete as Ferguson’s words might sound. ""Most people can buy machine guns in lots of states,"" Howard said. ""But, and this is one of those classic big ‘buts,’ they have to get through a background check by FBI that is as thorough as if you are getting clearance to become a federal agent."" Howard said those checks can take up to six months. States such as California, Iowa and Kansas, ban private ownership under any circumstances. But in about half the country, including Florida and Texas, if you pay the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms $200 and have a clean record free of any history of domestic violence or a felony conviction, you can get yourself a machine gun legally. However, Joseph Olson, recently retired as professor of law at Hamline University, and a former board member of the National Rifle Association, said it won’t be a new one. ""There was a freeze put on them in 1986,"" Olson said. ""New Jersey representative (William) Hughes had an amendment that limited them to the ones that were registered at that time. There are a bit under 300,000 in circulation."" New devices blur the lines Since the key legal difference between a semi-automatic and a machine gun is whether pulling the trigger releases one bullet or many, it is worth noting that government regulators have approved devices that, when added to a rifle, allow a gun like an AR-15 to fire many rounds at great speed. They are called bump stocks, or trigger activators. The hunting supplier Cabela’s offers one called the Slide Fire. ""Maximize your fun with this safe and innovative AR-15 stock, which uses bump-fire technology to shoot as quickly as desired,"" the retailer says on its website. Videos show shooters going through clip after clip of ammunition. Howard said that while the rate of fire mimics a machine gun, the mechanism is different. ""If you very slowly pull the trigger, the recoil causes the gun to jump back and forth,"" Howard said. ""And that causes the trigger to be pulled."" By government standards, this retains the role of human intervention for each shot fired. Howard said the impact of trigger activators is less than meets the eye. He said they easily fail and make a gun difficult to aim. ""People don’t use them in crimes because you have to use them so carefully,"" Howard said. Still, there are enthusiastic reviews on the Cabela's website. A buyer who calls himself ""Freddie Joe"" wrote, ""This is an extremely fun addition to your A/R. The only problem will be the amount of shells you will go through. I went through 300 in a couple of days ... When you get really good at using this product, you can empty a 30-round clip in a matter of seconds. Cool!"" Our ruling CNN’s Lemon said that many people can go out and buy an automatic weapon. Lemon spoke as though the gun he had purchased was an automatic. It was not. It was a semi-automatic, meaning each shot requires a separate pull of the trigger. The ease of purchase that Lemon described applies to semi-automatic guns. The legal status and availability of semi-automatic and fully automatic guns are quite different. Lemon was further incorrect when he didn’t revise his language and insisted that the distinction was just a matter of semantics. Acquiring a machine gun is prohibited in some states, while much more heavily regulated in others."
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10971
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Screening Prostates at Any Age
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This was a well-written, informative story that identifies the challenges to implementing a rational approach to prostate cancer screening. But we thought the two closing patient profiles – the only patients profiled in the piece – wrapped up the story in an imbalanced way. This is a useful piece to help readers understand the notion that testing is not an isolated intervention and that thinking ahead can be helpful in having medical care that matches one’s personal values and interests.
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true
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New York Times,Screening
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There was no discussion of costs, either in terms of the actual dollar value involved in routine PSA testing or for follow-up biopsy and treatment. The story did mention a “National Cancer Institute study of 76,000 men that failed to find a screening benefit after 10 years” The article does address the harms of overdiagnosis and treatment, though does not provide quantitative data. We’ll give it the benefit of the doubt. The story did not actually provide readers with much information about the particular study it was reporting on. While it did have numerous insightful comments from experts in the field, it was rather vague about the study design. It was worth noting that it was a survey study, so people self-reported their PSA testing activity. That’s always a limitation. There was no disease-mongering in this piece. Numerous independent sources without ties to the study reported on were quoted as part of this story. One thing that does concern us is the way the piece ended. The story profiled two men – and both choose to be screened.One recently found a small cancer, and is thinking of “having the whole thing taken out.” Why was there no balancing profile of a man who chooses not to be screened? The story presented information about the impact of being tested for prostate cancer using the PSA test versus not having the test. It was especially clear about the idea that a life expectancy of 10 years as a man thinks about potential benefit. But, again, the option of not being screened wasn’t reflected in the patients profiled in the piece. It’s clear from the story that ‘routine’ PSA testing is readily available. The story was clear that PSA testing is readily available and routinely used by the percentages of men indicated in the story. Does not rely solely or largely on a news release.
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29207
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In August 2018, French politicians passed a law which stated that a child is capable of consenting to having sex with an adult.
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"What's true: In 2018, the French government introduced a law on sexual violence that did not introduce a minimum age of sexual consent, despite earlier assurances that the legislation would do so. What's false: The 2018 law did not ""say children can consent to sex with adults,"" and did not repeal an existing age of consent. The law actually strengthened penalties for sexual abuse against children in France."
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false
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Politics, your news wire
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France’s somewhat complicated laws involving sexual abuse and violence came under scrutiny in 2018, when the government of President Emmanuel Macron drafted proposals to enhance protections for children against sexual assault. The “Loi Schiappa,” named after Marlène Schiappa, the country’s Minister for Equality, was dogged by controversy and opposition throughout its passage into law, with some activists accusing the legislation of being a “missed opportunity” to beef up protections for children by establishing a minimum age of sexual consent. In August 2018, Your News Wire, a disreputable web site known for peddling conspiracy theories and junk news as well as distorting and sensationalizing real events, took aim at the new laws in a misleading article bearing the headline “France Passes Law Saying Children Can Consent to Sex with Adults”: President Macron’s government has voted against having an age of consent in France, becoming the latest nation to give in to pressure from an international network of liberal activists determined to normalize pedophilia and decriminalize sex with children across the world. Federal law in France now has no legal age of consent, meaning adults who have sex with children of any age will not be prosecuted for rape if the child victim is unable to prove “violence, threat, duress, or surprise.” The draft bill against sexual and gender-based violence, known as the Schiappa law, was signed into law by the French Parliament on 3 August, sparking outrage in France as parents and children’s rights groups accuse Emmanuel Macron’s government of betraying the nation’s children. The Your News Wire article accurately presented some elements of the issue but was misleading in other important ways, wrongly suggesting that the legislation had repealed an existing age of consent, stating that “Federal law in France now has no legal age of consent,” and proclaiming “France passes law saying children can consent to sex with adults.” The law did not say any of that (although it is true that the law did not introduce, for what would have been the first time, a clearly-defined legal minimum age of sexual consent in France). The Your News Wire article also failed to note that the law strengthened and enhanced existing laws against the rape and sexual assault of children, and it contained measures that would give judges more leeway in prosecuting adults who have sex with children. Your News Wire’s article was the subject of controversy in New Zealand, where the conservative National Party M.P. Judith Collins tweeted it out on 5 August 2018, challenging Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to denounce the French legislation: Is @jacindaardern willing to denounce this legislation of child sexual abuse? https://t.co/6YMlJiO8zr — Judith Collins (@JudithCollinsMP) August 6, 2018 Collins was criticized for citing a “fake news article” from Your News Wire, and Ardern took a question about Collins’ tweet during a press conference on 6 August, though she declined to comment, saying “I have not looked in any detail at what she has asked, or what sits behind it.” Existing Law There is no age of sexual consent in France. A familiar legal concept in most Western countries, the age of consent is based on the principle that below a certain age, children are by definition not capable of granting informed consent to sexual activity (no matter how intelligent or educated or experienced they may be). With an age of consent in place, any adult’s engaging in any sexual activity with a child under a certain age is, by default, rape. In the United States and other countries this crime is often referred to as “statutory rape,” but that crime doesn’t exist in France. However, France does have other laws in place that protect children by criminalizing sexual abuse, something the Your News Wire article failed to explain. Article 227-25 of France’s penal code outlaws “sexual infraction on the person of a child aged under 15” (“atteinte sexuelle”) and (up until August 2018) imposed a penalty of five years’ imprisonment and a €75,000 ($86,720) fine for violations of that code. The fine and prison sentence were doubled under certain aggravating circumstances, such as when the attacker was an older family member or was abusing a position of authority, or when the sexual infraction came about due to online messaging (i.e., “grooming”). Under Article 222-24 of France’s penal code, rape of a child aged under 15 is considered an aggravated rape and is punishable by 20 years in prison. Under Article 222-22, rape is defined as “a sexual assault committed with violence, coercion, threat or surprise.” Also important to consider is that a 2010 law specified that coercion “can be physical or moral,” adding: “Moral coercion can result from the age difference between an underage victim and the perpetrator, and from the legal or de facto authority that the perpetrator exerts over the victim.” Moreover, as reported by the Atlantic magazine, in 2005 France’s Cour de Cassation (the country’s final court of appeal in criminal cases) heard a case involving the sexual abuse of children aged between 18 months and five years. The court ruled that “coercion or surprise results from the very young age of the children, which left them incapable of understanding the nature and seriousness of the acts which were perpetrated upon them.” These legislative and judicial measures and precedents do not in themselves constitute a definitive age of consent, but they demonstrate some recent movement in French law towards an acceptance of the premise that some sexual encounters (in this case between a child and adult) are inherently exploitative. They also broadened the definition of “coercion” (one of the elements of rape in French law) to include non-physical coercion, and set out that the ages of the perpetrator and victim could, by themselves, constitute coercion. Calls for Reform The absence of a definitive age of sexual consent in France has caused problems over the years. In 2017, the nation was shocked by the rape acquittal of a 30-year-old man who had had sex with an 11-year-old girl, because the prosecutor could not establish, as Article 222-22 requires, that there had been “constraint, threat, violence or surprise.” In a separate case, a 28-year-old man was initially charged with sexual assault (under Article 227-25) rather than rape after admitting to having sex with another 11-year-old girl, a prosecutorial decision that caused outrage. The presiding judge ordered that the charges be reevaluated, and the man was ultimately put on trial for rape, which carries a much stiffer penalty. These cases highlighted the somewhat muddled nature of France’s laws on sex with children, which allowed — in the absence of a clearly-defined age of consent — lawyers to use the nuances of “coercion” to obtain acquittals or lesser charges even for men who admitted to having had sex with pre-teen girls. These cases also reignited calls for a change in the law, with feminist and children’s rights activists leading protests and demands for reform. An age of sexual consent law appeared to finally be on its way in November 2017, when Equality Minister Marlène Schiappa said the government was planning to make it part of a new set of laws on sexual violence, and that the age would likely be between 13 and 15. Speaking to BFMTV, Schiappa said: In the [planned] law against sexual and gender-based violence, we have identified three components, one of which is the creation of a minimum age of consent. This means that, under a certain age, we believe there can be no debate about the sexual consent of a child, and that any child under a certain age would automatically be treated as having been raped or sexually assaulted. In March 2018, Schiappa confirmed that an age of consent of 15 years old was in the bill that she and Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet had submitted for cabinet approval, and French newspaper Libération reported that a draft of the bill had contained the following wording: “Any act of sexual penetration, no matter what kind, perpetrated by an adult on a child under the age of 15” would constitute rape, “where the perpetrator knew, or could not have been unaware of, the victim’s age.” However, when the legislation was voted on by the Assemblée Nationale (equivalent to the House of Representatives) just two months later, the age of consent provision had been removed. New Law Amid concerns about the constitutionality of the consent proposals, that part of the sexual violence legislation was dropped. Instead, the bill further strengthened the existing law on rape by adding the following paragraph to Article 222-22: Where these acts are perpetrated upon the person of a child aged under 15, moral coercion or surprise are characterized by an abuse of the vulnerability of a victim who does not have the judgement or understanding for such acts. The bill also increased the punishment for “sexual infraction” (that is, sexual activity with a child where “violence, coercion, threat or surprise” are not present): Excluding cases of rape or any kind of sexual assault, the perpetration by an adult of a sexual infraction upon a child aged under 15 is punishable by seven years in prison and a fine of €150,000 ($173,300). Finally, the bill (at least in principle) made it less likely that adults who had sex with children would go free, by instructing judges in rape trials to file charges of sexual infraction (Article 227-25) as a kind of fall-back in cases when the evidence was not sufficient to establish “violence, coercion, threat or surprise” (the elements of rape under French law). The Assemblée Nationale passed an amended version of the bill in May, the Senate voted it through in late July, and the Assemblée Nationale definitively passed it into law in August 2018. The law also lengthened the statute of limitations for bringing a complaint of child sexual abuse (from 20 to 30 years after a victim turns 18), enhanced the penalties for online harassment, and introduced a new “gender-based insult” offence (“outrage sexiste”) that targets various forms of street harassment. The omission of a minimum age of sexual consent, however, prompted widespread criticism of the law. During a parliamentary debate in May, one member called it a “climbdown,” another said “this lacks ambition,” and Muriel Salmona, a psychiatrist and activist for abuse victims who have recovered traumatic memories, described it as “a law emptied of its contents, which fails to protect children from rape and sexual assault.” An online petition started by feminist activists from Le Groupe F, which called upon President Emmanuel Macron to reject the new law, garnered almost 200,000 signatures. Conclusion It is true that the law introduced in France in 2018 did not prescribe a minimum age of sexual consent. However, no age of consent had previously existed in France, something that the Your News Wire article did not make clear. That article also failed to explain to readers that French law did already prescribe legal sanctions for adults who have sex with children, and that while the new law did not go as far as many critics wanted it to, it actually strengthened those existing protections. The article also failed to explain that the legislation broadened the definition of “coercion” in French law, thereby making it easier for prosecutors to convict sexual predators of rape, and the legislation made it less likely that adults who have sex with children will go free by giving judges greater leeway in prosecuting them for “sexual infraction” in cases when it is not possible to prove the elements required for a rape conviction.
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10498
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The Benefits of Intensive Cardiac Rehabilitation Over Ordinary Cardiac Rehabilitation
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This is a cardiologist-penned article on the benefits of intensive cardiac rehabilitation (ICR) versus “ordinary” cardiac rehabilitation (CR). While it doesn’t seem to be a standard reported news story, it was published in the health section of U.S. News & World Report, placing it within our purview. At first glance, this story appears to be hyper specific. A sample sentence: “Most of these hospitals averaged over 48 sessions per patient in the second half of 2015–over double the industry average for ordinary CR.” This sentence is emblematic of the piece overall, because it does not reveal anything about the actual impact of intensive cardiac rehabilitation on health outcomes. Nor does it provide any information about the quality of the research being cited. About 40% of adults will have a coronary problem–and the effectiveness of rehabilitation programs has huge health and economic implications.
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mixture
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U.S. News & World Report
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Costs were not included, even though the price tag for this type of care is likely quite high–regardless of whether the bill is paid by patients, insurers or Medicare. Some explanation of costs was warranted. The story relies on relative terms to quantify the benefits of the treatment and provides no absolute numbers. More troubling is that it only refers to health outcomes in one sentence, saying that cardiac rehabilitation–which is not actually the focus of the piece–has “been proven to be particularly effective in helping patients recover and stay healthy. Research indicates that CR improves five-year mortality rates by 25 to 46 percent for patients following a heart attack or other cardiac event.” But what about the “intensive” CR, which is the focus of the headline and the article? Medically supervised cardiac rehab carries relatively minimal potential for harm, so we’re giving this a Not Applicable rating. The story tells us this: “One of the Medicare-approved programs, Pritikin ICR, is based on a lifestyle change program that has more than 100 peer-reviewed studies validating its effectiveness, including significantly reducing levels of cholesterol and triglycerides, body mass index and blood pressure, as well as reducing risk factors for diabetes, breast cancer, prostate cancer and other comorbidities.” That’s a lot of beneficial outcomes being touted as validated. But readers can’t ascertain the quality of those studies based on this summation alone. Were these mostly large, randomized trials? Or small, early trials? Have there been any systematic reviews or meta analyses of these studies? Any notable criticisms? What about the other types of ICR–does this research apply to those programs as well? The story does a good job of explaining the need for improving outcomes for people who have suffered a heart attack or other serious cardiac event, and it doesn’t disease monger. One of the sources in the story, R. James Barnard, Ph.D, is a paid consultant at the Pritikin Longevity Center, which promotes “Pritikin ICR.” His ties with that group should have been made clear. Also, one of the doctors interviewed in the story works for a hospital system that announced recently it also has partnered with Pritikin. There are various approaches to post-heart attack rehabilitation–including within the ICR universe–but this wasn’t made clear. How do those other approaches stack up? The reader can infer that both CR and ICR are available to the general population. But we’re not given an idea of just how widely available ICR is, even though it’s being positioned as the newer, more beneficial option. It’s also not clear if there is insurance coverage outside of Medicare. The story provides background information on intensive cardiac rehab programs becoming available in “recent years,” establishing that this isn’t a brand-new or emerging concept. That’s a sufficient enough effort to rate Satisfactory. The story does not appear to rely on a news release.
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29057
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An eighth book in the enormously Harry Potter series is forthcoming.
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Has author J.K. Rowling announced plans to pen a new book in the 'Harry Potter' series?
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mixture
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Inboxer Rebellion, ASP Article, harry potter, hoaxes
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Ever since the 2007 publication of the seventh and final Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, many fans of the fantasy series have been hoping author J.K. Rowling might change her mind and pen additional volumes featuring the adventures of Harry, his friends Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, and the rest of the gang from the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Such expectations were stoked in September 2013 by the web publication of an article stating that not only was Rowling planning an eighth Harry Potter novel, but that she was already 75% done with the manuscript: Yahoo News and the New York Times today confirmed that J.K. Rowling is writing the eighth Harry Potter novel, and is already 75% done with the manuscript. Details on the storyline are hush hush, but Rowling is said to be revealing more about the upcoming HP novel later this very week in a press conference in Scotland. Rowling is said to be disappointed to the reaction of her adult novel The Casual Vacancy, released last fall, which left readers worldwide perplexed and disappointed. She was discouraged particularly by the disappointment of the younger readers, who picked up The Casual Vacancy expecting another Harry Potter book. She wanted to go back and write a book that will be a treat to her fans all around the world. However, J.K. Rowling has announced no such plans, and neither Yahoo News nor The New York Times (nor any other reputable web site) reported that she has. This item was a hoax, a spurious rumor spread by the disreputable Top Information Post web site, a site which has a history of picking up and republishing false information from other sources with no regard for its veracity. In this case, Top Information Post simply reproduced an article that was clearly an April Fool’s Day joke, published on another web site on 1 April 2013. On 12 September 2013, Warner Bros. did announce that J.K. Rowling would be penning a screenplay inspired by Harry Potter’s Hogwarts textbook “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” and featuring the adventures of the book’s fictitious author, Newt Scamander. Although that film will be set in the same wizarding world as the Harry Potter books, it will not be part of (nor is it a prequel or sequel to) the Harry Potter series: “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” will be an original story and will mark Rowling’s screenwriting debut. It is planned as the first picture in a new film series. Set in the wizarding world, the story will feature magical creatures and characters, some of which will be familiar to devoted Harry Potter fans. “Although it will be set in the worldwide community of witches and wizards where I was so happy for seventeen years, ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ is neither a prequel nor a sequel to the Harry Potter series, but an extension of the wizarding world,” said Rowling. “The laws and customs of the hidden magical society will be familiar to anyone who has read the Harry Potter books or seen the films, but Newt’s story will start in New York, seventy years before Harry’s gets underway.” In 2016, a new story set in the Harry Potter universe explored the adult lives of the original series’ main characters. However, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was not a book authored by Rowling, but a play written by by Jack Thorne and John Tiffany (and sanctioned by Rowling) that was released as a script book. On 17 August 2016, Rowling announced on her official web site that she would be releasing three new collections of short stories as e-books: one that explores the history of Hogwarts school, one that delves into the machinations around the world’s politics and prisons, and a third that offers up new stories on some of the school’s staffers.
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14766
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Everywhere that we have more citizens carrying guns, crime is less. There's a study showing that where states have open carry or concealed carry, but particularly open carry, the crime is down 25 percent.
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"Patrick said, ""There's a study showing that where states have open carry or concealed carry, but particularly open carry, the crime is down 25 percent."" It’s possible that Patrick is referencing a disputed study by gun rights advocate John Lott and getting some details wrong. Lott’s study shows a 25 percent decrease in murder and violent crime across the country from 2007 to 2014, as well as a 178 percent rise in the number of concealed-carry permits. Those two trends may be correlated, but experts say there’s no evidence showing causation. Further, gun laws may have little to nothing to do with rates of falling crime."
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false
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National, Crime, Guns, Dan Patrick,
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"President Barack Obama may be considering executive action on gun sales in his final year in the White House, but Texas’ lieutenant governor says his state shows why the country needs less gun control, not more. Texas became the 45th state to allow concealed-carry permit holders to openly tote their firearms on Jan. 1. Concealed carry has been allowed in the state since the 1990s with basically ""zero problems,"" Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said on NBC’s Meet the Press. ""Everywhere that we have more citizens carrying guns, crime is less,"" Patrick said Jan. 3. ""There's a study showing that where states have open carry or concealed carry, but particularly open carry, the crime is down 25 percent. Murders are down. Having law-abiding citizens having guns is a good thing."" Is it true that states with concealed carry have seen a 25 percent decline in crime? The evidence for such a sweeping statement, we found, is lacking. Correlation, not causation Patrick’s statement reminded us of a very similar claim by Florida state Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, who said, ""In the states that allow open carry, violent crime was 23 percent lower."" Gaetz crunched the numbers himself, comparing the rate of violent crimes (murder, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault) in the 42 states that allowed open carry in 2012 with the eight states that didn’t. While his math technically checks out, experts told PolitiFact Florida that Gaetz’s statistic is meaningless, as you can’t really draw conclusions about the impact of a single law with data from a single year. But Patrick cited a ""study,"" not Gaetz’s napkin calculations. He did not get back to us by deadline, but he could be referencing one by economist John Lott, president of the pro-gun Crime Prevention Research Center, and flubbing some of the details. Lott’s research — which was not published in a peer-reviewed journal but on the Crime Prevention Research Center’s website — looked at the increase in concealed-carry permits but did not discuss open carry, as Patrick mentioned on air. And the 25 percent refers to a decrease in murder rates across the nation as well as a decline in violent crime. According to the study, the number of concealed-handgun permits across the country has increased by 178 percent from 4.6 million to 12.8 million from 2007 to 2015. Meanwhile, national murder rates have fallen from 2007 to 2014 by 25 percent, from 5.6 to 4.2 homicides per 100,000. ""Overall, violent crime also fell by 25 percent over that time period,"" Lott writes, though he doesn’t give the numbers behind this rate in the study. In an interview with PolitiFact, Lott noted that the third edition of his book More Guns, Less Crime, shows that murder rates decreased 1.5 percent every year after concealed-carry legislation was passed, while robberies and rapes declined by 2 percent. Over 10 years, that comes out to about 15 to 20 percent, he said. Experts said that the study notes an ""association"" but doesn’t actually show causation between increased gun ownership and fewer murders or less crime. Daniel Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, called Patrick’s claim ""ridiculous"" and pointed out another coinciding trend. ""Mass shootings have more than doubled over that time,"" said Webster. ""But I don’t make the claim that more gun carriers have led to more mass shootings."" A peer-reviewed study in the Journal of Criminology directly refuted Lott’s findings (and Lott in turn criticized that research). Researchers at Texas A&M University looked at county-level crime data in Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Texas from 1998 to 2010 — the only four states with at least a decade’s worth of data after concealed-carry legislation was passed. While all the states saw an increase in the amount of concealed-carry permits, the crime trends varied. Rape and burglary decreased across all four states from 1998 to 2010, and murder decreased in Michigan and Texas. However, robbery, aggravated assault and larceny increased in Michigan and Pennsylvania while murder increased in Florida and Pennsylvania. ""We found no effect of increases in (concealed-carry permits) issued in a county on changes in crime rates,"" Charles Phillips, a public health professor at Texas A&M and lead author of the study, told PolitiFact. An inconclusive theory at best The ""more guns, less crime"" theory largely stems from Lott’s highly influential and equally controversial book of the same name, which analyzed 30 years’ worth of crime data. More than a decade after its first publication, the theory continues to be the subject of heated academic and policy debate as well as numerous fact-checks. Lott contends the ""vast majority"" of research supports his work, but some researchers say he’s been discredited. Major critiques in the Stanford Law Review and by the National Research Council note that the evidence does not show a causal link between the passage of right-to-carry laws and crime rates. ""The only real dispute is whether the benefits and the costs of these (right-to-carry) laws are a wash or whether they lead to increases in violent crime,"" said Stanford Law professor John Donohue, a vocal critic of Lott’s work. Donohue’s own influential 2014 working paper shows an increase in violent crime in 22 states. According to Donohue, much of the national decline in crime came from New York, a state that has no right-to-carry law. Webster of Johns Hopkins pointed out that permit holders are low-risk when it comes to involvement in violent crime, so it’s counter-intuitive to suggest that they’re the cause of a decline in murders. That holds true in Patrick’s home state of Texas, where concealed-carry licensees commit very few crimes, said Phillips of Texas A&M, based on his own research. ""But when convicted, they are more likely to be crimes involving violence, guns and death."" Finally, experts have pointed to a lot of theories beyond right-to-carry laws that may account for falling crime rates,including improved police technology, mass incarceration, online financial practices that keeps paper money out of homes, and extended unemployment benefits. So it's not as if the crime is falling because of loose gun restrictions alone. Our ruling Patrick said, ""There's a study showing that where states have open carry or concealed carry, but particularly open carry, the crime is down 25 percent."" It’s possible that Patrick is referencing a disputed study by gun rights advocate John Lott and getting some details wrong. Lott’s study shows a 25 percent decrease in murder and violent crime across the country from 2007 to 2014, as well as a 178 percent rise in the number of concealed-carry permits. Those two trends may be correlated, but experts say there’s no evidence showing causation. Further, gun laws may have little to nothing to do with rates of falling crime."
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10314
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Bitter Melon Extract May Slow, Stop Breast Cancer
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"Back and forth this story goes: From ""bitter melon extract may slow, stop breast cancer"" To ""But lab results must be repeated in animals and humans"" From ""It kills the breast cancer cells"" To ""But their work was done in a laboratory, not humans"" From ""I don’t believe it will cure cancer"" (researcher quote) To ""It will probably delay or perhaps have some prevention"" (researcher quote) To – finally – ""Eating bitter melon extract could also have a beneficial effect"" Using the word ""also"" in that last quote implies that some other beneficial effect has already been established in this study and story. It hasn’t. This was petri dish research. ""Intriguing,"" as the Cancer Society expert said. But it’s difficult to say much more. Yet this story was republished by BusinessWeek, health.msn.com, and other news organizations!"
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mixture
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Costs weren’t mentioned. It took us only a few seconds to find out how much this stuff is sold for online. Potential benefits were exaggerated far beyond what this laboratory-only research showed. Again, the story stated: Also? No human benefit was proven in this story! Not applicable. You can’t talk about harms from an agent that’s only been tested in a petri dish. But, then again, you really can’t say much at all. Yet they made a news story out of this. The story does inject a few caveats about the study: But it didn’t give any context for how many other agents have looked good in the lab but failed to pan out in animals much less humans. Instead, it played editorial ping pong with readers, because it also stated: Not applicable because there really wasn’t any meaningful discussion of breast cancer. One independent source was quoted. The story included the American Cancer Society expert’s recommendations for breast cancer prevention. The story states that bitter melon extract is a popular nutritional supplement and is a common vegetable in India, China and South America. There’s been a lot of research for a long time on bitter melon extract. We quickly found one study from as far back as 1983. The story didn’t provide any of that context. The story did include a comment from an American Cancer Society expert, so it doesn’t appear to rely solely on a news release.
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33431
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Medical research has established a causative link between root canals and cancer mortality.
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In fact, the AAE noted that research published in 2013 concluded that individuals who underwent multiple endodontic treatments actually experienced a 45 percent reduced risk of cancer.
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false
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Medical, Toxin Du Jour
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Fear of root canal dental procedures (extending past the discomfort of the procedure itself to long-term health effects) is far older than the internet. The fairly recent belief that root canals are specifically linked to cancer has circulated periodically online, typically in the form of a rumor that 97 percent of “terminal cancer patients” had previously undergone root canal procedures — suggesting a link between the dental procedure and the development of terminal cancer: I read an article: Shocking connection: 97% of all terminal cancer patients previously had this dental procedure done. Root canal. I have had 4 root canals and am concerned about the validity of the information in this article. In recent years, the claim about root canals and cancer risk has gained traction due to a 2012 article published to the website of Dr. Joseph Mercola, a vocal supporter of a number of discredited or dubious medical beliefs who has decried artificial sweeteners, microwaves, and sunscreen as major lurking dangers in everyday life. In the Mercola root canal article, the century-old work of Dr. Weston Price was referenced as proof positive that endodontics and cancer death go hand in hand, positing that Dr. Price’s discoveries have since been “discounted and suppressed by medical and dental professionals” wishing to bury the truth: Dr. Price was a dentist and researcher who traveled the world to study the teeth, bones, and diets of native populations living without the “benefit” of modern food. Around the year 1900, Price had been treating persistent root canal infections and became suspicious that root-canaled teeth always remained infected, in spite of treatments. Then one day, he recommended to a woman, wheelchair bound for six years, to have her root canal tooth extracted, even though it appeared to be fine. She agreed, so he extracted her tooth and then implanted it under the skin of a rabbit. The rabbit amazingly developed the same crippling arthritis as the woman and died from the infection 10 days later. But the woman, now free of the toxic tooth, immediately recovered from her arthritis and could now walk without even the assistance of a cane. He then went on to show that many chronic degenerative diseases originate from root-filled teeth — the most frequent being heart and circulatory diseases. He actually found 16 different causative bacterial agents for these conditions. But there were also strong correlations between root-filled teeth and diseases of the joints, brain and nervous system. Dr. Price went on to write two groundbreaking books in 1922 detailing his research into the link between dental pathology and chronic illness. Unfortunately, his work was deliberately buried for 70 years, until finally one endodontist named George Meinig recognized the importance of Price’s work and sought to expose the truth. By the time Price died in 1948, the “focal infection theory” he had researched decades earlier had already begun to fall out of favor among medical professionals. By the 1950s it was considered to be an outdated fringe belief, and endodontic research in the half century since then has turned up no evidence to support a causal link between root canals and cancer. However, the myth of cancer-causing endodontics persists. On a page addressing root canal myths, the American Association of Endodontists explained: The truth: There is no valid, scientific evidence linking root canal-treated teeth and disease elsewhere in the body. A root canal is a safe and effective procedure. When a severe infection in a tooth requires endodontic treatment, that treatment is designed to eliminate bacteria from the infected root canal, prevent reinfection of the tooth and save the natural tooth. While the viral claim suggests modern endodontics practitioners “buried” Price’s research, in actuality the American Association of Endodontists (AAE) addressed his findings directly and detailed why they did not stand up to basic modern standards in research: But what about Dr. Price? This is a good example of how the Internet can give new life to long-dispelled theories. Believe it or not, the misinformation about roots canals that is found on the Internet is still based on Dr. Price’s century-old, discredited research. Dr. Price’s research techniques were criticized at the time they were published, and by the early 1930s, a number of well-designed studies using more modern research techniques discredited his findings. In 1951, the Journal of the American Dental Association took the extraordinary step of publishing a special edition reviewing the scientific literature and shifted the standard of practice back to endodontic treatment for teeth with non-vital pulp in instances where the tooth could be saved. The JADA reviewed Dr. Price’s research techniques from the 1920s and noted that they lacked many aspects of modern scientific research, including absence of proper control groups and induction of excessive doses of bacteria. The “97 percent” figure commonly cited in the root canal cancer link claim is typically attributed to Dr. Josef Issels, a German physician who allegedly reported that “in his 40 years of treating ‘terminal’ cancer patients, 97 percent of his cancer patients had root canals.” Of course, it’s quite likely that 97 percent of Dr. Issels’ cancer patients had also consumed marshmallows at some point, but in the absence of any documented causative factor, that statement demonstrates nothing more than a spurious correlation. And Dr. Issels was a promoter of alternative cancer therapy regimens who was charged with manslaughter in 1961 after three cancer patients died while under his care.
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7578
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They already had an anxiety disorder. Now comes a pandemic.
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At first, Jonathon Seidl wasn’t worried about the coronavirus despite his anxiety disorder. But that changed.
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true
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Anxiety, Understanding the Outbreak, Health, General News, AP Top News, Pandemics, Virus Outbreak, U.S. News
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The 33-year-old digital media strategist from Dallas, who takes medication, said his concern was less about getting sick than about the battering the economy could sustain. Would he be able to feed his family? Would there be a run on food stores? He could not shake his worries. So he paced. His heart raced. He wanted to go to bed early “because sleep was the only respite.” But his sleep was rarely restful. “I would wake up during the night,” he said. The pandemic is worrisome enough for most people. For those with anxiety disorders, it presents a special challenge, especially if they are not receiving treatment. That’s the case for about two-thirds of people with anxiety disorders, says Dr. Bruce Schwartz, president of the American Psychiatric Association. “Those are the ones I’m worried about,” he said. Schwartz, who maintains a practice in New York, said those who are in treatment “do pretty well” in the face of the pandemic. Still, some psychologists say the have noticed an uptick in symptoms with the spread of the virus. And for some anxiety conditions, the recommendations from health officials can appear to feed the problem. People who fear interacting with others now hear advice to avoid crowds. People with obsessive-compulsive disorder who fear germs so much they wash their hands excessively now hear public health authorities encouraging frequent hand-washing. Standard treatments can deal with coronavirus fears in people who already had anxiety troubles, helping them to avoid emotional extremes, psychologists say. The goal is accepting an appropriate level of anxiety and living with some uncertainty. “You don’t have to like that any of this is happening to accept that this is our reality right now,” said Vaile Wright, director of clinical research and quality at the American Psychological Association. People can focus on what’s under their control, she said, like how to work from home or manage the kids with schools closed. Mary Alvord, a psychologist in Rockville, Maryland, said she sees increased anxiety in people whose fear of picking up germs drives them to rituals to ease that fear. Public health messages about cleaning surfaces and washing hands can make some patients think “we were right all along,” Alvord said. So “we have to really deal with reality checks,” she said. People with an anxiety disorder tend to focus on “what-if” ideas and worst-case scenarios more than what is going on in the present, she said. “That’s what we’re trying to get under control.” It’s tricky to get people with obsessive-compulsive behavior to focus on taking reasonable precautions without fueling their condition, said Neda Gould, associate director of an anxiety clinic at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore. A mental health provider can help them set goals and limits, she said, while techniques for relaxation and meditation can help “turn off that heightened anxiety or stress response ... or at least to turn it down.” Somebody with obsessive-compulsive disorder might be encouraged to touch some surface they fear is contaminated, and then not wash their hands for 20 minutes, and even then for only the recommended 20 seconds rather than five minutes with scalding-hot water, Wright said. For people apprehensive about dealing with others, the public health advice about avoiding groups also makes therapy challenging, Gould said. The key thing is to stay connected to other people, and that can be done by social media, email, video conferencing or phone calls, she said. Alvord, in fact, said she avoids the term “social distancing” and instead talks about “physical distancing and social connectedness.” That allows for connecting online, she said. It can be hard for anxiety-prone people to reach out when they feel overwhelmed, Wright said, so other people should put in the effort to contact them, just to ask how they’re doing. “There’s nothing wrong in talking about the virus in a productive way,” encouraging people to take care of themselves physically and emotionally without inducing panic and destructive riffs of “what-if,” she said. And it’s OK to contact friends and family “and talk not at all about the virus right now,” she said. “We need that too. We need a balance.” Schwartz recommends that people staying home limit the amount of time spent listening to the news, which includes not leaving it on in the background. And he suggests staying busy with projects like cleaning closets and drawers and cooking with one’s family, as well as getting outdoors for walks. Alvord, who directs 18 therapists in two offices, said her practice, like many others, has moved its patients to online contact. She noted that thousands of psychologists signed up for her recent webinar on practicing psychology remotely in the pandemic age. In her case, the shift was promoted both by people anxious about showing up in person and the practice’s own precautions for a caseload that could land 50 people in a waiting room on a Saturday morning. Research shows internet therapy can be as effective as doing in in person, Alvord said. But “it’s different than having somebody in the office,” she said. “I only see you from the waist up ... I don’t see you walking. I don’t see all the full range of gestures.” Gould said she recently moved all her sessions to telephone or videoconferencing, including group sessions. The goal is to help people like Seidl, who says he has found some solace in thinking about life after the outbreak. “It’s one of the things that gives me hope,” he said, describing a point where his mind slows down and his heart stops racing. “There is so much relief, and there is so much rest.” ___ Marshall Ritzel in New York contributed to this report. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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35314
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"During the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, U.S. President Donald Trump visited a manufacturing plant without wearing a face mask as Guns N' Roses' rendition of ""Live and Let Die"" played on loudspeakers during his visit."
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After the appearance, a White house official told CNBC that Honeywell had said Trump and other visitors did not need to wear masks during the visit.
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true
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Politics, COVID-19
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On May 5, 2020, as the reported number of Americans killed by the COVID-19 coronavirus disease reached a record of more than 65,700 people, videos surfaced online showing U.S. President Donald Trump touring a facility that produces face masks to prevent the spread of the virus — though he was not wearing a mask himself and the song “Live and Let Die” played simultaneously on loudspeakers. News sources including Business Insider, Rolling Stone, and Los Angeles Times published headlines highlighting the footage from inside an Arizona Honeywell factory, where workers have ramped up production of N95 masks for the federal government during the pandemic. Twitter users — including late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel — chimed in on what appeared to be a scene of people, including the president, making light of the deadly crisis. Kimmel posted on Twitter: Political video editor for Washington Post Zach Purser Brown, who appeared to have witnessed the scene, also tweeted about it. Posting photos and videos from inside the Honeywell plant, he wrote: President Trump is in a mask factory, not wearing a mask … they are also somewhat inappropriately, blasting ‘Live and let die’ over the factory sound system… This really isn’t the track you want to come on at this point. Originally a 1973 James Bond theme song by British-American rock band Paul McCartney & Wings, the song “Live and Let Die” resurfaced in the American psyche in the early ’90s thanks to a cover by rock band Guns N’ Roses. That version received a Grammy Award nomination in 1993. But following the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the U.S., Clear Channel Communications — the country’s largest chain of radio stations now known as iHeartMedia — placed the track on its list of “lyrically questionable” songs for stations to consider while creating playlists. Aside from the Guns N’ Roses song, Brown reported via Twitter that songs during Trump’s Honeywell visit appeared to match the playlists of campaign rallies by Trump, who is seeking a second presidential term against presumptive Democratic nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden. To aid our investigation into the claim, we researched the circumstances surrounding the apparent factory visit. According to the White House and an online log of the president’s appearances, Trump arrived at the Honeywell plant midday, and he first participated in a roundtable discussion on campus with tribal and local leaders. After that, the president toured a N95 mask assembly line — where the viral incident took place — and then gave a speech to congratulate Honeywell workers on their efforts to boost production of N95 masks during the pandemic. “Minutes ago we saw the brand new production lines where you’re making high-quality N95 respirators, and they are made to perfection,” he said, according to a video posted by the White House on May 5. According to a video clip showing a portion of his assembly-line tour via Reuters, Trump and three men in suits wore protective eyeglasses but no facial gear to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Factory workers and Trump are heard talking about the masks as Guns N’ Roses’ rendition of “Live and Let Die” plays on a PA system, and the president is seen giving the thumbs up. One person in the background of the video clip appears to be wearing a mask and so does a worker behind the assembly line. In public remarks since the U.S. COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020, Trump has emphasized that recommendations by public health officials to wear masks to limit the spread of infections are voluntary, and that he is “choosing not to do it.” Yet before making the Honeywell plant visit on May 5, Trump told reporters at the White House he would wear a mask during the factory tour “if it’s a masked facility,” according to CNBC.
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2480
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Insight: Science for hire - Trial over plastic exposes disclosure deficit.
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By 2012, Eastman Chemical seemed to be perfectly positioned when it came to producing plastic for drinking bottles. Concerns about a widely used chemical called bisphenol A (BPA) had become so great that Walmart stopped selling plastic baby bottles and children’s sippy cups made with it and consumer groups were clamoring for regulators to ban it. Medical societies were warning that BPA’s similarity to estrogens could disrupt the human hormone system and pose health risks, especially to fetuses and newborns.
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true
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Science News
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Eastman, a specialty-chemicals company headquartered in Kingsport, Tennessee, had been selling Tritan, its trademarked hard, clear plastic, as an alternative to BPA for five years. It told prospective customers that Tritan was free of BPA and any other chemical that mimicked human hormones like estrogens. To support the claim, the company pointed to “independent third-party testing,” whose results were reported in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology, which is published by Elsevier. As more manufacturers and retailers abandoned BPA, some wanted to make absolutely sure that Eastman’s safety claims for Tritan had been reviewed independently. The Austin, Texas, office of upscale grocer Whole Foods, for instance, asked Eastman if it funded “any of these labs” that determined Tritan had no estrogenic properties, according to an email from Eastman chemist Emmett O’Brien and disclosed in a lawsuit. “I mentioned that we did not and they were happy with the answer,” O’Brien said in the email. Eastman did not make O’Brien available for comment. Because an employee of Whole Foods “is under subpoena in this case,” said spokeswoman Libba Letton, “we can’t comment on it.” In fact, the four labs that tested Tritan for the peer-reviewed paper in the Elsevier journal received funding from Eastman that was not publicly disclosed. Also not reported by Eastman’s marketing materials or the paper: The lead author of the study, who analyzed the data from the four labs, was paid by Eastman for that work. The financial relationships Eastman had with four “independent” labs emerged from discovery in a lawsuit brought by the company against two chemical testing and consulting firms that challenged the safety of Tritan. In the case, which began this week in Austin, Eastman alleged that PlastiPure Inc and CertiChem Inc falsely portrayed Tritan as having hormone-disrupting properties similar to BPA in an effort to market their own services. It isn’t clear how or whether Eastman’s role in sponsoring its pro-Tritan study will figure in the case. But the connection between Eastman and scientists who produced the favorable study raises questions among some scientists and businesses about the company’s description of the research as independent. Eastman spokeswoman Maranda Demuth said that although the company commissioned the labs to do the studies, it “had no role or input on the analysis of the tests or the results.” Elsevier confirmed to Reuters that prior to publication the paper’s lead author and his co-authors - scientists from the four labs - disclosed to the editors that Eastman paid them to conduct the analysis and write it up. But the paper carried a note saying that the “authors declare no conflict of interest,” and there was no “acknowledgements” section, where researchers typically indicate who funded their work. As a result, readers had no way of knowing about the Eastman connection, information that scientists typically use to judge the merits of a study’s methodology and conclusions. The reason for the nondisclosure, said Tom Reller, vice resident of global corporate relations for Elsevier, was that “they (the authors) felt there was no conflict as Eastman had no part in the design, analysis or data interpretation.” He said the journal’s editors, who declined to comment to Reuters, accepted the authors’ declaration, but he declined to explain whether it is authors or editors who get the final say in whether information about funding is disclosed via a “conflict” statement. It is not apparent how frequently conflicts of interest are reported in Elsevier journals. The approach of letting authors decide if they have conflicts of interest that should be disclosed is embraced by some less prominent science and medical journals. The leading scientific journals, in contrast, tell authors that any financial relationship with an interested party in the research must be disclosed to readers. U.S. law requires that scientists disclose ties with pharmaceutical companies when they present research. “It’s not for authors to decide what a conflict is,” said Dr. Jerome Kassirer of Tufts University, former editor of The New England Journal of Medicine and a longtime leader of journals’ efforts to disclose such conflicts to their readers. (He is not involved in the Eastman lawsuit.) “A conflict exists when there is a dual loyalty,” said Kassirer, who believes both journal editors and authors are on the hook for being as transparent as possible regarding funding. Disclosing payment from an interested party and then telling the journal such compensation is not a conflict of interest “is a highly unusual way of doing things,” he said. CertiChem and PlastiPure, both founded by neuroscientist George Bittner of the University of Texas, published a paper in 2011 in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) reporting that many non-BPA plastics such as Tritan have estrogenic activity, especially after being exposed to sunlight or washed with detergent. EHP is published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Tritan is a polymer made of three molecular building blocks; none are BPA. The authors disclosed that they are employed by, own stock in and have other financial ties to CertiChem and PlastiPure, as shown on the first page of the paper. On the heels of this study, PlastiPure, a consulting firm that advises companies on ways to synthesize new or existing plastics to make them hormone-activity-free, told clients and asserted in brochures pitching its services that, based on the research reported in EHP, Tritan is not estrogen-activity-free. Eastman’s contrary claim, that Tritan is not estrogenic, was bolstered by the 2012 study in Food and Chemical Toxicology. Based on tests from two university and two commercial labs, the authors concluded that the three molecules from which Tritan is made “do not pose an ... estrogenic risk to humans.” Court documents show that Eastman paid lead author Thomas Osimitz, a toxicologist at consulting firm Science Strategies, $10,000 to assemble the data and write the paper. The remaining authors were scientists at the labs, and all received payment from Eastman, the company’s lawyer Rick Harrison said in a pretrial hearing. The total value of the four lab contracts, which funded the scientists to conduct tests on Tritan, could not be determined. “There are statements by the ... authors that they were funded by Eastman in participating and writing the paper,” Harrison told Judge Sam Sparks. “Those have never been made public.” Gary Sayler, a co-author of the Food and Chemical Toxicology paper and director of the Center for Environmental Biotechnology at the University of Tennessee, one of the labs that provided data on Tritan, said Eastman had sponsored the testing that produced the data for the Osimitz study. Eastman acknowledges this. “The work was done under contract to our research center,” Sayler told Reuters. “Just normal salary and supplies. Nobody was supported in anything above their normal salary rate.” Researchers from the other three labs declined comment, citing the ongoing litigation, or did not respond. Despite efforts by U.S. lawmakers and scientists to make research more transparent, how researchers, journals and companies interpret disclosure requirements varies widely, members of the research community say. “Many journals don’t even ask about conflict of interest,” said Sayler, who is himself the editor of an environmental studies journal. “Normally if you just report the funding for research that’s sufficient ... It’s not a fiduciary responsibility on my part. We’re not going to be enriched by this.” Documents in the Austin trial suggest that Eastman was involved in designing the Osimitz study even though it was conducted far from its headquarters and despite the authors’ claims to the contrary. According to an expert report that he submitted to the Texas court, Eastman toxicologist James Deyo worked with one lab to “develop the proper dosage levels” of Tritan monomers to give to lab animals in the test, the goal of which was to determine whether Tritan mimics human hormones. Asked about the discrepancy between Deyo’s statement and Eastman’s characterization of the research as “independent,” spokeswoman Demuth said the company “is not providing additional comments beyond what is publicly available.” Deyo also said that he helped work out the “protocols” for the study - essentially, how it would be conducted. Both dosage levels and protocols can affect an experiment’s outcome. Eastman maintains that because the four labs are not part of the company per se, their work can accurately be described as independent and “third party.” Three days before the start of the trial, Osimitz told Reuters that the Elsevier journal’s disclosure forms were “very confusing.” He declined to comment further on the pre-publication vetting process, but said that he had just submitted to the journal a correction to the statement that “the authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.” “Eastman paid for the work,” he said. “There is no question about that.”
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New Mammogram Benefits for Women in Their 40s
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It’s difficult to understand how you can report on a study and never include any actual data from the study – especially on a topic as controversial as this one is. Many women are confused about whether or not they should start having mammograms in their 40s. Any new study on this topic deserves and demands more scrutiny than what was delivered here. It is noteworthy that many leading news organizations chose not to report on this study.
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false
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breast cancer,mammography
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No discussion of costs of mammograms. Stories should not assume that all insurance companies will cover costs of mammograms for women in their 40s. Cost is an issue and can be addressed in just one additional line in a story. Surprisingly, the story didn’t include a single statistic from the study it was reporting on. The story did at least mention the risk of false positives and how this could affect whether women would still be inclined to get mammograms as they get older. Does not discuss the limitations of the current study. The article never pointed out that this was NOT a randomized controlled trial. The article also should have discussed: No disease mongering. The story did include helpful quotes from Dr. Otis Brawley of the American Cancer Society. However, for a story that mentions the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) three times, it failed to include any response from anyone on the USPSTF! Interesting this story never mentioned that the study was comparing breast cancer tumors detected by patient/doctor to those detected by mammograms. Not applicable. Mammograms are widely available (if you have access to the proper facility and a way to pay for it). So we don’t expect that the story directly address availability. The story never clearly established what’s new or different or newsworthy about this latest study in a long string of studies on this topic. In fact, as already noted above, it never even mentioned that the study was comparing breast cancer tumors detected by patient/doctor to those detected by mammograms. It does not appear that the story relied solely or largely on a news release.
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German Catholics allow morning-after pill in rape cases.
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The Roman Catholic Church in Germany said on Thursday it would permit certain types of “morning-after pill” for raped women, after two hospitals provoked an outcry for refusing to treat a rape victim.
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true
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Health News
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The German Bishops’ Conference said church-run hospitals would now ensure proper medical, psychological and emotional care for rape victims - including administering pills that prevent pregnancy without inducing an abortion. Archbishop Robert Zollitsch said a four-day meeting of German bishops in the western town of Trier had “confirmed that women who have been victims of rape will get the proper human, medical, psychological and pastoral care”. “That can include medication with a ‘morning-after pill’ as long as this has a prophylactic and not an abortive effect,” he said in a statement. “Medical and pharmaceutical methods that induce the death of an embryo may still not be used.” That means there is no change to the Catholic Church’s ban on the so-called abortion pill based on the drug mifepristone or RU-486, and marketed as Mifegyne or Mifeprex. The Church remains firmly opposed to abortion and artificial birth control, but in Germany it will now differentiate between pills that prevent sperm from fertilizing an egg in the womb and pills that induce an abortion, in cases of rape. The German church, which has already faced mass desertions over cases of sexual abuse of children by priests, had been expected to change its position on the morning-after pill after apologizing about an incident involving two hospitals in Cologne last month. The critical German lay movement “Wir sind Kirche” (We are the Church) said bishops took the decision because they feared losing state subsidies for church hospitals. The Catholic Church runs 25 percent of German hospitals and half of those in North Rhine-Westphalia state, which includes Cologne, it said. Cologne’s Cardinal Joachim Meisner, an ally of the outgoing German-born Pope Benedict, has already apologized for the church hospitals’ treatment of the woman. He said it “shames us deeply because it contradicts our Christian mission and our purpose”. The 25-year-old woman was referred to the hospitals by her doctor for a gynecological exam after she was drugged at a party and woke up on a park bench fearing she had been raped. The hospitals refused to treat her because they could not prescribe the pill, which is taken after sex to avoid pregnancy. She was eventually treated at a Protestant church-run hospital. The German bishops’ meeting in Trier also tried to address criticism of sexual discrimination by the Church by vowing to include more women in leadership positions, although this will not include the ordination of women as priests. More than 181,000 German Catholics left the Church in 2010 and a further 126,000 the following year, reducing the total number to 24.47 million in a total population of 82 million.
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Viral image Says Kamala Harris and other Democratic senators “voted to let babies scream until they die if born alive.”
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. A Senate bill proposes a uniform, nationwide obligation on health care practitioners to provide medical care to babies born after failed abortion attempts, with possible prison time for violators. The bill has not yet been brought to the Senate for a vote. Most Democratic senators oppose the bill, citing federal and state laws that already guarantee the protections established in the bill.
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false
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Abortion, Congress, Facebook Fact-checks, Viral image,
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"A viral image says that 41 senators voted "" to let babies scream until they die if born alive,"" paying special emphasis to Sen. Kamala Harris, now the Democratic vice presidential nominee. The image lists the names of 44 Democratic senators, with Harris’ name circled in red. A caption above the image reads: ""These are the 41 sickos who voted to let babies scream until they die if born alive."" The image cites SB 311, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protections Act, which would establish requirements for the care that practitioners must provide to an infant born after a failed abortion attempt, and include possible prison time for anyone who doesn’t meet the standards. Many Democratic senators have said they do not support the bill, and most of them voted to block its progress through the Senate. The effect of their vote was not to allow practitioners to let doctors and parents to leave babies to die, but to preserve the legal status quo, which already considers infants to be humans protected under the law. When this Aug. 18 post was made, the Senate had not brought the bill to the floor for a final vote. The senators listed in the post are those who voted no on a cloture motion, a procedural proposal that would have moved it toward a final vote in the Senate. There have been two failed cloture votes on the bill so far, one in February 2019 and one in February 2020. During the first vote, 44 Democratic senators voted no, and on the second, 41 voted no. All 53 Republicans voted in favor of the motion both times. A cloture vote needs 60 votes to pass, so the bill stalled in the debate stage. The image in the Facebook post lists 44 names, including Sens. Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, who were absent during the second vote. (Sanders is an independent in the Senate). However, the caption above it references ""41"" who voted no. In either case, the image mischaracterizes both the content of the bill and the effect of the Democratic senators’ votes. Under SB 311, health care practitioners must treat a baby born after an attempted abortion as they would any other newborn, and immediately admit the child to the hospital. A person who violates these terms would be subject to criminal penalties, including a fine and/or up to five years of prison. A person who kills an infant after a failed abortion would be subject to prosecution for murder. Senate Republicans cast the bill as ""anti-infanticide legislation,"" describing it as a simple choice between leaving infants to die or protecting them under the law. ""Everyone in the Senate ought to be able to say unequivocally that killing that little baby is wrong. This doesn't take any political courage,"" the bill’s sponsor, Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said on the Senate floor. Some Democrats called the bill a case of government overreach that took decisions out of the hands of parents and medical professionals. They noted that it would apply to a small number of abortions that involve complex and difficult factors that often can’t be anticipated, such as cases where the mother’s life would be at risk or where an infant has been born with a terminal disease. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 43 states have banned ""some abortions after a certain point in pregnancy."" In 2016, procedures performed in the 21st week of gestation or later accounted for 1.2% of all abortions. Deaths involving babies born alive after an attempted abortion are even rarer. A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that looked at death certificates for infants from 2003-2014 showed ""143 deaths involving induced terminations"" during that 12-year period. Of these deaths, 97 involved a ""maternal complication, or one or more congenital anomalies."" However, the CDC report acknowledged that this number could be an underestimate due to vague wording on some death certificates. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), whose name is included in the Facebook post, said the legislation ""would force doctors to perform ineffective, invasive procedures on fetuses born with fatal abnormalities … even if it’s against the best interests of the child."" Most of the bill’s Democratic opponents explained their votes by noting that existing federal law and most states’ laws already provide protections for babies born alive after abortion attempts. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., for example, cited the murder conviction of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2013 for killing live-born infants after botched abortions at his Philadelphia clinic. Prosecutors in the case cited a Pennsylvania state law that says a baby delivered during an abortion and showing signs of life is considered alive, according to the New York Times. Snopes found that 34 states currently have laws that explicitly affirm a duty of care for infants and enforce penalties for failing to provide that care. At the federal level, the Born-Alive Infants Protections Act, which President George W. Bush signed into law in 2002, defined ""born alive"" infants as human persons, subject to the same legal protections as any other child. Under this definition, anyone who kills an infant after a failed abortion can be prosecuted for murder, and health care practitioners are obligated to provide the same level of care they would give to any other infant. But the 2002 law did not explicitly set out any federal penalties for health care practitioners who don’t provide such care, beyond those now in effect in 34 states. SB 311 would set a uniform standard for all 50 states. Mary Ziegler, a law professor at Florida State University, told PolitiFact that even in the 16 states that do not lay out an affirmative duty of care, leaving a baby to die would be considered a murder by omission. ""If you had an elderly adult and you decided to starve them to death, that would be a homicide. Once a child is born alive, the same rules apply to them,"" said Ziegler. SB 311 would come into play only during the rare and extremely complex cases where the facts of an attempted abortion are disputed. ""When you have an alleged infanticide, it’s a he-said-she-said situation, where an abortionist says that an infant was not born alive and prosecutors said she was,"" Ziegler said. ""Many of these cases end in mistrials because the jury simply doesn’t know what took place."" The bill would make these prosecutions easier by placing responsibility for an infant’s health more squarely on the abortionist. A viral image says that 41 senators voted ""to let babies scream until they die if born alive,"" paying special emphasis to Harris. The image mischaracterizes the votes that have been conducted on the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protections Act and the effect of the legislation on protections for infants born following abortion attempts. In voting against cloture, Democratic senators didn’t vote to roll back protections for live-born infants but rather to keep them as they are. So the Facebook post’s claim that their vote allowed parents and doctors to let infants ""scream until they die"" exaggerates the effect of their vote. "
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Apollo 11 astronaut returns to launch pad 50 years later.
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Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins returned Tuesday to the exact spot where he flew to the moon 50 years ago with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.
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true
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Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, AP Top News, Apollo 11 moon landing, General News, Moon, Michael Collins, Mars, U.S. News, Michael Pence, Science
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Collins had the spotlight to himself this time — Armstrong has been gone for seven years and Aldrin canceled. Collins said he wished his two moonwalking colleagues could have shared the moment at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A, the departure point for humanity’s first moon landing. “Wonderful feeling to be back,” the 88-year-old command module pilot said on NASA TV. “There’s a difference this time. I want to turn and ask Neil a question and maybe tell Buzz Aldrin something, and of course, I’m here by myself.” At NASA’s invitation, Collins marked the precise moment — 9:32 a.m. on July 16, 1969 — that the Saturn V rocket blasted off. He was seated at the base of the pad alongside Kennedy’s director, Robert Cabana, a former space shuttle commander. Collins recalled the tension surrounding the crew that day. “Apollo 11 ... was serious business. We, crew, felt the weight of the world on our shoulders. We knew that everyone would be looking at us, friend or foe, and we wanted to do the best we possibly could,” he said. Collins remained in lunar orbit, tending to Columbia, the mother ship, while Armstrong and Aldrin landed in the Eagle on July 20, 1969, and spent 2 ½ hours walking the gray, dusty lunar surface. A reunion Tuesday at the Kennedy firing room by past and present launch controllers — and Collins’ return to the pad, now leased to SpaceX — kicked off a week of celebrations marking each day of Apollo 11′s eight-day voyage. In Huntsville, Alabama, where the Saturn V was developed, some 4,900 model rockets lifted off simultaneously, commemorating the moment the Apollo 11 crew blasted off for the moon. More than 1,000 youngsters attending Space Camp counted down ... “5, 4, 3, 2, 1!” — and cheered as the red, white and blue rockets created a gray cloud, at least for a few moments, in the sky. The U.S. Space and Rocket Center was shooting for an altitude of at least 100 feet (30 meters) in order to set a new Guinness Book of World Records. Apollo 15 astronaut Al Worden helped with the mass launching. Also present: all three children of German-born rocket genius Wernher von Braun, who masterminded the Saturn V. “This was a blast. This was an absolute blast,” said spectator Scott Hayek of Ellicott City, Maryland. “And, you know, what a tribute - and, a visceral tribute - to see the rockets going off.” Another spectator, Karin Wise, of Jonesboro, Georgia, was 19 during Apollo 11 and recalled being glued to TV coverage. “So, to bring my grandchildren here for the 50 anniversary, was so special,” she said. “I hope they’re around for the 100th anniversary.” At the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum in Washington, the spacesuit that Armstrong wore went back on display in mint condition, complete with lunar dust left on the suit’s knees, thighs and elbows. On hand for the unveiling were Vice President Mike Pence, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine and Armstrong’s older son, Rick. Armstrong died in 2012. A fundraising campaign took just five days to raise the $500,000 needed for the restoration. It was taken off display 13 years ago because it was deteriorating, said museum curator Cathleen Lewis. It took four years to rehab it. Calling Armstrong a hero, Pence said “the American people express their gratitude by preserving this symbol of courage.” Back at Kennedy, NASA televised original launch video of Apollo 11, timed down to the second. Then Cabana turned his conversation with Collins to NASA’s next moonshot program, Artemis, named after the twin sister of Greek mythology’s Apollo. It seeks to put the first woman and next man on the lunar surface — the moon’s south pole — by 2024. President John F. Kennedy’s challenge to put a man on the moon by the end of 1969 took eight years to achieve. Collins said he likes the name Artemis and, even more, likes the concept behind Artemis. “But I don’t want to go back to the moon,” Collins told Cabana. “I want to go direct to Mars. I call it the JFK Mars Express.” Collins noted that the moon-first crowd has merit to its argument and he pointed out Armstrong himself was among those who believed returning to the moon “would assist us mightily in our attempt to go to Mars.” Cabana assured Collins, “We believe the faster we get to the moon, the faster we get to Mars as we develop those systems that we need to make that happen.” About 100 of the original 500 launch controllers and managers on July 16, 1969, reunited in the firing room Tuesday morning. The crowd also included members of NASA’s next moon management team, including Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, launch director for the still-in-development Space Launch System moon rocket. The SLS will surpass the Saturn V, the world’s most powerful rocket to fly to date. Blackwell-Thompson said she got goosebumps listening to the replay of the Apollo 11 countdown. Hearing Collins’ “personal account of what that was like was absolutely amazing.” The lone female launch controller for Apollo 11, JoAnn Morgan, enjoyed seeing the much updated- firing room. One thing was notably missing, though: stacks of paper. “We could have walked to the moon on the paper,” Morgan said. Collins was reunited later Tuesday with two other Apollo astronauts at an evening gala at Kennedy, including Apollo 16 moonwalker Charlie Duke, who was the capsule communicator in Mission Control for the Apollo 11 moon landing. Only four of the 12 moonwalkers from 1969 through 1972 are still alive: Aldrin, Duke, Apollo 15′s David Scott and Apollo 17′s Harrison Schmitt. Among the gala attendees: Eight former shuttle astronauts, including Mark Kelly and his wife, former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and “space lover” and aspiring space tourist Vesa Heilala, 52, who traveled from Helsinki to Florida for the anniversary. “I had to come here because in Finland we don’t have rockets and we don’t have astronauts for 50 years,” said Heilala, who was collecting astronaut autographs on his colorful propeller cap. Huntsville’s rocket center also had a special anniversary dinner Tuesday night, with some retired Apollo and Skylab astronauts and rocket scientists. Aldrin was set to attend but was traveling Tuesday and likely wouldn’t make it on time, a center official said. Aldrin, 89, hosted a gala in Southern California last Saturday. NASA spokesman Bob Jacobs said Aldrin bowed out of the Florida launch pad visit, citing his intense schedule of appearances. Aldrin and Collins may reunite in Washington on Friday or Saturday, the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11′s moon landing. ___ Science writer Seth Borenstein in Washington and videojournalist Cody Jackson in Huntsville contributed to this report. ___ Follow AP’s full coverage of the Apollo 11 anniversary at: https://apnews.com/Apollo11moonlanding ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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Congo records one-day record for confirmed Ebola cases.
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Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday confirmed 14 new cases of Ebola virus in its eastern borderlands, the largest one-day increase since the current outbreak was declared in August.
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true
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Health News
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The outbreak of the haemorrhagic fever in the eastern provinces of North Kivu and Ituri is already the second-largest in history with 713 confirmed and probable cases and 439 deaths. It is surpassed only by the 2013-2016 outbreak in West Africa, which involved over 28,000 cases and 11,000 deaths and led to substantial investments in a vaccine and treatments for the virus. Health officials have struggled to bring the current outbreak, Congo’s tenth since 1976, under control, largely due to widespread militia violence in eastern Congo which has hampered the response. The health ministry said in a daily bulletin that nine of the new cases were in the health zone of Katwa, just outside Butembo, a city of several hundred thousand people near the Ugandan border that has emerged as the outbreak’s new epicenter. One other case was in Butembo. The ministry also announced six new deaths of confirmed cases as well as the recovery of one patient.
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"Reddit postings show the shooter in Jacksonville, Florida, was part of the ""anti-Trump resistance."
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Q: Did Reddit postings show the shooter in Jacksonville, Florida, was part of the “anti-Trump resistance”? A: No. The Reddit account in question did not belong to the shooter, David Katz, despite what viral stories said.
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false
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false stories,
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Q: Did Reddit postings show the shooter in Jacksonville, Florida, was part of the “anti-Trump resistance”? A: No. The Reddit account in question did not belong to the shooter, David Katz, despite what viral stories said. It’s not clear what political leanings, if any, David Katz possessed before opening fire Aug. 26 at a competitive gaming tournament in Jacksonville, Florida — killing two people and injuring 10 more before fatally shooting himself.But we now know that the Reddit account some websites cited as evidence that Katz, 24, was a member of the so-called “anti-Trump resistance” didn’t actually belong to him. Instead, it belonged to a Minnesota man, as FactCheck.org has confirmed.That falsehood was widely distributed by conservative websites this week before the user on the social website debunked it. Popular websites like the Gateway Pundit and Infowars have since acknowledged the mistaken identity: The former removed the claims that were in its original story, and the latter deleted its story altogether. The Gateway Pundit also acknowledged in an “update”: “An anonymous Reddit user was mis-identified in an earlier post.”On other websites, though, the deception has lingered.“The Jacksonville Shooter Hated Trump,” conservative political commentator Rush Limbaugh’s website declared in a Aug. 27 post, citing the Gateway Pundit’s story on the Reddit comment.“JACKSONVILLE SHOOTER WAS ANTI-TRUMP RESISTANCE WARRIOR,” reads another headline from the same day on davidharrisjr.com, whose story logged thousands of Facebook engagements. Both of those stories were still posted on the websites on Aug. 30.“We don’t know if David Katz wore a mask and participated in violent riots, but we do know he was part of the Trump resistance, who called Trump supporters ‘Trumptards’ and ‘mentally ill,'” the davidharrisjr.com article reads.The post republished the Gateway Pundit’s story, which cited a tweet from conspiracy theorist Mike Cernovich that referenced the Reddit account’s remark that used the term “trumptards.”“You trumptards seriously can never stop amazing everyone with how mentally challenged you guys are,” the user commented in a thread on a sub-Reddit dedicated to President Donald Trump.The Reddit account’s username — “ravenchamps” — is similar to a username that Katz reportedly used in video gaming — “ravens2012champs.” But the actual owner of the Reddit account made clear that he was not Katz when he posted after Katz’s death.“I’m apparently the madden shooter what’s up,” ravenchamps posted.That user, whose first name is Pavel, spoke to FactCheck.org by phone after corresponding through Reddit, and he confirmed the misidentification. The 23-year-old from Minnesota requested his last name be withheld for privacy.Pavel said he logged on to the website the night after the shooting and noticed comments claiming his account belonged to Katz. “I go online and look and see and there’s a couple harassing ones, hoping that I was dead and rotting in hell,” he recalled.He posted his comment debunking the theory to a sub-Reddit called “Ask Me Anything,” or AMA.“Even after this AMA, I still get a few messages from people claiming I’m the guy’s mom,” or someone else covering it up, he said.Pavel said he typically uses Reddit for football news (he’s indeed a Baltimore Ravens fan), world news and to follow other sub-Reddits out of hobby. He doesn’t post about politics too often, he said.“I make fun of Republicans and Democrats, they all have their issues,” he said.While Pavel applauded the fact that some users did point out that a photo he once uploaded of his car showed Minnesota plates (which didn’t comport with the fact that Katz lived in Baltimore, Maryland), the whole episode left him realizing how susceptible some are to misinformation.“There’s a lot of idiots out there on the internet that don’t fact check anything,” he said.Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk false stories shared on the social media network.Collins, Ben. “Far-right media misidentifies Jacksonville shooter as Trump-bashing Reddit user.” NBC News. 28 Aug 2018.Ravenchamps. Reddit.com. Accessed 29 Aug 2018.Pavel (Last name withheld). “Ravenchamps” Reddit user. Phone interview with FactCheck.org. 29 Aug 2018.Pagliery, Jose, et. al. “Jacksonville shooter had history of mental illness and police visits to family home.” CNN.com. 28 Aug 2018.Hoft, Jim. “Jacksonville Shooter Had Strange Online Profile and Bizarre Playing Style – Murdered 3 People (UPDATE).” Gateway Pundit. 26 Aug 2018.“NOTICE OF RETRACTION, CORRECTION, AND CLARIFICATION.” Infowars.com. 29 Aug 2018.
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The Republicans have demanded deep cuts in education. They've demanded cuts in cancer research and other research to find cures and treatments to diseases.
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"Chris Van Hollen says GOP has ""demanded deep cuts"" in education, disease research"
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true
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National, Education, Federal Budget, Health Care, Science, This Week - ABC News, Chris Van Hollen,
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"On the April 10, 2011, edition of ABC’s This Week with Christiane Amanpour, Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., faced off against Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., over the federal budget. At one point, Van Hollen -- the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee -- criticized Republican spending proposals, saying that the party has targeted popular programs such as education and cancer research. At the time This Week aired, the details of the budget deal struck two days earlier were still emerging, so Van Hollen said he would ""reserve judgment"" on the language of the final spending bill. But he took a swipe at earlier, Republican-backed spending proposals. He said that ""the unfortunate part about this entire situation is that Mike and his colleagues threatened to shut down the entire federal government, which would have huge economic dislocation and disruption in the country, in order to pass a bill that, at the end of the day, doesn't create one job. … The Republicans have demanded deep cuts in education. They've demanded cuts in cancer research and other research to find cures and treatments to diseases. And instead of focusing just on a narrow slice of cuts that they were demanding, we were able to expand the area of cuts and prevent some (in the budget deal). So that's good news."" We wondered whether Van Hollen was right when he said that ""the Republicans have demanded deep cuts in education. They've demanded cuts in cancer research and other research to find cures and treatments to diseases."" Van Hollen's remarks were based on H.R. 1, a fiscal year 2011 spending bill that passed the House but was rejected by the Senate in a 44-56 vote on March 9, 2011. We’re using it because it was a virtually pure Republican proposal: Only three Republicans voted against it on the floor, and no Democrats voted for it. So, would these programs be cut under H.R. 1? The answer is yes. Here are some of the key areas: • Title I education spending. This is a program that sends federal funds to the states for K-12 education. H.R. 1 would have cut Title I spending by $693.5 million compared to the amount enacted for fiscal year 2010. • Part B IDEA grants. This program provides federal funding for special education based on a formula. H.R. 1 would have cut Part B spending by $557.7 million compared to the fiscal year 2010 level. • Pell grants. This program funds low-income individuals pursuing undergraduate or sometimes graduate degrees. H.R. 1 would have capped the size of Pell grants for the 2011-12 award year at $4,015. Once that amount is adjusted for an additional sum provided under mandatory funding, the maximum level for Pell grants would be $845 lower than today’s level. • Head Start. This program provides low-income children of preschool age with child-development programs that teach skills that prepare them for school. H.R. 1 would have cut Head Start, which is run by the Department of Health and Human Servcies, by a little under $1.1 billion. • National Institutes of Heath. NIH is the leading federal institution for conducting research on disease treatments. H.R. 1 would have cut its general budget back to 2008 levels, amounting to a reduction of $639.5 million from fiscal year 2010. In congressional testimony on March 11, 2011, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that the proposed cuts would mean that ""about half of the hundred largest clinical studies including those on cancer and Alzheimer's would probably be canceled."" When we spoke to Boehner’s office, they didn’t counter the notion that these areas would have been cut if H.R. 1 had been enacted. ""In H.R. 1, we did cut IDEA, Head Start, Title I, Pell grants and NIH,"" said Michael Steel, a spokesman for Boehner. ""The cuts were across all accounts. Nothing was off limits."" Of course, Republicans have emphasized broader aspects of their bill. In a Feb. 12, 2011, news release about the introduction of H.R. 1, Boehner spoke generally about cutting spending and reducing the size of government, and didn’t mention education and disease research. The statement issued the same day by Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., didn’t get specific, either. And in a Feb. 15, 2011, floor speech about the bill, House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky., didn’t mention those programs either. The specific programs he cited were elimination of previous earmark funding from fiscal 2010 and the rescinding of unobligated funding from the stimulus bill. None of this is remotely surprising -- in the abstract, education and disease research tend to be popular programs. One would expect Republican leaders to play up the more popular aspects of the bill, such as taming the deficit and reducing the size of government, rather than the less popular ones. By the same token, it's not surprising that Van Hollen highlighted the budget’s impact on education and disease research. It’s the latest incarnation of the old political war-cry that your opponent is targeting widows, orphans and other helpless Americans. But that’s not the whole story. H.R. 1 aimed to cut discretionary spending by $100 billion -- including loads of cuts that had nothing to do with education or disease research. We do think Van Hollen’s underlying point -- that cuts were made to education and disease research -- is valid. Reasonable people can disagree on whether such cuts are justified, but Van Hollen is well within his rights to point out that these programs would be cut under H.R. 1, just as Republicans are well within their rights to argue that the deficit is so large that every federal program needs to give up some funding. Ultimately, the voters will decide whose priorities hold sway. In our view, Van Hollen has narrowed the Republicans’ bill, which includes wide-ranging cuts, to just two popular programs. On the other hand, he’s right that those programs would take budget hits under the bill."
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36356
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Immigrants and refugees have caused the return of six eradicated diseases in the United States.
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Are Eradicated Diseases Making a Comeback Because of Immigrants and Refugees?
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false
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Disinformation, Fact Checks
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In April 2019, the Facebook page “Donald Plants” shared the following meme (archived here), which claimed that six “eradicated diseases” are in the process of “making a comeback” thanks to the presence of refugees and undocumented immigrants in the United States.In the meme, six “eradicated diseases” were named: tuberculosis, measles, whooping cough, mumps, scarlet fever, and bubonic plague. Predictably, no supporting information for either claim (whether these diseases were on the rebound or if immigrants had anything to do with it) appeared alongside it.The claim is multilayered. One aspect of it is that six diseases were eradicated in the United States, but have recently returned. The second seemed more amorphous, blaming the purported return of the six diseases on refugees and undocumented immigrants. (No mechanism for disease favoring undocumented immigrants over their documented counterparts was included, either. )Of note is that only two diseases worldwide are considered to be fully eradicated, neither of which (smallpox and rinderpest) appear on the list. Moreover, only two of the diseases mentioned on the list are considered potentially eradicable — measles and mumps. No vaccine exists for scarlet fever, and plague and tuberculosis vaccines are typically not recommended to Americans. Measles was declared “eliminated” in 2000, which is not the same as eradicated.However, it is also worth noting that according to the Centers for Disease Control, there isn’t actually any information in 2019 to suggest that the six diseases included in this particular meme — tuberculosis, measles, whooping cough, mumps, scarlet fever, and bubonic plague — are necessarily “making a comeback.” Of the six illnesses in the meme, only one was mentioned on the CDC’s “Current Outbreaks” page as of May 2019 — measles. Consequently, five of the six diseases were not returning, nor had they been eradicated in the first place.Up-to-date information from the CDC attributed two factors for the 2019 spread of measles — travelers (not immigrants, whose journeys are not typically as short as visitors), and vaccine refusal:The U.S. experienced 17 outbreaks in 2018. Three outbreaks in New York State, New York City, and New Jersey, respectively, contributed to most of the cases. Cases in those states occurred primarily among unvaccinated people in Orthodox Jewish communities. These outbreaks were associated with travelers who brought measles back from Israel, where a large outbreak is occurring. Eighty-two people brought measles to the U.S. from other countries in 2018. This is the greatest number of imported cases since measles was eliminated from the U.S. in 2000.To recap, none of the six described diseases had been eradicated as of 2019, and five of the six (except measles) have not made any sort of “comeback.” In the case of measles, a mixture of travel to other countries and pockets of homegrown vaccine refusal fueled the outbreaks in 2018 and 2019. As in earlier outbreaks, populations known not to vaccinate are particularly at risk. But are immigrants or refugees the ones spreading those diseases?Of note is the fact that refugees are subject to screenings before entering the United States to rule out or quarantine cases of infectious disease. In 2015, PolitiFact contacted experts in infectious disease to enquire about the plausibility of long-circulating claims that immigrants and refugees spread disease. Those experts noted that no substantiation of those claims seemed to exist:The experts we contacted agreed that there is no evidence of a massive influx of infections across the border.“There is no evidence whatsoever that this is so,” said Arthur Caplan, director of the division of medical ethics at New York University’s Langone Medical Center. “No study or survey shows this. There is no outbreak or bump in disease attributable to immigrants.”Thomas Fekete, the section chief for infectious diseases at the Temple University School of Medicine, agreed.“When it comes to the health of immigrants, it is possible that undocumented folks have more health conditions that warrant concern, but I do not know of a scientific or quantitative assessment,” Fekete said. “Workers are probably in decent health as the work itself is arduous. But there are some illnesses that occur more commonly in poor countries, such as tuberculosis, and some that occur more commonly because of farming or lifestyle issues, such as cysticercosis. But the notion that the Mexican government is orchestrating the movement of sick Mexicans to the U.S. is wacky.”In December 2018, The Lancet examined global claims about migration and disease due in part to anti-immigrant rhetoric in countries including Poland, the UK (in relation to Brexit), and the United States. Researchers found that “there is no systematic association between migration and importation of infectious diseases,” a theme which continues to pop up in debunkings of the infinite variations and iterations of the claim:There is also a specific disease surveillance infrastructure between the U.S. and Mexico border, called the Binational Border Infectious Disease Surveillance Program. Agents screen people for HIV, measles, pertussis, rubella, rabies, hepatitis A, influenza, tuberculosis, shigellosis, syphilis, Mycobacterium bovid infection, brucellosis and food-borne diseases, according to Politifact. The only disease outbreak found among undocumented minors from Central America during a 2104 immigration surge was scabies, the story said.In fact, cases of disease outbreaks caused by people crossing U.S. borders have more often been caused by Americans harboring pathogens acquired overseas. For example, one of the worst most recent outbreaks of measles was caused in 2014 by an American missionary who brought the disease back from the Philippines to an Ohio Amish community. The U.S. had virtually eliminated measles in the U.S. by 2000, but the disease has come back as pockets of people have declined to vaccinate their children. Measles is caused by a virus. Symptoms include rash, fever and cough and the virus can cause blindness, pneumonia, encephalitis and complications in pregnancy.There are many reasons the claim that immigrants and refugees are spreading six once-eradicated diseases is, and has been, completely untrue. One is that of the six diseases, only one was considered eliminated (not eradicated) in 2000 — measles. The other five were not. Measles cases have seen an uptick in recent years, but that has largely been attributed to vaccine refusal, sometimes combined with travel and return to cloistered communities such as those of Orthodox Jews or Amish people. Finally, infectious disease experts have never identified any such epidemiological trends — and if they existed, quarantines would ensure that they did not affect the population.Finally, the “immigrants carry disease” trope is far from new. It has been part of every anti-immigrant movement in the United States going back centuries, according to University of Minnesota immigration history professor Erika Lee:It’s absolutely been a driving factor throughout the centuries. We know that whatever “immigrant menace” was the focus of xenophobes in the past — whether it be Irish Catholics in the 19th century, then later Chinese and other Asians, of course, Italians and Jews and other southern and eastern Europeans and Mexicans — the claim has always been that these groups were not only racially inferior, but that they brought particularly dangerous and contagious diseases that would end up harming the U.S. native population.A historical study published by University of Michigan researchers in 2002 goes a step farther than that, noting that fears of immigrant-borne illness never occur in an ideological vacuum nor do they often have any basis in hard fact. In fact, the researchers concluded, such xenophobia might be making Americans (and the world) much more vulnerable to pandemics:In order to protect the public health of Americans today, the all too common tendency to conflate disease with foreigners and/or specific ethnic, racial, or sexual minorities must be held in check by discovering where the risk factors for public health threats actually lie. At many points over the past century, some people have wanted to exclude persons perceived as foreign, inassimilable, and dangerous to the country’s social, political, or economic fabric. Metaphors of germs and contagion have never lurked far beneath the surface of such rationales.As we have shown, more often than not these arguments have been motivated by, and closely intertwined with, ideologies of racialism, nativism, and national security rather than substantiated epidemiological or medical observations. Not surprisingly, these attitudes have deterred rather than encouraged many immigrants from seeking medical care. As the 20th century came to a close, the associations between immigration and disease remained powerful and prevalent.The world we inhabit today is essentially a global village. Ideas, goods, and people can now travel long distances in a matter of hours. More compelling, microbes are not required to carry passports and can easily escape the best-laid plans to block their entry. Safeguarding America’s health means safeguarding the world’s health. If any concept in this brief history of immigration and public health is antiquated, it is the idea that infectious diseases can be controlled by targeting certain populations based on apparent ethnic or national background.The Ellis Island model of medical inspection is not appropriate to our current era, and it is fitting that this symbol of American immigration history is now a museum. Moreover, economists and experts in global public health have demonstrated that the most humane, effective, and fiscally sound approaches are those in which wealthy nations, organizations, and corporations come to the assistance of poorer nations in order to protect all the world’s citizens.
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1673
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Bullied kids have higher risk of adult obesity and heart disease.
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Victims of childhood bullying are more likely to be overweight or obese as adults and have a higher risk of developing heart disease, diabetes and other illnesses, according to a study by British psychiatrists.
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true
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Science News
|
Researchers found that just over a quarter of women who were occasionally or frequently bullied as children were obese at age 45, compared to 19 percent of those who had never been bullied. And both men and women who were bullied as children had higher levels of fat around their middle — a known risk factor for heart disease. “Bullying is bad for your physical health, whether you’re a man or a woman,” said Andrea Danese, who worked on the study at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London. Louise Arseneault, who led the research, said its findings should remind teachers, parents and carers to think about the victims, not just worry about how to stop the bullies. Bullying is characterized by repeated hurtful actions by other children, against which the victims find it difficult to defend themselves, she told reporters. Unfortunately, bullying was “part of growing up for many children”, she said. “We tend to neglect the victims and their suffering,” she added. “(Yet) for some children, they will be marked for the rest of their lives.” Arseneault’s findings, published on Wednesday in the journal Psychological Medicine, come from the British National Child Development Study which has data on all children born in England, Scotland and Wales during one week in 1958. It included 7,102 children whose parents gave information on their child’s exposure to bullying at age 7 and 11. Some 28 percent had been bullied occasionally and 15 percent were bullied frequently. The children were then followed up at age 45, when measures of blood inflammation and obesity were recorded. Besides obesity, the results showed that being bullied also led to higher levels of blood inflammation by the age 45. Some 20 percent of those who were frequently bullied had high levels of a substance called C-reactive protein (CRP). High CRP raises heart disease risk by increasing atherosclerosis, where arteries get clogged up with fatty deposits. Danese said the effects of childhood bullying on the risk of poor health in adulthood are relatively small compared to factors such as smoking, diet and exercise, but stressed that because obesity and bullying are both common, tackling them could have a significant health impact.
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28621
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"The ""Fire Fairy Challenge"" has tricked multiple children into harming themselves."
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The meme does contain a potentially deadly set of instructions, and since was modeled after a popular cartoon, there is legitimate concern that children may be fooled into harming themselves as they attempt to “become a fairy.” In fact, at least one child has already been severely burned. However, it is not accurate to say that this is a “new craze” or that it has harmed multiple children.
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mixture
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Uncategorized, fairy, fire, russia
|
In March 2017, several English-language publications such as The Mirror and Daily Mail caught wind of an alleged Internet game that was tricking children in Russia into harming themselves by giving them “instructions” on how to become a fairy: Russian police are investigating a sinister new craze sweeping the internet which urges children to become ‘fire fairies’ – by secretly turn on the gas rings on kitchen cookers. The social media scam is created to look like a harmless prank modelled on popular animated series ‘Winx Club: School of Witches’. But children have been left seriously injured after trying to take part in the sickening ‘game’. This report does have some truth. A meme containing “instructions” on how to become a fairy has circulated on Russian social media sites such as VK.com, and at least one child was reportedly harmed after attempting to become a “fairy”. However, subsequent reports filed under sensational titles such as “Sinister ‘fire fairy’ craze tells kids to switch on their stoves and burn themselves” and “5-Year-Old Badly Burned After Trying “Fire Fairy” Challenge” left many readers with some false impressions about this so-called game. Here’s a look at what this “fire fairy” game is and what it isn’t. How do you become a fairy? What’s this all about? This image contains a series of steps children can reportedly take in order to become a fairy. The instructions start out simple and innocent enough (spin three times and say magic words) but quickly devolve into something more dangerous. Here is a rough translation of the meme provided by the Mirror: “At midnight when everybody is asleep, get up from your bed and go around the room three times, then say the magical words: “Alfey kingdom, sweet little fairies, give me the power, I’m asking you. “Then go to the kitchen silently, so no one notices you or the magic of the words will disappear. Switch on the gas stove, all four burners. But do not light it. You don’t want to get burns, do you? “Then go to sleep. The magic gas will come to you, you will breathe it while sleeping and in the morning, when you wake up, say: “Thank you Alfeya, I’ve become a fairy.” And you will became a real fairy of fire. The two fairies shown are characters from the Winx Club: School of Fairies series: Winx Club is a modern fantasy saga revolving around six fairies and their adventures. The protagonists Bloom, Stella, Flora, Aisha, Tecna and Musa live their daily life on Magix world, among lessons, loves, quarrels and moments of strong friendship. At any moment, when needed, they can transform into super-heroines, ready to defeat evil and save who is in danger. The concern is that young fans of the show could encounter these potentially deadly instructions while searching for “how to become a fairy” online. How many children have been harmed? We were only able to find one report of a child coming to harm while trying to become a “fire fairy”. The Russian web site pg21.ru reported in June 2016 that a five-year-old in Cheboksary, Russia suffered severe burns after watching the Winx cartoon: … Sonia (watched the) cartoon Winx and wanted to be a fairy. (She) took the wooden sticks and turned on the gas stove. Then started waving them and the fire spread to clothes. The initial report did not mention the meme (the child’s actions do not not match the instructions), but a report from RIA.ru did link the incident to the “fire fairy” game. At least one other report was circulated on VK.com about a parent discovering their child attempting to become a fairy, but that incident has not been confirmed, nor did it result in any injuries. Is this a new craze? Humorous messages detailing different ways to become a fairy have been circulating on VK.com for several years. RIA.ru traced these “jokes” back to 2013 and found that the instructions ranged from innocent (make a fairy wish) to playful (place your hand in a bowl of ice water) to absurd (spread toothpaste on your hands). These jokes eventually grew more dramatic, and in 2014 the meme appeared in a popular YouTube video. However, RIA.ru described the creator of the video as “sarcastic,” implying that even though it contains potentially deadly instructions, it was most likely originally meant as a joke, and was not intended to actually inflict harm. Alexander Arkhipov of the Russian Academy of Science said that the “fire fairy” rumor was popularized in 2015, when Russian clothing chain Gulliver held a competition asking people “how to become the fairy Winx”: As a result, in some countries, there are rumors of SMS messages and messages in social networks where children are told to include gas to become the fairy Winx, which riddled Kazakhstan in May 2016 and was recorded in Kazan in June 2016. Regardless of the original intent of the image, it is not accurate to describe this meme as new, as it has been circulating for several years, and reports about children using these instructions are scarce. Did the Winx Club create these instructions? The meme was designed to look as if it was an official graphic from Winx Club, which is not the case. Iginio Straffi, chief executive of Rainbow (the company responsible for the Winx Club brand) condemned the message, asking Moscow prosecutors to open a criminal case against those responsible for its creation: The company Rainbow deeply regrets the fact of distribution of material that apparently contains instructions for committing suicide and uses Winx Club characters. The company Rainbow, whose products are aimed at promoting the values of kindness in children, are shocked by such cynical materials apparently aimed at causing harm to children. Are children harming themselves because of this “fire fairy” game?
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9023
|
Targeted immunotherapy treatment shows promise for treating advanced stage liver tumors
|
This news release responsibly describes a small safety trial for the use of image-guided injections of an immunotherapy approved for melanoma in advanced liver cancer. The study involving a genetically modified version of the herpes virus called talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC) was presented at the Society of Interventional Radiology’s Annual Scientific Meeting. The news release provides caveats and doesn’t try to imply that the treatment has been proven effective. We would have liked to see a more detailed description of side effects and cost data. Liver cancer has been on the rise, and it is particularly deadly. Fewer than one in five people diagnosed with liver cancer live more than five years, according to the National Cancer Institute, and the survival rate is lower for people with advanced forms that have invaded other parts of the body. As the lead author of this study notes, “Advanced stage liver tumors, including ones that have spread from other locations, have limited treatment options because the patients can be in poor health; further, the complex structure of the organ can make it difficult to target with standard approaches.” That scarcity of options might lead some patients to participate in clinical trials for unproven therapies such as this one. Many experimental treatments don’t pan out, raising false hopes and putting trial participants through unproductive procedures. It’s important that news releases temper expectations about their potential.
|
true
|
immunotherapy,liver cancer,Society of Interventional Radiology
|
There was no discussion of how much this therapy might cost. The reported cost of T-VEC for a round of melanoma therapy has been $65,000. The trial was not designed to test the effectiveness of this therapy, so we don’t expect the news release to describe any benefits. The news release stated, “Researchers found the patients tolerated the treatment well with expected side effects, including temporary flu-like symptoms.” Since this was a safety trial, we expected more detail on what those expected side effects were. Were “expected side effects” the same as those observed in patients getting T-VEC for melanoma? Are the flu like symptoms the worst? The news release stated that the findings involved “14 advanced-stage cancer patients with liver metastases, including those with cirrhosis.” It mentions caveats: “The authors note several limitations of the current study, including the preliminary nature of the results, as well as the number of patients tested.” There was no disease mongering. However, the news release didn’t add any context about the scope and impact of liver cancer. The American Cancer Society estimates there will be 42,220 new cases of liver cancer diagnosed in 2018, and about 30,200 deaths. The release identified Amgen, the pharmaceutical company that makes T-VEC, as a sponsor of the trial. The news release rightly quotes the study’s lead author saying that there are “limited treatment options” for patients with advanced liver cancer. It notes researcher’s future plans to combine the therapy with a checkpoint inhibitor to activate a stronger immune response. There’s no cure for advanced liver cancer, although chemotherapy and low-dose radiation may be used to slow its spread and relieve pain. The drug sorafenib (Nexavaris) has been shown to improve survival. Radiofrequency ablation (RFA), transarterial chemoembolization (TACE), and the targeted therapy sorafenib (Nexavar) may be other options for select patients with liver cancer. For patients whose cancer originated elsewhere and spread to the liver, chemotherapy specific to the primary cancer may be appropriate. The news release made it clear that this therapy is still being tested and people with liver cancer should not expect to access it soon except through a clinical trial: As part of the study, researchers will follow patients for up to two years, and new trials to investigate the effectiveness of the drug in treating advanced cancer in the liver are being planned. Additional investigation is also planned to test the therapy in combination with a checkpoint inhibitor to activate a stronger immune response. “Image-guided treatments have expanded the options available for patients with liver cancer from innovative approaches to biopsies to resections to chemo,” said Raman. “This is an exciting way to look to the future, but patients living with advanced liver cancer should understand that this treatment will not be available for several years, except through clinical trials.” The lead researcher was quoted saying, “This minimally invasive treatment offers patients a novel way to directly and indirectly attack the cancer cells.” The idea of deploying natural occurring viruses to selectively kill cancer cells has been around for decades but research has taken off in recent years, according to a 2016 paper. It states: “Many clinical trials using T‐VEC are currently performed worldwide by the (Amgen) pharmaceutical company in order to expand its application and also to expand countries for marketing.” The news releases used restrained language.
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25829
|
“...Virginia, more than any other state, had the steepest drop in the number of abortions between 2011 and 2017.”
|
"The Family Foundation says ""Virginia, more than any other state, had the steepest drop in the number of abortions between 2011 and 2017."" It attributes its information to the Guttmacher Institute. According to Guttmacher, there were 27,110 abortions in Virginia in 2011, and 17,210 in 2017. That’s a huge 37 percent decrease - double the national average. But it wasn’t the largest drop among states. It ranked fourth."
|
true
|
Abortion, Virginia, The Family Foundation,
|
"The Family Foundation, an influential voice for socially-conservative policies, recently predicted that an era of declining abortions in Virginia will be halted by new Democratic majorities in the General Assembly. ""Frankly, an uptick is unavoidable,"" the group said in a blog posted July 9 - shortly after laws went into effect repealing major abortion restrictions Republicans won in 2011 and 2012. The Foundation wrote, ""It wasn’t long ago (September 2019) that the Guttmacher Institute – a left-wing organization that advocates abortion– released a nationwide report revealing that Virginia, more than any other state, had the steepest drop in the number of abortions between 2011 and 2017."" Although Guttmacher Institute in New York is pro-abortion rights, it’s statistical research has been widely reported and cited as authoritative by activists on both sides of the abortion debate. We wondered whether Guttmacher indeed found that Virginia had the biggest drop in abortion between 2011 and 2017. Guttmacher periodically publishes reports on the number of abortions performed in each state. The Foundation’s blog refers to Guttmacher’s latest report on states, released last September, that has data from 2014 to 2017. We accessed an earlier Guttmacher report to get statistics from 2011. The reports show the number of Virginia abortions from 2011 through 2017 fell from 27,110 to 17,210. That’s a 37% drop - twice the 18.5% national decline. But contrary to the Family Foundation, Virginia wasn’t No. 1 in reducing abortions. Delaware led the way with a 63% decrease, followed by Hawaii and West Virginia. In raw numbers, Virginia saw a 9,900 drop in abortions during the span. That was fifth highest, trailing the large states of California, New York, Texas and Florida. Guttmacher also compiles each state’s abortion rate - the number of abortions per 1,000 women aged 15-44. Virgina had 16.3 abortions per 1,000 women in 2011, and dropped to 9.5 per thousand in 2017. That’s a 42 percent decrease and it ranked third, behind Delaware and Hawaii. Although Guttmacher found that 32 states toughened their abortion laws bewteen 2011 and 2017, it questions whether those restrictions were the main force behind the national drop in abortions. Guttmacher says other factors may be more important, such as fewer pregnancies and greater access to contraception. The Family Foundation, however, says the restrictions were the ""major factor"" in Virginia’s drop. It points to laws passed early last decade when Republican Bob McDonnell was governor, the GOP held two-thirds of the seats in the House, and the Senate had an anti-abortion majority of Republicans and a couple of Democrats. In 2011, Virginia enacted a law requiring abortion clinics to comply with hospital building codes - forcing centers to make expensive renovations or close. The number of Virginia clinics over the next six years dropped from 21 to 15. In 2012, a new law required women to have an ultrasound at least 24 hours before an abortion and be offered a look at the image of the fetus. The law required many women to visit a clinic twice to get an abortion - some making lengthy trips. In November 2019, Democrats won majorities in the House and Senate for the first time in 24 years. Working with Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam, they repealed both abortion restrictions. Our ruling The Family Foundation says ""Virginia, more than any other state, had the steepest drop in the number of abortions between 2011 and 2017."" It attributes its information to the Guttmacher Institute. According to Guttmacher, there were 27,110 abortions in Virginia in 2011, and 17,210 in 2017. That’s a huge 37 percent decrease - double the national average. But it wasn’t the largest drop among states. It ranked fourth."
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15971
|
In Iraq and Syria, American leadership, including our military power, is stopping (the Islamic State’s) advance.
|
"Obama said, ""In Iraq and Syria, American leadership, including our military power, is stopping (the Islamic State’s) advance."" Obama’s language is carefully worded not to oversell the United States’ progress or the Islamic State’s lackthereof. And U.S. airstrikes have had a qualitative, if not quantifiable, impact on slowing the group’s swift spread compared with the situation last summer. However, Obama’s statement implies the United States is winning its war against the Islamic State, and that is not at all clear. While the terrorist group has stalled in Iraq, its movements in Syria are much more fluid. Things look improved today, but the situation can change quickly. Additionally, other countries in the region, including those outside our alliances, have played a role in fighting the Islamic State. Obama's statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details."
|
mixture
|
National, Foreign Policy, Military, Terrorism, Barack Obama,
|
"President Barack Obama briefly updated Americans on the state of the Islamic State during his State of the Union address. ""In Iraq and Syria, American leadership, including our military power, is stopping (the Islamic State’s) advance,"" Obama said. ""Instead of getting dragged into another ground war in the Middle East, we are leading a broad coalition, including Arab nations, to degrade and ultimately destroy this terrorist group."" The comment came during a string of examples of his administration engaging the Middle East — militarily and diplomatically — without the need for large-scale troops. But is his claim that U.S. airstrikes have improved the situation in Syria and Iraq, where the Islamic State wreaked havoc last summer, accurate? We decided to take a look. Iraq vs. Syria There are two elements we will look at: Whether the situation has improved in the two countries, and whether it’s the result of U.S. intervention. First, what’s going on in Iraq and Syria? There’s general agreement among experts that the Islamic State’s movement in Iraq has been halted and, in some cases, reversed since Aug. 8, when the first airstrikes launched. For example, their march toward Baghdad has stopped short of the city, and they’ve been pushed out of the Mosul Dam, a critical victory for the United States in the early days of its military intervention. However, Syria is a different story. The key to Obama’s language is he said the U.S. ""is stopping."" That suggests an ongoing process that’s not complete. And in Syria, it isn’t. ""It’s fluid,"" Defense Department spokesman Carl Woog told PolitiFact. ""It is possible that (the Islamic State) has taken certain areas of the map in Syria (since airstrikes began). I think that is plausible and likely in some cases, but it’s not the case everywhere. This is a large area."" There are disputes over how much area Syria has won, if any, since the airstrikes began. A map published by the Wall Street Journal shows considerable gains by the Islamic State compared to another map of their movements from Aug. 31. However, the airstrikes on Syria did not begin until Sept. 24, so it’s possible that ground was gained before U.S. intervention there, and the source is partially credited to the Coalition for a Democratic Syria, an organization of Syrian rebel forces that have called for more U.S. action. Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a Middle East expert at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy, said based on his own analysis of the Islamic State’s movements, any gains in Syria have been offset by losses in other regions. For example, the United States has heavily bombed the city of Kobani, a Kurdish stronghold in northern Syria near the Turkish border. In fact, according to an analysis of Pentagon daily briefings by longtime Middle East reporter Robin Wright, 78 percent of all U.S. airstrikes in Syria have come on Kobani. Despite repeated efforts by the Islamic State to overtake the city, the United States through the air and Kurdish fighters on the ground have beaten back those attempts. Reports from Jan. 26, after Obama’s speech, indicate Kurdish fighters have pushed the Islamic State almost entirely out of Kobani. In some ways it makes sense that Syria is a murkier situation. For one, U.S. airstrikes there started a month and a half after the first American bombs dropped in Iraq. The U.S. military has openly admitted it has an ""Iraq first"" strategy, aimed at eliminating the Islamic State in Iraq, while shaping their movements in Syria and training vetted moderate forces there. Iraq is also more familiar territory for the United States, after a decade of fighting there. And it has a government that is cooperating with the United States and supplying forces to fight. The same cannot be said for Syria, which is embroiled in a civil war between President Bashar al-Assad (Obama has called for him to step down) and rebel groups. Additionally, while the Islamic State may be partially halted in Syria, other extremist groups in the region have ""gone on a rampage,"" Gartenstein-Ross said. The bottom line, said Wright, now a joint fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace and the Woodrow Wilson International Center, is ""we’ve contained (the Islamic State) in terms of stopping their sweep. They’re paying an enormous price and their supply lines have clearly been disrupted. But four and a half months in, (the Islamic State) is still there and has taken over huge chunks of both Iraq and Syria. ""So (Obama’s characterization) is partly true and partly not true,"" she added. ""But this was never gonna happen overnight."" With or without the U.S. How much credit should the United States get for stopping the Islamic State? Experts said U.S. intervention has been key. It has disrupted supply lines, directly killed many fighters, and delivered supplies to Kurdish forces. The terrorist group’s strong march relied on acting as a conventional military force, using humvees and artillery to move across the region. The constant threat of airstrikes has forced them to change strategies. The Islamic State’s stall is also a result of many other influences in the region, many of which have come from the ground while the United States remains entirely airborne. In Syria, for example, as the United States has focused on Kobani, Assad’s forces have prevented the Islamic State from taking over the major metropolitan hub of Aleppo. So while Obama has backed Assad’s ouster, the dictator’s ability to prevent further movement by the Islamic State has been hugely important in Syria. Meanwhile, in Iraq, Iran’s support for Shiite Islamic militia groups fighting against the Islamic State, which practices the Sunni branch of Islam, has stopped their spread into southern Iraq, said Rick Brennan, a Middle East expert at the RAND Institute. Much of the Islamic State’s campaign has involved winning over converts, by force or otherwise, in predominantly Sunni regions, Brennan added, so they were naturally going to have trouble spreading when they tried to push into areas controlled by other populations. ""ISIS made progress when they went through Sunni-controlled areas, but when they went to Shi’a and Kurdish areas, they slowed,"" Brennan said. ""So there are natural demographics at play here as well."" Our ruling Obama said, ""In Iraq and Syria, American leadership, including our military power, is stopping (the Islamic State’s) advance."" Obama’s language is carefully worded not to oversell the United States’ progress or the Islamic State’s lackthereof. And U.S. airstrikes have had a qualitative, if not quantifiable, impact on slowing the group’s swift spread compared with the situation last summer. However, Obama’s statement implies the United States is winning its war against the Islamic State, and that is not at all clear. While the terrorist group has stalled in Iraq, its movements in Syria are much more fluid. Things look improved today, but the situation can change quickly. Additionally, other countries in the region, including those outside our alliances, have played a role in fighting the Islamic State. Obama's statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details."
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10158
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Prostate test could be more accurate
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The article describes a potential new test for prostate cancer – still in the early stages of laboratory testing – that may more accurately identify those with cancer from those without cancer. However, while a more accurate test may tell who has prostate cancer better, it still does not tell which men need treatment in their lifetime and which men don't, which is the real problem in prostate cancer screening. The article does try to discuss this controversy, but unfortunately attributes a decline in death rates to prostate cancer screening, which is not known for certain because advances in prostate cancer treatment also occurred around the same time. This presents an overly optimistic view of what prostate cancer screening can do. Other areas which were not addressed appropriately included: what type of evidence the findings are based on and a more complete discussion of the serioiusness and frequency of potential harms. Overall, though, the story addressed most of our criteria in a story of less than 1,000 words.
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true
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"The story does not mention costs. Any cost of a screening test must take into account downstream costs, such as follow-up testing and confirmatory testing. The article provides the number of true positives (the number of men who were identified by the test as having cancer and actually did have cancer) and false positives. However, we don't know enough about the study to put the quoted false positive and negatives in perspective. The test might perform more poorly in the real-world. Although the new study wasn't a study of outcomes, it would be most meaningful to know whether this new screening has any impact on the chance of death from prostate cancer. But, those answers aren't likely to come anytime soon. The story describes harms of prostate cancer screening, such as need for biopsy and/or treatment, both of which have side effects (which are described). However, the story does not tell readers how serious these might be or how often these harms might occur. Nonethless, we'll give the story the benefit of the doubt on this criterion. The story does not describe what type of study was used to evaluate the new prostate cancer test. An exploratory study of a diagnostic test on patients with known disease or lack thereof is very different from a field-test where a test is validated on undifferentiated patients. We don't know what type this one is. We do know that this is not a randomized trial of testing versus an alternative, and this robust study design would be necessary to know whether the proposed test actually leads to better health, let alone longer life. The story does try to let readers know there is controversy over prostate cancer screening and even with a newer prostate cancer test, men could still be treated for something that wouldn't have caused harm in their lifetimes. However, the story attributes a decline in the prostate cancer death rate to PSA screening, which is not known for certain since many advancements in treatment occurred around the same time. This paints an overly optimistic view of screening. The article also repeatedly describes the goal of minimizing biopsies when no cancer is detected, as though a biopsy is appropriate whenever cancer is detected. Prostate cancer can be a slowly progressive condition that can be clinically irrelevant, so to find it on a biopsy may or may not be important. The article eventually cites a balanced critic who worries that men may be 'overdiagnosed.' "" Several sources of information are quoted, including at least one who questions the value of the latest prostate cancer test. The story very briefly mentions treatment options once cancer is found, namely surgery, radiation, or active surveillance (watchful waiting). However, the article could have mentioned the alternative strategy of not testing at all for prostate cancer or the fact that digital rectal exam is the strategy that leads to the fewest unnecessary biopsies. The article states the new prostate cancer test is still being tested for effectiveness and also provides a timeline of when the new test might be submitted for government approval, letting readers know this test is not currently available. It's clear from the article that this is a new approach to prostate cancer screening. Because the story included input from two other sources besides the principal investigator, it is safe to assume it did not rely solely or largely on a news release."
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27964
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E-mail compares George W. Bush's eco-friendly ranch with Al Gore's energy-expending mansion.
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(NOTE: The floor plans shown at the web site westernwhitehouse.org are not accurate reproductions of the size and layout Bush’s Prairie Chapel Ranch house. They are elements of a parody.)
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true
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Politics Politicians, Al Gore's house, environmentalist, george w bush
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Example: [Collected via e-mail, 2007] LOOK OVER THE DESCRIPTIONS OF THE FOLLOWING TWO HOUSES AND SEE IF YOU CAN TELL WHICH BELONGS TO AN ENVIRONMENTALIST.HOUSE # 1: A 20-room mansion (not including 8 bathrooms) heated by natural gas. Add on a pool (and a pool house) and a separate guest house all heated by gas. In ONE MONTH ALONE this mansion consumes more energy than the average American household in an ENTIRE YEAR. The average bill for electricity and natural gas runs over $2,400.00 per month. In natural gas alone (which last time we checked was a fossil fuel), this property consumes more than 20 times the national average for an American home. This house is not in a northern or Midwestern “snow belt,” either. It’s in the South. HOUSE # 2: Designed by an architecture professor at a leading national university, this house incorporates every “green” feature current home construction can provide. The house contains only 4,000 square feet (4 bedrooms) and is nestled on arid high prairie in the American southwest. A central closet in the house holds geothermal heat pumps drawing ground water through pipes sunk 300 feet into the ground. The water (usually 67 degrees F.) heats the house in winter and cools it in summer. The system uses no fossil fuels such as oil or natural gas, and it consumes 25% of the electricity required for a conventional heating/cooling system. Rainwater from the roof is collected and funneled into a 25,000 gallon underground cistern. Wastewater from showers, sinks and toilets goes into underground purifying tanks and then into the cistern. The collected water then irrigates the land surrounding the house. Flowers and shrubs native to the area blend the property into the surrounding rural landscape. HOUSE # 1 (20 room energy guzzling mansion) is outside of Nashville, Tennessee. It is the abode of that renowned environmentalist (and filmmaker) Al Gore. HOUSE # 2 (model eco-friendly house) is on a ranch near Crawford, Texas. Also known as “the Texas White House,” it is the private residence of the President of the United States, George W. Bush. So whose house is gentler on the environment? Yet another story you WON’T hear on CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC, MSNBC or read about in the New York Times or the Washington Post. Indeed, for Mr. Gore, it’s truly “an inconvenient truth.” Origins: This e-mail comparison between the homes of President George W. Bush and former vice-president Al Gore began circulating on the Internet in March 2007 (shortly after the latter’s film on the global warming issue, An Inconvenient Truth, won an Academy Award as Best Documentary). Short and sweet, there’s a fair bit of truth to the e-mail: Al Gore’s Nashville mansion is something of the energy-gobbler the e-mail depicts, while President Bush’s Crawford ranch is more the model of responsible resource use the juxtaposition portrays it to be. According to the Associated Press, the Gore’s 10,000 square foot Belle Meade residence consumes electricity at a rate of about 12 times the average for a typical house in Nashville (191,000 kwh versus 15,600 kwh). While there are mitigating factors (further discussed in our article about the Gore household’s energy use), this is still a surprising number, given that the residence is approximately four times the size of the average new American home. The Prairie Chapel Ranch ranch home owned by George W. Bush in Crawford, Texas, was designed by Austin architect David Heymann, an associate dean for undergraduate programs at the University of Texas School of Architecture. As the Chicago Tribune described the house in a 2001 article: The 4,000-square-foot house is a model of environmental rectitude.Geothermal heat pumps located in a central closet circulate water through pipes buried 300 feet deep in the ground where the temperature is a constant 67 degrees; the water heats the house in the winter and cools it in the summer. Systems such as the one in this “eco-friendly” dwelling use about 25% of the electricity that traditional heating and cooling systems utilize. A 25,000-gallon underground cistern collects rainwater gathered from roof runs; wastewater from sinks, toilets and showers goes into underground purifying tanks and is also funneled into the cistern. The water from the cistern is used to irrigate the landscaping surrounding the four-bedroom home. Plants and flowers native to the high prairie area blend the structure into the surrounding ecosystem. Other news articles published in 2001-02 provided expanded descriptions of the ranch house: “By marketplace standards, the house is startlingly small,” says David Heymann, the architect of the 4,000-square-foot home.Constructed from a local limestone, the house has eight rooms in a long, narrow design to take advantage of views and breezes. A porch stretches across the back and both ends of the house, widening at one end into a covered patio off the living room. The tin roof of the house extends beyond the porch. When it rains, it’s possible to sit on the patio and watch the water pour down without getting wet. Under a gravel border around the house, a concrete gutter channels the water into a 25,000-gallon cistern for irrigation. In hot weather, a terrace directly above the cistern is a little cooler than the surrounding area. Wastewater from showers, sinks and toilets goes into purifying tanks underground — one tank for water from showers and bathroom sinks, which is so-called “gray water,” and one tank for “black water” from the kitchen sink and toilets. The purified water is funneled to the cistern with the rainwater. It is used to irrigate flower gardens, newly planted trees and a larger flower and herb garden behind the two-bedroom guesthouse. Water for the house comes from a well. The Bushes installed a geothermal heating and cooling system, which uses about 25% of the electricity that traditional heating and air-conditioning systems consume. Several holes were drilled 300 feet deep, where the temperature is a constant 67 degrees. Pipes connected to a heat pump inside the house circulate water into the ground, then back up and through the house, heating it in winter and cooling it in summer. The water for the outdoor pool is heated with the same system, which proved so efficient that initial plans to install solar energy panels were cancelled. The features are environment-friendly, but the reason for them was practical — to save money and to save water, which is scarce in this dry, hot part of Texas. A second look at the then-circulating e-mail in June 2009 revealed that many of the material facts of the claim were then out-of-date: The e-mail has become dated, however. The now-former president Bush has moved into a new home in Preston Hollow, Texas, that is about 8,000 square feet – double the size of his Crawford ranch. [Gore spokesperson Kalee] Kreider also told us in an e-mail that the Gores have made several eco-friendly changes to their home, which is now LEED certified. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, this means that Gores’ home has earned credits in five categories: “sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources and indoor environmental quality.” … Kreider also noted that, contrary to what was claimed in the original e-mail, the Gores’ residence “does not have a guest house.” We didn’t ask for the Gores’ electric bills, so we can’t say how much efficiency improvement the family has accomplished. But the e-mail was on target in 2007; it’s out of date now.
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9633
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Type 1 diabetes treatment could end need for insulin shots
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This news story is about a new technology being developed in the UK that will grow pancreatic islet cells in a lab, as a possible treatment for type 1 diabetes patients. There is news here: A consortium of non-profit, university, government funding and private investment is moving forward to bring hope to potentially tens of thousands of people with Type 1 diabetes. But the story itself is problematic on several levels–it appears to be little more than a rehash of the news release, making a passing mention to successful “pre-clinical results” but offering no specifics. There is no discussion of the realities: Islet transplants are costly, carry adverse effects, can fail, and are complex to manage. How will this therapy differ? We’re not told. Type I diabetes, which starts in childhood, is life shortening, life threatening and notoriously difficult to manage and control. A novel technology that could directly provide huge numbers of lab-grown islets–which make insulin–does hold promise for helping Type 1 diabetics, though much, much more research is needed before we’ll know if this is the case.
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false
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diabetes,lab-grown islet cells,type 1 diabetes
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Since the premise of the piece is about pre-clinical efforts, it’s too early to discuss specific costs, so we’ll rate this N/A. However, the article could have been enhanced by noting the cost of other cell-based therapies, islet cell transplants, insulin treatment and the amount of investment being sought. The article refers to preclinical “results,” but gives no data or explanation of what those results involve, much less any quantified benefits. From what we could find, this was based on research using mice—a level of evidence hardly worthy of the headline “Type 1 diabetes treatment could end need for insulin shots.” The article mentions a few times the benefits of being freed from insulin injections, but offers no information on the potential harms of any therapy, including the one being proposed here, which would be invasive. Current islet transplant treatments contain a number of risks. There also should be some discussion about what percentage of transplanted patients would see benefit. The article makes it seem as if all of them would be free from using insulin. There is a claim of benefit (which seems intended to attract investors) yet there is no way to determine the quality of evidence to support that claim. After checking other news stories on the same topic, we found a link to this study, which is mouse-level research. The article does not disease monger; it notes the British and global future prevalence of type 1 diabetes. And it does a good job of distinguishing the disorder from type 2 diabetes. Every source in this story was also quoted in the news release. The article mentions current treatment with islet cell transplants as well as insulin shots, and that’s enough to merit a Satisfactory rating. However, it doesn’t mention newer efforts to control type 1 with automatically programmed blood glucose monitor/insulin pumps and other means. There are vague mentions of the need for clinical trials and reference to a “few years” before treatment with the lab grown islets are available, but readers will not come away with a reasonable sense of what needs to happen before a treatment based on this approach would become available. The article makes it clear that the novelty would be how many more patients could, in theory, receive the treatment if this idea works once in clinical trials. The news story uses direct passages from the news release, without citing the release. For example, this quote was in both the story and the news release: “Donated islets are already effectively treating severe cases of type 1 diabetes. Having a hugely expanded supply of lab-grown islets will enable us to significantly extend this established clinical treatment.” As well as this one: “Islet transplantation can transform the lives of patients with type I diabetes, and in some cases can result in long term freedom from insulin injections with excellent glucose control.”
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10398
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Backing off chemo for breast cancer
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"The story discusses a genetic test, Oncotype Dx, that may help some women with early-stage breast cancer determine their risk of recurrence, and thus help with decisions about chemotherapy. More tailored (often less) chemotherapy is a newer idea for women who may not benefit as much from this aggressive treatment with many side effects. However, the story does not mention the cost of the test ($3,600). Oncotype Dx may be cost-prohibitive for many women whose health insurance does not cover the test. The story does not mention that the ""study"" was actually a group of preliminary research reports presented at the recent San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS). A few of these reports discussed the positive predictive value of the test; they have not been peer-reviewed. The story did not mention that this test is validated only for women with node-negative breast cancer whose tumors are estrogen receptor-positive. A favorable score on a genetic test does not mean a woman at lower risk will not benefit at all from chemotherapy; she may, in fact, benefit some over the long term, but not as much as a woman with a higher chance of cancer recurring. Also, a woman’s values and ability to live with a certain amount of risk, though small, is still part of the decision to have chemotherapy or forgo this treatment. The story focuses on younger women deriving a greater by not having to undergo chemotherapy if a recurrence score is low. This is only partially true, as younger women tend to have more aggressive breast cancer. Older women with other health problems may also benefit from no chemotherapy."
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false
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"The story does not mention the cost of this genetic test, or the issue of insurance coverage. Oncotype testing typically costs $3,600 without insurance. There may be a cost-savings to insurance companies if a woman avoids chemotherapy. There is no quantification of the sensitivity or specificity of the test. A favorable score on a genetic test does not mean a woman at lower risk will not benefit at all from chemotherapy; she may, in fact, benefit some over the long term, but not as much as a woman with a higher chance of cancer recurring. Also, a woman’s values and ability to live with a certain amount of risk, though small, is still part of the decision to have chemotherapy or forgo this treatment. The story mentions that younger women may benefit the most by not having to undergo chemotherapy if their recurrence score is low. This is only partially true, as younger women tend to have more aggressive breast cancer. Older women with other health problems may also benefit from no chemotherapy. The story does not mention potential harms of genetic testing. A favorable score does not mean an individual woman at lower risk will not benefit at all from chemotherapy; she may benefit some over the long term, but not as much as a woman with a higher chance of cancer recurring. Also, a woman’s values and ability to live with a certain amount of risk, though small, is still part of the decision to have chemotherapy or no chemotherapy. Decisions for chemotherapy are not based solely on the results of Oncotype Dx. The story presented no quantitative evidence for the Oncotype Dx test, which was the main focus of the story. The story does not mention that this ""study"" was actually a group of preliminary research reports presented at the recent San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS). A few of these reports discussed the positive predictive value of the test; they have not been peer-reviewed. The story did not mention that this test is validated only for women with node-negative breast cancer whose tumors are estrogen receptor-positive. The story does not engage in disease mongering. The story promotes the idea that less treatment with chemotherapy may be appropriate. No source is cited. The story could use more balance, including a discussion of Oncotype Dx and similar genetic testing in clinical practice. Breast cancer specialists, researchers who presented Oncotype DX studies at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium and breast cancer patients could provide perspective on this test as one aid in breast cancer treatment decision-making. The story notes surgical options and other predictive tests for hormonal and biological therapies. The story mentions that less breast cancer treatment in the form of chemotherapy may be an option for women who score favorably on an Oncotype Dx test, that is, a woman’s genetic profile give her a more favorable prognosis. Aggressive treatment with some serious risks and only small benefit may not be right for women and genetic tests may help patients and physicians decide who is an appropriate candidate for chemotherapy. The story does not mentions if the test is currently available for all women. A bigger issue here is that the cost of the test ($3,600). Oncotype Dx may be cost-prohibitive for many women whose health insurance does not cover the cost of the test. Also, the test is not for all women with early-stage breast cancer: It is validated for node-negative breast cancer, tumors that are estrogen receptor-positive, and when Oncotype DX is used within six months of diagnosis. The story does not mention that is it time-limited and must be conducted within 6 months of diagnosis. The story mentions this new genetic test that may help some women with early-stage breast cancer determine their risk of recurrence, and thus help with decisions about chemotherapy. Other risk calculators such as Adjuvant! may also help women determin the benefit of chemotherapy and hormone therapies. More tailored chemotherapy is a newer idea for women who may not benefit as much from more aggressive treatment. The story focuses on information further validating this test. We can’t be sure if the story relied on a news release; no source is cited."
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1735
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Rare white rhino treated for mystery illness in California.
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An aging northern white rhinoceros, one of just five left in the world, appeared to be responding to treatment of an unidentified bacterial infection that has veterinarians worried for a subspecies limping toward extinction, a California zoo said on Tuesday.
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true
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Environment
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Nola, age 40, was showing signs of improvement after San Diego Zoo Safari Park keepers gave her antibiotics to ward off an illness whose symptoms on Monday included a runny nose, decreased appetite and lethargy, a zoo spokeswoman said. “She seems to be feeling better today, she has been walking around and eating,” said Darla Davis, a zoo spokeswoman. “The vets think she is responding to antibiotics.” Nola, a 4,000-pound (1.8-tonne) female who came to San Diego in 1989, is considered a geriatric rhino in a subspecies whose individuals generally live 40 to 50 years in captivity, Davis said. On Dec. 14, a 44-year-old northern white rhino named Angalifu died at the same Safari Park, where he was being treated for age-related conditions. Angalifu’s death brought the worldwide total of known remaining northern white rhinos down to five from six, with Nola in San Diego and four counterparts elsewhere, one at a zoo in Europe and three in preserves in Africa, Davis said. “Nola had a thick drainage coming out of her nose,” Davis said. “The vets swabbed the mucus, and cytology tests showed bacteria, so they began treating her with antibiotics.” The Safari Park vets also took blood for tests from the creature’s tail, Davis said. “She’s such a gentle animal, she lets the keepers work on her,” she added. Northern white rhinos were driven to near extinction by poaching in Africa, where the animals’ horns are prized for their supposed medicinal value. None of those remaining in captivity has reproduced. Semen and testicular tissue from the male northern white rhino have been stored in the hope that new reproductive technologies will allow recovery of the subspecies in the future, the zoo said. White rhinos rank as the world’s heaviest land mammals after African and Indian elephants. There are only about 30,000 rhinos of all types left in the world, and a rhinoceros is believed to be killed by poachers somewhere in the wild every eight hours, the zoo said earlier this month. Davis said Nola did not share a habitat with Angalifu and had not bonded with him. She lives with a southern white rhino named Chuck.
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30508
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Marjory Stoneman Douglas student David Hogg was caught lying about being on campus during a February 2018 school shooting when he told CBS that he had to get on his bicycle and ride to school.
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After reviewing all of this, it appears that the problem was that CBS included a very confusing quote without context. Hogg was on campus during the shooting and returned several hours later to interview people across the street. The original story remains below, in strikethrough. I am sorry for the error and have updated the post accordingly.
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false
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Politics, #neveragain, David Hogg, florida
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In the days following massive 24 March 2018 demonstrations around the world advocating for more stringent gun laws in the United States sparked by survivors of a mass shooting in Florida the month before that left seventeen people dead, the conspiracy theorist world convulsed as it attempted to create and promulgate rumors to discredit the faces of the movement. One such rumor seized on a statement by Marjory Stoneman Douglas student David Hogg during an interview excerpted from a CBS documentary in which he said: On the day of the shooting, I got my camera and got on my bike and rode as fast as I could three miles from my house to the school to get as much video and to get as many interviews as I could because I knew that this could not be another mass shooting. Hogg, like many survivors of mass shootings, has already been accused of being a crisis actor and a fake student. The attacks only increased after he and a small group of fellow students formed a small, but outspoken group of gun-control advocates which swelled and coalesced into the huge #NeverAgain movement. This fragment of a statement to CBS was offered up as proof by would-be detractors that Hogg was not actually on campus during the shooting, that he was at home and had to ride his bicycle with a camera through three ghoulish miles to play his part and take photographs of dead bodies after the fact. RedState.com, for example, wrote: If Hogg was at school when the shooting began, saying he heard gunshots and the fire alarm, then why is he talking about riding a bike three miles to get to school on the day of the shooting? I lived one mile from my high school, and rode my bike freshman year. I’m well aware of what it takes physically to ride that distance. Assuming Hogg was in very athletic shape, he may have been able to ride a bicycle around 15 mph or slightly faster. Stoneman Douglas High School is bordered by several major highways and roads, and I don’t know Hogg’s exact route, but he would have undoubtedly had some delays due to traffic and crossing those busy streets. Best case scenario, if Hogg were at home, left immediately once he heard the news, and had an adrenalin-fueled ride at his highest possible speed, it would still have taken him about 15 to 20 minutes or even longer to get to campus. This claim also reverberated through other far right blogs: “39 Days” has not yet aired, but an excerpt posted online by CBS News (and included below) includes interviews with the students leading the gun control movement, including Hogg, Delaney Tarr, Cameron Kasky, and Emma Gonzalez. Hogg, who describes himself as a “student journalist,” admits he was at home at the time of the shooting, but rode his bike to school to “get as many interviews as I could.” The rumor was immediately picked up and disseminated through social media: However, the documentary clip was taken out of context. As Hogg has said in multiple interviews, and has been corroborated by multiple witnesses, Hogg was sitting in class when the shooting began: His father worked in law enforcement, and taught him about weapons and how to handle them. So when Hogg heard a “pop” while sitting in an AP environmental science class around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, he told his teacher it sounded strangely like a gunshot. But there had been a fire drill that very morning and talk of a “Code Red” exercise to prepare for an active shooter. This must just be a surprise drill, he reasoned. And then the fire alarm sounded. Dutifully acting on it, Hogg and other students tried to exit the building. A janitor — Hogg doesn’t know his name but calls him an angel — knew where the shots were coming from and sent the students back. Then a culinary arts teacher, Ashley Kurth, pulled Hogg and others inside, locked the door, and made them hide in a closet. Checking Twitter and Instagram, Hogg — who’s an editor at the school’s TV station — found the news that the shooting was real and ongoing. The shots continued for what felt like an eternity. Hogg considered the possibility that he would not live to see the end of the day. Hogg returned to his high school later that day, in the evening, specifically to document the aftermath of the shooting he had just experienced: At 6 pm after the shooting, I took my camera, got on my bike. I rode in basically twilight. And I ride my bike three miles down winding sidewalks and find my way to the school, as I’ve done in previous years. All the while, I was making sure my camera bag didn’t rip open, because if you zip it a certain way, the camera falls out, and it would be destroyed. I start shooting B-roll, and I see Fox News over there. I knew I wanted to talk on the news and make sure there was advocacy, especially with so many people from the [National Rifle Association] and different gun-toting Americans who watch Fox News. I went on the day of [the shooting], and said, “There cannot be another mass shooting,” and I think that’s partially why. But also other people started saying that at the same time. I’m looking at the school right now. You can see bullet holes in the windows. It’s insane, and the fact that there’s more bullet holes in those windows than bills that have been proposed and passed to save these kids’ lives is disgusting. RedState.com included a portion of that interview in their retraction of their original story:
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14903
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Drinking champagne could help prevent Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.
|
Social media recently resurrected an old study Stories were posted suggesting that drinking champagne could help prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. The study is from 2013, not new, as some posts suggested. It was based on testing in a small group of rats, which the National Health Service in Britain says would need to be repeated in a larger sample. And it still might not have any implications in humans. To imply otherwise is very misleading.
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false
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Georgia, Alcohol, Health Care, Medicare, Viral media reports,
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"A story making the rounds on social media raises hopes about raising glasses. A ""new"" study, the headlines cheer, shows drinking champagne — three glasses every week or every day depending who is posting the story — could prevent Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. But before deciding to make three-hour brunches the new healthy workday, PolitiFact Georgia did some checking. We didn’t find the new breakthrough study that some might have been expecting. Rather, we discovered social media abuzz about a study from May 2013 by scientists at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom. Those researchers found that drinking champagne might counteract age-related memory loss and help delay the onset of degenerative brain disorders, such as dementia, according to a press release at the time. Rats, not humans, were subjects in the research. For reasons still unclear, the study’s headline findings went viral on social media and cracked Facebook’s list of trending topics this month, nearly three years after the study. ""Three glasses of champagne ‘could help Alzheimer’s disease’"" was the headline on The United Kingdom’s Evening Standard’s Facebook post Nov. 9. News outlets picked the story up from social media. Most but not all pointed out that the study was not brand new. The attention prompted Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) to issue a statement Nov. 9, declaring that there’s ""no hard evidence champagne can prevent dementia."" The agency explained that the University of Reading’s 2013 study was small — it involved three groups of eight rats. n a six-week period, the rats had champagne, non-champagne alcoholic drink, or an alcohol-free drink. Each rat was assessed on its ability to find treats in a maze before and after this period. The main finding: rats given champagne were better at remembering how to find the treat than those given the alcohol-free drink. They found the treats roughly five times out of eight, compared with four times out of eight in rats given the other drinks, NHS said. The agency recommended that the study be repeated with a larger sample of rats and pointed out that ""this research has limited direct applicability to humans. ""The fact that rats may have performed slightly better in a maze, or demonstrated some protein changes related to nerve adaptability, does not mean champagne definitely reduces the risk of dementia in humans."" Ginny Helms, vice president of chapter services and public policy for the Georgia chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, said the 2013 study was very limited ""and not at all conclusive on how champagne or other forms of alcohol can help prevent Alzheimer’s. ""No one should drink champagne or other alcohol as a method of reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia based on this study,"" she said. ""Some studies have found that moderate alcohol consumption may reduce risk of cognitive decline and dementia, but other studies had contradictory results."" Absent a cure or major breakthrough, the association suggests a combination of a healthy diet, exercise, socialization and exercise of the mind as the best way to protect the brain, Helms said. Managing critical numbers, such as blood pressure and cholesterol, also is highly recommended, she said. The buzz on champagne started just days before the association released a major report that includes some staggering statistics on the rising financial burden to states of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Currently, Medicaid programs in 11 states — New York, California, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, Florida, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Illinois, Michigan and North Carolina – pay more than $1 billion a year on individuals 65 and older living with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, the association reports. Fast forward 10 years to 2025, and the association estimates that 20 states — Georgia included — will be in this boat. Alzheimer’s and other dementia costs the Peach State’s Medicaid program $989 million this year. But, in 10 years, costs are expected to increase 61 percent to $1.59 billion by the association’s estimates. Our ruling Social media recently resurrected an old study Stories were posted suggesting that drinking champagne could help prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. The study is from 2013, not new, as some posts suggested. It was based on testing in a small group of rats, which the National Health Service in Britain says would need to be repeated in a larger sample. And it still might not have any implications in humans. To imply otherwise is very misleading."
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41826
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"Clarke Tucker “attended an anti-ICE rally” and “refused to take a position” on calls to ""abolish ICE."
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In the final days of the 2018 election, Republicans across the country are running TV ads about immigration that falsely accuse some Democrats of wanting “open borders,” plotting to “abolish ICE,” supporting “sanctuary cities” and more.
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mixture
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border security, Illegal immigration, immigration, refugees,
|
In the final days of the 2018 election, Republicans across the country are running TV ads about immigration that falsely accuse some Democrats of wanting “open borders,” plotting to “abolish ICE,” supporting “sanctuary cities” and more. The ads contain evocative images of tattooed gang members and “caravans” of Central Americans traveling through Mexico in search of asylum.The Republicans are following the lead of President Donald Trump, who in recent days has labeled the Central American asylum seekers “an invasion” and ordered the U.S. military to guard the Southern border. He also has said he will sign an executive order ending birthright citizenship, although the legality of such a unilateral action has been challenged by constitutional scholars.A database of TV ads maintained by Kantar Media’s Campaign Media Analysis Group shows that 162 TV ads airing in the last seven days, since Oct. 27, contain “anti-immigration” messages. Here we look at some of those ads.TV ads in Arkansas’ 2nd Congressional District falsely portray Democratic candidate Clarke Tucker as wanting to abolish the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.Rep. French Hill, a two-term congressman, is airing a TV ad called “We Must Enforce the Law” that shows images of tattooed members of a transnational gang known as the Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, and warns that they are “infiltrating America.” (As we have written, the MS-13 gang has had a presence in the U.S. since the early 1980s, beginning in Southern California, and currently numbers about 10,000 — a figure the Department of Justice has been using since 2006. )The announcer says, “MS-13, the most dangerous gang infiltrating America, but Washington liberals want to get rid of ICE, the police enforcing our immigration laws and protecting our border from MS-13.” Photos of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer appear on the screen as the announcer says “Washington liberals,” even though neither Pelosi nor Schumer support abolishing ICE.The ad then says that Tucker “attended an anti-ICE rally” and “refused to take a position” on the “abolish ICE” movement. It quotes Tucker as saying, “I don’t know what it is.” This is misleading. Tucker did not attend an “anti-ICE rally,” and he has taken a position on ICE.On the immigration issue page on his website, Tucker says, “Like the vast majority of Americans, I support ICE and our Homeland Security agencies in carrying out the mission to keep our borders safe and strong, while increasing accountability and transparency in our immigration enforcement through common-sense strategic investments.”So what is the ad talking about?The ad misuses a short clip of a GOP partisan asking Tucker a question at a “Families Belong Together” rally (not an “anti-ICE rally”) on June 30. The rally opposed the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy, which caused the separation of families. Tucker was asked if he supports Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s position on ICE; two days earlier, on June 28, Gillibrand said in an interview: “I believe you should get rid of [ICE], start over, re-imagine it, and build something that actually works.”In the full video, which can be found on YouTube, Tucker can be seen politely saying he wasn’t familiar with Gillibrand’s position on ICE. “I have not had a chance to look at that,” he said. “I don’t know what it is, so –” He was told that Gillibrand wants to “abolish ICE,” and he repeated: “That’s not something I’ve spent any time thinking about. I don’t have any information about it.”Since then, Tucker has given it thought and has taken a position — but the TV ad ignores that. So does another ad by the Republican Majority Fund, which is a PAC affiliated with Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas.The Republican Majority Fund falsely accuses Tucker of being on the side of “Hollywood liberals” and “Washington politicians” who want to get rid of ICE. It shows the same clip of Tucker at the June 30 rally, and then the announcer says, “Clarke Tucker won’t tell us where he stands because he is on their side.” Kantar/CMAG says the ad first started running on July 29, but it has been back on the air in the last seven days.The TV ad by the Hill campaign also makes the claim that Tucker is now “embracing sanctuary cities,” saying he “just doesn’t get it. We must enforce the law and stop MS-13.” The ad provides no support for that claim, and the campaign did not get back to us when we called. However, we did find one mention of Tucker taking a position on so-called “sanctuary cities.”In a Sept. 21 article, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette wrote that Tucker said he supports protecting those living in the U.S. illegally from federal immigration officers only when they are seeking emergency health care or reporting a crime. “Tucker said Thursday that he supports sanctuary cities in the limited context of allowing people in the country illegally to go to the hospital or report crime without fearing deportation.”That’s the opposite of shielding MS-13 gang members from ICE, and nothing at all like official sanctuary policies that are adopted by some cities and municipalities.Such policies, among other things, prevent local law enforcement from investigating civil and criminal immigration violations, limit local law enforcement from complying with federal immigration detainers and warrants, and refuse to give ICE access to local jails, according to an analysis of “over 500 sanctuary policies spanning nearly four decades” by a group of law school professors for an article published May 29 in the Boston College Law Review.Former Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen and Rep. Marsha Blackburn are vying for an open Senate seat in a race considered a toss-up by The Cook Political Report.Tennesseans for a Better Tomorrow, a group supporting Blackburn’s campaign, has been airing a TV ad in the last seven days on immigration that makes one false and one misleading claim.The ad falsely claims, “Bredesen gave driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.” In fact, Bredesen wasn’t governor when that bill became law. He took office in 2003. State records show the bill was signed into law by Republican Gov. Dan Sundquist on May 3, 2001.The 2001 law turned Tennessee into “a haven for illegal immigrants seeking driver’s licenses” for ID purposes, as the Associated Press put it, and Bredesen’s office responded by developing legislation that ended the practice of issuing driver’s licenses to those living in the U.S. illegally. Instead, a new law — which Bredesen signed May 28, 2014 — allowed them to receive “driving certificates” that could not be used for ID purposes.The Knoxville News-Sentinel called the new law “the toughest driver’s license policy in the nation in dealing with illegal aliens.” The paper said that “the present driver’s license system will remain for Tennesseans who have a valid social security number or proof they are a legal, permanent resident of the United States.” However, it wrote, “For others, a new category of ‘driving certificate’ is created. The certificates carry, in bold letters, the words ‘for driving purposes only — not valid for identification. '”But even that new law proved problematic. Bredesen signed legislation ending the program entirely after it was discovered that “some testing centers were selling licenses and certificates to out-of-state illegal immigrants,” according to an Associated Press account at the time.The TV ad also takes a Bredesen quote out of context. The announcer says, “Bredesen said, ‘I don’t believe the wall is the right answer.’” He said more than that.The Tennessean, which conducted that interview with Bredesen, says the Democratic candidate also said that he preferred more technological security measures.Tennessean, Sept. 28: Bredesen’s comment came in response to a question about whether he would support a compromise bill that would include fixing the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program with funding a wall along the southern border of the United States.Bredesen said while the country is entitled to control its borders, he added there are “technologically much sounder and less expensive ways of doing it than building a wall.”So, Bredesen supports border security, but thinks there are less expensive and more effective ways of doing it.Texans Are, a super PAC that supports Sen. Ted Cruz, is running an ad that makes the false claim that Rep. Beto O’Rourke is “against background checks for refugees from terrorist hotbeds.” O’Rourke is not in favor of eliminating the screening process for refugees.The ad starts with scenes of Central Americans walking in the street, leaving their countries to seek asylum from Mexico and the United States. “The caravan is coming,” the announcer says. “Some say criminals among them.” To support its claim about O’Rourke opposing background checks for refugees, the TV ad cites O’Rourke’s vote in 2015 against H.R. 4038, the American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act, or the American SAFE Act. That bill, which passed the House but failed in the Senate, would have added additional screening for refugees coming from Iraq and Syria, and required the FBI to investigate applicants in addition to the Department of Homeland Security.O’Rourke argued that the process at the time was already thorough. In a post on the blogging platform Medium, O’Rourke explained his “no” vote, in part, by saying: “The process proposed in today’s bill would create unnecessary, duplicative work and processes for U.S. security agencies. This would significantly delay the current rigorous process by up to 2 years, according to the Administration. In effect, it would close the door on refugees during the single greatest humanitarian crisis of our time.”In 2015, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said refugees already receive “the highest degree of security screening and background checks for any category of traveler to the United States.”The process includes fingerprinting and checking records against databases maintained by the National Counterterrorism Center, the Department of Defense, the FBI and Interpol. Each refugee applicant is also interviewed personally by specially trained USCIS officers. And those from Syria are subjected to special measures including iris scans and an “enhanced review” by Homeland Security.In the Georgia governor’s race, much has been made of comments from Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams that an upcoming “blue wave” of Democratic victory in the midterm elections would be comprised of a variety of people including “those who are documented and undocumented.” Abrams’ opponents have seized on the comment to argue Abrams wants to allow immigrants in the country illegally to vote in the upcoming election.Abrams says her words are being twisted, and she has repeatedly clarified that she does not believe people in the country illegally ought to be allowed to vote.The attack surfaced in an ad from the Georgia Republican Party, which uses a clip of her comment, then says, “Abrams will let illegal immigrants vote.”The comments used in the ad came during a recent campaign event attended by Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Here’s the full context of Abrams’ comments:Abrams, Oct. 9: We are 28 days from real change. Twenty eight days before we tell Georgia who we are. And when we change Georgia, we change the South. And when we change the South, we change America. And that change starts right here. Because the thing of it is, blue waves aren’t blue. That’s what we use because that’s the color that we embrace. The thing of it is, the blue wave is African American. It’s white, it’s Latino. It’s Asian-Pacific Islander. It is disabled. It is differently-abled, It is LGBTQ. It is law enforcement. It is veterans. It is made up of those who’ve been told that they are not worthy of being here. It is comprised of those who are documented and undocumented. It’s made up of those who have been told they are successful and those who have been told they are left behind. But the real wave is when we come together and we tell Georgia, “We’re here and we’re not going anywhere.”In an appearance on Fox News on Oct. 15, her opponent, Secretary of State Brian Kemp, the Republican nominee, cited those comments to claim that Abrams “wants illegals to vote in Georgia.”“I think hard-working Georgians should decide who their governor is, not people here illegally like my opponent wants,” Kemp said.Abrams responded that Kemp was “willfully” twisting her words.“I’ve never once argued for anyone who was not legally allowed to vote in the state of Georgia to be allowed to vote,” Abrams said. “What I’ve asked for is that he allow those who are legally allowed to vote to actually cast a ballot.”Abrams has repeatedly criticized Kemp for championing an “exact match” law, which requires voter registration information to match driver’s licenses, state ID cards or Social Security records, and which resulted in more than 53,000 voter registration applications being put on hold.In a debate on Oct. 23, Kemp again challenged Abrams on her “blue wave” comments.“Well, Miss Abrams, as you know in a recent video you called on illegals to vote for you in this election,” Kemp said. “I was actually shocked, I had to watch that video twice. It clearly shows that you are asking for undocumented and documented folks to be part of your winning strategy. So my question is, ‘Why are you encouraging people to break the law for you in this election?”Abrams again repeated that Kemp was distorting her position.“Mr. Kemp you are very aware that I know the laws of Georgia when it comes to voting,” Abrams said. “In fact, I am one of the foremost experts in the state on expansion of voting rights. And I have never in my life asked for anyone who is not legally eligible to vote to be able to cast a ballot. What I’ve asked for is that you allow those who are legally eligible to vote, to allow them to cast their ballots.”Later in the debate, she reiterated that point, saying, “I only believe that those who have the legal eligibility to vote should cast a ballot.”Editor’s Note: For our story on Democratic ads, see “Democratic Closing Ads: Health Care and Taxes.”
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9803
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New treatment deep freezes ovarian tumors
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This story reported on a procedure to freeze recurrent ovarian cancer tumors which showed improvements in survival rates. However, the story doesn’t say what the actual survival rate was. A similar story by Medscape did a much better job of describing cryoablation as a procedure which is currently being used in palliation of symptoms and not meant as a curative treatment of the tumors. It’s very difficult for any journalist to do a complete job reporting on a complex topic in less than 300 words. The odds were stacked against this one given those limitations. Recurring ovarian cancer is difficult to treat, but freezing tumors may only provide some benefit and this story didn’t offer appropriate caveats.
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false
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ovarian cancer
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There was no discussion of costs in this article. There was mention of the 5-year survival rate; however, the story did not specify what that survival rate was. This is extremely important since the 5-year survival rate for ovarian cancer differs widely by stage of the cancer. A bigger problem was the lack of a control group and the use of historical controls – never mentioned in the story. There was no mention of the harms associated with this procedure. There was no mention of the limitations of the evidence or cautions about the interpretation of the data. The story did provide correct statistics regarding incidence and mortality rates. They only included quotes from the medical resident at Wayne State University and actually did not make clear whether that resident was involved in the study. Weak sourcing. The story did not really mention alternatives except to state surgery and chemotherapy, but from the article it appeared that cryoablation was done after both of these treatment options were used. There was no mention in the article about availability of the treatment. Are readers expected to know how widespread is its use? There was insufficient evidence to really understand if this is a novel procedure. We can’t be sure of the extent to which this story may have been based on a press release. We do know there were no independent perspectives.
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309
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AstraZeneca's blood cancer drug meets main goal in late-stage trial.
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AstraZeneca Plc said on Thursday its blood cancer drug met the main goal of a final stage trial, taking the treatment one step closer to a marketing approval as the drugmaker seeks to bolster its oncology portfolio.
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true
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Health News
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In its second late-stage trial success in a month, the drug showed meaningful improvement in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia when compared with a chemotherapy-based treatment, the company said. The drug, Calquence, is a cornerstone product for AstraZeneca in haematology and its accelerated U.S. approval in 2017 marked its first entry into blood cancer treatment. “The positive results from both the ... trials will serve as the foundation for regulatory submissions later this year,” said R&D José Baselga, executive vice president of the company’s oncology division. The drug, which is already approved by the U.S. drug regulator to treat a rare type of blood cancer, met the primary endpoint in a trial in May testing the drug in comparison with available treatment. AstraZeneca acquired the drug, also known as acalabrutinib, when it bought a majority stake in Acerta Pharma in 2015. Calquence is currently approved for treating adults with relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma in the United States, Brazil, UAE and Qatar, and is being developed for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia and other blood cancers. The company’s shares were up 0.8% at 6005 pence in early trading on the London Stock Exchange.
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36892
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Pope Francis has endorsed Donald Trump after the FBI declined to bring charges against Hillary Clinton because, the Pope said, a strong rule of law is the backbone of America’s government.
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Pope Francis, who met victims of the Fukushima nuclear disaster while in Japan, said on Tuesday that nuclear energy should not be used until there are ironclad guarantees that it is safe for people and the environment.
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false
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Politics, Religious
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Speaking to reporters aboard the plane returning to Rome from his trip to Asia, Francis renewed a call for a total ban on nuclear weapons, including their possession for the purpose of deterrence. Francis said declarations on the immorality of the use or possession of nuclear weapons would be incorporated in the Church’s universal catechism, a compilation of Catholic teachings and rules. The pope comforted victims of the 2011 Fukushima disaster on Monday in Tokyo and noted a call by Japan’s Catholic bishops to abolish nuclear power outright. Around 18,000 people died or were classified as missing after the so-called Triple Disaster, when a massive earthquake set off a tsunami - in some places 30 meters high - destroying a wide swathe of Japan’s northeastern coast and triggering a nuclear meltdown at the plant. “The use of nuclear energy is at the limit (of safety) because we still have not managed to achieve total security,” Francis said. “In my personal opinion, I would not use nuclear energy until there is total security. There is not enough security to guarantee that there will not be a disaster,” Francis added. Francis said assertions that nuclear accidents were rare were insufficient because effects of radiation are felt for decades on people and the environment, such as in the area around the Chernobyl reactor in Ukraine which was crippled by a meltdown in 1986. Francis, who wrote a major encyclical in 2015 on protection of the environment and the effects of global warming, said humanity had gone beyond the limit in violating nature. As examples, he listed the overuse of pesticides and dispensing growth hormones to animals destined for human consumption. “The (need for the) protection of the environment has gotten to the point where it is either now or never,” he said. Without naming countries, Francis accused states of practicing ‘armament hypocrisy’, saying nations of Christian tradition “speak of peace but live off weapons. This is called hypocrisy”. Francis said the United Nations does much good around the world but criticized the system that gives veto power to only a few nations in the Security Council. “Without meaning any offence to anyone, think of the (UN) Security Council: if here is a problem with weapons and everybody votes in favor of avoiding a bellicose action ... and one with veto power votes no, everything stops,” he said. The Security Council has five permanent members with veto power - the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China. “I have heard people say that the United Nations should move forward and give up the right of veto of some nations ... It would be beautiful if everyone had the same right,” Francis said.
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3713
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Florida’s attorney general launching vaping investigation.
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Florida’s attorney general announced Wednesday that she will investigate more than 20 vaping companies that sell the products in the state, saying there’s a growing epidemic of teens using the e-cigarettes.
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true
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Health, General News, Florida, Epidemics, Tampa, Vaping
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In a news conference at a Tampa high school, Moody said the investigation will center on whether the companies are targeting minors and if they’re running afoul of the state’s consumer protection laws. “Our investigation will focus on the marketing practices and online sales strategies of these companies to determine if they have intentionally targeted minors, tempting them to vape,” she said. “We will also seek information to determine if these companies can support their marketing and health claims.” She added that there have been 52 cases of vaping-related pulmonary illnesses in Florida. Moody said parents should talk with their children about the dangers of vaping. She said she launched a summer-long “fact gathering mission” on the topic, speaking with parents, teachers, school resource officers, and state and local leaders. Nearly 1 in 4 Florida high school students admits to using e-cigarettes. It’s illegal to sell the products to anyone under 18 in the state. The number of vaping-related illnesses in the U.S. continues to rise, reaching about 1,300 cases and at least 26 deaths as of Oct. 10. The nationwide outbreak appears to have started in March. Symptoms include severe shortness of breath, fatigue, and chest pain. Most who got sick said they vaped products containing THC, the marijuana ingredient that causes a high, but about 1 in 8 said they vaped only nicotine. Until a cause is determined, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises Americans to refrain from using any vaping products.
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8364
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China reports big rise in coronavirus deaths, WHO sees no 'tip of iceberg'.
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The Chinese province at the center of the coronavirus outbreak reported a record rise in deaths and thousands more infections using a broader definition on Thursday, while Japan became the third place outside mainland China to suffer a fatality.
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true
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Health News
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The epidemic has given China’s ruling Communist Party one of its sternest challenges in years, constrained the world’s second largest economy and triggered a purge of provincial bureaucrats. With China’s streets, restaurants and flower markets bare, a miserable Valentine’s Day was expected on Friday. Japan confirmed its first coronavirus death - a woman in her 80s living in Kanagawa prefecture near Tokyo - adding to two previous fatalities in Hong Kong and the Philippines. For all related coverage on the outbreak, click: here For related Reuters graphics on the new coronavirus, click: tmsnrt.rs/2GVwIyw Japan is one of the worst affected of more than two dozen other countries and territories that have seen hundreds of infections from the flu-like sickness. The Japanese woman fell ill in January but only later showed symptoms of pneumonia and was hospitalized, with coronavirus confirmed after her death and the contagion route under investigation, the health minister said. However, the big jump in China’s reported cases reflects a decision by authorities there to reclassify a backlog of suspected cases by using patients’ chest images, and is not necessarily the “tip of an iceberg” of a wider epidemic, a top World Health Organization official said on Thursday. Mike Ryan, head of WHO’s health emergencies program, said that more than 14,000 new cases reported in Hubei province overnight came after a change to include results from quicker computerized tomography (CT) scans that reveal lung infections, rather than relying just on laboratory tests to confirm cases. “We’ve seen this spike in the number of cases reported in China, but this does not represent a significant change in the trajectory of the outbreak,” Ryan told a briefing in Geneva. The biggest cluster of infections outside China is on a cruise liner now quarantined off a Japanese port and a further 44 cases were reported on board on Thursday, raising the total to 219. But authorities said some elderly people would finally to be allowed to disembark on Friday. “Outside the cases on the Diamond Princess cruise ship we are not seeing a dramatic increase in transmission outside China,” the WHO’s Ryan said. He added that the main U.N. health agency expected the rest of a special WHO team to arrive in China over the coming weekend to investigative the epicenter of the epidemic. U.S. President Donald Trump praised China over its response and said Washington was working closely with Beijing. “I think they’ve handled it professionally, and I think they’re extremely capable,” Trump said in a podcast broadcast on iHeart Radio. But Trump’s top White House economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, was more critical. “We’re a little disappointed in the lack of transparency coming from the Chinese, these numbers are jumping around... there was some surprise,” he told reporters. In central China’s Hubei province, officials said 242 people died on Wednesday, the biggest daily rise since the flu-like virus emerged in the provincial capital Wuhan in December. Total deaths in China are 1,367. The rise, following a forecast earlier this week by China’s senior medical adviser that the epidemic might end there by April, halted a global stocks rally. [MKTS/GLOB] But it appeared largely due to the change in methodology. Hubei had previously only allowed infections to be confirmed by RNA tests, which can take days. RNA, or ribonucleic acid, carries genetic information allowing identification of viruses. But it has also begun using CT scans of lungs, the Hubei health commission said, to pinpoint and isolate cases faster. As a result, another 14,840 new cases were reported in the province on Thursday, up from 2,015 new cases nationwide a day earlier. But excluding cases confirmed using the new methods, the number of new cases rose by only 1,508. About 60,000 people have been infected in total, the vast majority of them in China. The outbreak, believed to have emerged from a Wuhan market where wildlife was traded illegally, has triggered a backlash against local political leaders. Provincial Communist Party boss Jiang Chaoliang was fired as secretary of the Hubei Provincial Committee, and Ma Guoqiang removed as party chief in Wuhan, state media said. They were the two highest-profile officials to be axed since the outbreak. Chinese scientists are testing two antiviral drugs and preliminary results are weeks away, although WHO chiefs have cautioned a vaccine could take 18 months. While the Princess Diamond cruise liner remained in quarantine, another luxury liner, the MS Westerdam, was finally allowed to dock in Cambodia after being barred from Guam, Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand over fears that one of its 1,455 passengers and 802 crew might have the virus - even though none had tested positive. The Westerdam’s passengers clapped and cheered on their arrival at sunset.
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11013
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FDA approves anti-nausea patch for chemo patients
|
This AP story about Sancuso, a transdermal patch that delivers anti-nausea medication to cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, is seriously flawed. The story cites no independent sources. It quotes a consultant for the company, a spokesman for the company, and a participant in the clinical trials who is satisfied with his treatment. It does not cite the evidence upon which the product was approved, nor does it attempt to quantify the benefits or risks. It predicts imminent availability yet does not report price. A more diligent reporter might have done a Web search on the company and product name, and discovered that the Scottish maker of the drug, ProStrakan, took the unusual action beginning to manufacture the patch in August, weeks before approval had been granted. It’s hard to tell what this might mean. But it would be worth asking a few questions about this, both of company officials and independent sources.
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mixture
|
"The story says the company has not projected costs for the patch. It’s good that the reporter asked. But the news release issued by the drug’s maker predicts sales of $100 million each in the U.S. and Europe, so clearly someone at the company has an idea how much each patch will cost. A more diligent reporter would have pushed for a price based on the information in the release, and compared it to costs of the oral medication against which the patch was tested. The story does not quantify the benefits of treatment. The report cites the one significant side effect mentioned in the FDA material, constipation. It also mentions that this can lead to a dangerous bowel obstruction. The report does not cite the evidence of efficacy and safety upon which FDA approval is based. The anecdote with the patient (the same patient profiled in the company’s news release) who reported signficant relief from his nausea with the patch is a bit too neat and an easy appeal to emotion. But the nausea that often accompanies chemo is very serious in that it can compromise nutrition, and therefore resilience and recovery. In the end, we rule that the use of this single anecdote does not constitute disease-mongering. The only sources used are a nurse practitioner who is consultant to the drug’s maker, a company spokeswoman and a patient who participated in the clinical trials. No independent sources are used. The story says the patch is another way to administer a common anti-nausea medication usually given by mouth. That treatment is the most common alternative. Most other anti-nausea treatments, including ginger and guided imagery, are considered less effective and need not be mentioned here. The report makes plain that Sancuso, an anti-nausea patch for chemotherapy patients, has just been approved by the FDA and is not yet available. But the story states that the patch is expected to be available by the end of the year. No source is cited. This prediction should have been attributed–at least to the news release associated with the FDA approval, whose subhead states, ""US Launch Planned Before End of 2008"". Finally, the lede of the story says ""cancer patients will soon be able"" to use the patch. More conditional phrasing would have been more accurate. The story makes plain that the patch is a novel way to administer a widely used medication normally taken in oral form. We have no evidence of text or quotes being lifted directly from a news release. But the same nurse practitioner and same patient are used in the story as are used in the company’s news release. So we are at least suspicious of how much enterprise reporting went into this story. Nonethless, since we have no evidence of direct influence, we rule this an uncertain N/A."
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7981
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U.S. appeals court allows Texas abortion curbs amid pandemic.
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A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday allowed Texas to enforce limits at least temporarily on the ability of women to obtain abortions as part of the state’s policy requiring the postponement of non-urgent medical procedures during the coronavirus pandemic.
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true
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Health News
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A three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 ruling, put on hold a federal judge’s order issued on Monday that had blocked the state’s action. The fast-moving litigation could reach the conservative-majority Supreme Court in short order. The 5th Circuit’s action allowed state officials to enforce the restrictions while it decides on the legal merits of the policy, which was announced last week by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican. Texas and other states that previously pursued abortion restrictions have sought to crack down on abortion availability during the pandemic. Abortion providers including Whole Woman’s Health and Planned Parenthood sued to block the Texas policy on Monday after clinics said they were forced to cancel hundreds of appointments for abortions across the state. Under the policy, abortion providers are covered by a state order that required postponement of non-urgent medical procedures. The restrictions violate the right to abortion under the U.S. Constitution as recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court in its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, the abortion providers argued. “I thank the court for their immediate and careful attention to the health and safety needs of Texans suffering from the spread of COVID-19. The temporary stay ordered this afternoon justly prioritizes supplies and personal protective equipment for the medical professionals in need,” Paxton said, referring to the respiratory illness caused by the virus. Abortion clinics had just started rescheduling appointments that had been postponed last week when the court acted, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights, an abortion rights group representing the clinics. “The 5th Circuit is escalating the fear and confusion women seeking abortion in Texas are already experiencing,” said Nancy Northup, the group’s president. U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel in Austin ruled on Monday that Paxton’s action “prevents Texas women from exercising what the Supreme Court has declared is their fundamental constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy before a fetus is viable.” Abortion rights advocates have criticized the state actions toward abortion as political opportunism during the pandemic. Abortion providers in Ohio, Iowa, Alabama and Oklahoma filed similar litigation on Monday to block state officials from using coronavirus-related orders to limit abortion availability. Judges quickly blocked the state actions in Ohio and Alabama, in addition to Texas. [L1N2BN29R]
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29160
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A comparison of four cases demonstrates a racial bias in tax-evasion prosecutions.
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The conclusion here is a simple one: Cherry-picking four very disparate cases of financial wrongdoings spanning several decades, while ignoring the many other instances of tax evasion successfully prosecuted by the U.S. government, documents nothing about any purported racial bias in such prosecutions.
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false
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Politics
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One of the more unusual political memes we’ve come across presented four different cases of tax-related financial improprieties to suggest that tax-evasion prosecutions were somehow influenced by racial bias against non-blacks: However, the “Tax Racism” meme offered examples — not all of which were actual cases of tax evasion — so widely spaced in time and so differing in circumstances as to be non-useful in making any point at all about either tax fraud or race. Martha Stewart, the entrepreneur who rose to prominence as the author of books on cooking, entertaining, and decorating, was not charged with, or imprisoned for, non-payment of income taxes. Stewart was found guilty in March 2004 of felony charges of conspiracy, obstruction of an agency proceeding, and making false statements to federal investigators in a case related to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation into insider trading activity: Washington, D.C., June 4, 2003 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today filed securities fraud charges against Martha Stewart and her former stockbroker, Peter Bacanovic. The complaint, filed in federal court in Manhattan, alleges that Stewart committed illegal insider trading when she sold stock in a biopharmaceutical company, ImClone Systems, Inc., on Dec. 27, 2001, after receiving an unlawful tip from Bacanovic, at the time a broker with Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated. The Commission further alleges that Stewart and Bacanovic subsequently created an alibi for Stewart’s ImClone sales and concealed important facts during SEC and criminal investigations into her trades. In a separate action, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York has obtained an indictment charging Stewart and Bacanovic criminally for their false statements concerning Stewart’s ImClone trades. Stewart was sentenced to 5 months in prison and also settled a civil suit with the SEC by paying a $195,000 fine (a penalty that reflected four times the amount of stock value loss she avoided by taking advantage of inside information, plus interest). Stewart did engage in a dispute with the state of New York in 2002 over unpaid property taxes that she contended she didn’t owe because she hardly spent any time in that state, and she was eventually ordered by a judge to pay $220,000 in back taxes plus penalties. But contrary to the false impression created by this meme, she was not prosecuted or jailed over that issue — the time she spent in prison was solely related to a later insider-trading case, not to tax evasion. By the mid-1920s, notorious Chicago mobster Alphonse Gabriel Capone was reportedly taking in nearly $60 million annually ($878 million in 2018 dollars) from a variety of illegal activities, primarily Prohibition-era bootlegging. Capone was dubbed “Public Enemy No. 1” after the 1929 Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre in which gunmen allegedly hired by him posed as police officers to murder seven members of a rival gang, leading to increased public pressure on the government to rein Capone in. Federal authorities had difficulty gathering sufficient hard evidence to convict Capone on any substantial criminal charges, however, so they took what was then a novel tack: Even if they couldn’t prove Capone was making his millions illegally, they could prove he wasn’t paying income tax on his ill-gotten gains. Despite his obviously lavish lifestyle, Capone never filed a federal income tax return and claimed he had no taxable income, reportedly boasting at one point that, “They can’t collect legal taxes from illegal money.” He was proved wrong. IRS and Treasury agents gathered evidence that Capone had made millions of dollars in untaxed income, and the mobster was eventually indicted on 22 counts of federal income tax evasion. After conviction he was sentenced in 1931 to 11 years in prison, fined $50,000, and ordered to pay back taxes in the amount of $215,000. Capone was released from prison in 1939 with time off for good behavior and retired to Florida, where he died in 1947 at the relatively young age of 48. In a literal sense Capone was indeed jailed for non-payment of income taxes, but the tax evasion charges were essentially a proxy for prosecuting the mobster over the multitude of vastly worse and violent crimes with which he was connected (and the immense profits he derived from those criminal activities). Capone was by no means an otherwise upright and law-abiding citizen who was thrown in prison simply because he didn’t pay his income taxes. At this point in our narrative we need to distinguish between different forms of tax evasion. At one end of the spectrum are those who haven’t engaged in any fraudulent behavior but simply didn’t or can’t pay their taxes for any number of reasons — maybe they didn’t plan or withhold prudently, they received poor financial advisement, they had legitimate confusion or dispute over what constituted taxable income, or they simply overspent and ended up in debt. Although non-payment of taxes is a crime, the IRS will not usually seek prosecution in these types of case and will instead work with offenders in order to facilitate payment of their back debts (rather than making repayment difficult or impossible by incarcerating them). At the other end of the spectrum are those who actively engage in fraud in order to evade the full payment of taxes: They fail to disclose their full income, hide financial transactions, claim deductions to which they are not entitled, disguise monies earned as something other than income, or otherwise file falsified tax returns. The IRS will, at their discretion, seek prosecution in egregious cases of these forms of tax evasion. Leona Helmsley, derisively known by the nickname as the “Queen of Mean,” was a billionaire who — along with her husband, real estate investor and broker Harry Helmsley — owned a vast portfolio of real estate and other assets, including a chain of hotels and the iconic Empire State Building. Leona Helmsley, who once reportedly asserted that “We don’t pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes,” fell into the latter class of tax evader, falsely manipulating her personal finances, business expenses, and dealings with third parties in order to avoid paying immense sums of taxes: Some of [Helmsley’s] luster was tarnished in 1986 when court documents and law enforcement officials said she had failed to pay sales taxes in New York on hundreds of thousands of dollars of jewelry she purchased at Van Cleef & Arpels, the exclusive Manhattan store. Two senior store officers were indicted on charges that they operated a scheme by which customers with out-of-state addresses could have their purchases recorded as being mailed to them, thus avoiding city and state taxes. In 1987 a series of adverse articles in The New York Post about the Helmsleys, set off by one of their disgruntled employees, led to a broad investigation. The following year Harry and Leona Helmsley were indicted by federal and state authorities on charges that they had evaded more than $4 million in income taxes by fraudulently claiming as business expenses luxuries they purchased for Dunnellen Hall in Greenwich, Conn, a 28-room Jacobean mansion on 26 acres with a sweeping view of Long Island Sound that they bought in 1983. In 235 counts in state and federal indictments brought by Robert Abrams, then the New York State attorney general, and Rudolph W. Giuliani, then the United States attorney and later mayor of New York, the Helmsleys were accused of draining their hotel and real estate empire to provide themselves with such extravagances at Dunnellen Hall as a $1 million marble dance floor above a swimming pool, a $45,000 silver clock, a $210,000 mahogany card table, a $130,000 stereo system, and $500,000 worth of jade art objects. Nothing was too small or personal to be billed to their businesses, from Mrs. Helmsley’s bras to a white lace and pink satin dress and jacket and a white chiffon skirt — the dress and skirt were entered in the Park Lane Hotel records as uniforms for the staff. Mrs. Helmsley was also charged with defrauding Helmsley stockholders by receiving $83,333 a month in secret consulting fees. She was convicted of 33 felony counts related to her evasion of $1.2 million in federal income taxes. She was sentenced to 16 years in prison (reduced to four years on appeal), fined $7.1 million for tax fraud, and ordered to pay some $1.7 million in back federal and state taxes. She began serving her sentence in 1992 and was released from federal prison in Connecticut in 1994 after having served less than half her sentence. Where along the tax-evader spectrum between “legitimate dispute” and “willful tax fraud” civil rights activist Al Sharpton might fall is a difficult to determine. Claims were made in the press in 2014 that Sharpton owed some $4.5 million in unpaid taxes, but the accuracy of that number and how much of the monies owed might already have been repaid by Sharpton were unclear, and his tax-troubles narrative involved a muddied mixture of personal, business, and non-profit finances as well liabilities for federal taxes, state taxes, payroll taxes, and personal income taxes. Much of the dispute over the “why” and “how much” of Sharpton’s unpaid tax bill stemmed from the operations of the National Action Network, a not-for-profit, civil rights organization founded by Sharpton in 1991. Sharpton contended in a 2014 New York Times account that he incurred an unexpected tax liability because he was taxed personally for income he had given to the non-profit organization, and that he was up to date on repayment plans. Officials contested that the amount he was in arrears for in unpaid taxes had actually grown larger, though: Today, Mr. Sharpton still faces personal federal tax liens of more than $3 million, and state tax liens of $777,657, according to records. Mr. Sharpton said the federal liens resulted from a demand by the I.R.S. that he pay taxes on earnings from speaking engagements that he had turned over to National Action Network. He said he was up to date on payment plans for both the federal and state liens, so, he said, the outstanding balance was much lower than records showed. But according to state officials, his balance on the state liens is actually $220,000 greater now than when they were first filed during the years 2008 through 2010. A spokesman for the State Department of Taxation and Finance said state law did not allow him to provide any further details. Sharpton then contested that news account, asserting that it referenced “old taxes” and insisting again his tax liens had been paid down below the $4.5 million debt claimed in the New York Times report that stated Sharpton’s unpaid tax debt had nonetheless grown larger, not smaller: During a news conference at the headquarters of his National Action Network in Harlem, Mr. Sharpton sought to refute the assertion that there were $4.5 million in state and federal tax liens outstanding against him and the for-profit businesses he controls. He said that the liens had been paid down, although he declined to say by how much, and that he was “current on all taxes” he was obligated to pay under settlement agreements with tax authorities. “We’re talking about old taxes,” he said, adding: “We’re not talking about anything new. So all of this, as if I’m not paying taxes while I’m doing whatever I’m doing, it reads all right, but it just is not true.” The accuracy of Mr. Sharpton’s assertion that the amount he owes the federal government is much lower than the $3.6 million shown in records could not be verified. A spokesman for the Internal Revenue Service said federal law prohibited the agency from divulging any details about individual taxpayers. As for the state tax liens, Mr. Sharpton’s assertion that he had paid them down conflicts with information provided by state officials. State authorities filed tax liens against Mr. Sharpton in 2008 and 2009, and again in 2010 against a for-profit business he controls, Revals Communications, all totaling $695,000. But a spokesman for the State Department of Taxation and Finance said the amount due had actually increased, to $916,000. Regardless of the numbers, Sharpton wasn’t put in prison because tax officials did not deem his case to be an exceptional one of scofflaw tax fraud or evasion that merited prosecution, instead working with him to facilitate his paying down the debt.
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41180
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Drinking a glass of water 30 minutes before a meal helps digestion.
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Drinking water can help digestion, but we’ve not seen evidence that specifically drinking water 30 minutes before eating helps more than drinking water at other times.
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unproven
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online
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Drinking a glass of water 30 minutes before a meal helps digestion. Drinking water can help digestion, but we’ve not seen evidence that specifically drinking water 30 minutes before eating helps more than drinking water at other times. Drinking a glass of water before taking a bath helps lower blood pressure. There is no evidence for this. Drinking a glass of water before going to bed helps prevent stroke and heart attacks. There’s some evidence that keeping hydrated can help prevent coronary heart disease and help improve stroke outcomes. But we found no evidence specifying that drinking water before bed was particularly beneficial. Claim 1 of 4
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3105
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Kansas lawmakers to fight over taxes, abortion and maybe pot.
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Kansas lawmakers expect a push to overturn a state Supreme Court decision protecting abortion rights, a contentious debate over income tax cuts and some bipartisan harmony on Medicaid expansion during this year’s annual session.
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true
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Legislature, Constitutions, Medical marijuana, Kansas, Abortion, Marijuana, Topeka, Court decisions, Medicaid, Gun politics, Laws
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The GOP-controlled Legislature may also tackle medical marijuana after it convenes on Monday for 90 days of lawmaking. A look at some of the biggest issues: ABORTION Top Republicans and the influential anti-abortion group Kansans for Life plan to push for an amendment to the state constitution to declare that legislators can regulate abortion as they see fit. It’s a response to April’s ruling by the state Supreme Court that the Kansas Constitution protects access to abortion as a fundamental right. The decision blocked enforcement of a ban on a common second-trimester procedure. Abortion opponents fear that the ruling could lead courts to overturn a raft of restrictions enacted over the past 10 years. To get an amendment on the ballot for voters to consider, supporters need two-thirds majorities in both chambers. ANOTHER TAX FIGHT Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly last year vetoed two Republican proposals for cutting income taxes, arguing that the measures would decimate the state budget. But Kansas officials in November issued a new fiscal forecast for state government that boosted revenue projections and undercut her argument. Kelly said in a recent Associated Press interview that she still wants to hold off because making changes in income tax laws “out of context” could make it harder to change the entire tax system next year. But Republicans are determined. Their proposals were designed to provide relief to individuals and businesses that are paying more to the state because of changes in federal tax laws at the end of 2017. MEDICAID EXPANSION Kelly and Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning, an Overland Park Republican, have outlined a compromise plan for extending the state’s Medicaid health coverage to as many as 150,000 additional people. Their bipartisan bill is sponsored in the Senate by 22 of the chamber’s 40 members, enough to pass it. The House passed an expansion bill last year, but Denning and other top Republicans managed to bottle it up in committee, despite majority support. Denning’s deal clears the way for a plan to pass, though conservatives are still going to fight it as potentially too expensive. AVIATION LAYOFFS The state received an bad economic jolt just ahead of lawmakers’ session when Wichita’s largest employer, Spirit Aerosystems, announced that it was laying off 20% of its Kansas workforce, or 2,800 employees. Spirit produced about 70% of the troubled 737 Max aircraft for Boeing, which suspended its production. The layoffs could affect lawmakers’ decisions on budget and tax issues, and they and Kelly face questions about how best to help laid-off workers. STALEMATE ON GUNS Mass shootings across the nation continue to fuel interest among some Kansas legislators for gun-control measures, particularly a measure to allow relatives and law enforcement officials to petition courts to have guns taken away from people deemed a risk to themselves and others. But the Legislature still has gun-rights majorities, and proposals for a “red flag” law have spurred a backlash over concerns about whether people’s right to due legal process would be respected. The House and Senate each have a proposal to ban such laws at the local level and to bar state and local officials from helping to enforce gun-confiscation orders issued under a federal law. House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, said he can see the anti-red flag proposals advancing. Kelly said she won’t push gun-control measures this year. MEDICAL MARIJUANA With conservative neighbors Missouri and Oklahoma authorizing the medical use of marijuana, Kansas lawmakers are under increasing pressure to consider doing the same. They’ve taken steps with laws to create an industrial hemp research and production program and to protect people who use cannabidiol oils to treat children with debilitating medical conditions from criminal prosecution. But allowing wider use of marijuana for medical person faces opposition from law enforcement groups. SHADOWED BY POLITICS Politics will cast a shadow on the Legislature’s session. All 40 Senate seats and 125 House seats will be on the ballot, and lawmakers inevitably will consider how their votes on hot-button issues play with conservative GOP primary voters or more centrist general election voters. Senate President Susan Wagle, a Wichita Republican, is running for the U.S. Senate in a crowded race that has her emphasizing her conservative bona fides. But Denning, facing a potentially tough general election race in a county that Kelly carried easily in 2018, has political incentives to move to the center. In the House, Speaker Ron Ryckman Jr., an Olathe Republican, has been considering for months attempting in 2021 to break a tradition against serving more than two, two-year terms in the Legislature’s most powerful position. That creates pressure on him to deliver big on GOP goals. ___ Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna
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8859
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Cephalon wins U.S. approval for leukemia drug.
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Cephalon Inc CEPH.O won U.S. approval to sell a chemotherapy drug to treat patients with a slow-growing type of leukemia, the company said on Thursday.
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true
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Health News
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The Food and Drug Administration cleared the injectable drug, called Treanda, after a study showed it helped more patients than a common treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukemia, or CLL. CLL most often hits older adults with an average age of 70 and is more common in men than women. About 15,000 new cases of CLL will be diagnosed in the United States in 2008, according to American Cancer Society estimates. Cephalon, known for its sleep drug Provigil, is counting on Treanda to give it a bigger presence in the cancer market. Industry analysts project Treanda’s eventual peak annual sales could reach between $300 million and $500 million. It also is under FDA review for a type of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Cephalon’s total 2007 sales were $1.7 billion. For Treanda, the company submitted a study of 301 previously untreated CLL patients who were randomly assigned to receive the Cephalon drug or another chemotherapy treatment called chlorambucil. Fifty-nine percent of patients responded to Treanda, compared with 26 percent who were treated with the other drug, Cephalon said. Eight percent of patients given Treanda had a complete remission of their leukemia, compared with less than 1 percent in the other group. For patients overall, the leukemia got worse after a median of 18 months with Treanda, compared with 6 months for chlorambucil. “Treanda is an effective new option that offers a delay in disease progression,” Dr. Bruce Cheson, a Georgetown University oncologist, said in a statement issued by Cephalon. Potential side effects including nausea, vomiting and fever occurred more frequently in Treanda patients. Eighty-nine percent in the Treanda group had at least one event recorded, compared with 79 percent with the comparison drug. Neutropenia, a drop in white blood cells that can make patients vulnerable to infections, occurred in 28 percent of Treanda patients compared with 14 percent in the other group. Treanda also is under FDA review for treating a different type of blood cancer, indolent B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. A decision on that use is expected by Oct. 31. JP Morgan analyst Adam Greene projected $20 million in Treanda sales this year and about $320 million by 2012. “Although this approval was expected, it should help investor sentiment which has been waning recently on sluggish Provigil (prescriptions),” Greene said in a research note. Cephalon expects Treanda, known generically as bendamustine, to be available for U.S. physicians and patients in April. The product has been designated as an orphan drug for a rare disease, which gives Cephalon exclusive marketing rights for CLL until March 2015, the company said. Cephalon spokeswoman Jenifer Antonacci said the company would not disclose Treanda’s price until the drug was launched. Cephalon shares gained $1.56, or 2.5 percent, to close at $64.17 on Nasdaq.
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23606
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Eight of the nine justices in the Supreme Court decision (on campaign finance) said that not only is it constitutional for Congress to require disclosure of the special interest money, but they recommend we do it.
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A European study of nearly 1,000 gay male couples who had sex without condoms – where one partner had HIV and was taking antiretroviral drugs to suppress it - has found the treatment can prevent sexual transmission of the virus.
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true
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National, Campaign Finance, Supreme Court, Charles Schumer,
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After eight years of follow-up of the so-called serodifferent couples, the study found no cases at all of HIV transmission within couples. The study proves, the researchers said, that using antiretroviral therapy to suppress the AIDS virus to undetectable levels also means it cannot be passed on via sex, the researchers said. “Our findings provide conclusive evidence for gay men that the risk of HIV transmission with suppressive ART is zero,” said Alison Rodger, a professor at University College London who co-led the research. She said this “powerful message” could help end the HIV pandemic by preventing the virus’ transmission in high-risk populations. In this study alone, for example, the researchers estimate that the suppressive antiretrovial treatment prevented around 472 HIV transmissions during the eight years. The study, published in the Lancet medical journal on Thursday, assessed the risk of HIV transmission between serodifferent gay male couples - where one partner is HIV-positive and one is HIV-negative - who do not use condoms. Its findings add to an earlier phase of the study which looked at HIV transmission risk for serodifferent heterosexual couples in the same circumstances. It also found zero risk. While 15 of the men among the 972 gay couples in this phase did become infected with HIV during the eight years of follow-up, genetic testing showed their infections were with strains of HIV acquired from another sexual partner. Since the start of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, more than 77 million people have become infected with HIV. Almost half of them - 35.4 million - have died of AIDS. Global health experts say the fight against HIV is at a precarious point, with the annual number of AIDS deaths falling and the number of people getting antiretroviral treatment rising, but the number of new infections is stubbornly high at around 1.8 million new cases a year worldwide. Rachel Baggaley, the World Health Organization’s coordinator for HIV prevention and testing, said this latest study “adds to the clear and consistent evidence” that HIV transmission to sexual partners does not occur when someone with HIV is on antiretroviral therapy (ART) and their virus is suppressed. “Increasing access to HIV testing (and) ART ... remains critical for individuals and is central to the HIV public health response,” she said.
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41755
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“[T]here is overwhelming evidence” that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton “actually obstructed justice.”
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In an interview about the Mueller report, Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, distorted the facts in repeatedly making the case that there was “no obstruction” by Trump.
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unproven
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Mueller report, Obstruction of Justice,
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In an interview about the Mueller report, Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, distorted the facts in repeatedly making the case that there was “no obstruction” by Trump.Giuliani made his claims in an April 21 interview on “Fox News Sunday” — three days after the special counsel issued a redacted report on the Russian government’s attempt to influence the 2016 presidential election, whether Trump’s campaign associates were involved in those efforts, and whether the president attempted to interfere with the investigation.The special counsel’s report uncovered “multiple links between Trump Campaign officials and individuals tied to the Russian government,” but the investigation “did not establish that the Campaign coordinated or conspired with the Russian government in its election-interference activities.” As for obstruction of justice, the Mueller report said that while it “does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”In his defense of Trump, Giuliani claimed that Clinton, not Trump, “actually obstructed justice” during a federal investigation. The former New York City mayor was referring to the FBI investigation into whether Clinton or her aides mishandled classified information when she was secretary of state.After a yearlong investigation, then-FBI Director James Comey said Clinton and her staff had been “extremely careless” in handling “highly classified information,” but the FBI “cannot find a case that would support bringing criminal charges” against Clinton or any of her aides.“All the cases prosecuted involved some combination of: clearly intentional and willful mishandling of classified information; or vast quantities of materials exposed in such a way as to support an inference of intentional misconduct; or indications of disloyalty to the United States; or efforts to obstruct justice. We do not see those things here,” Comey said at a July 5, 2016, press conference.Two days later, Comey testified before the House oversight committee, and Rep. William Lacy Clay of Missouri asked him, “Did Secretary Clinton or any member of her staff attempt to obstruct your investigation?” The FBI director replied, “We did not develop evidence of that.”Regardless, in an attempt to favorably compare his client to Clinton, Giuliani claimed there was “overwhelming evidence” that Clinton committed obstruction of justice.Giuliani, April 21: There was no obstruction. Nothing was denied [Mueller evidence]. Nobody crushed cell phones like Hillary did. Nobody deleted 33,000 emails like Hillary’s people did, and nobody bleached a server like Hillary did.The FBI investigation found no proof that Clinton or her aides intentionally deleted “33,000 emails” by bleaching a server, crushing cell phones or any other method — contrary to Giuliani’s claims.Let’s go through the history of the case (which is also summarized in our story “A Guide to Clinton’s Emails”).During a Republican-controlled House investigation into the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012, the State Department learned that it had very few emails from Clinton, who was the secretary of state at the time. As it turned out, Clinton did not use a government email account and kept her work emails on a private server at her home in New York. In the summer of 2014, after Clinton had already left office, the State Department contacted her office in an attempt to recover emails on her server. Her lawyers went through the emails and identified 30,490 work-related emails and 31,830 personal emails. In December 2014, about 21 months after she left office, Clinton gave the State Department the 30,490 work-related emails totaling roughly 55,000 pages. She indicated that she deleted the others. “I didn’t see any reason to keep them,” she said at a March 10, 2015, press conference.A Clinton lawyer told an employee of Platte River Networks – which was maintaining Clinton’s private server – “to modify the e-mail retention policy,” so that emails 60 days or older would be deleted. That would have erased the personal emails that Clinton’s lawyers did not turn over to the State Department at that time.However, the FBI determined during its investigation that emails identified by Clinton’s lawyers as “personal” were deleted “sometime between March 25-31, 2015″ — about three weeks after the House Select Committee on Benghazi served Clinton with a subpoena on March 4, 2015, to produce any emails related to its Benghazi investigation.Platte River Networks used a free software program called BleachBit to delete the emails — which is what Giuliani means when he says the server was “bleached.” Clinton and her lawyer told the FBI they were unaware when PRN deleted the personal emails. During its investigation, which began July 10, 2015, the FBI tried to recover some of the deleted emails identified by Clinton’s lawyers as personal.Some of the emails were recovered in “the mailboxes of other officials or in the slack space of a server,” but some could not be recovered because “the lawyers cleaned their devices in such a way as to preclude complete forensic recovery,” Comey said at his July 5, 2016, press conference.Comey said that investigators “found no evidence” that “work-related emails were intentionally deleted in an effort to conceal them.”“We have conducted interviews and done technical examination to attempt to understand how that sorting was done by her attorneys. Although we do not have complete visibility because we are not able to fully reconstruct the electronic record of that sorting, we believe our investigation has been sufficient to give us reasonable confidence there was no intentional misconduct in connection with that sorting effort,” Comey said.The FBI director expanded on this point during his appearance before the House oversight committee two days later in an exchange with GOP Rep. Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin.Grothman, July 7, 2016: Is it possible because of what her lawyers did that they were erasing things that were incriminating, maybe involving items that yourself were not particularly investigating but these have now been destroyed forever?Comey: I guess it’s possible — as I said in my statement on Tuesday, we did not find evidence to indicate that they did the erasure to conceal things of any sort. But it’s possible, as I said on Tuesday, that there are work-related emails that were in the batch that were deleted.Grothman: I’m sorry, when you go to this length to make sure you can never recover the emails who are erased, wouldn’t you think the intent is to make sure nobody looks at them again? Why — why — otherwise, couldn’t you just (inaudible). …Comey: I guess it’s a bit circular. You delete because you want to delete. But that — that — what I mean is we didn’t find any evidence of evil intent and intent to obstruct justice.As for the “crushed cell phones,” the FBI said in its notes on the investigation (on page 8) that Clinton used eight mobile devices while she was secretary of state. It quotes Clinton aide Justin Cooper (on page 9) as saying that he could recall on two occasions that he got rid of old mobile devices by breaking them in half or hitting them with a hammer.As we have written, security experts interviewed by the technology website Wired said destroying old devices is a good way to erase data — if done properly.Giuliani, as Trump has done before, suggests that Clinton or her aides intentionally destroyed the cell phones as part of a cover up. But, as Comey said, the FBI came to no such conclusion.In Trump’s case, Giuliani said, “There was no obstruction.” But the report by special counsel Robert S. Mueller didn’t reach that conclusion. It said: “[I]f we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach that judgment.”Mueller also did not recommend, one way or the other, on prosecution, saying there were “difficult [legal] issues that would need to be resolved,” to reach a conclusion about Trump’s actions. But the report describes in detail 11 “key events” in which Trump may have obstructed justice. It “found multiple acts by the President that were capable of exerting undue influence over law enforcement investigations, including the Russian-interference and obstruction investigations.” In fact, the report establishes that Trump did try to influence the investigation but was unsuccessful mainly because his underlings refused to go along with his requests.Mueller report: The President’s efforts to influence the investigation were mostly unsuccessful, but that is largely because the persons who surrounded the President declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests. [Former FBI Director James] Comey did not end the investigation of [Retired Lt. Gen. Michael] Flynn, which ultimately resulted in Flynn’s prosecution and conviction for lying to the FBI. [White House counsel Don] McGahn did not tell the Acting Attorney General that the Special Counsel must be removed, but was instead prepared to resign over the President’s order. [Former campaign manager Corey] Lewandowski and [Trump campaign official Rick] Dearborn did not deliver the President’s message to Sessions that he should confine the Russia investigation to future election meddling only. And McGahn refused to recede from his recollections about events surrounding the President’s direction to have the Special Counsel removed, despite the President’s multiple demands that he do so. However, Attorney General William P. Barr, along with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, concluded that the investigation didn’t show that the president had committed a criminal obstruction of justice offense. Among the 11 “key events” in the Mueller report:Trump’s behavior regarding the FBI’s investigation of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. Trump asked then-FBI Director James Comey, “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go,” according to Comey’s testimony. The Mueller report said, “Evidence does establish that the President connected the Flynn investigation to the FBI’s broader Russia investigation and that he believed, as he told [New Jersey Gov. Chris] Christie, that terminating Flynn would end ‘the whole Russia thing.’”Trump’s efforts to remove the special counsel. After the Washington Post reported in June 2017 that the special counsel was investigating whether Trump had attempted to obstruct justice by firing Comey, Trump called White House counsel Don McGhan twice and ordered him to call Rosenstein and have Mueller removed as special counsel based on conflicts that Trump believed existed.Efforts to curtail the special counsel’s investigation. Two days after Trump tried to have Mueller removed, the president asked his former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski to deliver a message to Sessions to limit the scope of the investigation to only foreign interference on future elections. Lewandowski ultimately asked Rick Dearborn, a senior White House official who had a relationship with Sessions, to deliver the message, but Dearborn didn’t do so.Efforts to get the attorney general to take over the investigation. Trump repeatedly tried to get Sessions to reverse his recusal and take over the Russia investigation, and he wanted Sessions to investigate Hillary Clinton. In assessing the president’s intent, the Mueller report said there’s evidence Trump wanted Sessions to take control of the Russia investigation and “supervise it in a way that would restrict its scope.”Trump’s conduct toward Paul Manafort, his former campaign chairman. In press interviews and on Twitter, Trump repeatedly said Manafort, who had been indicted on multiple felony counts, was being treated unfairly, and Giuliani floated the possibility of a pardon. “[T]here is evidence that the President’s actions had the potential to influence Manafort’s decision whether to cooperate with the government,” the Mueller report said, and Trump’s public statements during the trial “had the potential to influence the trial jury.” As for intent, the evidence “indicates that the President intended to encourage Manafort to not cooperate with the government.”For more on these and other events detailed in the Mueller report, see our April 18 story “What the Mueller Report Says About Obstruction.”As for Giuliani’s claim that “nothing was denied” to the special counsel from the Trump administration, as “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace responded, “that’s not true.” Trump refused to do an in-person interview with investigators, and the Mueller report said his written responses to questions, which included more than 30 “does not ‘recall’ or ‘remember’” instances, were inadequate. Investigators considered a subpoena but didn’t want to delay an investigation that had “made significant progress” at that point. Giuliani said, “Well, they are not entitled to testimony, no prosecutor is.” Wallace responded: “That isn’t what you said. You said they got everything they wanted.”Giuliani disputed the Mueller report’s conclusion that Trump directed White House counsel McGahn to remove the special counsel, claiming that McGahn “gave three different versions of that conversation.”As the report lays out, though, despite pressure from Trump to recant his allegation, McGahn was consistent in maintaining that Trump told him to get rid of Mueller for alleged conflicts of interest.In the days after Mueller was appointed special counsel on May 17, 2017, Trump complained to advisers that Mueller had conflicts of interest that prevented him from conducting an impartial investigation. Several of Trump’s advisers warned the president the claims of conflicts were baseless and “ridiculous.” (We wrote about two of those in our April 19 story, “Debunking Mueller’s ‘Conflicts.’“. )Nonetheless, the Mueller report states, Trump persisted, and directed McGahn to ask the Justice Department to dismiss Mueller over the purported conflicts. McGahn recalled that Trump directed him to “Call [Deputy Attorney General] Rod [Rosenstein], tell Rod that Mueller has conflicts and can’t be the Special Counsel.” McGahn said Trump told him, “Mueller has to go” and “Call me back when you do it.” According to the report, “McGahn understood the President to be saying that the Special Counsel had to be removed by Rosenstein.” Trump later told staffers he only wanted Rosenstein to review the conflicts. The conflicting accounts are a central piece of the report’s consideration of whether the president sought to obstruct the special counsel’s investigation.Asked on “Fox News Sunday” about McGahn’s revelations in the Mueller report, Giuliani dismissed them as “a product of not telling the full story. That’s not McGahn’s fault. McGahn gave — when you read that, McGahn gave three different versions of that conversation.”According to Giuliani, “The first version of that conversation is the president used the word ‘fire’ and he told the president, ‘I’m going to resign directly.’ He then recants that and says no fire, no statement that I was going to resign and then he comes up with that version and then a third version which is even softer which says something like he should be fired. Or he has conflicts, he can’t be special prosecutor. … It’s a very complex set of facts.”The president disputes McGahn’s account, Giuliani said. “The president says, ‘I didn’t say to fire him. I didn’t want him to go, I want all the conflicts to be taken into consideration.’ That’s the president’s version. You got to pick one version or the other.”There are, in fact, two versions: McGahn’s and the president’s. The report does not show McGahn “gave three different versions” of his conversation with Trump, as Giuliani claimed.On Jan. 25, 2018, the New York Times reported that in June 2017 Trump “ordered the firing” of Mueller, and that Trump backed down only after McGahn “threatened to resign rather than carry out the directive.” The Mueller report notes that the following day the Washington Post repeated the essential claims in the Times story, but “clarified” that McGahn had not told Trump directly about his intent to resign rather than carry out Trump’s directive. Although the New York Times story did not say that McGahn directly spoke to the president about his threat to resign, the Mueller report notes that the Times story “could be read to suggest that McGahn had told the President of his intention to quit, causing the President to back down from the order to have the Special Counsel fired.”But contrary to Giuliani’s assertion, even if McGahn was a source for the New York Times story (the story relies on several anonymous sources) this is not a different “version” of events from McGahn. There is no evidence that McGahn ever told the Times that he told the president he would resign rather than carry out the president’s directive.Nor does the report suggest that McGahn offered a “softer” version of Trump’s directive, as Giuliani claims.The Mueller report details several attempts by Trump to get McGahn to walk back the Times report, with McGahn refusing each time.The first attempt came when Trump’s personal counsel called McGahn’s attorney on Jan. 26, 2018, “and said that the President wanted McGahn to put out a statement denying that he had been asked to fire the Special Counsel and that he had threatened to quit in protest.” McGahn’s attorney responded that “the Times story was accurate in reporting that the President wanted the Special Counsel removed,” and that McGahn would not comply with Trump’s request to dispute the story.Hope Hicks, a White House communications official, recalled that the same day, Trump directed White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders to contact McGahn about the story, but that McGahn again relayed that there was “no need to respond” to the Times article.Staff Secretary Rob Porter told investigators that on Feb. 5, 2018, Trump directed him to tell McGahn to “create a record to make clear that the President never directed McGahn to fire the Special Counsel.” Porter said he recalled Trump saying, “something to the effect of, ‘If he doesn’t write a letter, then maybe I’ll have to get rid of him.’”According to Porter, “McGahn shrugged off the request, explaining that the media reports were true.” Porter said McGahn told him that “the President had been insistent on firing the Special Counsel and that McGahn had planned to resign rather than carry out the order, although he had not personally told the President he intended to quit.” McGahn refused to write the requested letter.In an Oval Office meeting the following day, Trump told McGahn that the New York Times story “did not ‘look good’ and that McGahn needed to correct it,” the report states. According to McGahn, Trump told him, “I never said to fire Mueller. I never said ‘fire.’”The Mueller report says the meeting then unfolded this way:Mueller report: In response, McGahn acknowledged that he had not told the President directly that he planned to resign, but said that the story was otherwise accurate. The President asked McGahn, “Did I say the word ‘ fire’?” McGahn responded, “What you said is, ‘Call Rod [Rosenstein], tell Rod that Mueller has conflicts and can’t be the Special Counsel.‘” The President responded, “I never said that.” The President said he merely wanted McGahn to raise the conflicts issue with Rosenstein and leave it to him to decide what to do. McGahn told the President he did not understand the conversation that way and instead had heard, “Call Rod. There are conflicts. Mueller has to go.” The President asked McGahn whether he would “do a correction,” and McGahn said no. McGahn thought the President was testing his mettle to see how committed McGahn was to what happened. [White House Chief of Staff John] Kelly described the meeting as “a little tense.”Giuliani cites this account to claim McGahn gave different versions of his conversation with Trump, first claiming that Trump directed him to fire Mueller, and then offering another version “which is even softer which says something like he should be fired. Or he has conflicts, he can’t be special prosecutor.” But this “third version” is arguably the same, just with different words, with McGahn saying Trump told him, “Call Rod. There are conflicts. Mueller has to go.”In his report, Mueller notes that Trump’s rebuttals of McGahn’s recollection were “carefully worded” and that Trump focused on whether he had used the word “fire.” Mueller wrote that “substantial evidence supports McGahn’s account that the President had directed him to have the Special Counsel removed” and that Trump’s “assertion in the Oval Office meeting that he had never directed McGahn to have the Special Counsel removed … runs counter to the evidence.”The report states that McGahn has a “clear recollection” of Trump’s directive: “Mueller has to go.” And the report states, “McGahn is a credible witness with no motive to lie or exaggerate given the position he held in the White House.” The report notes that McGahn relayed to several White House staffers that in response to Trump’s request, he had decided to quit, that he packed up his office and prepared to submit a resignation letter. “Those acts would be a highly unusual reaction to a request to convey information to the Department of Justice,” the Mueller report states.The report also notes that Trump, through his counsel, already had brought his complaints about Mueller’s purported conflicts to the attention of the Department of Justice, so “the President had no reason to have McGahn call Rosenstein that weekend to raise conflicts issues that already had been raised.”The report concludes that “the President sought to use his official powers to remove the Special Counsel.”
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6536
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Lilly lays out faster time frame for FDA drug resubmission.
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Eli Lilly says it will resubmit its potential rheumatoid arthritis treatment to regulators several months faster than expected.
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true
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Indianapolis, Health, Arthritis, Indiana, Eli Lilly and Co, Rheumatoid arthritis
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The drugmaker said Wednesday that it will give baricitinib back to the Food and Drug Administration for review by the end of January, and the agency will not require a new clinical study. Lilly had said in late July that the resubmission could take at least 18 months, and regulators indicated they wanted new research. The Indianapolis drugmaker came up with a new time frame after recent talks with the federal agency. Eli Lilly and Co. bought the potential drug from Incyte in 2009 and is leading the push to get it approved. Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory disease that affects the joints and destroys soft tissue, cartilage and bone.
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3976
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Zebra dies on northern Indiana farm in extreme cold.
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A sheriff says a zebra has died from the extreme cold at a northern Indiana farm.
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true
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Health, Indiana, Indianapolis, Animal health
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Carroll County Sheriff Tobe Leazenby says the zebra was found dead Wednesday morning at a farm outside Delphi, about 65 miles northwest of Indianapolis. He tells WLFI-TV that after consulting with a veterinarian from the State Board of Animal Health, investigators concluded the zebra’s back hooves became stuck in fencing outdoors, the animal panicked and inhaled enough cold air to cause its death He says a second zebra survived and has been moved. Leazenby says the farm had adequate shelter, food, and water for its animals, but his department is investigating the incident further. He says the farm also has kangaroos, but they’re inside a shelter. Temperatures across Indiana fell below zero Wednesday morning. ___ Information from: WLFI-TV, http://www.wlfi.com/
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8445
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Mourning a 'supermom': U.S. health worker casualties mount in virus fight.
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“Home soon,” Madhvi Aya texted from her hospital bed. “Love you.”
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true
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Health News
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It was the last exchange she had with her only daughter, 18-year-old Minnoli. Three days later, Madhvi Aya died of COVID-19. Aya, 61, was a physician assistant who had treated patients with the coronavirus. Then she became a patient herself. She was admitted to the Long Island Jewish Medical Center on March 18 after being infected and died 11 days later. Her family believes she contracted the respiratory illness at her workplace - the emergency room at Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn, New York. She told her husband and daughter that she had treated infected patients while wearing only a surgical mask, which offers little protection from airborne infection. Woodhull hospital declined to comment on Aya’s case or whether it had been able to provide its staff with enough protective gear amid widespread shortages nationally. Aya is among 51 U.S. healthcare workers identified by Reuters as having died after being diagnosed with or showing symptoms of the virus. They include nurses, doctors and technicians who have died in the United States after contracting the disease, according to interviews with hospitals, union representatives and families and a Reuters review of local media reports and obituaries. There’s no official tally of the deaths among U.S. healthcare workers, and the total could be much higher than the number counted by Reuters. Minnoli is a freshman at the State University of New York at Buffalo with hopes of becoming a trauma cardiothoracic surgeon. She continued texting her mother for days after her death. “I kept texting her wanting to believe it wasn’t true,” Minnoli said. “She deserved to live and see me graduate, and become a doctor, and get married and have kids.” Aya became a physician assistant because she was determined to create a good life for her daughter. The job entailed 12-hour shifts in the emergency room of her Brooklyn hospital. Since March 1, when the first coronavirus case was confirmed in New York, 28,183 people have tested positive in Brooklyn, and 1,869 people have died, accounting for more than 28% of New York City’s confirmed coronavirus deaths. More than 28,440 people in the United States have died from COVID-19 so far. Of the 51 deaths among healthcare workers identified by Reuters, at least 16 were in New York, one of the hardest-hit states. At least seven were in Michigan, six in Florida, and six in New Jersey. At least 27 were nurses. They include Patrick Cain, 52, an intensive care nurse in Flint, Michigan, originally from Canada. When he died, the hospital played “Oh Canada,” the national anthem, over the loudspeakers, according to another nurse at the hospital. “Everyone knew then,” the nurse said. His obituary in the Flint Journal describes him as a passionate nurse who always advocated for patients. “He tended to those in need who were exposed to the coronavirus, which eventually took his life,” his obituary reads. At least 10 of those who died were physicians or resident doctors. Florida doctor Alex Hsu’s daughter Dria described him as calm and reassuring, and said he made others feel heard and important. The 67-year old was the “epitome of self-sacrifice and selflessness,” Dria told Reuters. “He is our hero,” she said. Emergency medicine doctor Frank Gabrin, who worked at two New York area hospitals and died from COVID-19 last month, said he believed he contracted the virus while he was forced to reuse the same n-95 mask because of a shortage, according to his best friend Debra Lyons. “He said it was from having to wear the mask four shifts in a row,” Lyons said in a phone interview. “He got the kit the first night of his first shift, and he used the same kit for all four shifts, 12-hour shifts.” At least five of the deaths identified by Reuters were hospital technicians, and at least four were EMTs. The youngest deceased healthcare worker Reuters found was just 20: Valeria Viveros, a nursing assistant in Riverside, California. At least 15 people were in their sixties, and 12 in their fifties. If Madhvi Aya was anxious about treating coronavirus patients without the recommended N-95 respirator mask, she never expressed it, said her husband Raj, a retired accountant. She was an optimist who rarely called in sick or took a day off, Raj told Reuters. Aya, who immigrated with her husband from India in 1993, awoke at 4 a.m. and would kiss her daughter on the forehead before she left for work. Shifts in the emergency room were grueling. When Raj picked up his wife from work in the evening, she was usually quiet on the drive home. She would need to close her eyes for 15 minutes before they talked. “The emergency room is like a war zone,” Raj said. “Even though I was very close to her, she would never discuss it.” She developed a cough and fever in mid-March. Raj convinced her to call in sick on March 14 and took her to Woodhull Hospital to get a coronavirus test. At home, she soon needed Raj’s help to get dressed. She was too weak to get out of bed. Her fever persisted. On March 18, she asked Raj to take her to Long Island Jewish Medical Center, the hospital closest to their home in Floral Park, Long Island. He waited outside in the car, unable to enter because of the hospital’s no-visitor policy. She was admitted. She got the coronavirus test result from Woodhull the same day: positive. Minnoli returned home on March 20 after classes were moved online. She tried calling her mother for a week, but Aya was too weak to answer. “I’m still praying for you to come home safely to me. I need you Mommy,” Minnoli texted on March 25. “None of us can live without you. I believe in you, please fight back. You’re so strong mommy. I love so much more than you can imagine.” “Love you,” her mother wrote back. “Mom be back.” Raj called the hospital every day for updates. He learned that Aya was getting intravenous fluids and oxygen. As the days passed, she began having more trouble breathing. On March 28, the doctor treating Aya raised the possibility of intubation as a final attempt to raise her oxygen levels, Raj said. In her last texts to Raj on Saturday, she asked her husband to consult her brother, a doctor in India, on whether she should agree to being intubated. Raj read about intubation on the internet, contacted her family and consulted friends. They told him he needed to say yes, that intubation is a last resort. The medical team tried to intubate her on Sunday, March 29. But during the process of inserting the breathing tube, doctors discovered blood clots in her lungs, Raj said. They tried to remove them but they were unsuccessful. “Mr. Aya, we are sorry,” said the person who called from the hospital to tell him his wife had died. Aya’s death was reported earlier today by The New York Times. Woodhull Hospital spokeswoman Michelle Hernandez said Aya was one of three hospital staff members who had recently died, but she declined to say if the others had succumbed to COVID-19. Two weeks after Aya’s death, Minnoli sleeps downstairs in the living room to avoid her mother’s bedroom upstairs. She and Raj have lost the “supermom” who kept the family together, Minnoli said. They have also lost their health insurance and income. A friend has raised more then $46,000 for Raj and Minnoli through a GoFundMe campaign to cover their expenses. Several of Aya’s coworkers and friends have contributed. “Madhvi was more than just a colleague to me. She was a great friend and mentor,” one wrote on the campaign page. “I will always remember you,” said another. Each night in New York City, neighborhoods around hospitals cheer for healthcare workers to express gratitude for the risks they are taking to save lives. Minnoli watches videos of the applause on social media. “I can’t help but think, what about the ones who have fallen? What about the ones who are already dead?” Minnoli said. “She was a hero unnoticed.” (This story refiles to correct the job title “physician assistant”)
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4059
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Vermonter dies of rare complication of Lyme disease.
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The Vermont Health Department says tests have confirmed that a resident has died of a rare complication of Lyme disease.
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true
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Health, Vermont, Burlington, Lyme disease
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The state says it’s the first reported death from Lyme carditis in Vermont. Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine says while Lyme disease is increasingly common in Vermont, Lyme carditis is very rare. He says about 1 percent of all Lyme disease cases reported nationally to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention experience Lyme carditis. Levine says the rare condition happens when bacteria that cause Lyme disease gets into the tissues of the heart, where it can interfere with the movement of electrical signals between the heart’s chambers. Levine says while tick-borne diseases can cause serious illness, Lyme disease, including Lyme carditis, is treatable.
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12225
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The new tax will make soda sold in Chicago among the most expensive in the country.
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"The Illinois Policy Institute cites Cook County’s new sweetened drink tax as making soda sold in the city of Chicago ""among the most expensive in the country."" With Chicago already charging the nation’s highest sales tax of any major city plus a 3-percent soft drink tax, it’s almost certain that consumers in the city paid ""among"" the highest prices for soft drinks in the country even before the Aug. 2 arrival of the sweetened drink tax. But Chicago truly moved into a select group when its home county joined the seven other cities that have enacted or are poised to enact by-the-ounce taxes on sweetened soft drinks. With a nod to Captain Obvious, we raise a glass of flattened, left-out-in-the-open Coke in the direction of the Illinois Policy Institute."
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true
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Taxes, Illinois, Illinois Policy Institute,
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"On Aug. 2, Cook County became the largest government in the United States to charge a tax on sweetened drinks. The debut of the penny-an-ounce charge for drinks sweetened with sugar or non-caloric sweeteners wasn’t exactly smooth, nor was it particularly well received with the soft drink-consuming public. Customers who examined their receipts at some stores found they had been charged extra for flavored seltzer water -- which is not subject to the new tax -- while restaurant patrons discovered those ""free"" refills now cost one cent per ounce. Cook County sweetened beverage tax applies to free refills of lemonade. pic.twitter.com/PDztyTDIBl As soft drink consumers and sellers came to grips with the new charges, the libertarian Illinois Policy Institute – never a fan of any tax, and a particularly harsh critic of the tax habits of Cook County and Chicago – framed the drink tax in a consumer unfriendly light. ""The new tax will make soda sold in Chicago among the most expensive in the country,"" the institute said in a tweet and in the headline of an article on its website. That is a little like proclaiming the sun rises in the east, but given intense public interest in the soda tax we thought it was a worth a look anyway. Accompanying the institute’s tweets were graphics illustrating the various taxes that now will be paid by those purchasing sweetened drinks in Chicago. The new soda tax makes soda sold in #Chicago among the most expensive in the country https://t.co/2JYANKDrcs pic.twitter.com/KiUS5vzIYT The new soda tax makes soda sold in #Chicago among the most expensive in the country https://t.co/2JYANKDrcs pic.twitter.com/KiUS5vzIYT Chicago already charged a 3 percent soft drink sales tax, and that was on top of a 10.25 percent sales tax that includes state and local portions and is the highest of any major city in the United States. For a 12-pack of 12-ounce cans or bottles of any sweetened soft drink, regular or diet, the sweetened beverage tax adds another $1.44. Thus, a 12-pack priced at $4 costs $5.97 at the register. The new tax adds 67 cents to a two-liter bottle. If marked on the shelf at $2.49, the new tax means you’ll pay 40 percent more at checkout. That’s how it works in Chicago, where the total price figures to be slightly higher than in the rest of Cook County even though the soda tax applies in the suburbs as well. Does that make Chicago-bought soda ""among the most expensive in the country?"" The institute grants its statement a lot of leeway by using the word ""among."" Wherever the thirsty buy it, a Big Gulp is a Big Gulp is a Big Gulp. So the add-on cost of taxes is likely the prime factor behind any significant price differences. To date, the list of places embracing a soda tax is an extremely short one, hence Chicago’s (and Cook County’s) emergence as among the most expensive places to pop for a pop. As it stands today, Cook County is one of only eight U.S. locations to impose or plan to impose a per-ounce tax on sweetened drinks. The other seven are cities and, with a population of 5.2 million, Cook County is by far the largest jurisdiction to adopt such a tax. Issue-wise, this is right in the Illinois Policy Institute’s wheelhouse. It not only piles expense onto an extremely popular category of consumer products, but it also comes swathed in nanny state good intentions for the health of Cook County residents. By strange coincidence, this health concern arrives just as Cook County finds itself in desperate financial straits. (In another article, the institute claims Cook County can’t even get its nanny state act right, as federal rules prohibit applying the new tax to sweetened drinks purchased with food stamps. It notes that ""polling shows people with lower incomes are more likely to drink soda."") At one cent per ounce, Cook County is on the lower end of the soda tax scale. In Boulder, Colo., that two-liter soda will cost an extra $1.35 and a 12-pack will be $2.88 more. Cook County is also one of the three jurisdictions in which voters did not voluntarily adopt the tax by referendum. (Illinois has no provision for such referenda.) There have been many complaints that Cook County’s soda tax was sold to voters as an anti-obesity measure but also includes drinks containing non-caloric sweeteners. But the ordinance itself contains extensive language citing studies that link even diet drink consumption to kidney disease, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes and obesity. Cook County and the city of Philadelphia are the only places where drinks sweetened with non-caloric sweeteners also are subject to the tax. Thus, even among the eight places in the nation taxing or preparing to tax consumers by the ounce for sweetened soft drinks, Cook County’s measure reaches an especially broad swath of consumers. The Illinois Policy Institute cites Cook County’s new sweetened drink tax as making soda sold in the city of Chicago ""among the most expensive in the country."" With Chicago already charging the nation’s highest sales tax of any major city plus a 3-percent soft drink tax, it’s almost certain that consumers in the city paid ""among"" the highest prices for soft drinks in the country even before the Aug. 2 arrival of the sweetened drink tax. But Chicago truly moved into a select group when its home county joined the seven other cities that have enacted or are poised to enact by-the-ounce taxes on sweetened soft drinks. With a nod to Captain Obvious, we raise a glass of flattened, left-out-in-the-open Coke in the direction of the Illinois Policy Institute."
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10036
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Breakthrough Cancer Study: Change Lifestyle, Change Risk
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"Prostate cancer testing and treatment are controversial isses that are receiving increasing attention by the media. Surgery and radiation are the conventional treatments. While potentially life-saving in some cases they often have devastating effects on quality of life, leaving many men incontinent or impotent. Preventative steps or less invasive treatment options are desirable. This story presents the results of a small, pilot research study which suggests that a low-fat of diet and a healthy lifestyle can positively alter genes involved in prostate cancer. The study was conducted by Dr. Dean Ornish who is well-known for his work promoting very low-fat, vegetarian diets and exercise for prevention and treatment of heart disease. The story brings in results from other research studies showing a potentially beneficial role of a healthy lifestyle in reducing the risk of prostate cancer and the risk of disease progression. The reader is lead to believe that the study being covered showed these results, which is not the case. There are times when our ""star"" scores are misleading. In this case the star score is deceptively high for how we really feel about the story. That is why these summary comments are important. This piece may have addressed many of our criteria, but was lacking in balance, independent perspectives, details about the actual study results and details about the types of patients who might be candidates for this lifestyle intervention. Viewers may have been given a far too optimistic picture of an early pilot study. The anecdote of the man who was diagnosed with prostate cancer and whose most recent biopsy now shows no cancer is a terribly incomplete anecdote and viewers should not draw any conclusions based on his story. What was the stage and grade of his tumor when first diagnosed? Why didn’t the story state that biopsies sometimes miss finding cancer that is present? Thank goodness the man himself said, ""I’m not ready to say I’m cured of cancer."""
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true
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"It was not necessary for the story to itemize the costs of the lifestyle intervention. The major benefit of the research study being covered was the suggestion that hundreds of genes involved in prostate cancer can be changed by diet and lifestyle in a potentially beneficial way. This positive outcome was indicated in comments made by the correspondent and Dr. Dean Ornish, the principle researcher. Overall the story tended to overstate the benefits by focusing on their potential implications for the future prevention and treatment of prostate cancer. It is generally accepted that following the nutrition and lifestyle intervention being reported on, a low-fat diet, exercising, and reducing stress, improves health and does not harm it. The story does present the opposite side of the coin, that the diet is highly restrictive and tough to follow, at least in the beginning. It could have pointed out that a very low-fat diet, 10% of calories from fat, is significantly less that the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans which recommend between that 20% to 35% of calories come from fat. And the story could have pointed out that for people with pre-diabetes or diabetes, this is not the optimal diet to follow. The lead in to this story did not accurately summarize the findings of the research study it was covering. It correctly summarized the main outcome, that ""hundreds of genes [related to prostate cancer] were changed for the better."" It went too far in stating that this study showed that ""…reversing your chances of getting the disease, or even reversing its course once you have it."" While some other studies suggest that diet could decrease factors related to prostate cancer such as prostate-specific antigen (PSA), this was not examined or shown in the study being covered. This story could have included that last sentence of the abstract summarizing the research study: ""Larger clinical trials are warranted to confirm the results of this pilot study"". The story does not commite disease-mongering regarding prostate cancer. Most of the information included in this story came from Dr. Dean Ornish, the principal investigator. Only one, very brief, cautionary comment from an outside expert was included. This added little to the broader perspective of whether this is an important contribution to the science of prostate cancer treatment. The story did not provide enough independent perspective. This story makes brief mention of surgery and radiation as conventional treatment options. It did not expound upon the risks associated with the options but made a good point in noting that a low-tech, low-cost intervention such as diet and lifestyle factors could be a powerful alternative to conventional treatments. The story states that the lifestyle intervention, a low-fat, vegetarian diet, exercise, daily stress reduction activities, is described in a new book by Dr. Dean Ornish, the lead investigator on the diet and prostate cancer study. The book, entitled ""The Spectrum"", explains how both healthy people and those who have chronic illness can use the program. A healthy lifestyle is certainly not a ""breakthrough"" treatment for overall health, but the state-of-the-art techniques used to look at prostate cancer genes in response to diet is new. We can’t be sure if the story relied solely or largely on a news release."
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38613
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An open letter to Oxford students demanding that a statute of Oxford benefactor Cecil Rhodes be removed from campus has gone viral.
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Oxford Pushes Back Letter About Cecil Rhodes Statute
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unproven
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Education
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No author is listed for this open letter to Oxford University students demanding the removal of a Cecil Rhodes statute, and we haven’t been able to verify where it came from. The “Rhodes Must Fall” movement gained widespread publicity in early 2016. The Cecil Rhodes statute, which has sat outside a building at Oriel College for more than 100 years, represents racism and colonialism, student activists have argued. According to a Change.org petition started by supporters of the group: We find it deplorable that Oriel College continues to glorify an international criminal through its uncritical, deeply violent iconography. As long as the statue remains, Oriel College and Oxford University continue to tacitly identify with Rhodes’s values, and to maintain a toxic culture of domination and oppression. We believe that the colonialism, racism and patriarchy this statue is seeped in has no place in our university – which for many of us is also our home. The removal of this statue would be a welcome first step in the University’s attempt to redress the ways in which it has been an active beneficiary of empire. While it remains standing, the statue of Rhodes remains a celebration not just of the crimes of the man himself, but of the imperialist legacy on which Oxford University has thrived, and continues to thrive. While the statue remains standing, Oxford University continues to condone the persistent racism that shadows this institution. At issue is Cecil Rhodes’ legacy of British imperialism in South Africa, where he served as prime minister of Cape Colony and enforced racial segregation. Rhodes was intent on “painting the map red” (a term for British colonization) in Africa, and he even dreamed of reclaiming the American colonies for the British Empire, according to Encyclopedia Britannica. After his political career, Cecil Rhodes became the benefactor of the Rhodes Scholarships. Each year, 32 American students are selected as Rhodes Scholars for “their character, commitment to others and to the common good, and for their potential for leadership in whatever domains their careers may lead.” Oxford University Chancellor Chris Patten told student demonstrators in January that Nelson Mendela had endorse the Rhodes scholarships, and that those who were not prepared to embrace freedom of though should “think about being educated elsewhere,” The Guardian reports: In early February, Oxford University administrators announced that they would not remove the Rhodes statue from campus, despite concerns from student groups. After the Oxford Union backed a motion to remove the Cecil Rhodes statute on January 20th, it was later revealed that the statute would remain due to pressure from donors, the Telegraph reports: “I think that we are giving them [the students] the respect of listening to their views, even when we don’t agree with them,” he told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. “But if people at a university are not prepared to demonstrate the sort of generosity of spirit which Nelson Mandela showed towards Rhodes and towards history, if they are not prepared to embrace all those values which are contained in the most important book for any undergraduate, Karl Popper’s Open Society, if they are not prepared to embrace those issues then maybe they should think about being educated elsewhere. But I hope they will embrace those issues and engage in debate.” “That focus on Rhodes is unfortunate but it’s an example of what’s happening in American campuses and British campuses,” Patten said. “One of the points of a university – which is not to tolerate intolerance, to engage in free inquiry and debate – is being denied. People have to face up to facts in history which they don’t like and talk about them and debate them.” He added: “Can you imagine a university where there is no platform? I mean a bland diet of bran to feed people, it’s an absolutely terrible idea. If you want universities like that you go to China where they are not allowed to talk about western values, which I regard as glob.” By mid-February, administrators made clear that the Rhodes statute would not be removed. Around that same time, the “Oxford Pushes Back” letter to student demonstrators first surfaced on a discussion board called the Daily Gripe, on February 13th. Some of Patten’s quotes are included in the Oxford Pushes Back letter, but there’s no indication that he actually wrote it, or that it came from the university. In the end, there’s no way to tell who the original author was. Comments
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9639
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Facelift in a Bottle? 'Second Skin' Tightens Baggy Eyes, Protects Dry Skin
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Credit: Olivo Labs, LLC. NBC offers a story about a new product, developed in MIT labs, that can function as a “second skin.” The story touts the cream’s usefulness in addressing cosmetic problems like undereye bags and mentions other supposed attributes, including moisture retention, elasticity and esthetic appeal. The story included an independent source, which is important, especially given the source’s skeptical, cautious tone. But her comments don’t appear until the very end of the piece, and are buried under many paragraphs of promotional-sounding copy. The story also lacked sufficient detail about the experiments (a problem we also saw in our review of the New York Time story on the same research), and it didn’t acknowledge that some of the quotes in the story were lifted directly from the news release. A new product providing a non-surgical approach to solving an apparently unappealing cosmetic flaw–under eye bags–is sure to grab the attention of many readers.
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false
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cosmetics,dermatology,marketing,second skin,xpl
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The story offers no information on the cost of the would-be product, nor of how expensive the components of this new material is, even though the story emphasizes that the technology is being licensed for commercial applications. Even if it’s too soon to know the precise cost, a ballpark figure is useful. The story outlines the improvements arising from the use of this material, but no numerical data was offered. The story tells us that “Repeated daily wear resulted in no report of irritation or other adverse events resulting from the XPL use.” That’s at least a nod toward discussing potential harms, so we’ll consider this Satisfactory. But, we think the story would be stronger if it had been more specific about what “repeated” meant. We’re also wondering about things that could inevitably occur with regular use, like the product getting into the eyes. NBC’s story gives scant information about the human tests involved in this report, nor are we told just how preliminary the research is, which is made more clear in The New York Times story we reviewed. Given the tone of the piece–lots of medical language and interviews with researchers–and that it appeared in the NBC’s Health section, we feel this story disease-mongers a normal life event (aging). The story does include at least one independent source, although that perspective is buried at the bottom of the story, long after the many potential benefits of the technology have been extensively touted. As as to potential conflicts of interest, the story didn’t point out the researchers have equity interest in the companies, instead it said they had “close ties,” which warrants a Not Satisfactory rating. We’ll give a Satisfactory in this category since the story states that the problem of undereye bags–which the story seems to focus on–is normally addressed by surgery, and clearly a topical product is preferable to an invasive approach. Another obvious alternative, with no risks or costs, is leaving the normally aging skin alone, but that’s not discussed. Since the story mentions that the material has been licensed to two private companies, readers will assume that it’s not on the market yet but may be in the near future. It’s pretty clear that it is not available for public use yet. A cream that changes into a second skin that is somewhat protective, ostensibly harmless, and cosmetically appealing is clearly novel enough to garner public attention, so we’ll score this category as Satisfactory. The story used several quotes from the news release without acknowledging that. For example, this quote appeared in the story and in the news release: “It has to have the right optical properties, otherwise it won’t look good, and it has to have the right mechanical properties, otherwise it won’t have the right strength and it won’t perform correctly,” Langer said. As did this one: “Creating a material that behaves like skin is very difficult,” says Barbara Gilchrest, a dermatologist at MGH and an author of the paper. “Many people have tried to do this, and the materials that have been available up until this have not had the properties of being flexible, comfortable, nonirritating, and able to conform to the movement of the skin and return to its original shape.”
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37409
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A study determined that Americans pay four times as much for health care as Canadians under the latter population's single-payer healthcare coverage.
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Did a Study Find U.S. Healthcare Costs More Than Four Times as Much as Canadian Single-Payer?
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true
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Fact Checks, Viral Content
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"On January 8 2020, MSN.com aggregated a Los Angeles Times article, which reported that Americans pay four times as much per capita for health care than Canadians did under their country’s single-payer healthcare program:In the United States, a legion of administrative health care workers and health insurance employees who play no direct role in providing patient care costs every American man, woman and child an average of $2,497 per year.Across the border in Canada, where a single-payer system has been in place since 1962, the cost of administering health care is just $551 per person — less than a quarter as much.Several of the article’s talking points were excerpted in social media posts, and the first few sentences involved specific figures for the claims the piece made. The article held that American citizens on average spent $2,497 per person per year on the cost of healthcare overall. By contrast, Canadians purportedly paid less than a fourth of that for their single-payer coverage, averaging out to about $551 per Canadian, per year.Noting that a joint survey of the two countries between 2002 and 2003 the “found the overall health of Americans and Canadians to be roughly similar” for the costs borne, the article explained:It’s been decades since Canada transitioned from a U.S.-style system of private health care insurance to a government-run single-payer system. Canadians today do not gnash their teeth about co-payments or deductibles. They do not struggle to make sense of hospital bills. And they do not fear losing their health care coverage.Subsequently, it suggested that 17 percent of Canada’s total spending went to healthcare costs, a figure that jumped to 34 percent for the United States. That disparity was attributed in part to the costs of administration for private insurance companies (as well as salaries and bonuses):In the United States, twice as much — 34% — goes to the salaries, marketing budgets and computers of health care administrators in hospitals, nursing homes and private practices. It goes to executive pay packages which, for five major health care insurers, reach close to $20 million or more a year. And it goes to the rising profits demanded by shareholders.The reporting involved a cluster of hot-button 2020 election talking points, mainly calls to transition the United States to a universal or single-payer healthcare system (often called “Medicare For All, or M4A.”) But its source was not a political organization — the figures came from the journal Annals of Internal Medicine in January 2020:NEW: U.S. health care administration costs 4x more per capita than in Canada https://t.co/S6LhuVjDn8. pic.twitter.com/X2EV6sG4mT— Annals of Int Med (@AnnalsofIM) January 6, 2020On January 7 2020, Annals of Internal Medicine published a study, “Health Care Administrative Costs in the United States and Canada, 2017.” As indicated by the title, figures and metrics used in researchers’ calculations came from the year 2017, contrasted between the United States and Canada.in 2017 ""U.S. insurers and providers spent $812 billion on administration, amounting to $2497 per capita (34.2% of national health expenditures) versus $551 per capita (17.0%) in Canada"" https://t.co/GWuUwqFW93— ryan cooper (@ryanlcooper) January 7, 2020The study listed three authors: David U. Himmelstein, MD, Terry Campbell, MHA, and Steffie Woolhandler, MD, MPH. In a separate “Disclosures” section, Annals of Internal Medicine noted Himmelstein and Woolhandler advised political campaigns, but were not paid for that work. Additionally, Himmelstein disclosed membership in a physicians’ group supporting the adoption of single-payer healthcare:Dr. Himmelstein reports that he cofounded and remains active in the professional organization Physicians for a National Health Program. He has served as an unpaid policy advisor to Sen. Bernie Sanders and has coauthored research-related manuscripts with Sen. Elizabeth Warren. He received no remuneration for this work. Dr. Woolhandler reports that she cofounded and remains active in the professional organization Physicians for a National Health Program. She has served as an unpaid policy advisor to Sen. Bernie Sanders and has coauthored research-related manuscripts with Sen. Elizabeth Warren. She received no remuneration for this work. Authors not named here have disclosed no conflicts of interest.Full text for the study was not available to the general public, restricted solely for subscribers to that publication:Requesting [Article] Health Care Administrative Costs in the United States and Canada, 2017 from ScholarIn the days after its release, news organizations examined its findings and methodologies. TIME reported on some of the metrics used by the research authors in arriving at the per capita figures between the United States and Canada:Along with Himmelstein, co-authors Steffie Woolhandler and Terry Campbell examined administrative costs for insurance companies and government agencies that administer healthcare, as well as costs in four settings: hospitals, nursing homes, home care agencies and hospices and physician practices. For each category, the researchers determined which costs were administrative and conducted analyses to adjust comparisons between relative costs in the U.S. and Canada.Insurers’ overhead, the largest category, totaled $275.4 billion in the U.S. in 2017, or 7.9% of all national health expenditures, compared with $5.36 billion in Canada, or 2.8% of national health expenditures. The American number included $45 billion in government spending to administer health care programs and $229.5 billion in private insurers’ overhead and profits, which covers employer plans and managed care plans funded by Medicare and Medicaid.This insurance overhead accounted for most of the total increase in administrative spending in the U.S. since 1999, according to the study.That reporting pointed to previous research, which also examined ways to reduce costs under the current American private insurance system. Himmelstein asserted that a “magnitude of savings” could, in his opinion, only be realized in a single-payer system like the Canadian one:Himmelstein says his study shows that a public option that preserves private insurance wouldn’t provide the same savings as a traditional single-payer system. “We could streamline the bureaucracy to some extent with other approaches, but you can’t get nearly the magnitude of savings that we could get with a single payer,” Himmelstein says, adding, “If the Medicare public option includes the Medicare Advantage plans, it’s actually conceivable that the public option would increase the bureaucratic costs.”Moreover, Himmelstein described the cost estimates for the United States in 2017 were likely “conservative,” meaning he believed the actual numbers were higher. That disparity hinged on portions of the figures based on physicians’ estimates of office hours expended interacting with insurance companies and their employees:Himmelstein says his team’s estimates of total U.S. administrative costs in the Annals study are likely conservative. When estimating physicians’ administrative costs, the researchers relied on a 2011 study of time spent by physicians and their staffs interacting with insurers. And he notes that while 2017 data was often the latest available when they were conducting this study, 2018 health spending numbers have since come out showing further increases in insurance overhead.Those blind spots were identified in a “Limitations” portion of the study’s abstract, along with other areas not covered by the research:Estimates exclude dentists, pharmacies, and some other providers; accounting categories for the 2 countries differ somewhat; and methodological changes probably resulted in an underestimate of administrative cost growth since 1999.Under the “Results” section of the abstract, Himmelstein et al reported the same figures used in the Los Angeles Times report and others:U.S. insurers and providers spent $812 billion on administration, amounting to $2497 per capita (34.2% of national health expenditures) versus $551 per capita (17.0%) in Canada: $844 versus $146 on insurers’ overhead; $933 versus $196 for hospital administration; $255 versus $123 for nursing home, home care, and hospice administration; and $465 versus $87 for physicians’ insurance-related costs. Of the 3.2–percentage point increase in administration’s share of U.S. health expenditures since 1999, 2.4 percentage points was due to growth in private insurers’ overhead, mostly because of high overhead in their Medicare and Medicaid managed-care plans.In the abstract’s “Conclusions” tab, Himmelstein et al maintained Americans remained in the dark about the costs of insurance companies due to “a hidden surcharge” tacked on to many of their bills:The gap in health administrative spending between the United States and Canada is large and widening, and it apparently reflects the inefficiencies of the U.S. private insurance–based, multipayer system. The prices that U.S. medical providers charge incorporate a hidden surcharge to cover their costly administrative burden.We located a PDF version of the 2017 study in its entirety. That complete version began with background about Canada’s healthcare system versus that of the United States, and how they became so radically different:Around the same time [57 years prior), Canada and the United States embarked on a different experiment. Before the 1960s, the 2 nations had similar health care systems. Subsequently, Canada’s provinces implemented single payer programs that displaced private insurers, whereas the United States added new public coverage for seniors (Medicare) and some of the poor population (Medicaid), while leaving private insurers in place.Authors also described their methodology at the start:We sought data on administrative costs in insurance firms and government agencies that administer health care payment and in 4 clinical settings: hospitals, nursing homes, home care agencies and hospices, and physicians’ practices. Data are for 2017, or the most recent available year.For providers, we estimated administrative expenditures nationally by multiplying nationwide spending for each provider type by the percentage of revenues devoted to administration by such providers. Per capita estimates use population denominators from the U.SIn the body of the study, the respective per capita cost figures appeared with a longer explanation regarding their calculations:Health care administrative costs in the United States in 2017 totaled $812.0 billion, $2497 per capita ($2696 per insured person), or 34.2% of total spending in the categories for which data are available. The comparable estimates for Canada are $551 per capita ($593, assuming U.S. wage rates in doctors’ offices), or 17.0% of expenditures. The difference amounts to over $1900 per capita (or over $2100 per insured person), equivalent to more than $600 billion in excess administrative spending in the United States.In an expanded “Discussion” section, Himmelstein et al reiterated:Administration accounts for one third of United States health care expenditures, twice the amount in Canada. The gap in dollars per capita is even larger: a greater than 4-fold disparity.In the lead-up to elections in the United Kingdom in late 2019, JOE.co.uk produced a video titled “British people guess how much U.S. healthcare costs.” That clip rapidly reached more than 25 million Facebook users, and featured “man on the street” style interviews with British people attempting to guess the cost of commonplace healthcare procedures and services in the United States. (People also created “Americans reacting to British people reacting …” videos. )A description for the video read:Ambulance callout? $2,500. Childbirth? $30,000.This is what you’d be paying for healthcare if you lived in the USA. Our NHS is not for sale.Invariably, those interviewed were shocked at the price tag of services in the United States for things like breaking a bone, having a baby, or being transported in an ambulance:Perhaps inevitably, commenters from the England, Australia, and the United States weighed in about their experiences with their respective countries’ healthcare administration systems. One commenter from the United States addressed the cited $30,000 cost of having a baby in that country:30k is cheap!! The hospital charges for me and my daughter (complicated delivery, nearly a week in the hospital due to pre-[eclampsia], and baby was in NICU) were 100k!!!! Thankfully my insurance covered it after we paid about 2k. The hospital continues to send me bills saying they are owed even more, despite my insurer paying them.The US healthcare system is a disaster. Don’t let anyone convince you it’s somehow “better”.Another American and self-identified political conservative responded:I’m a very conservative American, and I love capitalism and our freedoms more than anything……BUT………our healthcare/insurance systems are a complete farse.My fiancée has type 1 diabetes, and we can barely afford her insulin and supplies. An insulin pump is $6k after insurance. Have to be on a 5 yr payment. It’s like having a car note just for the pump. And insurance will only approve of one from Medtronic, no other company.I love capitalism. Capitalism isn’t the problem though. It’s the lobbyists and back room deals, kickbacks, and price gouging by big pharma that’s killing us.This has been a problem here for 40+ years. It didn’t just happen overnight, and it didn’t happen bc of Trump or Obama, but it IS getting worse.Allowing pharma to run ads on tv and in print for new meds encourages a lot of our issues too.But our insurance companies and big pharma are the biggest culprits, bc they’ve run amuck with raping the poor.The cure for polio was sold for $1. If it happened now, it would be $50k per shot.I believe in capitalism, but not in medicine.Articles claimed that a study had found that Americans paid more than four times as much money for healthcare services and products per capita than their Canadian counterparts with single-payer coverage. That claim was true; the figures were derived from research published on January 7 2020 in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. Authors of the study disclosed their involvement in political consulting (albeit unpaid) and single-payer supporting organizations in healthcare. Nevertheless, their work was reviewed and published in a medical journal."
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3102
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Mississippi 15-week abortion ban is blocked by appeals court.
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A federal appeals court declared Friday that Mississippi’s ban on abortion at 15 weeks is unconstitutional, dealing a blow to those seeking to overturn the landmark Supreme Courtruling that legalized abortion nationwide.
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true
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Mississippi, Health, General News, Abortion, U.S. Supreme Court, Courts, U.S. News
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The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves ruled correctly when he blocked the Mississippi law from taking effect in 2018. With the addition of conservative justices to the U.S. Supreme Court in recent years, several states have been enacting laws aimed at spurring court challenges that could eventually seek to overturn the court’s 1973 abortion rights ruling in Roe v. Wade. “In an unbroken line dating to Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court’s abortion cases have established (and affirmed, and re-affirmed) a woman’s right to choose an abortion before viability,” the appeals court judges wrote. “States may regulate abortion procedures prior to viability so long as they do not impose an undue burden on the woman’s right but they may not ban abortions.” The only abortion clinic in Mississippi sued the state after Republican Gov. Phil Bryant signed the law. The clinic said it provides abortions until 16 weeks. Mississippi legislators came back in 2019 and passed a more restrictive law to ban most abortions at about six weeks. The same federal district judge blocked that, too, and a legal fight over it continues. The 5th Circuit based in New Orleans handles cases from Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. It is generally considered one of the most conservative federal appellate courts. Attorneys representing the state of Mississippi had argued that the 15-week law was a regulation but not a ban, and that states are allowed to regulate abortion. A central question in the case is about viability — whether a fetus can survive outside the woman at 15 weeks. The clinic presented evidence that viability is impossible at 15 weeks, and the appeals court said that the state “conceded that it had identified no medical evidence that a fetus would be viable at 15 weeks.” “If the Act is a regulation, then the State’s interests should have been considered,” the appeals court wrote. “Prohibitions on pre-viability abortions, however, are unconstitutional regardless of the State’s interests because ‘a State may not prohibit any woman from making the ultimate decision to terminate her pregnancy before viability.’” The appeals court was quoting a U.S. Supreme Court ruling about the “ultimate decision” to terminate a pregnancy. When Reeves ruled in November 2018 that the Mississippi law is unconstitutional, he wrote that the “established medical consensus” is that viability typically begins at 23 to 24 weeks after the pregnant woman’s last menstrual period. The Mississippi law would allow exceptions to the 15-week ban in cases of medical emergency or severe fetal abnormality. Doctors found in violation of the ban would face mandatory suspension or revocation of their medical license. Reeves’ ruling on the Mississippi law put a similar law in Louisiana on hold. The 15-week abortion ban signed by Louisiana Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards in 2018 included a provision that the law would take effect only if a federal court upholds Mississippi’s 15-week ban. ____ Follow Emily Wagster Pettus on Twitter: http://twitter.com/EWagsterPettus
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10359
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Drug doubles endurance, study says
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On the surface, this story appears to be reporting some medical research news. However, it does so in a manner that is not critical about the information being presented nor mindful about balance. There is an important difference between the results from a few research studies in animals and and demonstration of efficacy in people. The story would have been strengthened by providing more sources with healthy skepticism to balance the overwhelming enthusiasm from other sources, several of whom had ties to the drug companies promoting the substance. It is true that recent published work about reservatrol demonstrates beneficial effects in mice and the story presented these well. But the story did not go on to question any of the researchers' claims in a critical fashion. Good outcomes in mice do not necessarily lead to good outcomes in people. The fact that scientists who have a financial interest in a compound report that they ingest the material does not provide any insight about evidence of benefit in people. Another probelm with the story was that the interpretation of the results observed was included without question. One example is the observation that the mice fed high levels of reservatrol had increased numbers of mitrochondria, which was presented as a benefit. However, in the process of energy generation by mitochondria, the release of free radicals occurs. Unchecked, free radicals can damage biologically important molecules that can affect function of those molecules and can result in disease processes (e.g. damage of DNA by free radicals is postulated to lead to mutations leading to cancer). This possible downside to reservatrol consumption might take several years to be observed. This story did little to present the information about reservatrol in a context for readers to understand what the hype is about, what the quality of evidence might be, and what sorts of studies need to be done in order to determine whether this compound will live up to its potential.
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false
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"There was no estimate of costs for any reservatrol product – real or imagined. However, the web site of the company mentioned as selling reservatrol, states that a 30 day supply (which is actually much less reservatrol than was fed to the mice in the study) is $34.95. The opening statement of the story, discussing 100% improvement in performance takes results observed in a single study of mice and extrapolates to humans. Later in the story, there is mention of a 30% increase in lifespan in mice, though these results are again from a study of a single strain of mice. (Strains of mice are genetically identical individuals and therefore results observed in a single strain need confirmation in several strains before it can be concluded that the results are generalizable to the entire species.) Mention of a genetic analysis of different forms (alleles) of a human gene and energy expenditure was based on a very small study and in itself should not be seen to imply that the mechanism in mice and humans was the same as stated in the story. The story stated that there were uncertainties about the safety of reservatrol in humans. In fact, to date, no clinical trials with this compound have been completed. At this time, a single trial looking at safety in colon cancer patients is recruiting subjects. The story should have emphasized the need for safety testing humans before any claims can be made. With some nutrients, such as Vitamin A, we know that small doses provide benefit, while large doses can be harmful. The story would have been strengthened by providing more sources with healthy skeptism to balance the overwhelming enthusiasm from other sources, many of whom had ties to the drug companies promoting the substance. The story did include a caution that nothing is currently known about how much reservatrol a human can ingest nor what the effective dose of reservatrol might be. But the evidence from mouse studies was presented without an appropriate admonition that the benefits seen in mice need to be tested in other mammalian species and even then, it is not conclusive that the results are applicable to humans. The story minimizes the complexities of ""metabolism"", whether mice or human metabolism, and it is over-simplification to suggest that investigators understand the pathophysiology. The overenthusiastic tone of the story is unwarranted based on the limited available evidence to support the claims. One expert quote is laughable: “The fact that investigators in the field are taking it is a good sign there is something there.” The story portrays aging as a disease that could be treated with a pill. While the story quoted several scientists not directly associated with the particular studies or companies mentioned, there was no balance to the perspectives represented. The story would have been greatly imporved if it had included some serious comment about the ramifcations of the scientific observations reported. This story did not provide information about other ways for a person to attain the benefits mentioned for reservatrol such as protection from weight gain, increased longevity, or avoiding degenerative disease. The story did not mention that reservatrol is not a substance approved by the FDA. It mentioned an available capsule product but then mentioned that this product's volume of resveratrol ""would have to be gulped in almost impossible quantities for a human to obtain doses equivalent to those used in mice."" So the true availability issue was unresolved. This story reported on the results of some new scientific studies on the effects of reservatrol. Does not appear to rely on a press release."
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Connecticut reports 1st death from vaping-related illness.
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Connecticut health officials are reporting the state’s first death associated with lung injuries related to vaping.
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true
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Ned Lamont, General News, Injuries, Connecticut, Vaping, Public health
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The state Department of Public Health said Thursday that the patient in their 30s died last week while hospitalized for multiple medical conditions. Commissioner Renee Coleman-Mitchell said she is asking Connecticut residents not to use e-cigarettes or vaping products. Nationwide there have been 1,080 confirmed and probable cases of injuries related to electronic cigarettes and other vaping devices, including more than a dozen deaths. Many of the reports involve severe, life-threatening illnesses in previously healthy people. In Connecticut, a total of 25 cases have been reported. Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont says the state is developing a “comprehensive, effective response” with state agencies. His administration plans to discuss the issue Friday with neighboring state officials.
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23211
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One man (New Castle, Del., County Executive, Chris Coons) thought property taxes should be hiked almost 50 percent.
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Christine O'Donnell ad accuses Chris Coons of proposing property tax hikes totaling 50 percent
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true
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National, Message Machine 2010, Taxes, Christine O'Donnell,
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"The latest ad from Republican Christine O'Donnell is set up like a trailer for a horror or an action movie, complete with a deep-throated voice-over heightening the suspense. The bad guy of this ""movie""? ""The Taxman,"" aka O'Donnell's opponent in the Delaware Senate race, Democrat Chris Coons. ""In America ... "" the voice-over begins as tension-building music swells in the background, ""where jobs are being lost and wages cut. In Delaware, where the economy is suffering and families are losing their homes, there is one man who stood against the tide and raised taxes. ""One man who thought a 911 call should be taxed...One man thought property taxes should be hiked almost 50 percent ... One man who was county executive and drove New Castle County on the brink of bankruptcy."" "" ... Chris Coons is The Taxman."" We're checking a couple claims in this ad, and in this item, we'll focus on the part, ""One man who thought property taxes should be hiked almost 50 percent."" Coons was elected County Executive of New Castle County, Del., in 2004 and has served in that position ever since. Records show that three times -- in 2006, 2007 and 2009 -- Coons proposed property tax increases. We'll go through each in order. * In 2006, Coons proposed a 5 percent property tax increase in his 2007 fiscal year budget, raising the average annual tax bill by $16 to $342. Coons' proposal called for a $230 million operating budget, a 7 percent increase over the previous year's spending. The County Council voted 12-1 for the budget and then voted 9-4 to set the higher tax rate. At the time, Coons said the increase was the first of several small tax hikes needed to help close the gap between spending and revenue, according to a story in the News Journal in Wilmington on May 24, 2006. * In 2007, Coons proposed a 17.5 percent increase in property taxes, upping the average annual bill by $60 to $402. Coons' budget also included $14 million in spending cuts, achieved through a variety of measures including the elimination of 61 vacant positions, elimination of non-emergency overtime, a pay freeze for 55 executive-branch employees and a greatly reduced long-term budget for capital projects. The $228 million budget -- $2 million less than the previous year -- was the first negative-growth budget in a decade. ""We have made in this budget all the cuts I think we can stand,"" Coons said at the time. Coons again said the tax increase was needed to help get the county's deficit under control. For several year, the county had been spending down cash reserves. The News Journal noted then that one of the biggest challenges to the budget was a sharp decline in real-estate transfer taxes revenues -- the county's second-largest source of income -- due to a downturn in the housing market. The Council voted 8-5 for the budget and tax rate. * In 2009, Coons unveiled a budget that proposed a 25 percent property tax increase, raising the average tax bill by $100, to about $501. The $228 million budget and tax hike -- approved by Council 8-5 -- also reduced spending by $29 million, the second biggest budget reduction in county history, according to the News Journal. The spending cuts were achieved, in part, by a 5 percent salary rollback for the majority of the county's nearly 1,500 employees; the elimination of 97 unfilled jobs, and the layoff of nine paramedics-in-training. According to March 18, 2009, story in the News Journal, ""The overall budget reflects the impact of the recession, particularly in housing. The county has depended heavily for years on a share of the statewide real estate transfer tax to balance its budget. Revenues from that tax have plummeted as home sales swooned."" Coons explained the rationale for the budget this way: ""Rather than taking an extreme approach that either slashes the county work force or that dramatically raises taxes beyond what our community can fairly bear, I am taking a balanced middle course,"" he said. ""One that asks for shared sacrifice from all who deliver our county services and all who benefit from them."" There was no proposed property tax increase for next year's budget. But the three property tax hikes proposed by Coons, and approved by Council, resulted in a net increase of 54 percent. During a debate last month, Coons defended the tax increases, saying that without them he would have been forced to lay off police and close parks and libraries. The recession wreaked havoc with county budgets around the country, and you can agree or disagree with the way Coons proposed to handle things in New Castle County. But the fact is, as County Executive, Coons did propose almost 50 percent worth of property tax increases. He also cut spending during the years with the biggest tax hikes (though overall, the operating budget has gone from $214.5 million in 2006 to $235.5 million in the 2011 budget proposal). Our only beef with the claim in the O'Donnell ad is the whole ""one man"" theme. ""One man who stood against the tide and raised taxes,"" the ad says. "" ... One man thought property taxes should be hiked almost 50 percent."" In fact, all of Coons' budget proposals were approved by a majority of the County Council. And so we knock the ad's claim down to a ."
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28634
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HR 1313 would allow employers to force workers to disclose their genetic information
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"What's true: H.R. 1313 would allow employers to offer substantial health insurance premium rebates to workers who take part in company wellness programs that may include submitting to ""health risk assessments"" including genetic screening (and thus charge more for insurance to employees who decline to take part). What's false: HR 1313 does not allow employers to force all their workers to submit to genetic testing."
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mixture
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Uncategorized, American Society of Human Genetics, Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act, House Committee on Education and and the Workforce
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On 8 March 2017, the House Committee on Education and and the Workforce moved forward with a bill that has been criticized by both geneticists and disability advocates for allegedly placing the privacy of workers’ genetic records at risk. H.R. 1313 states that employers may provide additional insurance premium discounts to workers who take part in their companies’ voluntary wellness programs. Once enrolled, the bill says, businesses are allowed to collect “information about the manifested disease or disorder of a family member” of participating employees. The bill, which was sponsored by committee chair Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), does not in and of itself require employees to enroll in such programs. But it notes that according to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, employers could reduce annual health insurance premiums by up to 50 percent for employees who did take part. A spokesperson for the committee told us via e-mail that such programs would continue to be voluntary if the bill became law: If a worker chooses to voluntarily participate in an employee wellness program, they would then typically participate in a health risk assessment. This has long been the case for employee wellness programs, including employee wellness programs promoted by the Affordable Care Act, and it would continue to be true for employee wellness programs under H.R. 1313. A May 2016 ruling by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) stated that premiums could be cut by 30 percent for individuals and 60 percent for couples who enrolled in such programs. But under the new bill, premiums could be cut by up to 50 percent. The EEOC has also sued employers accused of imposing penalties on workers who refused to join their wellness programs. The American Society of Human Genetics criticized the bill, saying that it would “fundamentally undermine” the privacy protections covered by the the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA): A key component of ADA and GINA is that they prevent workers and their families from being coerced into sharing sensitive medical or genetic information with their employer. For GINA, genetic information encompasses not only employees’ genetic test results but also their family medical histories. H.R.1313 would effectively repeal these protections by allowing employers to ask employees invasive questions about their and their families’ health, including genetic tests they, their spouses, and their children may have undergone. GINA’s requirement that employees’ genetic information collected through a workplace wellness program only be shared with health care professionals would no longer apply. National Council on Disability chair Clyde Terry said in a letter to Foxx and the committee’s ranking member, Rep. Robert C. Scott (D-VA) that the increase in potential premium cuts for employees in their workplace programs “opens the door to discrimination by employers.” Terry wrote: NCD had urged the EEOC to promulgate that regulation and was appreciative of the agency’s attempt to allow employers to carry out effective wellness programs while limiting the potential for coercion that could lead employees to submit to medical examinations and inquiries regarding information that they otherwise would have preferred to keep confidential. The reward permitted under this legislation seem to tip that delicate balance. The GINA bill, which was passed in 2008, also prohibits employers from using genetic information as the basis for hiring, terminating, or promoting their employees. But both that measure and the ADA contain exceptions for wellness programs. Vendors operating the programs are often not required to follow the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which restricts the information doctors and hospitals can share regarding their patients. In a statement supporting the bill, GOP Rep. Bradley Byrne of Alabama accused the EEOC of trying to “undermine” efforts to lower health care costs through the use of wellness programs: These plans are not only effective, but they are also popular and widely supported by employers and employees. A recent survey showed more than 60 percent of all employers offer their employees the option of enrolling in a wellness program. And this free-market health care solution has long received bipartisan support from Congress. A 2015 study found that 81 percent of U.S. companies with more than 200 employees offer wellness programs, while 49 percent of companies with smaller workforces do the same. The bill has been forwarded to the House Ways and Means Committee.
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8851
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Mutant gene linked to most severe type of TB.
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People who carry a mutant gene can develop potentially fatal meningitis if they get infected with the drug resistant Beijing strain of tuberculosis, a study in Vietnam has found.
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true
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Science News
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File photo shows a doctor examining an x-ray of a tuberculosis patient at the Beijing Tuberculosis Hospital March 18, 1999. REUTERS/Andrew Wong Tuberculous meningitis is the most severe form of the disease in which the infection spreads to membranes enveloping the brain and the spinal cord. One in three people who develop TB meningitis dies, even if he or she gets hospital treatment. The study published in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens (here), found people most likely to develop TB meningitis were those who carried a variant of the TLR2 gene and who get infected with the Beijing TB strain, prevalent in Asia and the former Soviet states. Previous studies have linked TLR2 to the immune system and it seems to be important for recognizing and initiating a defensive response to the TB bacteria. The researchers took bacteria samples from 187 patients who suffered tuberculous meningitis and 236 other patients who suffered the more common pulmonary tuberculosis. Most of the patients then had their genes analyzed to see if they carried the TLR2 variant. “Together, these results suggest that the association of the (variant gene) with tuberculous meningitis is strongest among those infected with the Beijing lineage,” the scientists wrote. The “Beijing” family of TB strains is prevalent in Asia and former Soviet states. It has become more drug resistant in recent years and has been responsible for outbreaks of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis in the United States. More than one-third of the world’s population is infected with TB and the infection rate is one every second. However, only one in 10 infected persons will develop symptoms and that usually happens when their immune systems are weak. Left untreated, TB kills half its victims. The disease kills over 2 million people each year. One of the researchers, Maxine Caws at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Vietnam, said the latest finding was a reason to develop more sophisticated and targeted treatments and vaccines. “This is particularly important in this era of emerging ‘untreatable’ bacteria infections due to antibiotic resistance,” Caws wrote.
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10223
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China: Tests Find Bird Flu Vaccine Safe
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While this article did contain a cautionary note that the vaccine reported upon would ‘face more tests before it could be approved for human use’ the focus of the article is that the Chinese have developed a vaccine to protect individuals at high risk of contracting H5N1. It is not clear why the Chinese announcement has generated such enthusiasm. A trial of a H5N1 vaccine was completed in the US (45 subjects) demonstrating the safety of the product. The optimal dose for peak immune response was also preliminarily identified. Recruitment is ongoing for a Phase 3 trial of the product. This information is readily available at http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/news/newsreleases/2005/H5N1QandA.htm. Although it is possible that additional testing will find that the vaccine reported might be both safe and effective protection against H5N1 infection, without the data indicating both of these to be true, the entire article is mere speculation. It does not provide any information about this flu strain or vaccine development that is helpful to the reader and only serves to fuel the fire of concern about the possibility of global pandemic without providing any context for evaluating the potential of occurence. Bird flu needs to be put into context . There have been about 200 people known to be infected and about 100 deaths worldwide. Although this 50% mortality rate has been quoted, it is unclear if this is the case. It is very likely that a small minority of cases of bird flu have actually been identiifed. It is very likely that hundreds if not thousands of people have been infected, become ill and recovered. Bird flu has the potential for mutating just like any other influenza virus. If it does and can be spread from human to human we will have a problem. So it is something for health authorities to be concerned about and a vaccine is important. But,for perspective, last year standard influenza hospitalized about 200,000 people and killed over 36,000 people in the US according to the CDC. This article does not provide information that serves the reader well.
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false
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There was no cost estimate mentioned in the article for the vaccine, the number of doses that would be needed to establish immunity, nor the length of time from vaccination that an individual would be expected to be protected. The article mentioned that “any vaccine would face more tests before it could be approved for human use” but made it sound like the vaccine reported on was ready for use. While the title of the article “Test finds bird flu vaccine safe” suggests that the appropriate testing necessary for this conclusion have been conducted, the vaccine discussed in the article was tested in only 6 individuals as opposed to the 20-30 individuals typically involved in a phase I clinical trial. The next step would be to establish whether the vaccine actually was protective against infection with H5N1, a phase II clinical trial, which typically involves 100 – 300 people. With a vaccine given to 6 people, it is not possible to evaluate the potential for benefit from treatment. As only 6 individuals were given the vaccine, it is not possible to know much about the potential harms it may cause. Typically a phase III clinical trial, which will involve 1,000 – 3,000 individuals, will be conducted to determine the relative frequency with which side effects occur. Being inoculated with an ineffective vaccine would give those vaccinated a false sense of security. It is likely that the vaccine will have side effects and will cause significant harm to people. How much harm and to how many people is unclear at the moment. No drug is completely safe. To suggest that safety is assured based on testing in six healthy controls is ridiculous. While mentioning that the new vaccine proved initially safe and effective, the vaccine has been tested in only 6 individuals which is hardly convincing. It is unclear whether the individuals inoculated were subsequently placed in contact with the H5N1 virus. From the evidence presented, it is not possible to evaluate whether the vaccine is actually safe or whether it is really protective against infection against the virus. It is therefore not possible to judge either its safety nor its effectiveness. The headline is totally misleading. Mention of the potential for H5N1 to mutate, possibly resulting in a global pandemic is disease mongering in this context. There was no discussion about the likelihood of the sort of mutation necessary to enhance its magnitude of infectivity to this extent. Bird flu needs to be put into context . There have been about 200 people known to be infected and about 100 deaths worldwide. Although this 50% mortality rate has been quoted, it is unclear if this is the case. It is very likely that a small minority of cases of bird flu have actually been identiifed. It is very likely that hundreds if not thousands of people have been infected, become ill and recovered. Bird flu has the potential for mutating just like any other influenza virus. If it does and can be spread from human to human we will have a problem. So it is something for health authorities to be concerned about and a vaccine is important. But, for perspective, last year standard influenza hospitalized about 200,000 people and killed over 36,000 people in the US according to the CDC. Although ‘researchers’ are quoted as saying the vaccine is safe and effective, as there were only 6 people inoculated and no mention of the protocol, it is unclear how this conclusion was drawn. The article provides the reader with absolutely no information about the trial, the exact strain of the virus used in vaccine development, how long the subjects were followed, the dose of vaccine etc. The relation between the un-named ‘researchers’ and the individuals conducting the study is not known. There were no comments from other scientists experienced in this area. There was no mention of protective measures to be taken to avoid exposure to H5N1 or of antiviral drugs that may diminish the severity of infection. The vaccine reported on was said to be intended for individuals in high risk groups. While the article mentioned that the Chinese government was ready to start mass production, there was no estimate for when the vaccine would be ready, even for the limited target population. Mention of the current clinical trials underway by the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease was a bit confusing as none of the clinical trials in the U.S. make use of the vaccine developed in China. This article is about a vaccine developed in China for use against the H5N1 strain of bird flu. The development of a vaccine against H5N1 is not unique to this group; that there are several firms and national laboratories around the world which have developed such vaccines and are currently testing them was not mentioned. It’s a major oversight that the story didn’t mention that NIH sponsored trials are now enrolling subjects for Phase 3 testing. No obvious use of information from sources other than a press release is present, though it is not possible to establish that this article relied on a press release for its content.
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4531
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Changes expected for Tennessee Medicaid block grant proposal.
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Changes are coming to Tennessee’s proposal to become the first state to receive funding in a lump sum for its Medicaid program, TennCare, health officials said Thursday.
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true
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Health care reform, General News, Tennessee, Medicaid
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TennCare Director Gabe Roberts told state lawmakers that the proposal will be amended to say changes won’t be made to the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic and Treatment benefit for children under 21. He said another change will say the plan won’t limit off-label drugs for pediatric patients. Roberts said TennCare wasn’t planning to change either, but wants to provide clarification. The edits come as TennCare sorts through written and verbal public comments on the $7.9 billion block grant proposal. Gov. Bill Lee’s administration released the proposal last month under a new state law calling for a block grant plan, which Trump has encouraged states to submit. The agency drew a slew of concerns during five public hearings on the issue about whether the proposal could compromise care for the most vulnerable citizens. More changes are expected based on the feedback, Roberts said. At the first hearing , for instance, one speaker pointed out that concerns in the room came from many quarters including trade associations, disability groups, specialty and primary care groups, physicians, pediatricians, senior citizens, charitable clinics, mental health and addiction experts, parents and others. During Thursday’s state House committee meeting, TennCare heard from groups that represent doctors, hospitals, people with disabilities and the pharmaceutical industry, with each still concerned about the proposal. Each group, for instance, worried about one proposed change that could limit some prescriptions for those on TennCare to one drug covered per therapeutic class. The pharmaceutical representative even contended that the idea would violate an agreement under a Medicaid rebate law. “A closed formulary would severely restrict a physician’s ability to prescribe the most effective medicine for a patient and could lead to more costly treatments, such as emergency department visits, hospitalizations and added procedures,” said Jack Fosbinder, state counsel for Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. TennCare has sought to assure that TennCare patients wouldn’t be at risk of losing benefits or being taken off eligibility rolls. The waiver proposal said the only new flexibilities sought in eligibility or benefits would be “common-sense measures consistent with the larger block grant framework of improving program efficiency, and which are intended to make the TennCare program stronger and more effective.” Lee has touted it as a chance to be innovative and demonstrate efficiencies in delivering the same services. “We’ve written it in the waiver and we’ve said it repeatedly and the governor has too: this model is not contingent upon any types of cuts to service or cuts to eligibility,” Roberts told reporters. Tennessee must file the proposal with federal officials by Nov. 20. If federal approval is granted, state lawmakers would get to vote on the final product. The block grant would cover core medical services for the disabled and blind, children, adults and elderly — or about 1.2 million Tennesseans. This means administrative costs, prescription drugs, uncompensated hospital payments and individuals dually eligible for Medicaid and Medicare would not be part of the block grant plan, which would cover a much smaller segment of TennCare. The federal government would increase Tennessee’s block grant funding if enrollment grows beyond the original calculation. Roberts, the TennCare director, has described the plan as a “hybrid” approach to block grants because the state has designed its proposal to allow Tennessee to keep 50% of any unspent block grant funds.
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26914
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"NaturalNews.com Says ""the coronavirus was engineered by scientists in a lab."
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There is no evidence that the coronavirus was created in a lab. Scientists who have isolated the genetic makeup of the 2019 coronavirus say its likely source is bats. Natural News has published health misinformation in the past.
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false
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Public Health, Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, NaturalNews.com,
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"As the 2019 coronavirus continues to spread around the world, an anti-vaccine website has concocted a conspiracy theory about its source. In a blog post published Feb. 3, Natural News, a website known to promote health misinformation, lays out an ""irrefutable"" conspiracy that the coronavirus is man-made. ""The tools for genetic insertion are still present as remnants in the genetic code. Since these unique gene sequences don’t occur by random chance, they’re proof that this virus was engineered by scientists in a lab,"" the story reads. The article goes on to say that the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are ""covering up this inconvenient fact in order to protect communist China."" Natural News does not provide evidence for the claim. The story 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 has been shared more than 2,700 times. (Screenshot from Natural News) PolitiFact has fact-checked several hoaxes and conspiracies about the 2019 coronavirus, which has infected more than 37,000 people globally and killed 812 in China. The outbreak started in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December and has since spread to 24 countries. One of the most popular conspiracies about the coronavirus is that it was created in a lab, possibly as a bioweapon. We’ve previously said those claims are unproven — and the Natural News story has similar shortcomings. The website says that ""every virology lab in the world that has run a genomic analysis of the coronavirus now knows that the coronavirus was engineered by human scientists."" But none of the researchers that has analyzed the virus has come to that conclusion. According to the CDC, both the agency and Chinese authorities have isolated the genome of the 2019 coronavirus. Their findings suggest ""a likely single, recent emergence of this virus from an animal reservoir."" We analyzed the eight publications the CDC lists on its landing page about coronavirus. None asserts that the virus was engineered by humans. It says the 2019 coronavirus is a human betacoronavirus similar to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and likely comes from bats. ""Although our phylogenetic analysis suggests that bats might be the original host of this virus, an animal sold at the seafood market in Wuhan might represent an intermediate host facilitating the emergence of the virus in humans,"" the study reads. Early reports on the virus focused on the fact that many patients were linked to the Wuhan market. That suggested animal-to-person spread, according to the CDC, but later, a growing number of patients reported not having any connection to the market. That suggested the coronavirus was spreading person-to-person. Other blogs and social media users have speculated that a lab near Wuhan could be the source of the virus. The Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory is a maximum-security biolab that deals with some of the world’s most dangerous pathogens, including Ebola and SARS. As of now, however, there is no evidence that the lab is the source of the outbreak. The Natural News article is unsupported by evidence."
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12668
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Doctors who discovered cancer enzymes in vaccines all found murdered.
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The article puts forward a conspiracy theory that is based on the actual deaths of American doctors, but there is no information that they worked together on vaccine discoveries, nor were their deaths connected. The conclusions in the article are pure speculation.
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false
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Fake news, PunditFact, Bloggers,
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"A fake news story tried to connect the random deaths of doctors with conspiracy theories around vaccination. Neonnettle.com posted a story headlined,""Doctors who discovered cancer enzymes in vaccines found murdered,"" on March 2, 2017. Facebook users flagged the story as potentially being fabricated, as part of the social media site's efforts to clear fake news from users' news feeds. The story claims that the doctors found the enzyme nagalase in vaccines, connecting nagalase to cancer, autism and diabetes. The article speculates that the doctors were murdered in order to prevent their findings from going public. We reached out to the website but got no response. (Neonnettle later emailed us to say it deleted the post.) Their argument is that nagalase suppresses the immune system and would therefore be bad if found in vaccines. There have been controversial studies that claim to show that the GcMAF protein, which aims at reduction of nagalase concentration in the body, could be treatment to diseases like cancer, autism, or HIV. These are all diseases where the nagalase level is supposed to be high. That theory lacks scientific evidence, though. The British government has warned against the purchase of GcMAF, since it is not licensed and its production does not adhere to production standards. Scientific journals where those theories were published have retracted them, because they are not proven. Healthnutnews.com identified five doctors it said were connected to the nagalase discovery. But we found little evidence that the deaths of doctors are were connected to the vaccine controversy. Dr. Bruce Hedendal, a 67-year-old doctor in Florida, was found dead in his car in June 2015. The actual cause of his death is not clear, but natural causes have been cited by Florida local TV stations. Hedendal was a chiropractor, and there are no reports that he was involved in challenging the pharma industry in any way. Another doctor from Florida, Dr. Theresa Ann Sievers, 46, was found murdered in her Florida home in 2015. An investigation found that her husband Mark had hired two men, Curtis Wayne Wright Jr. and Jimmy Rodgers, to kill her so he could collect insurance money. Again, her death was not connected to the pharmaceutical industry. In a follow-up article, healthnutnews.com broadened the theory to include two additional doctors. Dr. Jeffrey Whiteside, 63, went missing after a fight with his wife and was found dead. His death was ruled a suicide. Dr. Patrick Fitzpatrick,a 74-year-old retired eyedoctor, went missing while hiking in Montana. The police searched but never found him. A officer of the Gallatin County Sheriff’s office told the Bismarck Tribune that Fitzpatrick may have suffered from occasional confusion, due to his advanced age. He also said that they had no reason to believe criminal activity was involved in this case. The only person who was actually involved in the vaccination debate was Dr. Jeff Bradstreet, 61. He became controversial for his claim that vaccines could cause autism, a theory that has been refuted by several studies. Bradstreet treated his autism patients with the GcMAF protein, which the FDA does not recognize as treatment for autism. According to the Rutherford County, N.C.. Sheriff’s Office, his wounds appear to be self-inflicted. He was not murdered. But his death in 2015 gave way to a wave of conspiracy theories. While the article says these doctors died in connection with promoting theories about vaccines, only Bradstreet’s case even comes close. And even that is a stretch. As for sourcing, neonnettle.com refers to thebigriddle.com, which posted the exact story a year ago. Thebigriddle.com cites conspiracyclub.co as its source, a site that doesn’t exist anymore. Our ruling The article puts forward a conspiracy theory that is based on the actual deaths of American doctors, but there is no information that they worked together on vaccine discoveries, nor were their deaths connected. The conclusions in the article are pure speculation. UPDATE Feb. 12, 2019: Neonnettle said it deleted the post. We've updated this fact-check to reflect that new information and have changed the headline."
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21638
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One of the biggest polluters in our country is the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District.
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Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner says the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District is one of the worst polluters in the country
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false
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Environment, Wisconsin, Jim Sensenbrenner,
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"As a handler of human waste -- which it periodically dumps into Lake Michigan untreated -- the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District is less popular among some people than mosquitoes. But is the taxpayer-funded agency one of the nation’s largest polluters? On July 24, 2011, U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., held a town hall meeting in Whitefish Bay, a Milwaukee suburb. A woman told the 33-year congressman she was ""appalled at the continued gutting of good government regulation and awarding corporations who pollute and not holding them accountable,"" according to Patch.com, a website that covers community news. Sensenbrenner said corporations are not the only ones to blame, adding: ""I get sick and tired of people saying that people are dumping sewage in our water when one of the biggest polluters in our country is the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District."" Sensenbrenner later called MMSD a ""disgrace,"" prompting applause as well as objections from the audience, based on a video clip posted on YouTube. But was the criticism on target? We’ll first point out that the sewerage district doesn’t generate the pollution in question; its job is to treat it. But sometimes the district is treated like other polluters. Federal and state regulators have taken action against MMSD and other sewerage districts when they dump more untreated sewage and storm water than their government permits allow. With $3.5 billion in capital assets to treat sewage and help control flooding, MMSD serves 1.1 million customers in 28 communities in southeastern Wisconsin. In 2011, the agency has budgeted $242 million in property tax money for capital projects and $82 million in sewer service fees for operations. Most people probably give the sewerage district little thought -- until heavy rainstorms bring news that MMSD has allowed millions of gallons of untreated sewage and storm water to flow into Lake Michigan and rivers. Large rainfaills lead to the so-called combined overflows because the agency closes the gates to its $1.3 billion deep tunnel when the accumulated water nears the tunnel’s 521-million-gallon capacity. The most recent episode occurred over two days in June 2011, when the sewer district said an estimated 170.5 million gallons of untreated waste water overflowed following storms. Overflows pose potential health risks. A 2010 study published by researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin, the Great Lakes WATER Institute and the Children’s Research Institute found an estimated 11 percent increase in the number of emergency room visits by children for acute gastrointestinal illness four days after rainfalls. That study cited untreated sewage releases as only one potential link to the illnesses. However, a 2007 Medical College of Wisconsin study concluded that such untreated waste water releases were ""potentially harmful"" because, in two of six releases examined, the number of children who went to emergency room for diarrhea ""increased significantly."" Sensenbrenner has been critical of MMSD in the past. In 2003, he lambasted the EPA for giving MMSD a ""clean water partner"" award not long after the sewerage district had been reprimanded for dumping. In 2005, when Sensenbrenner requested $68 million in federal flood control funds for MMSD, he emphasized that the agency had dumped ""billions of gallons of waste into Lake Michigan"" over the previous 10 years. We asked Sensenbrenner’s spokeswoman, Amanda Infield, for evidence to back her boss’ claim about MMSD as a polluter and she he made three points. We asked Bill Graffin, MMSD’s spokesman, to respond and did our own research. MMSD’s dumping Infield said that from 1994 through late July 2011, MMSD dumped 24.2 billion gallons of untreated sewage and storm water into Lake Michigan. Graffin said that accurately quotes MMSD’s own statistics, which show that annual combined overflows have been as high as 4.38 billion gallons since 1994. That is down from overflows ranging from 7 billion to 9 billion gallons per year from 1990 through 1993. Graffin said three other Midwestern cities, Cleveland, Indianapolis and Chicago, all have larger annual overflows than Milwaukee, such that they are being forced to make major treatment upgrades because of enforcement action by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Documents show that MMSD’s counterpart in Cleveland, which releases nearly 5 billion gallons of untreated sewage per year, agreed in December 2010 to spend $3 billion; and the City of Indianapolis agreed in 2006, when overflows were nearly 8 billion gallons per year, to spend $1.73 billion. That figure was reduced in December 2010 to save Indianapolis $444 million. In Chicago, MMSD’s counterpart is under fire for its sewage dumping into the Chicago River. According to a New York Times article, in May 2011 the EPA ordered state regulators to impose stricter water quality standards on the river; environmental groups filed a lawsuit charging that Chicago’s waste water agency regularly violates the federal Clean Water Act; and an environmental group named the Chicago River one of the ""most endangered rivers"" in the country. Conversely, MMSD was last part of a legal stipulation in 2001. The agency finished making upgrades to its facilities required under the stipulation in 2010, Graffin said. Graffin also cited a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article on a 2006 study by the Sierra Legal Defense Fund, a Canadian conservation group. The article said Milwaukee was far from the worst polluter in the Great Lakes. The study gave Milwaukee a C-plus rating, ranking it in the top half of the 20 Great Lakes cities evaluated for sewage management. Milwaukee was at the top of all the large cities surveyed, according to the article. So, while MMSD sometimes does dump untreated waste water into Lake Michigan, Sensenbrenner provided no evidence comparing MMSD to other polluters. It’s also clear that in the Great Lakes area alone, Milwaukee is far from being the worst polluter. BP comparison Sensenbrenner’s spokeswoman said the amount of waste water MMSD dumped into Lake Michigan in one week was 10 times the amount of oil spilled by BP in the disastrous Gulf of Mexico spill in April 2009. She cited a news report from WTMJ-TV (Channel 4) in Milwaukee that said 2.1 billion gallons of untreated sewage and storm water were dumped into Lake Michigan following storms that caused flooding in July 2010. That amounted to about 75 percent of the overflows for the year. The 2.1 billion gallons is more than 10 times the 170 million gallons of oil spilled by BP in the Gulf of Mexico. But measurements don’t tell the whole story. One important difference: What MMSD dumps includes contaminants, but it is mostly water; BP spilled oil. A presidential commission that investigated the BP incident said in a January 2011 report that the spill was the largest accidental marine oil spill in U.S. history. The spill was so massive, the report says, that it will take decades just to assess the environmental damage, leaving aside the tens of billions of dollars in economic damage caused. So, aside from noting the difference in volume, Sensenbrenner provided no evidence to establish that one MMSD overflow was somehow worse than what is regarded as one of the nation’s worst environmental accidents. Spoiled beaches Sensenbrenner’s spokeswoman said southeastern Wisconsin has some of the most polluted beaches in the nation. She cited a 2011 report by the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental action group. The report labeled 13 beaches in seven states as ""repeat offenders"" for having high bacteria levels from 2006 through 2010. Two of the beaches were in southeastern Wisconsin, including one -- South Shore in Milwaukee -- that is in MMSD’s service area. The report does not mention the sewerage district but seems to implicate the agency, saying ""chronically high bacteria counts indicate that the beach water is probably contaminated with human or animal waste."" The Great Lakes WATER Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee says, however, that sewage overflows are not the primary cause of beach advisories and closings. The main causes at many Milwaukee-area beaches are waste from gulls and storm water runoff, according to the institute. In addition, the EPA said in a 2007 report to Congress that sewer overflows were the source of pollution in only 3 percent of the beach advisories and closings in Milwaukee County from 2000 to 2004. So, like the other points, that one does not stand up to scrutiny. We wondered whether there were rankings of the nation’s worst water polluters, but Josh Mogerman, spokesman for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said he was not aware of any. We did find a June 2011 report about MMSD by the Public Policy Forum, a government watchdog and research organization in Milwaukee. The report focused on the sewerage district’s financial condition. But it also found that, according to national data, MMSD’s ""sewage and treatment capacity offers greater protection from sewage overflows than most other districts."" So where does all of this leave us? Upset about how much untreated waste water goes into Lake Michigan, Sensenbrenner called the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District ""one of the biggest polluters in our country."" He cited the amount of dumping MMSD has done, but provided no evidence that it ranks among the nation’s top polluters. To be sure, MMSD does dump untreated sewage -- along with collected rainwater -- in the lake when its system reaches capacity. But Sensenbrenner’s claim was one of magnitude, comparing the district to all other polluters nationwide. We found evidence indicating that MMSD is not even among the worst sewerage district polluters in the Great Lakes region."
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31240
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Cancer is caused by a deficiency of vitamin “B17,” a condition that can be remedied with nutritional supplements.
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All prior forms of cancer quackery […] pale in comparison with the laetrile crusade, unquestionably the slickest, most sophisticated, and certainly the most remunerative cancer quack promotion in medical history.
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false
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Medical, cancer, quackery, vitamin b12
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Discussion of the cancer-fighting properties of a chemical (variously referred to as amygdalin, laetrile, or “vitamin B17”) has been a fixture of the so-called alternative medicine movement for decades. Despite an exhaustive body of research demonstrating that its use is both ineffective and potentially dangerous, these claims still make their way onto the internet’s most popular “natural health” blogs and continue to fuel anti-government conspiracies. The story of “B17 deficiency” has the two key qualities of a classic snake oil campaign: a simple, easy cure for all cancer provided by Mother Nature herself, and a purported widespread conspiracy to prevent the public from knowing about it. This string of loosely connected words from a viral September 2016 post is representative of the way this issue is frequently framed: You would recall that in the past, quite a large number of seamen lost their life to a named disease (scurvy); a disease that took the life of numerous people as well. And a number of people got an enormous income from it. Afterwards, it was discovered that scurvy was just a deficiency of vitamin C. That means it wasn’t a disease (illness). Cancer is also just like that! The colonizing world and the enemies of humanity established the cancer industry and made it into a business from which they earn billions in income. The prevention and cure of cancer will be obtained simply through the following strategies: Those who have cancer should first try to know what cancer is. Do not panic! You should investigate the condition. Nowadays does anyone die of an illness called scurvy? No. Because it gets cured. Since cancer is only a deficiency of vitamin B17, eating 15 to 20 pieces of apricot stone/nucleus (fruit stone) everyday is enough. This matter is present in the fruit stone of apple and is the extracted form of vitamin B17 (Amygdalin). Before digging into this reassuring bit of nonsense, we have to be clear on one key point: The notion of “vitamin B17” was essentially made up by a man named Ernst Krebs, Jr., inventor of a partially synthetic chemical called laetrile that was at one point rebranded as a vitamin in an effort to get around FDA new drug regulations. No official pharmacopoeia lists it as a vitamin, and it does not possess any of the required characteristics of a vitamin. In a hearing about an 1976 injunction demanding that a company cease selling supplements with this compound, a federal court described the vitamin defense as “a patently absurd and transparent attempt to avoid the drug labeling provisions of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.” Amygdalin is a naturally occurring compound that can be found in a variety of foods, most notably bitter almonds and the pits of apricots and other fruits. Claims that it is a potential cancer therapy can be credited to the father and son team of Ernst Krebs Sr. (a doctor and pharmacist with a long history of promoting fringe folk remedies) and Ernst Krebs Jr. (who was not a doctor nor even the recipient of any degree in science, save an honorary doctorate from a now-defunct university). Their work is described in a 1981 review on the topic: In the 1920s, working in a home laboratory to find a method for improving the taste of bootleg whiskey, an obscure San Francisco general practitioner, Dr. Ernst Krebs, Sr., suggested that an extract of apricot seeds reduced rodent tumors. Dr. Krebs warned that the material, which in 1936 appeared to be predominantly the common chemical amygdalin, was too unpredictable and too dangerous for general human use. Its promotion did not really begin until over 20 years later when his son, Ernst Krebs, Jr.. claimed to have synthesized a safe congener of amygdalin, for which he coined the term “laetrile”. In spite the younger Mr. Krebs’ claims, most of what has since been sold as laetrile has consisted of a variety of components and the active portion has usually been amygdalin itself. One of the tell-tale warning signs of a pseudoscientific remedy is that the explanation for how it works (or even what it does, and in this case even what it is) changes every time someone points out that a previous explanation was demonstrably unworkable, without acknowledgement of the previous lack of veracity. There have been at least four explanations for why laetrile might work. As summarized by a National Institutes of Health Physician Data Query report, most invoke the fact that laetrile is toxic to cancer cells (which is almost certainly related to the fact that it metabolizes into cyanide) but not other cells: The [first] rationale for laetrile use is the suggestion that malignant cells have higher than normal levels of an enzyme called beta-glucuronidase […] and that they are deficient in another enzyme called rhodanese […]. it has been proposed that cancer cells are more susceptible to the toxic effects of laetrile than normal cells because of an imbalance in these two enzymes. The second theory states that cancer cells contain more beta-glucosidase [which is different than beta-glucuronidase mentioned above] activity than normal cells and, as in the first theory, that they are deficient in rhodanese. The third theory states that cancer is the result of a metabolic disorder caused by a vitamin deficiency. It states further that laetrile, or amygdalin/vitamin B-17, is the missing vitamin needed by the body to restore health. […] there is no evidence that laetrile is needed for normal metabolism or that it can function as a vitamin in animals or humans. The fourth theory suggests that the cyanide released by laetrile has a toxic effect beyond its interference with oxygen utilization by cells. According to this theory, cyanide increases the acid content of tumors and leads to the destruction of lysosomes (compartments inside cells that contain enzymes capable of breaking down other cellular molecules). The injured lysosomes release their contents, thereby killing the cancer cells and arresting tumor growth. In fact, the rationale for laetrile’s efficacy is not the only thing that has shifted over the course of its promotion; what conditions or health problems it is meant to ameliorate have also jumped around, as discussed in a 1977 FDA report: Over the years, proponents have claimed that Laetrile is a cure for cancer, that it is palliative, that it prevents cancer, that it is a painkiller, or that it facilitates other cancer treatments. There have even been claim that Laetrile raises the red count in blood, is of value in treating in treating sickle cell anemia, can be used to treat parasitic diseases, helps regulate intestinal flora,, causes a lowering of blood pressure in cancer victims and provides relief from arthritis. The definition of what chemically constitutes both laetrile and “vitamin B17” has been equally fluid. Though classically defined by Krebs Jr. as a specific compound named “laevo-mandelonitrile-beta-glucuronoside,” numerous tests have shown that this product is not what is found in most laetrile or B17 products. In many studies, amygdalin and laevo-mandelonitrile-beta-glucuronoside are taken to be the same thing, despite the fact that they are not (recall that the reason a “synthetic version” of amygdalin was needed was rooted in Kreb Sr.’s conclusion that the natural version was too toxic for human use). Other claims suggest an even broader definition, which includes an entire class of structurally related compounds variously named nitrilosides or laetrile. Overshadowing this unceasing onslaught quacktastic red flags are two hard truths: 1) there is effectively no evidence that laetrile, amygdalin, B17, etc., have any efficacy as a cancer treatment for humans and 2) there is plenty of evidence to suggest that amygdalin and related compounds are extremely toxic to humans, a problem compounded by the fact that several studies have shown that amygdalin supplements vary wildly in the accuracy of their concentrations and are completely unregulated. In response to pressure from pro-laetrile groups during its heyday in the 1970s, the National Cancer Institute conducted a retrospective review, published in 1976 of people who had been treated with laetrile for cancer. They did this by soliciting information by mail from 385,000 physicians and 70,000 other health professionals known to treat patients with laetrile, as well as by soliciting information directly from members of pro-Laetrile groups. Of the 70,000 cases estimated to have been treated with the chemical at the time, only 93 were submitted for review. A further 26 were eliminated due to insufficient data, revealing, ultimately, only six that could be described as “producing a response”: A panel of 12 oncologists, who had no knowledge of the actual treatments given, was then asked to evaluate the results of 160 courses of treatment (68 Laetrile, 68 chemotherapy, 24 “no treatment”) in the abstracted records from 93 patients. The panel judged six Laetrile courses to have produced a response (two complete and four partial). These results allow no definite conclusions supporting the anti-cancer activity of Laetrile. The National Cancer Institute will use the data in deciding if further study is needed. In a followup to this report, a 1982 human trial that treated 78 cancer patients with amygdalin, published the New England Journal of Medicine, concluded: No substantive benefit was observed in terms of cure, improvement or stabilization of cancer, improvement of symptoms related to cancer, or extension of lifespan. A 2015 review of over 200 citations related to amygdalin, laetrile, and cancer concluded: The claims that laetrile or amygdalin have beneficial effects for cancer patients are not currently supported by sound clinical data. These results are not to say that amygdalin and related compounds do not do anything. In that same 1982 human trial, researchers documented both the aforementioned lack of efficacy, as well its potentially fatal toxicity: The hazards of amygdalin therapy were evidenced in several patients by symptoms of cyanide toxicity or by blood cyanide levels approaching the lethal range. Patients exposed to this agent should be instructed about the danger of cyanide poisoning, and their blood cyanide levels should be carefully monitored. Amygdalin (Laetrile) is a toxic drug that is not effective as a cancer treatment. This, too, was echoed in the previously cited 2015 evidence review, which stated: There is a considerable risk of serious adverse effects from cyanide poisoning after laetrile or amygdalin, especially after oral ingestion. The risk-benefit balance of laetrile or amygdalin as a treatment for cancer is therefore unambiguously negative. The weight of this evidence has not deterred natural health evangelists like Joseph Mercola (who was recently ordered by the FTC to pay back over five million dollars in money generated from selling his own brand of indoor tanning beds that, in his words, “slash your risk of cancer”) from suggesting that the weight of scientific evidence is on their side. Mercola, in a 2014 post that appears on many other websites, lists five studies which he says demonstrates the effectiveness of laetrile. None of these studies were based on human trials or data generated by the compound’s actual clinical use (unlike the large scale clinical trials and retrospective reviews and meta-reviews mentioned above); they were either cell line studies or studies based on laboratory animals. That promotion of “vitamin B17” is still a viable business model online is thanks, in large part, to the efforts of individuals with political or financial motives, but whose medical background might best be described as non-existent. That movement got a huge lift in 1973 when a public relations officer at Sloan Kettering Hospital, which was given the task by the NIH of performing a series of laetrile trials, alleged a cover up of, and leaked, data that claimed potential for laetrile as an anti-cancer agent. Despite the fact that no scientist could reproduce those results in a series of followups, the view of a government cover-up created a media sensation, and has left a mark on its research that still resonates today. That former public relations writer, Dr. Ralph W. Moss (who has a Ph.D in classics, not science) is now one of the leading advocates for laetrile. For the low price of $297.00, he will provide you with a personalized “Moss Report” about your cancer diagnosis. He even provides one hour phone consultations to discuss treatment options. The legally required disclaimer on his website reads “nothing Ralph W. Moss, PhD, says in your telephone consultation constitutes medical advice.” Perhaps the most prominent force keeping the laetrile myth alive is the book “World Without Cancer: The Story of Vitamin B17” (which was very positively reviewed by “Dr.” Ernst Krebs Jr himself!) by G. Edward Griffith, a libertarian activist with no medical training. Despite his book being basis for many pro-laetrile arguments, Griffith himself seems to be less enthused by that notion these days, as evidenced by this fairly convoluted introduction on his web site VitaminB17.org: As webmaster of VitaminB17.org, certainly I believe in B17. I wouldn’t have spent my time and personal resources on this site all these years if I didn’t believe in it. The thing about life is, you can only go by the best information you have at the time. You don’t know what you don’t know. While I still believe in B17, new information has come to light that I believe is not only also valid information, but more central to cancer than B17. That said, I still would pursue B17 as a treatment for cancer. The scientific view, however, has not shifted much at all. This 1981 assessment is still the opinion held by the scientific community today:
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4987
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Rep. Welch demands EPA to release results of chemical study.
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Vermont Democratic Rep. Peter Welch has joined 12 other members of Congress in demanding the Environmental Protection Agency release a study on the health effects of chemical contaminants.
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true
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Vermont, Health, Scott Pruitt, Environment, Peter Welch
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Vermont Public Radio reports Welch signed the bipartisan letter sent to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt last week asking him to release the results of the study on PFOA and PFOS and explain why it was withheld in the first place. Politico first reported that the agency was withholding the report, saying an aide with the Trump administration called it a “public relations nightmare.” PFOA and PFOS are often found in non-stick pans and firefighting foam, and they have been linked to thyroid disease, testicular cancer and fertility issues. The EPA is currently evaluating the federal safe drinking water standard for the chemicals.
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27240
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Six of Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar's siblings appeared in a political commercial endorsing his opponent, David Brill.
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According to the New York Times, the Arizona legislator has a total of nine siblings, and the 85-year-old Gosar family matriarch was none too pleased with her children’s public condemnation of their brother’s political performance. Bernadette Gosar said she was “shocked” by the commercial and added, “I share the same philosophy and policies that Paul does. He’s done a hell of a job for Arizona, and they love him.”
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true
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Politics, arizona
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On 21 September 2018, Dr. David Brill (an MD) released a campaign advertisement that took aim at Republican Dr. Paul Gosar (a dentist), the incumbent Republican representative whom Brill was challenging for a U.S. House seat representing Arizona’s 4th congressional district. The advertisement, titled “Paul Gosar Is Not Working for You,” featured comments from several people — identified by their first names and professions — who were critical of Gosar’s performance as a congressman, accusing him of failing his district on issues such as health care, jobs, social security, and the environment. All in all, the spot seemed like a fairly tame negative political campaign ad by modern standards, save for a catch revealed at the commercial’s end — all the people captured speaking out against Paul Gosar and endorsing his opponent were Gosar’s siblings: Grace, David, Jennifer, Tim, Joan, and Gaston Gosar. The Gosar family’s apparent willingness to take inter-family political disagreements to the public arena prompted many viewers to question if the people who appeared on-camera were really related to Gosar. They were. Paul Gosar confirmed as much on Twitter, reacting to the ad by calling his siblings “disgruntled Hillary supporters” who “put political ideology before family.” True to apparent take-no-prisoners Gosar family form, Gosar proclaimed “Stalin would be proud” of his “leftist” relatives: My siblings who chose to film ads against me are all liberal Democrats who hate President Trump. These disgruntled Hillary suppporters are related by blood to me but like leftists everywhere, they put political ideology before family. Stalin would be proud. #Az04 #MAGA2018 — Paul Gosar (@DrPaulGosar) September 22, 2018 Hinting at potential looming controversy during the upcoming holidays, he tweeted that he would see “the six angry Democrat Gosars … at Mom and Dad’s house!”: You can’t pick your family. We all have crazy aunts and relatives etc and my family is no different. I hope they find peace in their hearts and let go all the hate. To the six angry Democrat Gosars—see you at Mom and Dad’s house! #AZ04 #MAGA2018 — Paul Gosar (@DrPaulGosar) September 22, 2018
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14011
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Of all the people in federal prison for possession of illegal substances, 77 percent of them are not citizens of the United States.
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"Gohmert said that of ""all the people in federal prison for possession of illegal substances, 77 percent of them are not citizens of the United States."" In fact, nearly all the 514 inmates in federal prison for simple possession of illegal drugs aren’t citizens. But this claim lacks context. The clutch of inmates who fit Gohmert’s categorization--nearly all of them sentenced in Arizona since September 2015--account for a minuscule fraction of the people in the federal pen for drug crimes, of whom 21 percent are noncitizens. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context.
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mixture
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Criminal Justice, Drugs, Crime, Texas, Louie Gohmert,
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"A Texas Republican, maintaining that proposed sentencing reforms won’t benefit Americans, told U.S. House colleagues that the vast majority of federal prisoners convicted of possessing illegal drugs aren’t even U.S. citizens. U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert of Tyler opened his May 10, 2016, floor remarks by mentioning concerns about opioid abuse and his suspicion that President Barack Obama wants to release thousands of criminals as part of sentencing reform under debate in Congress. Gohmert then questioned whether all that many Americans are behind bars for possessing illegal drugs such as marijuana. To the contrary, Gohmert said that ""of all the people in federal prison for possession of illegal substances, 77 percent of them are not citizens of the United States. That is, 77 percent of those in federal prison for possession are not U.S. citizens,"" he said. ""So, obviously,"" Gohmert asserted, ""this president has been giving illegal, unconstitutional amnesties out like they were water at a marathon."" Gohmert didn’t reply to our requests for the basis of his ""amnesties"" claim. Let's start by mentioning that state prisons hold many inmates with drug convictions. Regardless, we focused on whether nearly 8 in 10 inmates federally imprisoned for drug possession lack citizenship. In general as of April 2016, we found that nearly 80 percent of the federal system’s approximately 195,000 total inmates were U.S. citizens; 15 percent were citizens of Mexico, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Sentencing reform debate Gohmert made his comment in the wake of an April 2016 White House report stating that drug-related arrests spurted nationally between 1980 and 2014, contributing to rising incarceration rates. Specifically, a 2015 Pew Charitable Trusts analysis says, the share of federal inmates serving time for drug offenses increased from 25 percent in 1980 to a high of 61 percent in 1994 before decreasing due to rising admissions for other crimes—though drug offenders still represented 49 percent of federal inmates. ""Changes in drug crime patterns and law enforcement practices played a role in this growth,"" the Pew report says, ""but federal sentencing laws enacted during the 1980s and 1990s also have required more drug offenders to go to prison—and stay there much longer—than three decades ago."" To our inquiry, Marc Mauer of The Sentencing Project, which says it focuses on reforms in sentencing policy, addressing unjust racial disparities and advocating for alternatives to incarceration, stressed by email that the ""vast majority of people in federal prison for a drug offense are there on a conviction for selling drugs, not possessing drugs."" Gohmert’s backup To our request for factual backup, Gohmert spokeswoman Kimberly Willingham said by email that Gohmert relied on a chart from the U.S. Sentencing Commission; its duties include the collection and distribution of information on federal crime and sentencing issues. The chart, ""Citizenship of Offenders in Each Primary Offense Category, Fiscal Year 2015,"" has a line indicating that 1,680 of 2,181 individuals whose ""primary offense"" was ""simple possession"" of drugs (77 percent) were non-U.S. citizens. In general, according to the chart, 41,059 of 70,225 total convicts, 58.5 percent, were citizens with 29,166, nearly 42 percent, being noncitizens. But, we noticed, those counts solely reflected individuals sentenced to federal prison in the 12 months through September 2015--not the entire population of federal inmates. A BOP spokesman, Justin Long, answered our request for detail with an email stating that 84,911 inmates ""are drug offenders (the offense associated with the longest term of sentence is a drug offense), and of those 18,132 (21%) are not U.S. citizens."" Put another way, most drug offenders, including individuals convicted of drug trafficking, are Americans. But that’s also describing a more general population than what Gohmert singled out. Bureau officials told us the agency doesn’t classify inmates in the way that Gohmert did in his remarks. Fortuitously, Willingham sent us an April 2016 document she attributed to sentencing commission staff stating that as of March 27, 2016, 514 individuals were serving a federal sentence for simple drug possession--94 percent of them having been sentenced since September 2015. ""Most of these offenders are non-citizens (95.5%),"" the document says, ""and most are Hispanic (96.9%)."" The provided document didn't name an author or even specify the commission as its provider. Mindful that we can't rely on anonymous sources, we reached a commission spokeswoman, Christine Leonard, who confirmed the information we'd fielded from Willingham was earlier sent to a member of Congress. By phone, Leonard said that generally, Glenn Schmitt of the agency’s Office of Research and Data has a hand in producing such responses. Gohmert referred to 514 inmates So, who was Gohmert talking about that day? By our calculation, the tallied 514 prisoners amounted to about 0.6 percent of all drug offenders in federal facilities around the time he spoke--or 0.3 of 1 percent of all federal prisoners. The document has more detail including an indication that nearly all these possession-only inmates were sentenced in Arizona. For instance, a footnote says: ""Simple Possession offenders are defined as offenders 1) sentenced under USSG §2D2.1,"" referring to a provision in the commission’s U.S. Sentencing Guidelines describing penalties for possession of heroin or any ""Schedule I or II opiate, an analogue of these, or cocaine base."" Other substances specified in the section include LSD and PCP. A ""commentary"" in the document says: ""The typical case addressed by this guideline involves possession of a controlled substance by the defendant for the defendant’s own consumption. Where the circumstances establish intended consumption by a person other than the defendant, an upward departure may be warranted."" The document also says: ""The vast majority of the simple drug possession crimes for which offenders were incarcerated involved marijuana (97.5%)."" ""The median weight of the drug involved in the cases from the border districts was 21,700 grams (approx. 48 pounds)."" Also, the document says, of offenders sentenced in a ""border district, the average sentence was 6.3 months (and the median sentence was 6.0 months)."" Next, we sought to learn more about the cases against the tallied inmates sentenced in Arizona. Perhaps something unique to that state explains its dominance of this statistical slice. By email when we sought guidance, Julie Samuels, a senior fellow in the Justice Policy Center at the Urban Institute, speculated that the preponderance of noncitizens among the inmates reflects the likelihood that each one wasn’t eligible for probation or any sentence short of incarceration after which she or he would be deported. We didn’t confirm that. Cosme Lopez, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Phoenix, told us by phone he had no information about prosecutions of the inmates. Attempts to reach other possible experts in the state didn’t pan out. Our ruling Gohmert said that of ""all the people in federal prison for possession of illegal substances, 77 percent of them are not citizens of the United States."" In fact, nearly all the 514 inmates in federal prison for simple possession of illegal drugs aren’t citizens. But this claim lacks context. The clutch of inmates who fit Gohmert’s categorization--nearly all of them sentenced in Arizona since September 2015--account for a minuscule fraction of the people in the federal pen for drug crimes, of whom 21 percent are noncitizens. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context.
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28269
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"An ""elderly man"" was beaten while trying to protect a sundress-wearing man from being attacked."
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What's true: An older man identified as John Blum was hit in the head, causing him to bleed, during a street brawl at a rally in Portland. What's false: Blum was not simply trying to help someone — video shows he was charging at people with a baton and fighting with anti-fascist demonstrators.
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mixture
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Viral Phenomena
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Misinformation spread on the internet in the wake of a rally in Portland, Oregon, where far-right protesters clashed with counter-demonstrators — violence that has become a reoccurring feature of the political landscape in the Pacific Northwest. The far-right groups, Patriot Prayer and “Him Too,” held demonstrations on June 29, 2019, in downtown Portland and were met by counter-protesters, including black-clad anti-fascists. As they have in the past, the events devolved into a series of street brawls. Three people were arrested and eight people were injured, including three who were sent to the hospital, according to police. Right-leaning social media personalities and websites widely circulated an image of a bearded man with blood covering his face, identifying him as John Blum and reporting that Blum was the victim of a brutal attack by “antifa criminals.” Partisan media and a single picture didn’t tell the full story, though. WATCH: Elderly Man Beaten With Crowbar, Another Has Head Split Open By Antifa While Trying To Help ‘Gay Man In Sundress’ https://t.co/slRy6Nzajm — The Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) July 1, 2019 Blum was hit in the head by a black-clad protester, and that injury caused bleeding. But after a widely shared narrative that he was heroically trying to help someone emerged, so did video showing that Blum (wearing a fedora hat) was both carrying a baton and proactively engaged in a fight. Another view of #JohnBlum with a #baton, choosing to charge and swing baton rather than disengage. You can also see that #antifa and counterprotesters attempting to stop the fighting #milkshakes #NoPrideforProudBoys pic.twitter.com/822aMATOt5 — John (@Johnnthelefty) July 3, 2019 After the brawl dies down (video above) the little dude that got thrown and bounced off the pavement came back and punched the guy. #PatriotPrayer attendees engage again, that is when the old dude goes after two #antifa with a baton. Then he gets cracked in the head #Milkshake pic.twitter.com/OiwI8VGSvi — John (@Johnnthelefty) July 1, 2019 John Blum, the older man that was bloodied and had his picture go viral, is here in this video before the brawl broke out holding his baton. A black man was able to deescalate a stand off between John and #antifa & other counter protesters. #Milkshake #NoPrideforProudBoys pic.twitter.com/yomI2759Bp — John (@Johnnthelefty) July 2, 2019 The man who shot the videos asked us to use only his first name, John, because of harassment directed at journalists who covered the event. John told us that in the chaos that has periodically roiled Portland since the election of President Donald Trump, some people show up specifically to fight, and the late-June protests were no different. Blum had swung his baton at people before getting hit over the head himself. “It was just really chaotic,” John told us. “There was a point where things had calmed down, and then someone threw one more punch, and it turned into another little scuffle. That’s when the older gentleman (Blum) came at people who weren’t attacking him, I think two different people in the black bloc. Someone responded by hitting him in the head [from behind].” John, who identifies himself as an independent media worker sympathetic to the anti-fascists’ cause, said that a sundress-wearing protester was attacked, but Blum was not part of that altercation. “It’s really kind of nuanced and mixed up. The idea that John Blum was sticking up for this guy [in a sundress] is inaccurate, but there was an attempted attack on [the person in the sundress]. John Blum was not part of that confrontation.” He added, “The idea that he’s some senior-citizen guy — yeah he’s obviously older, but that guy got around. He had no problem getting down. He didn’t look like he was super-fit, but he definitely had no problem trying to take on younger people.” The Twitter account that originally shared a video purporting to show Blum being beaten has been suspended by the platform, though we are unsure why. We were also unable to locate Blum online for comment. The misleading victim framework that spread across the right-leaning media ecosystem is no surprise, said Stanislav Vysotsky, an assistant professor of sociology and criminology at the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater who has been researching political violence in Portland. Citing the work of sociologist Mitch Berbrier, Vysotsky told us the “victim” narrative is an established framing technique used on the far right. “There is already a master narrative on the far right that they are victims, victims of people of color, of Jewish conspiracies, feminists, all these things, so it’s very easy once you have this framework to paint yourself as a victim of left-wing thugs,” he told us. Reality is more complicated, however. He places the most significant starting point for political violence in Portland with a June 4, 2017, “free speech” rally planned by right-wing Patriot Prayer founder Joey Gibson one week after two men were fatally stabbed on a Portland train by a white supremacist. The men had been trying to intervene as that white supremacist, identified as Jeremy Christian, berated two Muslim passengers. The rally was scheduled despite the revelation that Christian had attended a Patriot Prayer event, raising tensions. Since then, multiple incidents have contributed to an overall escalation of violence at various events staged by far-right activists, which draw opposition from counter-demonstrators, including anti-fascists. On May 1, 2019, members of the Patriot Prayer group showed up at Cider Riot, a bar in Portland known to have left-leaning activists as patrons, and sprayed customers with mace, initiating a street fight. One member of Gibson’s group hit a woman with a baton, fracturing a vertebrae, according a lawsuit filed by the bar. Also in 2017, Vysotsky said, the far-right adopted a new tactic of holding political events in liberal strongholds like Seattle and Portland to deliberately provoke a response. “That was a shift in the politics of the far right, and this influence of the alt-right and the trolling culture. The protests became increasingly trolling events, where they are coming into the liberal territory basically saying, ‘We’re far right, and we’re coming into your city, what are you gonna do about it? '” According to the Anti-Defamation League, “Both Patriot Prayer and Proud Boys espouse virulently anti-Muslim views, are vocally pro-Trump, and are known for their deliberate provocations of left-leaning West Coast communities.”
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3887
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New task force to recommend college mental health policies.
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A Connecticut task force has been charged with recommending a statewide policy for mental health services offered for college students across the state.
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true
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Health, Connecticut, Legislature, Mental health
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The group was created by the General Assembly during the 2019 legislative session. Task force members, who include mental health experts, college mental health counselors and others, are expected to issue a report before the legislature convenes in February. Courtney Cullinan, deputy chief of staff and director of policy for the Connecticut Senate Democrats, said lawmakers have concerns about the availability of counselors on college campuses and whether mental health services are being utilized. At a recent meeting, she said it made sense to bring together a panel of experts to help tackle the issue. “We have these questions. We weren’t able to solve them,” she said in November. “We thought we could do that together as a group.” The task force will meet Tuesday to hear from Janet Dee Spoltore, director of Student Counseling and Health Services at Connecticut College. The New London school, since 2014, has been working with the Jed Foundation on a program to prevent suicide and fatal accidents, including those caused by prescription drug overdoses and alcohol poisoning.
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1838
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Patients recruited for vital studies on Saudi MERS virus.
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Saudi Arabia says it has recruited patients for a crucial study on the source of the deadly MERS virus, acknowledging it is late but pledging more work on the epidemic after international criticism of its slow response.
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true
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Health News
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Scientists and global public health experts have faulted Saudi Arabia’s response for allowing the spread of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus, which has now killed nearly 300 people inside the kingdom. Among Riyadh’s failings has been the lack of a type of research known as a “case-control” study, which compares the histories of people with a disease to a “control group” of people who do not have it, to try to determine what causes it. The kingdom’s chief scientist, Tariq Madani, said the study was now under way, having so far enrolled the first 10 “cases” - people who had the disease and either died or recovered - alongside 40 “controls” to compare them with. Ideally, the study would look at 20 cases and 80 controls, he said. He hoped it would at last answer questions about how the virus passes from animals to humans, where it can cause respiratory disease and fever, and kills more than a third of people known to contract it. The World Health Organization (WHO) and other critics say the Saudi failure to properly investigate the causes of the disease, including the absence of a case-control study, contributed to the virus taking hold there and spreading via travelers to some 20 countries around the world. Madani, named two months ago to head a scientific advisory board at a new health ministry Command and Control Center (CCC) to handle MERS, said the case-control study was a central part of a “180 degree” reversal in policy, to step up the fight against the disease and make the response more transparent. “(This) should have been done long ago, but unfortunately it wasn’t. So it was the top priority research project we started with,” he said in a telephone interview from Jeddah. “It will answer many questions regarding the risk factors for acquiring MERS - particularly in the primary cases where there is no clear source of infection such as contact with somebody else with MERS.” Saudi Arabia sacked its previous health minister in April and his deputy in May as negative domestic opinion and global concern grew about the response to MERS. Madani said the new control center at the health ministry was coordinating the response across government departments and laboratories, and with international partners. “Until two months ago, I was one of the scientists who had a lot of concerns about what was going on in the kingdom - a lack of transparency, the lack of a case-control study, etc,” he said. “I was appointed two months ago to address all of these concerns, and now we have changed 180 degrees. We are fully committed to transparency, our research agenda is open to everybody to comment on and to help with.” To help determine how MERS spreads from animals to humans, the case-control study is designed to exclude “secondary cases” of people who were likely to have caught it from other human patients, Madani said. “Our target was to identify the primary cases by excluding those who had contact with people with MERS or who visited healthcare facilities, and even those who had contact with somebody who visited a healthcare facility, or those who had contact with somebody who had an unexplained respiratory illness that might have been MERS,” he said. The team conducting the study includes several international scientists - including experts who helped develop the WHO’s guidance for a case-control study on MERS, which was issued to affected countries in March. The WHO’s guidance calls for including only adults in the study, and says data should be stored in a secure database in the country in which it is collected and that individuals’ identities should be protected. The 22-page guidance also includes almost four pages of questions that study subjects or their relatives should be asked about contact with animals: For example, whether during a visit to a farm with livestock they fed animals, cleaned animal housing or farm equipment, slaughtered animals, assisted with animal births, milked camels, or kissed or hugged camels. Madani said the case-control study was the centrepiece of a 25-study research agenda, including analyses of interactions between humans and animals, detailed studies of outbreaks in hospitals, and investigation into what treatment strategies are likely to be the most effective. “We have developed a research agenda of 25 research projects, and 16 of them are currently underway,” he said, adding that some 120 scientists in are working on the MERS projects in the kingdom. “We are trying to mobilize our resources to address and answer questions that have not been answered until now, and also to give support and the best care to patients with MERS.”
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30530
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Pamela Anderson passed away in March 2018.
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The actress has not yet commented on this specific death hoax, but her social media profiles have been active in the days following this story’s publication.
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false
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Junk News, abcnews-us.com, death hoax, pamela anderson
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On 15 March 2018, a hoax story appearing to report that former Baywatch star Pamela Anderson had just died was published on the web site ABCNews-us.com (no affiliation with the genuine ABC News): At 8:00 am on March 12, the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to “a medical request” at the Los Angeles home of Anderson. She had apparently collapsed in a bathroom. Firefighters attended to Anderson on the scene before transporting her to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where she was admitted with complications attributed to Hepatitis C. According to Chief Coroner Jonathan Lucas M.D., during the course of her treatment Anderson developed pneumonia and died at 10:04 this morning after going into cardiac arrest. This is not a genuine news story, nor was it published on the genuine ABC News web site. Instead, it appeared on ABCNews-us.com, a mockup that was clearly chosen to fool readers into believing that they were visiting a genuine news web site. It also employed a graphic that closely resembled the real ABC News logo in another attempt to lend some unearned credibility to their dubious article. (The real ABC News resides at ABCnews.go.com.)
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8563
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Speed of coronavirus deaths shock doctors as New York toll hits new high.
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New York state, epicenter of America’s coronavirus crisis, set another single-day record of COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday, as veteran doctors and nurses voiced astonishment at the speed with which patients were deteriorating and dying.
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true
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Health News
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The number of known coronavirus infections in New York state alone approached 150,000 on Wednesday, even as authorities warned that the official death tally may understate the true number because it omits those who have perished at home. “Every number is a face, “ said New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who ordered flags flown at half-staff across New York in memory of the victims. “This virus attacked the vulnerable and attacked the weak, and it’s our job as a society to protect the vulnerable.” Doctors and nurses say elderly patients and those with underlying health conditions are not the only ones who appear relatively well one moment and at death’s door the next. It happens to the young and healthy, too. Patients “look fine, feel fine, then you turn around and they’re unresponsive,” said Diana Torres, a nurse at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, the center of the nation’s worst outbreak. “I’m paranoid, scared to walk out of their room.” Nearly 430,000 cases of COVID-19, the highly infectious lung disease caused by the coronavirus, were confirmed in the United States as of Wednesday afternoon, including more than 14,700 deaths. For the second straight day the virus killed at least 1,900 in a 24-hour period. Cuomo said 779 people had died in the past day in his state. New Jersey reported 275 had died there. Both totals exceeded one-day records from just a day earlier. Despite the grim figures, Cuomo said overall trends still appeared positive. Cuomo cited a drop in new hospitalizations and other data as evidence that New York’s social-distancing restrictions were “bending the curve,” helping to gain some control over the infection rate. New York is one of 42 states where governors have issued “stay-at-home” orders and closed all non-essential workplaces. While public health experts say such measures are vital for controlling the contagion, the restrictions have strangled the U.S. economy, leading to widespread layoffs, upheavals on Wall Street and projections of a severe recession. Cuomo said the loss of life would likely continue at current levels or increase in days ahead as critically ill patients die after prolonged bouts hooked up to ventilators. U.S. deaths due to coronavirus topped 14,700 on Wednesday, the second highest reported number in the world behind Italy, according to a Reuters tally. New York state accounts for over a third of the U.S. total. Officials have warned Americans to expect alarming numbers of coronavirus deaths this week, even as an influential university model on Wednesday scaled back its projected U.S. pandemic death toll by 26% to 60,000. “We are in the midst of a week of heartache,” Vice President Mike Pence said during a White House briefing on Wednesday, but added, “we are beginning to see glimmers of hope.” Dr. Craig Smith, surgeon-in-chief at Presbyterian Hospital’s Columbia University Medical Center in Manhattan, heralded encouraging numbers that suggested a turning tide in Wednesday’s edition of his daily newsletter to staff. There were more discharges of patients than admissions for two days running, he said, adding: “Hosanna!” But that comes as cold comfort to some healthcare workers on the front lines, who told Reuters they have treated patients while experiencing symptoms of the novel coronavirus themselves without being able to get tested. In Michigan, one of the few hospital systems conducting widespread diagnostic screenings of staff, found more than 700 workers were infected - over a quarter of those tested. The continued test kit shortages - even for the workers most at risk - is “scandalous” and a serious threat to the patients they treat, said Dr. Art Caplan, a professor of bioethics at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. At the White House on Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he would like to reopen the U.S. economy with a “big bang” but not before the death toll is on the downslope. Trump did not offer a time frame, but his chief economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, said on Tuesday a resumption of commerce was possible in four to eight weeks. Louisiana is “beginning to see the flattening of the curve” with the number of new coronavirus cases reported in the past 24 hours - 746 - lower than recent days, Governor John Bel Edwards said. Louisiana had been one of the nation’s hot spots. California, like New York, had one of its highest single-day death tolls with 68 people dying of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, Governor Gavin Newsom said. The state may not see its infection curve flattening until the end of May, requiring weeks more of social distancing, officials say. New York City officials said a recent surge in people dying at home suggests the most populous U.S. city may be undercounting the loss of life. “I think that’s a very real possibility,” Cuomo told his daily news briefing. So far New York City’s announced death toll has reflected only laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 diagnoses, mostly at hospitals. At least 200 people are believed to be dying at home in the city every day during the pandemic, authorities said. Pence warned that Philadelphia and Pittsburgh were cities of “particular concern” as a possible future flash points in the epidemic.
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860
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Bulgaria to compensate owners who cull pigs to help stamp out swine fever.
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Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said the Balkan state’s government will compensate owners who voluntarily cull their domestic pigs, as the country works to stamp out an outbreak of the highly contagious African swine fever.
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true
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Health News
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Almost 130,000 pigs have been killed on six breeding farms in the Black Sea country in the past two weeks. Authorities have so far detected 30 incidents of the incurable disease, which is deadly to pigs but harmless to humans, at industrial or backyard farms. In an attempt to stop it spreading, the Agriculture Ministry has set up 20km (12.4 miles) sanitary zones around all registered industrial pig farms in the country, with officials ordering the culling of home-raised pigs in these zones. Borissov said the government would pay 300 levs ($170) to every owner who voluntarily culled their pigs, adding that 75% of the sum will be provided by the European Union. His announcement came after protests in several parts of southern Bulgaria on Friday, with hundreds resisting government orders to kill their pigs or face the animals being culled by the Food Safety Agency, saying there had been no swine fever outbreaks in their regions. “No one is pleased about this (African Swine Fever),” Borissov said late on Friday in the southern town of Pazardzhik. “It is like protesting against cancer. We managed to master it for two years, but now we are not.” Bulgaria is one of the poorest European Union member states and almost every household in rural areas keeps home-raised pigs. Industry officials fear the virus could cause damages of up to 2 billion levs ($1.1 billion). Analysts say the price of pork in the country has increased by up to 30% in less than a month because of the outbreaks and could rise by a further 15% in the autumn.
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26765
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Viral image Says a photo shows a man wearing a “government issue Saint Laurent hazardous materials suit.”
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The image was posted by a self-described parody account.
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false
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Florida, Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, Viral image,
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"The photo in a Facebook post shows someone wearing what looks like a poor-man’s Walter White Halloween costume. Between the mitts, hood jumpsuit and face mask, no bare skin is visible. ""Doctor’s Hospital of Sarasota has been notified by the National Center for DIsease Control & Public Health, Georgia (NCDC & PH) that they have a patient that has tested positive for COVID-19 (Coronavirus),"" reads the March 1 post published by an account called Sarasota County. ""Doctor’s Hospital takes the safety of their employees and caregivers very seriously and has placed the infected in isolation until they can repair the furnace in the morgue that will be used for treatment. Pictured below is our newest intern, Carlos, wearing our government issued Saint Laurent hazardous materials suit which can be purchased directly from their website or on sale from Alibaba.com with discount code ‘SRQ69’ while supplies last."" This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat news and misinformation on its News Feed, and Facebook users flagged the post as potentially news. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) The post is . It’s a bad attempt at a joke that uses real information to heighten fears about the new coronavirus. The Florida Department of Health announced on March 1 that there are two presumptive cases of COVID-19 in Florida, including one patient being treated at Doctors Hospital in Sarasota County. A letter Doctors Hospital sent to patients and staff on March 1 says that the hospital ""has been notified by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that we have a patient in our facility who presumptively tested positive for COVID-19."" There is, of course, no mention of a furnace or a morgue. The post from the page ""Sarasota County"" could easily be misinterpreted to be a real update about the situation at Doctors Hospital. And while the text is a bit odd, you’d have to visit the page’s About section to find that it’s a self-described parody account. Sarasota County’s actual Facebook page is here. But the post on parody account blends factual information with jokes that not everyone is getting, especially as the post is reshared on other Facebook pages. The ""intern"" in the photograph appears to actually be a taxi driver in Siberia who donned the protective gear to help make people laugh amid global panic over the coronavirus, the Siberian Times reported."
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21911
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Obamacare takes $500 billion out of Medicare and funds Obamacare.
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$500 billion from Medicare for Obamacare, Mitt Romney says
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mixture
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National, Health Care, Medicare, Mitt Romney,
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"Mitt Romney keeps making the case that the health care plan he put into place in Massachusetts is substantially different from the health care law signed by President Barack Obama. At a debate in New Hampshire on Monday June 13, 2011, Romney continued that theme. One difference was, he said, that his state plan didn't make any changes to Medicare, the federal health insurance program for the elderly. ""Obamacare takes $500 billion out of Medicare and funds Obamacare,"" Romney said. We've written about how the health care law affects Medicare many times, but Romney made his point in a new way, so we decided to put his statement to the Truth-O-Meter. To begin with, the Massachusetts plan and the federal plan are conceptually similar. Both leave in place the major insurance systems: employer-provided insurance, Medicare for seniors and Medicaid for the poor. They reduce the number of uninsured by expanding Medicaid and by offering tax breaks to help people with moderate incomes buy insurance. Individuals are required to have insurance or pay a penalty, a mechanism called the ""individual mandate."" And companies that don't offer insurance to employees have to pay fines, with exceptions for small business and a few other cases. Romney's point was that the Massachusetts plan didn't change Medicare, the health insurance program for people over age 65. We should note that Medicare is a federal program; states can't change it anyway. So don't give the Massachusetts plan too much credit on the point. The national health care reform law, though, made several changes to Medicare, which makes up 12 percent of the federal budget. In a few cases, the law actually increased Medicare spending to provide more benefits and coverage, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a trusted independent source that analyzes the health care system. For instance, the health care law added money to cover prevention services and to fill a gap for enrollees who purchase prescription drugs through the Medicare Part D program. (That coverage gap is sometimes called the doughnut hole). Other provisions are designed to reduce future growth in Medicare spending, to encourage the program to operate more efficiently and to improve the delivery and quality of care, in ways including reducing hospital re-admissions. The bill doesn't take money out of the current Medicare budget but, rather, attempts to slow the program's future growth, curtailing just over $500 billion in anticipated spending increases over the next 10 years. Medicare spending will still increase, however. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects Medicare spending will reach $929 billion in 2020, up from $499 billion in actual spending in 2009. So while the health care law reduces the amount of future spending growth in Medicare, the law doesn't cut Medicare. Still, where does the $500 billion in future savings come from? Nearly $220 billion comes from reducing annual increases in payments that health care providers would otherwise receive from Medicare. Other savings include $36 billion from increases in premiums for higher-income beneficiaries and $12 billion from administrative changes. A new national board will be tasked to identify $15.5 billion in savings, but the board -- the Independent Payment Advisory Board -- is prohibited from proposing anything that would ration care or reduce or modify benefits. Then there's another $136 billion in projected savings that would come from changes to the Medicare Advantage program. About 25 percent of Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan. Romney said, ""Obamacare takes $500 billion out of Medicare and funds Obamacare."" The law doesn't literally take money out of Medicare, but Romney isn't entirely wrong in his point, either. That's because in creating the law, Democrats wanted to make sure they did not increase the federal deficit. The savings from Medicare offset new spending resulting from the health care bill. The major new spending in the bill comes from tax credits to help people of modest incomes buy health insurance and from expanding Medicaid to offer coverage to the poor. The tax credits and other cost-sharing subsidies are estimated to cost $350 billion over 10 years, while the Medicaid expansion costs $434 billion, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Those two initiatives add up to more than $500 billion. So in addition to reducing Medicare spending, the law also increases Medicare taxes on the wealthy and creates new fees for the health care industry, as well as a few other things, to come up with the needed sums. Romney said, ""Obamacare takes $500 billion out of Medicare and funds Obamacare."" He's right that future savings from Medicare are planned to offset new costs created by the law. But the way he phrases it gives the impression that the law takes money that was already allocated to Medicare and funds the new health care law with it. In fact, the law uses a number of measures to try to reduce the rapid growth of future Medicare spending. Those savings are then applied to costs created by the law -- especially coverage for the uninsured -- so that the overall law doesn't add to the deficit."
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6483
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California Assembly OKs medical cannabis on K-12 campuses.
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California schools may soon allow parents to administer medical marijuana to their children on K-12 campuses.
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true
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Medication, Medical marijuana, General News, Marijuana, California, Jerry Brown, Gavin Newsom
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The California Assembly approved a bill Monday that lets school boards decide whether parents can administer medical marijuana on school campuses. It would allow the use of marijuana in non-smoking form. Current law prevents marijuana on school campuses, meaning children who use medical cannabis to treat seizures have to go off campus to get their medication. Supporters of the bill say that’s a dangerous and onerous requirement. Opponents worry about allowing the drug on campus and question whether medical marijuana regulations for children are strong enough. If it passes the Senate in a final vote it will go to Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. His predecessor, Jerry Brown, vetoed a similar proposal last year.
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11517
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3-D breast scan seen as breakthrough
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We are pleased when we see a major newspaper willing to devote 1300 words to an important story about breast cancer screening. This in-depth Philadelphia Enquirer piece about a new 3-D mammogram puts the extra column space to reasonably good use, but it could have done better. Importantly, it zeroes in on the likely benefit of the new technology — reducing false positive screens — and explains that the test will not help us solve the larger problem of determining which cancers need to be aggressively treated and which ones don’t. But there was room in this article to include some truly independent voices, which this story did not seek out. There could have been a better characterization of costs, too. We also wanted to see more detail about the harms of the new test, as well as the studies that formed the basis for the FDA approval of the device. Readers should also be informed of the expected availability of this new test, which was vaguely described. Screening for breast cancer remains an important public health issue given the prevalence of the disease and the fact that cancers detected earlier are easier to treat. The problem of false positive testing in mammography is a big one, and new technology to improve this rate will have direct patient benefit. As the story points out, the inaccuracy of 2-D mammography leads to many women undergoing follow-up X-rays and biopsies that cause significant anxiety. The new 3-D test will be valuable if it can reduce the need for that extra testing, but we should be aware that finding more cancer may mean more treatment of tumors that would never cause a problem. There is a pressing need for tests that distinguish the aggressive cancers from the slow-growing ones.
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true
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Imaging studies,Philadelphia Inquirer,Screening,women's health
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The article says that upgrading an existing 2-D system made by Hologics to 3-D can be accomplished with the purchase of $150,000 worth of software. It also quotes a company official who says the upgrade would cost about $4 more per patient compared with the existing test over 5 years. While we applaud the story’s attempt to put some kind of price tag on the new technology, we doubt that the $4 estimate represents a realistic assessment of the final cost to payers or consumers. Imaging centers will be looking to capitalize on their investment in this technology to bolster their marketing and increase profits. They likely won’t be content to simply cover the costs of the new software by raising their fees by $4 — which is what the estimate provided implies. Imaging centers will also be looking to pass along the costs of training radiologists to read the new scans. The story might have provided a more realistic figure had it asked one of the imaging center radiologists it interviewed what they plan to charge for the new tests compared with the old ones. Also, what does a 2-D test cost now? Mixed bag here. The story says that the cancer detection rate with the addition of 3-D imaging was “a bit better” than with 2-D alone. Numbers should have been provided. The story also describes the benefits observed in one study as similar to findings from “university studies,” a confusing reference since these “university” studies are not mentioned anywhere else in the story, and it’s not clear what the writer is talking about. On the plus side, the story says the major benefit of the new test is its ability to reduce false-positive tests, which lead to additional testing and biopsies and which cause a lot of unnecessary anxiety. The story puts a number on this benefit when it says the new test “could cut the false-positive recall rate by more than a third – so five or six women [out of a hundred] would be unnecessarily freaked out instead of nine.” Since the story came through on this where it counted most — the absolute reduction in false positives — we’ll give the benefit of the doubt and award a satisfactory. The story mentions that women will endure double the radiation they would experience with a single 2-D mammogram because they have to be X-rayed twice, but it dismisses the potential harm from this by saying the dose will still be below the FDA limit. We think that’s inadequate considering some evidence that high-risk women may increase their risk of getting cancer because of frequent mammograms. The story also doesn’t really give readers the full picture on the overdiagnosis problem and how the new technology might exacerbate it. With a more accurate test, it is conceivable that doctors will now be able to find even more small tumors than they could before, leading to treatment of more tumors that never would have spread or caused a problem. This means more unnecessary surgeries, chemotherapy, and other very invasive tests and treatments. The article makes it clear that the 3-D test is only approved for use in conjunction with a traditional mammogram, which picks up milk duct cancers that might be missed by 3-D scans. So the net effect seems likely to be an overall increase in cancer detection, which will probably worsen — not help with — our current problems with overdiagnosis. This story went to considerable lengths (about 1,300 words) to provide readers with an in-depth view of the issue. The result is an informative but uneven look at the problems with current mammography and the implications of the new technology. Our wish list for this story includes more details about the studies that were the basis for FDA approval.The story says adding the 3-D technology improved accuracy compared with a standard 2-D mammogram, but we never learn important information that might tell us how strong the data are and how broadly they can be applied outside of the study. How many women were included in the studies? How old were the women? Did they represent groups that may have trouble getting an accurate reading — such as obese women or women with dense breast tissue? Still, the fact that the new device was approved by the FDA provides considerable assurance regarding the quality of the evidence. And the story does do a good job of putting the technology in the appropriate context considering current controversies about breast cancer screening — arguably the more important task here. Examples: We think the strength of the story’s larger perspective makes up for the deficiencies in its coverage of the individual studies, so we’ll award a satisfactory. The story does contain some questionable assertions. For example, it states that digital mammography is an unequivocal “leap forward,” even though expert groups say there isn’t enough evidence to determine whether its benefits outweigh the harms. Still, we don’t think it crossed the line. The story does a nice job of stating the number of cases of breast cancer per 100,000. The story overall is well balanced and does not cheerlead for early detection, which is a problem in some screening stories. Many different sources are interviewed and they offer a variety of perspectives on the technology. But just about everybody quoted in the story seems to have some kind of intellectual or financial stake in this 3-D technology, and this might have biased the story. We hear from many different radiologists and other researchers who have helped develop the technology or are adopting it for clinical use. And it seems that one of the experts quoted in the story — Yuri Parisky, MD, who is identified as the vice president of the National Consortium of Breast Centers — has a relationship with Hologics Corporation that should have been disclosed. (According to this disclosure statement, he is or has been a member of the company’s scientific advisory board.) There was certainly room to include the perspective of a truly disinterested breast cancer screening researcher or a practicing breast radiologist, which would have been helpful. The main objective of the story is to compare the new technology with current mammography. It does this well enough to earn a satisfactory. The article states that the new imaging system was just recently approved by the FDA for use in the United States, and that it is already in use in some other countries. It also notes that several hundred U.S. imaging centers could be upgraded to the new technology, and that the manufacturer is seeking insurance coverage for the test. Readers can deduce from this that the technology is not yet widely available and probably won’t be covered by insurance. The story could have stated more directly that it is not clear when this test will be widely available to the public (or estimated when it will be available). Also, it could have clarified whether patients need to ask for the test or if it is expected to become the new standard. The story describes what is new about the test: it provides spatial detail similar to a CT scan with a smaller radiation dose. Although the machine described in the story is the first to be approved by the FDA, the story notes that other manufacturers are racing to develop their own systems. This story wasn’t based on a news release.
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4804
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Illinois, Chicago receive $38M to fight opioid epidemic.
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Illinois and the city of Chicago are receiving nearly $38 million in federal grants to fight the opioid epidemic.
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true
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Opioids, Chicago, Epidemics, General News, Illinois, Health, Public health, Tammy Duckworth
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Sen. Dick Durbin says the money will address “one of the worst drug epidemics in our history.” He says the money will help those on the front lines of battling addiction and overdose in Illinois communities. Durbin and Sen. Tammy Duckworth say the Health and Human Services Department is providing the state $29 million. The Centers for Disease Control is giving the Illinois Department of Public Health more than $5.6 million and Chicago’s Public Health Department $3.3 million. Duckworth says “the opioid epidemic has taken far too many lives, and resolving this crisis requires a comprehensive effort from officials at every level of government as well as from local organizations.”
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3121
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Prince William starts mental-health campaign for soccer fans.
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Prince William has launched a campaign to get more soccer fans, particularly male, talking about mental health.
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true
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Mental health, Soccer, Health, Sports - Europe, Sports, Prince William
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The “Heads Up” initiative is a partnership between the English Football Association and Heads Together, the campaign spearheaded by William’s Royal Foundation. Speaking at Wembley Stadium, William says men find it difficult to talk about their mental fitness because “emotions, feelings, are kind of like a bit alien over here.” William, who is president of the FA, called the silence around men’s mental health a “crisis” and encouraged soccer fans to ask about their friends as they would if they had “broke an arm or an ankle.” William and his wife, Kate, have lobbied for better treatment of mental-health issues. ___ More AP English soccer: https://apnews.com/PremierLeague and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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35487
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Dawn dish soap contains ammonia even though it's not listed as an ingredient, and when mixed with Clorox bleach products, the results could be lethal.
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What's true: When bleach and ammonia mix, a toxic gas called chloramine is released into the air and can cause potentially fatal issues. What's false: However, Dawn dish soap products do not contain ammonia.
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mixture
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Science
|
In June 2020, Snopes received numerous inquires from readers wondering if mixing Dawn dish soap with Clorox bleach products during household cleaning sprees could emit a toxic gas that would kill them. The question largely seemed to stem from social media posts and blog entries suggesting that that brand of dish soap contained ammonia and, when mixed with bleach, could create hazardous fumes. One Michigan-based DIY lifestyle blogger wrote: Last week I was researching some unexpected homemade stain removers and that got me thinking about another homemade laundry product – my homemade no-grate laundry soap made with Dawn dish soap. …BUT – not that long ago when I looked at the back of the bottle of Dawn dish soap I spotted these tiny words: “Do Not Add Bleach”. .. Apparently the warnings found on some dish soaps that you should not add bleach stems from this potential chemical reaction [of ammonia and bleach]. Upon our analysis of similar blog entries and posts, we determined the most popular claim to be this: Dawn dish soap contains ammonia even though it’s not listed as an ingredient, and when mixed with Clorox bleach products, the results could be lethal. Firstly, to investigate the assertion, let this be known: ammonia, a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen (NH₃), is a colorless gas with a distinct, suffocating odor. It dissolves easily in water to create ammonium hydroxide, which is commonly used in low concentration to make a variety of household and industrial-strength cleaning products, specifically some glass and window cleaners. Sodium hypochlorite is the active ingredient in chlorine bleach and is similarly diluted and mixed with other ingredients to make several household disinfectants, including many Clorox products for stain and soil cleaning. And when bleach is mixed with ammonia, yes, a toxic gas called chloramine is released into the air and can cause the following symptoms for people who breathe it in, according to the Washington State Department of Health: And in high concentrations, the gas can force people into comas or be deadly. Clorox states on its website: Bleach and ammonia should NEVER be mixed since when the two combine, toxic gas is formed that could be fatal. And it’s not just ammonia or products containing ammonia (like window cleaner) that can be a problem. Therefore, as a general rule, bleach should not be mixed with other household cleaners such as toilet bowl cleaners, rust removers, and acids (vinegar, for example) since toxic gas can also form. (If you do accidentally mix bleach and ammonia and feel one or more of the above-listed symptoms, immediately leave the contaminated area and call 911 or the American Association of Poison Control Centers 1-800-222-1222.) Now, we move on to the part of the claim regarding the composition and ingredient lists for Dawn dish soap. To determine whether the soaps contain ammonia and, therefore, should not be mixed with Clorox bleach products, we reviewed dozens of Safety Data Sheets — which outline product ingredient information as part of the United Nation’s system for classifying and labeling chemicals — for the following types of soap: Dawn Ultra Lemon, Ultra Dawn Original, Ultra Dawn Peach Sunrise, Dawn Ultra Plus Heavy Duty, Dawn Simply Clean Original, Dawn Ultra Berry Time Blast, Dawn Original Non-Concentrated, Dawn Ultra Plus Advanced Power, Dawn Ultra Botanicals Lavender, Ultra Dawn Free and Gentle, Dawn Simply Clean Apple Blossom, Dawn Ultra Antibacterial Orange, Dawn Ultra Pomegranate Awakening, Dawn Ultra Apple Orchard Harvest, Dawn Ultra Botanicals Aloe Water, Dawn Professional Dish Detergent, Ultra Dawn Platinum Vibrant Fresh, Ultra Dawn Platinum Advanced Power, Dawn Apple Blossom Non-Concentrated, Ultra Dawn Platinum Advanced Power, Dawn Pure Essentials Lavender Wisp, Dawn Pure Essentials Lemon Essence, Ultra Dawn Platinum Refreshing Rain, Dawn Simply Clean Summertime Showers, Dawn Ultra Botanicals Cherry Blossom, Ultra Dawn Escapes Malibu Sunrise, Ultra Dawn Escapes Fuji Cherry Blossom, Dawn Ultra Antibacterial Apple Blossom, Dawn Pure Essentials Lavender Wisp, Dawn Summertime Showers Non-Concentrated, Ultra Dawn Escapes Thai Dragonfruit, Ultra Dawn Escapes Caribbean Breeze, Dawn Platinum Erasing Foam Fresh Rapids, Dawn Ultra Botanicals Hawaiian Pineapple, Dawn Powerwash Dish Spray – Apple, Dawn Ultra Power Dissolver, Dawn Ultra Gentle Clean Peach and Almond, Ultra Dawn Antibacterial Hand Soap Orange, Ultra Dawn Escapes Hawaiian Pineapple, Dawn Ultra Botanicals New Zealand Springs, Ultra Dawn Pure Essentials Sparkling Mist, Dawn Ultra Botanicals Fuji Cherry Blossom, Dawn Ultra Gentle Clean Pomegranate Splash, Ultra Dawn Hand Renewal Cucumber and Melon, Ultra Dawn Escapes New Zealand Springs, Ultra Dawn Platinum Oxi Invigorating Berry, Dawn Ultra Plus Power Clean Refreshing Rain, Dawn Platinum Dishwashing Foam Fresh Rapids, Dawn Ultra Gentle Clean Green Tea and Honey, Dawn Ultra Botanicals Mediterranean Lavender, Dawn Ultra Total Clean – Pomegranate Awakening, Dawn Ultra Platinum Stainfighter Lemon Burst, Ultra Dawn Escapes Mediterranean Lavender, Bounty with Dawn, Dawn Platinum Powerwash Dish Spray Apple Scent, Dawn Platinum Powerwash Dish Spray Fresh Scent, Dawn Platinum Powerwash Dish Spray Citrus Scent, Ultra Dawn Antibacterial Hand Soap Apple Blossom, Cascade Advanced Power Dishwasher Powder with Dawn, Dawn Ultra Gentle Clean Pomegranate And Rose Water, Ultra Dawn Platinum Bleach Alternative Morning Mist, Dawn Hand Renewal with Olay Cool Springs, Dawn Hand Renewal with Olay Refreshing Mint, Dawn Ultra Plus Hand Renewal Waterfall Mist, Dawn Professional Multi-Surface Heavy Duty Degreaser Concentrate, Mr. Clean Liquid Muscle Multi-Purpose Cleaner with the Power of Dawn, Dawn Professional Manual Pot and Pan Detergent Lemon Scent – Concentrate, Dawn Wash Away Bacteria Dishwashing Liquid Hand Soap Lemon, Dawn Platinum Bleach Alternative Dishwashing Liquid Fresh Rapids, and Dawn Platinum Bleach Stain Fighter Dishwashing Liquid, Lemon Burst
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1426
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Zika alarm sparks run on supply of scientific virus samples.
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Porton Down, the British government center famous for its Cold War germ warfare research, said on Wednesday it was working hard to keep up with demand for Zika virus samples as scientists around the world scramble for them.
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true
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Health News
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The National Collection of Pathogenic Viruses (NCPV) is one of a handful of centers worldwide that make viruses available to authorized scientists - and not all of them have managed to satisfy their customers. The non-profit ATCC in Virginia, for example, says on its website that Zika virus is currently on backorder pending production of a new lot, following recent high demand. Until recently Zika was a virological oddity of no obvious public health concern and little scientific interest, but its suspected connection to birth defects in Brazil has sparked unprecedented demand from research groups. The NCPV said it had been monitoring the developing epidemic in Brazil during 2015 to ensure stocks remained available and it was now responding to numerous supply enquiries every day. “We are continuing to monitor the situation and will restock as necessary, in response to this sudden spike in research demand,” a spokeswoman said on Wednesday. The center supplies frozen cultures of Zika and RNA extracted from the virus to research laboratories across the world, provided they meet stringent biosafety containment standards. An ampoule of Zika virus costs 334.75 pounds ($484.72), while virus RNA is priced at 384.75, according to the NCPV website. ($1 = 0.6906 pounds)
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28512
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We investigate an assortment of claims about the 2017 tax bill and its provisions.
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According to projections by Congress’s own Joint Committee on Taxation, the Tax Cut and Jobs Act (specifically, the Senate version) would indeed add more than $1 trillion in deficits over the next 10 years — even after economic growth is taken into account. This would mean, among other things, that substantial spending cuts would be required to keep the deficit under control. The estimate may change after the House and Senate bills have been reconciled into a single piece of legislation.
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mixture
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Politics Legal, 2017 tax bill, tax bill, topic roundup
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This is a developing story. In the early morning hours of 2 December 2017, the Senate passed a sweeping tax bill that had been edited in private by Republican legislators and included hand-written notes in the margins. The secretive and controversial nature of the bill generated a significant amount of questions and confusion, as did the House’s draft version of the bill — which still must be reconciled with the Senate version before it becomes law. The Senate published the almost 500-page text of the bill, officially titled the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, on 5 December. Its controversial nature was illustrated by the dueling hashtags #taxreform and #TaxScamBill, and, as is often the case in scenarios involving a deep partisan divide, the late-night passage of the bill and social media debate about it led to a number of rumors, Facebook forwards, and other claims of sometimes questionable veracity. Here are some of those questions, answered: Does the tax plan eliminate deductions for losses from wildfires, other natural disasters? The House version of the bill would entirely eliminate personal casualty loss deductions for uninsured losses from natural disasters, while the Senate version would allow them, but only in cases of “federally declared disasters.” The change would not take effect until 2018, however, which means victims of the 2017 California wildfires would still be able to deduct qualified losses. Would the tax plan count graduate tuition waivers as taxable income? The version of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act introduced in the House did strike down existing law that exempts tuition waivers from taxable income. However, the final version of the bill passed by the Senate removes this provision entirely, leaving graduate school tuition waivers untaxed. Does the tax plan cut cancer treatments for Medicare patients? While the bill does not mention Medicare specifically, critics said that the consequences of its passing would trigger cuts that would curtail patients’ access to health care and eliminate medical deductions they would normally count on while seeking treatment, hitting cancer patients especially hard. But Republican leadership insists that they would safeguard the program if the bill passes. Would the tax plan make employee discounts taxable income? The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would remove the exemption for some employee fringe benefits, like reimbursements that employees get from their companies when they move for a job. However, employee discounts, where employees get discounts on products or services sold by their employer, remain untaxed income both in the draft versions and the bill the Senate passed on 2 December. Would the tax bill grant “personhood” to fetuses? Both the House and Senate version of the 2017 GOP tax bill include legislation that allows unborn children to be listed as beneficiaries on 529 college tuition savings accounts, a move many have described attempt to create a legal precedent for fetal personhood. The draft bills did not make explicit the goal of creating a legal precedent for fetal personhood, but implicitly did so through otherwise unnecessary regulation. However, that provision was dropped from the version of the bill passed by the Senate on 2 December, but is still in the House version of the bill as of 5 December. Does the bill include a tax cut for private jet owners? The Senate version of the 2017 GOP tax plan, but not the House version, included a provision codifying what had previously been a legally uncertain question in the tax code — whether the companies that maintain and staff private jets on behalf of a plane’s private owner must collect a ticket tax when owners or other passengers use the plane. The provision makes it clear they are not subject to this tax. While not literally a tax cut or deduction explicitly given to private-jet owners, it has the effect of reducing the tax burden of private-jet passengers relative to the commercial airline flying public. Does the tax plan eliminate small business deductions? Despite Internet rumors to the contrary, the bill would not eliminate business expense deductions for self-employed people and small business owners. It would, however, do away with itemized deductions of work-related expenses by employees. Would the tax bill allow religious institutions to endorse political candidates? The draft House version of the tax bill contains a provision repealing the federal law (known as the Johnson Amendment) that bars religious institutions from endorsing political campaigns or candidates. However, that provision does not appear in the Senate version of the bill. Does the tax plan double the child tax credit from $1,000 to $2,000? The House version of the tax overhaul plan calls for increasing the maximum child tax credit from $1,000 to $1,600 per child; the Senate version would increase it to $2,000 per child. These changes would disproportionately benefit higher-income families, however, because the child tax credit is only “partially refundable” and limited to no more than 15 percent of a family’s earnings over $3,000. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), the poorest American children only qualify for a very small child tax credit, if any at all. Does the tax plan double the standard deduction for individuals and married couples? The bill increases the standard deduction from $6,350 to $12,000 for individuals and from $12,700 to $24,000 for married couples — a key component of the legislation, and one often touted by President Trump and Republican leaders in Congress. However, while some people stand to benefit, it won’t be a windfall for everyone because other deductions would be done away with — the personal exemptions for individual taxpayers and qualifying dependents ($4,050 per person), for example. The Los Angeles Times published an analysis of the tax bill’s give-and-take surrounding the standard deduction. Is there a provision in the tax bill allowing oil drilling in Alaska’s arctic wildlife preserve? A proposal on page 461 of the 466-page Senate version of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would, in fact, “establish and administer a competitive oil and gas program” at the northernmost tip of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on Alaska’s North Slope. Environmental groups strongly objected to the provision, which has no evident connection to tax reform. Would the tax bill increase taxes on 87 million families? The sources citing this figure — including The Atlantic and The Center for American Progress — calculated it using a spreadsheet prepared by the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank associated with The Brookings Institution. The Tax Policy Center based the spreadsheet on their analysis of major provisions in the Senate bill. However, the statement doesn’t represent the whole story. Stated more exactly, 87 million households with incomes under $200,000 a year will see their tax burdens increase by 2027. Adding in taxpayers at the highest income levels, that number swells to just short of 94 million (50.3 percent of taxpayers) who will experience a tax increase by 2027. However, that’s principally because the bill stipulates that the tax cuts on individuals will expire after 2025. Will the tax plan add $1 trillion to the federal deficit?
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8585
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Ireland likely to extend shutdown as coronavirus toll rises.
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Ireland’s chief medical officer said on Tuesday he did not expect to be able to recommend a lifting of severe restrictions on economic activity and the movement of people by April 12 amid a spike in the death toll from COVID-19.
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true
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Health News
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“At this moment in time, we are not anticipating a recommendation later in the week that we should lift the measures that are in place,” Dr Tony Holohan of the Department of Health told a news briefing on Tuesday. On March 28, Ireland’s prime minister ordered citizens to stay home until April 12 to help slow the spread of the highly contagious new coronavirus, telling them they could only leave to shop for groceries, for brief individual physical exercise or to make absolutely essential family visits. Holohan said it was important to give the measures time to work and he wanted to “see the full benefit of the measures that were put in place...the Friday measures that really restricted the amount of movement in the population.” Ireland reported 36 deaths from COVID-19 infections on Tuesday, the highest number of deaths in a single day since the outbreak began, which brought the total to 210. There were an additional 345 confirmed infections for a total of 5,709.
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11530
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Surgery improves survival rates for men with prostate cancer if radiation treatments fail
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This news release from the University of Missouri Medical School summarizes an observational study of 364 men with re-occurring prostate cancer after radiation who had a complex surgery involving complete removal of their prostate and surrounding tissue. The news release noted that the majority of men were still alive 10 and 20 years after the surgery, called “salvage” prostatectomy. We found this news release missed some criteria we find important such as cost and harms. It reported that surgery-after-radiation increased a man’s chances of survival but the news release provides no support for that claim–and neither does the study. In addition, we looked for data on cancer-specific survival, which presumably is the point of providing a second cancer treatment, but found none. Men with prostate cancer face a bewildering range of choices in treatment, and not much clear advice on the best course. Medicine has not discovered a foolproof way to predict whether a man’s cancer is mild, moderate or aggressive. This new study suggests that some patients who avoid surgery and choose radiation first but then suffer a recurrence of cancer may benefit from salvage prostatectomy after radiation.
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false
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Academic medical center news release,Prostate cancer,University news release
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The news release does not mention costs. The news release adequately quantifies the benefits with this statement: “Using the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program database, Pokala and his research team studied 364 patients who underwent a salvage radical prostatectomy surgery after unsuccessful radiation treatments. Looking at survival rates, the researchers found that 88.6 percent of men were still alive 10 years later and 72.7 percent of men were still alive 20 years later.” It would have been beneficial to readers if the release had also included cancer-specific survival. Without a comparison group, it’s hard to draw any conclusions about the benefit of this approach. Even if there was a comparison, it’s also hard to draw conclusions from observational data. While they could report how many patients were alive at the end of the study period only a relatively small proportion of the patients would have been followed for the 20 years so it would be hard to interpret. The news release does not mention or explain any harms that might be associated with these surgeries. This strikes us as especially disappointing because some of the side effects of surgery are known to influence patient decisions about treatment. The two side effects that get the most attention are incontinence and impotence. The researcher is quoted acknowledging the fear that patients have, but does not offer any measures for post-surgical outcomes related to quality of life. We found that disappointing. “Because radical prostatectomy is a complex surgery, there can be a reluctance to undergo the procedure,” Pokala said. “However, this study shows that it is a viable treatment option. This can bring a renewed hope and peace of mind to men living with prostate cancer.” Harms for either surgery or radiation alone such as urinary, bowel, and sexual dysfunction, can adversely affect quality of life. The literature suggests that salvage prostatectomy can cause even more worrisome complications such as damage to pelvic structures, blood clots, and bleeding. Unfortunately, these data are not available in the SEER database so the authors could not assess–an important limitation of the study. There are several limitations on the evidence and that carries over to the news release. First, this release is focused on a study that relied on observational data as opposed to a randomized controlled trial so it is inappropriate to use cause -effect statements such as “improves survival.” In addition, subjects included in the analysis had undergone salvage treatments between 1988 and 2010. The problem with this is that radiation technologies have changed a lot since then. Today physicians are able to order higher radiation doses with fewer complications — and studies have shown that men with high-risk cancers should receive hormone therapy in addition to radiation (and the authors cited lack of data on hormone therapy as a limitation of their analyses). Surgical techniques have also changed — most procedures are now being performed laparoscopically with robots. Basically, we don’t know how applicable the results are for a man facing a treatment decision in 2016. There was no disease mongering. There’s no mention of who funded the study or if there were potential conflicts of interest in the release. The journal article stated there were no conflicts of interest. The release did not include information on what alternatives patients may have chosen who suffered recurrence after radiation, but did not elect to have the prostatectomy. However, we’ll give them the benefit of a doubt since there are no clinical trials comparing options such as cryotherapy, surgery and brachytherapy. Data analyzed in the release relates to surgeries performed between 1988 and 2010 at many different institutions so we assume it is widely available. The release doesn’t make any claim to novelty and that’s appropriate because it’s understood that the surgery in question has been performed since at least 1988. The news release did not use unjustifiable language.
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27059
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Properties owned by Jared Kushner in the Baltimore area have accrued multiple building code violations for rodent infestation.
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“We pride ourselves on our level of customer service to our residents and take any violation seriously, as evidenced by our very low number of violations today. As it relates to the allegations of withholding rent payments, we have no knowledge of any such actions taken by HUD or other any other governmental agencies.”
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true
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Politics
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U.S. President Donald Trump prompted an outraged response in July 2019 when he launched an attack on the congressional district of Baltimore-based Democratic U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings. The latter is a political opponent of Trump who, in his role as chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, has endeavored to hold the president to scrutiny. On July 27, Trump launched a Twitter tirade against Cummings, calling him a “brutal bully,” before claiming that living conditions in the city of Baltimore and the 7th Congressional District of Maryland were worse than those endured by migrants in detention along the U.S. border with Mexico. Trump wrote: “Cumming [sic] District is a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess. If he spent more time in Baltimore, maybe he could help clean up this very dangerous & filthy place.” Trump’s attack on Cummings, who is black, and his demeaning descriptions of the majority-black city of Baltimore prompted a wave of criticism, much of which accused the president of racism. The editorial board of the Baltimore Sun newspaper published a stinging response to Trump’s words, calling him “the most dishonest man to ever occupy the Oval Office” and writing: “Better to have some vermin living in your neighborhood than to be one.” In the days following this controversy, some news reports also alluded to a potential measure of irony in Trump’s description of Baltimore as “rat and rodent infested,” claiming that the president’s adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, owns multiple properties in that city, some of which have been found to have violated building code regulations in recent years, especially with regard to rodent and other infestations. On July 28, Newsweek published an article with the headline “Trump’s Son-in-Law Jared Kushner Owns Baltimore Area Housing Projects That Have Racked Up Hundreds of Building Code Violations,” which reported that: President Donald Trump spent much of his weekend attacking Baltimore and Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings whose district includes much of the Baltimore metropolis. The president called the area “a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess” where “no human being would want to live.” What Trump failed to mention was that his son-in-law Jared Kushner actually owns a number of nearby housing projects that have racked up hundreds of building violations. Kushner, who is a senior White House adviser and maintains ownership of these properties despite his administration role, was reported to have racked up more than 200 code violations for apartments his company owned back in November 2017, according to then Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz. Kushner Cos., Trump’s son-in-law’s company, accrued all those violations in that calendar year and only made repairs after the county threatened to impose fines and to withhold Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) payments for the low income properties. We received multiple inquiries from readers about the veracity of reports such as that one, which claimed that Kushner-owned properties in the Baltimore area had accrued multiple building code violations since 2017, in particular relating to rodent infestation. Based on figures previously published by Baltimore County officials and provided to Snopes, such claims were accurate. Furthermore, our in-depth analysis of more than 150 individual complaints discovered multiple instances in which residents at Kushner-owned properties reported rodent and rat infestations, and several cases where county officials issued warning letters to the company, forcing it to address such infestations. According to his 2017 financial disclosure, Jared Kushner was the CEO of Kushner Companies LLC (Kushner Cos.) from 2008 until he assumed his White House role in January 2017. He has kept an ownership interest in Westminster Management LLC, a subsidiary of Kushner Cos., and received a combined income of almost $3 million from its operations in 2017 and 2018. Westminster Management oversees dozens of apartment complexes in New York, New Jersey, Virginia and Maryland, among them several properties in Baltimore County. (For brevity, this article will refer to Westminster Management as “Westminster,” not to be confused with “Westminster City Living,” a different Kushner Cos. subsidiary). In August 2017, the Sun discovered that Westminster had been relatively prolific in its use of an aggressive debt-collection tactic called civil arrest, which involves suing tenants and asking a judge to have them physically detained if they don’t appear at court hearings, as opposed to the more conventional use of private debt-collection agencies. And in May 2017, the New York Times and ProPublica documented these and other similar alleged sharp practices on the part of Westminster. On the basis of these news reports, a group of Maryland Democratic lawmakers, including Cummings, wrote to Kushner Cos. in August 2017, seeking clarification on whether its practices were in keeping with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) rules governing property owners who, like Westminster, receive federal funding to defray the cost of housing tenants whose rent is subsidized. In September that year, the Sun reported that Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh had commenced an investigation into Westminster’s practices, after tenants at the Kushner Cos. subsidiary’s Baltimore-area apartments sued the company for allegedly charging improper fees amid disputes over lease terminations. In a statement provided to the Sun at that time, a Kushner Cos. spokesperson said: “We are in compliance with all state and local laws.” This prompted a detailed rebuttal from Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, who noted in a news release that: “Contrary to the assertions of the Kushner Cos. that they are in compliance with local laws, our inspectors identified and cited more than 200 code violations in properties owned by Jared Kushner.” The release read: “Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz has revealed the existence of more than 200 code violations in apartments owned by the Kushner Cos. in Baltimore County, all accrued in the current calendar year. After threatening to withhold HUD rental payments and levy fines, necessary repairs were made in all but nine properties. Those nine unrepaired properties resulted in withholding of HUD rental payments and issuance of $3,500 in County fines.” That intervention by Kamenetz formed the basis of Newsweek’s July 2019 report, and after Trump’s attack on the region, Kamenetz’s successor as Baltimore County Executive, Johnny Olszewski, also got involved, telling the Sun: “There’s a certain irony in hearing the president attacking a city and region when his own son-in-law was directly involved and his company was directly involved in creating the conditions where that quality of life was threatened.” In response to our inquiries, a spokesperson for Baltimore County provided further details that supported the claim that Kushner-owned properties in the Baltimore region had accrued multiple building code violations. Since the November 2017 news release, the spokesperson told us, county officials had received “164 complaints resulting in 56 Correction Notices and Citations proposing $13,200 in fines. Six were Citations, approximately $2,000 in fine were levied.” The spokesperson added that, “They were all liveability issues such as mold, insect infestations, mice, rats, window or door leaks, inadequate air conditioning or heat, etc. …” Some 699 Kushner-owned and HUD-supported units passed annual code inspections, but 200 failed them. In July 2019, an Associated Press report highlighted individual cases of rodent infestation at Kushner-owned properties in the Baltimore area, prompting further inquiries from Snopes readers. Our examination of more than 150 resident complaints in recent years showed that such disturbing instances were far from isolated. We found dozens of complaints that reported “infestations” of rats, mice, bugs, fleas, bed bugs, gnats, maggots, vermin or roaches. In one 2015 case, a Baltimore County inspector issued a strongly worded correction notice to Westminster, warning of fines if the company did not rectify a building-wide “rodent infestation” within seven days. The inspector reported: “Improper disposal of trash, animal feces, debris, and junk contribute to the harborage of rodents in the community. Piles of animal feces must be removed immediately after discharge. Animal feces found in several lawns throughout the community. The Correction Notice applies to the entire Highland Village Townhome community…Our office has received numerous complaints of rodent infestation in the community. These above violations contribute to problem.” At the same apartment complex, located in Lansdowne, four miles southwest of Baltimore, Westminster failed to address another infestation of mice and rats just five months later, and the County fined the company $1,000. In other instances at Kushner-owned apartment complexes, tenants complained of bed bug infestations, black mold, gnat infestations, mold spores, among many other problems. In a statement, Kushner Cos. Chief Operating Officer Peter Febo told us: “In the normal course of operations, as with all landlords in the [Maryland] area, the county and city inspectors stop by to investigate potential complaints from our residents. Upon notification of any violation, we take immediate action to remedy the issue and file the necessary paperwork in order to clear the violation.
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7910
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Amazon teams up with Bill Gates-backed group to deliver coronavirus test kits.
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Amazon.com Inc is teaming up with a research program funded by Bill Gates to pick up and deliver coronavirus test kits in Seattle, the e-commerce giant said on Monday.
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true
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Health News
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The Seattle Coronavirus Assessment Network, a group of medical, public health and research organizations, is collecting nasal swabs from a sample of people across King County and Seattle to learn how the infection is spreading in the areas. King County, part of Washington state, is one of the worst hit places by the outbreak in the United States. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday reported 33,453 cases of coronavirus in the country, an increase of 18,185 cases from its previous count, and said the death toll had risen by 199 to 400. Amazon Care, the e-commerce giant’s arm that provide medical care to employees, along with other delivery partners will provide infrastructure and logistics services to the effort, according to SCAN’s website. United Parcel Service and FedEx have arms that specialize in such shipments, which require special handling including temperature controls. It was not immediately clear whether UPS and FedEx were part of the effort. CNBC first reported about the move, which Amazon said is limited to Amazon Care and does not involve its broader delivery network.
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16114
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Fluoride in the water, that was originally done by the Nazis!
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"Ventura said, ""Fluoride in the water, that was originally done by the Nazis!"" Two book authors who researched the topic, one a journalist, the other a hydrologist, found no credible evidence of such a connection. A leading anti-fluoridation activist repudiates the story. The most commonly cited Web source for the story was a 16-year-old extract in a fringe Australian publication. And a Holocaust historian we contacted knew of no such project. Editor's note: This report initially referred to Ventura as a Navy SEAL, something he includes on his ora.tv biography. Readers later pointed out that there’s been a long-running debate on whether Ventura is justified in calling himself a SEAL. For more on his military background, see this story."
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false
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Corrections and Updates, History, Public Health, Science, Water, PunditFact, Jesse Ventura,
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"Were Nazis the first to put fluoride in the water? In a recent interview with Salon.com, Jesse Ventura -- whose varied career has included stints as a professional wrestler, governor of Minnesota, and talk show host -- brought up a topic that’s often been raised by conspiracy theorists. At one point during the interview, Salon asked whether he worries about ""the U.S. becoming a fascist state."" Here’s what Ventura said: ""I worry about it tremendously. We’re forever incorporating Nazi things into our lives. Fluoride in the water, that was originally done by the Nazis! I don’t particularly like anything the Nazis did too much, and they were the first ones to put fluoride in the water. They tell us, ‘Oh, it’s for your teeth’ and all that — well, isn’t that your parents’ job, to teach you how to brush your teeth and use mouthwash? Why do you need the government putting some type of chemical in your water? I don’t know if you know this [but] fluoride is the main component of Prozac! What you’ve got is people drinking Prozac-water. Well, what does Prozac do to you? It calms you and dumbs you down so you’re less emotional. There’s a reason for all that stuff; what do we need fluoride in our water for? There’s no reason whatsoever to put chemicals in our water."" Ventura’s answer offers us a lot to analyze, but one of his claims -- that ""fluoride in the water ... was originally done by the Nazis"" -- stood out out to us because PolitiFact Florida debunked this precise claim in 2011. Nazis, who killed millions of Jews in the 1930s and 1940s, were known for chemical tests and inhumane medical experiments. Far be it from us to defend them, even in a minor way. But after tracking down the roots of claims about fluoride on the Web, reaching out to Holocaust historians, contacting well-known critics of water fluoridation, and reading book excerpts, magazine articles, and news stories, we concluded that there's no teeth to this claim. With a national celebrity now making the claim, we decided to put it in the spotlight again. Ventura, through a publicist, said he doesn't remember the exact source of the claim but added that he found out about it when he did a show on water conspiracies for his show on the TruTV network. He provided a link to an article on prisonplanet.com, a site run by Alex Jones, a broadcaster who describes himself as a ""prominent figure of the 9/11 Truth Movement."" ""If those facts are false, then the information we received when doing research for the water conspiracy episode was wrong,"" Ventura told PolitiFact in an email. ""Regardless of if the Nazis did it or not, I don't think we should have it in our water. You don't need the government putting chemicals in the water. It's your responsibility to brush your teeth and use mouthwash. I haven't had a house yet with fluoridated water."" (He’s only used well water.) If you’re interested in reading a critique of Ventura’s claim that ""fluoride is the main component of Prozac,"" here’s one by the American Academy of Pediatrics. For this fact-check, though, we’ll stick to the claim about the Nazis. *** We’ll begin by noting that this fact-check won't explore the pros and cons of fluoride in your drinking water. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls the practice one of the greatest public health achievements of the century; at the same time, groups of citizens, scientists among them, have been wary of the practice since the 1950s. When we originally fact-checked this claim, we contacted historian Patricia Heberer-Rice of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, whose expertise is the German medical community, including Holocaust-era experimentation. Most Nazi medical experiments, she told us, had two themes: new drugs and treatments for common battlefield ailments, from war wounds to typhus, and the more infamous effort to underpin Nazi racial ideas, such as Josef Mengele's twin studies. None of the experimentation that she knows of involved fluoride, either for mind control or for healthy teeth. Meanwhile, in the concentration camp system, as in the ghettos, it would have been surprising if fluoride delivery was a focus — in the final few days before liberation, water lines scarcely delivered water. So, would water have been treated just for the Jews? ""I can't see it,"" she said. But she had heard a similar Cold War-era theory. It wasn't about the Nazis fluoridating water. It was the Communists. We re-connected with Heberer-Rice for this fact-check, and she told us that no additional evidence supporting Ventura’s claim had emerged in the three years since our last fact-check. ""The first mass fluoridation of drinking water was carried out by the U.S. Public Health Service on a trial basis in certain regions of this country in 1945, with its rapid extension in 1950,"" she said. ""The first interest of German scientists in this approach was in 1949"" -- that is, years after the Nazis had been deposed. *** Still, do an Internet search for ""fluoride"" and ""Nazis,"" and you'll find articles such as ""Nazi Connections to Fluoride in America's Drinking Water."" The text appears on various sites, and includes the citations ""Stephen 1995,"" and ""Bryson 2004."" ""Stephen 1995"" is presumably Ian E. Stephens, author of a 1987 self-published booklet, an extract of which was published in Nexus Magazine in 1995 under the title ""Fluoridation: Mind Control for the Masses?"" We tracked down a copy of the article from the magazine's website, an alternative Australian publication covering, among other things, ""suppressed news, free energy, religious revisionism, conspiracy, the environment, history and ancient mysteries, the mind, UFOs, paranormal and the unexplained."" ""Repeated doses of infinitesimal amounts of fluoride will in time reduce an individual's power to resist domination by slowly poisoning and narcotising a certain area of the brain and will thus make him submissive to the will of those who wish to govern him,"" says a document quoted in the excerpt. ""Both the Germans and the Russians added sodium fluoride to the drinking water of prisoners of war to make them stupid and docile."" ""Bryson 2004"" is Christopher Bryson, an investigative reporter and television producer who reported on Guatemalan human rights abuses for the BBC World Service, National Public Radio and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in the 1980s, and later wrote a book called The Fluoride Deception. It delves into murky connections between military-industrial fluoride polluters and the early push for public water fluoridation. But even Bryson -- a backer of certain conspiracies involving fluoridation -- isn’t convinced by the Nazi connection. His book mentions Nazis or Nazism fewer than 10 times, and none of the references discuss water fluoridation. ""I never came across any documentation or credible information showing that fluoride was used in Nazi death camps,"" he told us in 2011. *** In 2009, two scientists published a book called The Fluoride Wars: How a Modest Public Health Measure Became America's Longest Running Political Melodrama. The book presents a lively social history of the fluoridation debate in the United States, starting with the fluoridation of the water in Grand Rapids, Mich., in 1945. The hydrologists dedicate more than 30 pages to conspiracy theories and their origins. We contacted one of the co-authors in 2011. ""The World War II death camp statement is an absurd lie,"" said Jay Lehr, who has authored or co-authored more than 30 books, most of them self-described ""boring science books for scientists."" Meanwhile, Paul Connett -- a chemist who directs the anti-fluoridation group Fluoride Action Network and recently co-authored a book called The Case Against Fluoride -- told us in 2011 that the Nazi angle is something that he’s been steering people in his movement away from. ""We have done our level best to discourage opponents of fluoridation from using this emotive argument,"" Connett said. ""The historical evidence for this assertion is extremely weak. It is sad that the U.S. media has done such a bad job of educating the public on this issue that it is so easy for crazy ideas to fill the vacuum."" Our ruling Ventura said, ""Fluoride in the water, that was originally done by the Nazis!"" Two book authors who researched the topic, one a journalist, the other a hydrologist, found no credible evidence of such a connection. A leading anti-fluoridation activist repudiates the story. The most commonly cited Web source for the story was a 16-year-old extract in a fringe Australian publication. And a Holocaust historian we contacted knew of no such project. This claim remains ! Editor's note: This report initially referred to Ventura as a Navy SEAL, something he includes on his ora.tv biography. Readers later pointed out that there’s been a long-running debate on whether Ventura is justified in calling himself a SEAL. For more on his military background, see this story."
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Statins May Guard Against Rheumatoid Arthritis
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"This story about an association between long-term statin use and a lower risk of rheumatoid arthritis covers many of the bases, but it doesn’t do as good a job as the other story we reviewed at giving readers a sense of the preliminary nature of the research. While we applaud stories that include specific numbers, this one probably left many readers scratching their heads about what the numbers meant. For example, the story reported that “those not taking statins had a 51 percent higher risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis over about 80 percent of the follow-up period.” Huh? Many of the numbers quoted are provided without context and as a result provide little in the way of information. Giving readers an easier statistic, such as ""number needed to treat"" would have cut through the confusion and provided important context to the true impact of the study. Like the other story we reviewed, this one fails to put the reported difference in rheumatoid arthritis rates in perspective. It reports the percentage reduction without telling readers the baseline risk for this population. Indeed, like the other story, it reports that among almost 2 million people included in the database analyzed by researchers just a couple of thousand people developed rheumatoid arthritis over the course of a decade. That is a rate of about one-tenth of one percent. While a “40 percent” reduction sounds big, it is impossible to tell from this story just how many people might be affected. An association is not the same as an effect. News reports of research should be consistent and precise in the use of the terms in order to avoid creating an impression of a causal relationship when one has not been demonstrated."
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mixture
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There is no mention of costs in this story, either the direct costs of the drugs or the associated costs of testing and monitoring. Although the story includes cautionary comments warning that this study does not prove that statins can prevent rheumatoid arthritis, throughout the story were comments about the “effect” of statins and the “reduction of rheumatoid arthritis risk,” thus creating a strong impression that statin use was responsible for the lower rate of rheumatoid arthritis, something this type of study cannot demonstrate. The story also does not tell readers what the underlying risk of rheumatoid arthritis is, so it is impossible to put the “40 percent lower risk” into context. The story reports that the researchers looked at health data from almost 2 million people over a decade and that a total of about 2,500 new cases of rheumatoid arthritis were diagnosed. But it does not give readers what they need in order to get a good feel for how many people might be affected if further research demonstrated that statins could actually reduce the risk of rheumatoid arthritis. This story does not mention any side effects of statins or other concerns about the long-term use of the drugs. The story points out that this study was observational and that a controlled experiment would be needed to prove cause-and-effect. The story also includes comments that people should not take statins in order to reduce their risk of rheumatoid arthritis based merely on the findings reported by these researchers. However, readers have to stay with the story almost until the end in order to see the cautionary statements about the preliminary nature of the study conclusions. The story does not resort to disease-mongering, but neither does it provide any information to the reader about the prevalence of the disorder or its impact on quality of life. The story would have been improved with a bit of background information about RA and its societal impact, The American College of Rheumatology estimates the prevalence of RA between 2 and 10.7 per 1,000 adults. While relatively uncommon, RA can be a devastating chronic illness. It would have been helpful to provide information on prevalence. The story includes both an independent source and the information that the researchers did not receive any outside funding for their work. The story provides no background information about rheumatoid arthritis, its prevention or its treatments. There are four known risk factors for RA; gender (women develop RA about twice as frequently as men), family history, age (most people with RA develop symptoms between age 40 and 50 years) and smoking. A complete story would have included a few words on other preventive approaches. The story notes that statins are already used to prevent heart attacks and stroke. While the story refers to earlier research on statins by the same group, it fails to mention other studies that specifically looked at any links between statin use and rates of rheumatoid arthritis, thus implying that this study may be the first one. The story does not appear to rely on a news release.
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40407
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This forwarded email ask for payers for an 8 year old boy by the name of Sam Bish of Reynoldsburg , Ohio. It says Bish was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and is undergoing treatment.
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Prayer Request for an 8 Year Old Cancer Patient Named Sam Bish
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true
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Prayers
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According to the Westerville Church in Westerville, Ohio, about 6 miles Northeast of Columbus, the 8 year old boy was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer and is undergoing treatment at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus. The church’s web site has photos of Sam and his family with a list of needs and links to send emails and donations along with prayerful support. Click for Westerville Church prayer request. updated 08/28/09 Comments
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41661
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54% of hospital trusts are good or outstanding.
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By the time David Kaisel got back from selling his flour at a farmers’ market, a wildfire in California’s Capay Valley had burned both his tractor and the shipping container where he kept some tools. His insurer is set to pay out a sixth of his losses.
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true
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health
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He is now considering widening his coverage in the future to include fire insurance for his business. Kaisel is the kind of customer making insurers rethink their approach to climate change so they can sell policies without incurring too much risk. “I’m already accustomed to drought, but in the past year I learned first-hand the consequences of both record rainfall and wildfire,” Kaisel said. “I’ll certainly consider insuring against environmental risks when my cash flow permits.” How much that should cost him is something insurers are getting to grips with after years in which their main natural catastrophe focus was hurricanes and earthquakes — and global warming was mainly a concern for the future rather than the present. Other natural disasters such as wildfires, flash floods and hail have become increasingly costly for the industry, even though they were traditionally seen as lesser risks and classed by some insurers as “secondary perils”. From 2010 to 2018, average insured losses from secondary perils were almost double those from primary perils such as earthquakes and hurricanes, a Reuters analysis of Swiss Re data showed. While scientists are wary of attributing particular disasters to climate change, most agree it is making extreme weather more frequent or intense. Insurers, along with Kaisel and other farmers around the world, are at the sharp end. “A lot of the secondary perils are very localized, very short-term,” said Thierry Corti, who heads climate change strategy for Swiss Re(SRENH.S), which insures insurers. “So we really need to understand them on a case-by-case basis and it’s often very hard to generalize.” In interviews, more than a dozen companies — including insurers, insurance associations, brokers and risk management firms — said these smaller disasters could be very costly. Some did not share specifics about how they were dealing with them but many did: several described details that had not been publicized before. In response to needs of insurers and other customers, U.S. tech company ClimaCell said it began offering a wildfire prediction product this year, which analyses temperature, humidity and wind in real time. Allianz Re, the reinsurance arm of the German Allianz Group (ALVG.DE), started work on adding wildfires to an interactive hazard map at the end of last year after major wildfires in Portugal and California, Markus Stowasser, head of catastrophe research and development, said. The new version of the map, which already includes floods, tornadoes, hail, earthquakes, tropical and extra-tropical storms, is due to be launched this year. It will let Allianz underwriters assess the risk of wildfire anywhere in the world, based on previous wildfires, climate conditions and vegetation. Wildfires became a bigger focus for insurance companies after the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire in Canada, said Dave Fox, chief executive of Geospatial Insight, a company that helps insurance companies assess damage from a catastrophe by collecting images and data. The Fort McMurray fire forced the evacuation of around 90,000 residents in northern Alberta and cut Canadian oil output by roughly 1 million barrels a day. This year, Hiscox(HSX.L) , an underwriter at Lloyd’s of London, paid to license a risk model for wildfires in the United States and applied its own research, after suffering losses from California wildfires in 2018. It will help Hiscox set premiums more accurately, said Shree Khare, head of catastrophe research, adding that it might have stopped insuring some clients in high-risk areas otherwise. “Prior to this year we didn’t really have a good modeling solution for U.S. wildfire,” he said, adding that the industry wasn’t paying much attention to wildfires before. “I think it’s just the nature of insurance. We tend to worry about things after they happen.” While wildfires could become a bigger issue in Europe, he was not completely convinced and said losses would have to be larger before Hiscox would do similar modeling work there. The California Department of Insurance regulator said in August coverage was getting harder to find for communities prone to wildfire, with a 10 % increase in insurers refusing to renew policies last year in areas that were affected by fires in 2015 and 2017. In May, the department said wildfire insurance losses from what it described as “the most destructive wildfire month in California’s history” in November 2018 topped $12 billion. Kaisel, who lost more than $15,000 in the Capay Valley fires, expects to get $2,500 from his insurer and managed to raise the rest via an online fundraiser. He would like to insure future risks once his five-year-old business growing specialized grains and milling them into flour starts making a profit — but the unpredictable impact of global warming means he is not sure exactly what the risks will be. “For folks like me it’s not some far off possibility, it’s here and now,” he said of climate change. “It’s happening.” Swiss Re’s research arm has published data going back to 1970 it said showed natural catastrophe losses from primary perils were being overtaken by those traditionally considered secondary. In August, it said the latter accounted for $13 billion of $15 billion in natural catastrophe insured losses in the first half of this year. Graphic: Graphic on insured losses - here It included standalone events — similar to the wildfire that forced the evacuation of 10,000 people in the Canary Islands last month and the tennis-ball-sized hail that caused damage in Munich in June. It also defined secondary perils as spinoffs from well-monitored primary perils, for example extra-heavy rainfall in Texas during Hurricane Harvey in 2017. The data show total insured losses from natural catastrophes are up from less than $7 billion a year in the 1970s to between $29.3 billion and $143.4 billion a year from 2010 to 2018. In 2018, 62% of all natural catastrophe insurance claims came from secondary perils. Swiss Re’s German rival Munich Re, said perils tended to evolve over time, citing flash-flooding as one that had moved up insurers’ agenda, but agreed a change of emphasis was needed. In the past year, the reinsurer has focused more on drought as a driver of wildfire and has added a wildfire layer to one of its digital risk assessment tools, said Ernst Rauch, Munich Re’s global head of climate and public sector business development. The new tool is available for California, Colorado, Arizona, British Columbia and Alberta and other regions will be added gradually over time. Zurich (ZURN.S) Insurance said it plans to refine the way it models the risk of floods to distinguish between a house at high risk of flooding and another 10 meters away that is less at risk. Its current model works with distances of around 100 meters. It is also hiring two people to work specifically on climate risks as part of the catastrophe research and development team. London insurance platform Lloyd’s, whose member firms recorded a loss of 1 billion pounds ($1.25 billion) last year driven by hurricanes, typhoons and wildfires, invited ClimaCell to join a ten-week innovation lab program, which started this month. London-based insurer Beazley BEZG.L, said it was involved in another innovation program run by Lloyd’s and that it had already helped create new, specialized cover. But the process was not easy, Beazley said. “These random events are very difficult to model and no one has done it before,” said Beazley Chief Executive Andrew Horton. “You only have to look at the Californian wildfires as an example.” Robert Muir-Wood, chief research officer at catastrophe risk modeling company Risk Management Solutions, said insurers tend to do the risk modeling after suffering big losses. “It can be hard to convince the insurance sector that they need to do some modeling of something which they haven’t yet seen the impact of,” he said. “Modeling is expensive, it’s going to take up time.”
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15732
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You know how many children in the history of the United States have died in a fire (at school)? Zero.
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"When talking about a bill to designate certain people in K-12 schools to carry firearms, Steube said ""You know how many children in the history of the United States have died in a fire (at school)? Zero."" There have been at least eight school fires with 10 or more deaths in the United States, though the most recent one was in 1958, according to a national association that tracks such fatal fires. None on that list were in Florida. Steube admitted that he misspoke -- he meant to say no children died in school fires in Florida."
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Education, Public Safety, Florida, Guns, Greg Steube,
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"By next school year, some school workers may be allowed to pack heat. A bill that has received approval by some legislative panels would allow superintendents to designate certain K-12 employees to carry concealed firearms. State Rep. Greg Steube, R-Sarasota, a sponsor of the bill, said the measure makes a lot of sense considering school shootings of recent years. Here’s what he said during a Florida House judiciary committee hearing April 2: ""Right now our schools are required to do two or three fire drills a year. You know how many children in the history of the United States have died in a fire? Zero. You know how many have died because of a school shooting? Quite a few, but the state doesn’t require them to do any type of training. So this would require them to do, every year two times, school safety training as it relates to active shooters to work out these type of details that need to be worked out."" The committee voted in favor of the bill -- as did two other House panels in March. We were alerted to Steube’s statement about the lack of fatal school fires by Associated Press reporter Gary Fineout who tweeted about it. So we decided to check it out. Data on school fires Steube told PolitiFact Florida that he ""definitely misspoke"" about school fires. ""I was talking about Florida,"" said Steube, who first proposed such legislation in 2013 after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. ""There has never been in the history of Florida a child who died in a school fire."" Steube said the point he was trying to make is that Florida schools are required to do fire drills, but not lockdown drills. (Staff analysis of the bill states that schools must develop procedures for hostage and weapons situations; Steube’s bill inserts language that requires schools to do drills for active shooter/hostage situations.) Some school districts already do lockdown drills including in Broward, Hillsborough, Miami-Dade Pasco and Pinellas counties. We drew information about fatal school fires from the National Fire Protection Association. The association lists school fires with 10 or more deaths. Most of the fires go back to the first half of the 20th century. We will summarize a few of the fires: Consolidated School in New London, Texas: This school fire has the largest number of fatalities documented by the association. A gas explosion in March 18, 1937, led to the deaths of 294 students and teachers at the school which was next to an oil refinery. A teacher turned on a sanding machine in an area filled with a mixture of gas and air, which set off the fire. ""Immediately the building seemed to lift in the air and then smashed to the ground. Walls collapsed. The roof fell in and buried its victims in a mass of brick, steel, and concrete debris,"" states history from a museum that memorializes the fire. Lakeview School in Collinwood, Ohio: A suburban Cleveland elementary school caught fire and killed 173 children and three adults on March 4, 1908. A furnace set fire to wooden supports, and the conflagration quickly spread throughout the building. Our Lady of the Angels school, Chicago: On Dec. 1 , 1958, fire broke out at the foot of a stairway in the school, killing 90 pupils and three nuns. A student smoking might have been the cause. Thankfully, those types of fires are no longer common due to modern safety standards. ""In recent years, the very few deaths that do occur in schools tend to be either adults or juvenile firesetters who set a fire in the school,"" said Marty Ahrens, who works for the association. In recent decades, the association has collected fire data through the federal government’s National Fire Incident Reporting System and its own survey. Between 2007-11, U.S. fire departments responded to an estimated average of 5,690 structure fires in educational properties including day cares, K-12 schools and colleges. These fires caused an annual average of 85 civilian fire injuries and $92 million in direct property damage. In search of fires at schools in Florida Since Steube told us that he meant to say there had been no children who died in fires at Florida schools, we asked state experts if they could recall any. A spokeswoman for the state fire marshal said there were no fire-related fatalities in K-12 schools between 2000 and 2014, which includes all available incidents in the fire marshal’s database. We did find a case of a 4-year-old girl dying in a fire at a day care center in Tallahassee. A malfunctioning fan caused a fire at Stepping Stones child care center in Tallahassee in 2008. The day before the fire, a problem with a bathroom exhaust fan was noted on a repair sheet. A ""floater"" teacher assigned to the girl and her class that day had not yet been trained on what to do in a fire and was scheduled to be trained that day, the Tallahassee Democrat reported. We also found records of a dormitory fire in 1914 that killed six children and two staff members at the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys, the infamous reform school in Marianna (although that was a penal institution and not a traditional school). The school’s superintendent and staff were on a ""pleasure bent"" in town when the fire started. The superintendent was dismissed after facts were presented to a grand jury. The school was shut down in 2011 after a bleak history full of rape, torture and unreported child deaths. Our ruling When talking about a bill to designate certain people in K-12 schools to carry firearms, Steube said ""You know how many children in the history of the United States have died in a fire (at school)? Zero."" There have been at least eight school fires with 10 or more deaths in the United States, though the most recent one was in 1958, according to a national association that tracks such fatal fires. None on that list were in Florida. Steube admitted that he misspoke -- he meant to say no children died in school fires in Florida."
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35155
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"A major disease outbreak occurred in ""every election year"" since 2004."
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The meme is also misleading for a reason made obvious by the name of the coronavirus-caused disease, COVID-19: the number 19 signifies the year 2019, when that virus was first detected, not 2020 as the meme implies.
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false
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Politics, coronavirus, COVID-19
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In late February and early March 2020, social media users shared a meme containing the conspiratorial claim that a disease outbreak had coincided with “every election year” since 2004. Readers asked Snopes to verify the claims made in the meme below, which circulated amid fears over a new coronavirus that causes the disease known as COVID-19. As of this writing, six people in the U.S. had died due to the novel virus, while health officials warned that the international outbreak of the disease could become a pandemic. The meme is misleading for a number of reasons. It implies without proffering evidence that the outbreaks didn’t originate naturally, but rather were the result of some amorphous scheme to influence politics — though which country’s politics is never directly stated (perhaps the U.S.? ), and the illnesses listed varied in virulence and severity, not to mention affected multiple countries at various times.
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5516
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Prince charming: Kate gives birth to boy, home by suppertime.
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Third time’s a charm. The Duchess of Cambridge gave birth Monday morning to a new prince who is fifth in line to the British throne — and she was home by suppertime.
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true
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AP Top News, International News, Entertainment, Prince George, Health, London, Travel, Celebrities, Prince William, Europe, Princess Charlotte
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The duchess and husband Prince William drove to St. Mary’s Hospital in London early in the morning, and Kate’s 8 pound, 7 ounce (3.8 kilogram) boy was born at 11:01 a.m., with royal officials announcing the birth about two hours later. There followed a smoothly choreographed operation perfected after the births of the couple’s two other children. In late afternoon, elder siblings Prince George and Princess Charlotte were brought to meet their baby brother. Around 6 p.m., Kate emerged alongside her husband, wearing a vibrant red dress and holding the tiny royal highness wrapped in a white lace shawl. After posing for dozens of photographers and camera crews outside the hospital’s private Lindo Wing, the trio headed home, with the baby nestled securely in a car seat. Television news helicopters followed the royal Range Rover as it made the mile-long (1.6 kilometer) journey to the family’s Kensington Palace residence. William declared the couple “very delighted” with the new addition to the family. The royal palace said “the queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Harry and members of both families have been informed and are delighted with the news.” Prime Minister Theresa May offered “warmest congratulations.” News of the royal birth came with a mix of tradition and modernity typical of Britain’s media-savvy royal family. It was announced on Twitter and also proclaimed in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace with a framed notice perched on a golden easel. Tony Appleton, a town crier from southeast England, showed up in full regalia to declare the newborn prince’s birth outside the hospital. The words “It’s a boy” flashed in lights around the top of London’s BT Tower, which can be seen for miles around. More ceremonial celebration will come Tuesday, including the pealing of bells at Westminster Abbey and a gun salute in London’s Hyde Park. The baby is a younger brother to 4-year-old Prince George and Princess Charlotte, who turns 3 next week. Both were born at the same hospital, as were William and his younger brother, Prince Harry. The infant’s name, which has been subject to a flurry of bets, is likely to be announced in the next few days. Arthur and James are among bookmakers’ favorites for the new prince, whose full title will be His Royal Highness, Prince (Name) of Cambridge. “You’ll find out soon enough,” William said when asked about the baby’s name. Monday is St. George’s Day, England’s national day, but the baby is unlikely to be given the name since his older brother already has it. The new arrival is Queen Elizabeth II’s sixth great-grandchild and bumps Prince Harry to sixth place in the line of succession. The baby is fifth in line, after grandfather Prince Charles, father Prince William and his two siblings. Charlotte is the first royal daughter to stay ahead of a younger brother in the line of succession. Before the rules were changed in 2012, male heirs took precedence. Kensington Palace announced in September that Kate was pregnant with her third child. As in her previous pregnancies, the duchess suffered from hyperemesis gravidarum, a severe form of morning sickness. Officials announced her previous pregnancies before the traditional 12-week mark because she was too unwell to attend public engagements. This time around, it kept her from taking George to his first day of school. The 36-year-old duchess, formerly Kate Middleton, nevertheless kept up a busy schedule of royal duties during her pregnancy, including a visit with William to Scandinavia. She carried out her last official engagement on March 22 before going on maternity leave. The birth was overseen by a team of doctors including consultant obstetrician Guy Thorpe-Beeston and consultant gynecologist Alan Farthing — who were also called in for the births of George and Charlotte — as well as the hospital’s midwives. Television crews, journalists and royal fans had set up camp outside the hospital for the “royal baby watch” since early April in anticipation of the arrival. The top White House spokeswoman offered personal encouragement to William and Kate on becoming the parents of three children. “From one mother to another, I know the reality of being outnumbered can be very scary, but I know she and Prince William will continue to be amazing parents,” Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, herself a mother of three, said during a White House briefing. John Loughrey, a veteran royal-watcher who camped outside the hospital for two weeks, said the baby would be “very good for our country and of course, Her Majesty the queen.” “I’m so pleased it’s St. George’s Day,” he said before the birth was announced. “St. George himself would be very pleased if the baby’s born today.”
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11479
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Experimental flu treatment may help related virus
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The study under consideration is a very early one in the potential life of a new drug and the results, while impressive to those in the field, do not warrant the enthusiasm of the story. The story fails to note that parainfluenza virus infections do not cause serious disease in the majority of people. The story does not provide any specifics of the study design or explicit information about the results. Only those involved in the study were quoted and while there were several attempts to tone down the enthusiasm, the overall tone of the story is strikingly positive for an early preclinical study. The majority of the authors of the study are employees of the company making the drug and one of the authors is listed as the inventor of the drug for use in this setting. This should have been clearly noted in the story. Parainfluenza viruses can cause both upper and lower respiratory tract infections especially in children. By the age of 5 years, almost all children will have been exposed to the virus. Symptoms range from mild cold-like syndromes to life-threatening pneumonias. The infections can be serious in very young children, the elderly, and in people with immune system deficiencies. There are no specific treatments available for parainfluenza infections. Identification of an antiviral drug that can reduce the viral load and presumably prevent symptoms from escalating would indeed be welcomed. But a story on a study in rats can tell you only so much about the drug in question.
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"Since this drug is not on the market, a discussion of cost is not warranted. The story did not provide any data and did not tell us anything about the cells used or the number of rats included in the study. The story suggests that the test drug, “…could stop the virus from replicating….” In actuality, the study drug reduced the viral load as compared to animals treated with a placebo. The story fails to note the small sample (20 rats total) and the limited time of treatment (3 days) before the animals were euthanized. The story fails to place the study results in context potentially giving the reader a false interpretation of the study. The potential for harm is notably absent in the story. Now, the study design was such that toxicity could not be evaluated and as a result it was not addressed in the publication. However, the story should have noted that the harms of the drug are unclear at the present time. To its credit, this story states upfront that the drug was tested in Petri dishes and on cotton rats. The story also includes the qualifier that “infection in rats does not follow the same disease course as in humans.” Another limitation mentioned by the writer is that the rats were given the drug an hour before they were infected with the parainfluenza, which is not likely to be the chain of events in the real world. Of course why this is newsworthy given all these caveats is another question. The story fails to note that parainfluenza virus infections do not cause serious disease in the majority of people. In doing so, it provides an overly disconcerting picture of the virus and its potential to cause serious illness. The failure to provide background information in combination with the initial quote of the lead author, “Therapies for parainfluenza are urgently needed,"" qualifies as disease-mongering. The story fails in just about every aspect of this criterion. No experts in the field other than those involved in the research study are quoted. Interestingly, 6 of the 9 authors of the study are employees of NexBio, the company that produces the drug. One of the authors is listed as the inventor of the drug in an approved patent for its use in the treatment of influenza and parainfluenza. While these facts do not necessarily impugn the study result, failure to note them in the story is a major omission. The story points out that there are no existing alternatives for preventing parainfluenza virus infections. In addition, the story briefly mentions other vaccines that have developed resistance to the flu virus. The story makes it clear that this drug is not yet available. The story mentioned that there is no existing vaccine or treatment for parainfluenza viruses. Furthermore, the story rightfully notes that the study drug works on the human cell and not directly on the virus and as such is a unique mechanism of action. Not applicable because we can’t be sure of the extent to which the story may have been influenced by a news release. We do know that the researcher’s quote came from a statement, not from an interview. And the only other attributed comment came from a drug company spokesman."
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6274
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Dow agrees to $77M environmental settlement in Michigan.
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Dow Chemical Co. has agreed to fund environmental restoration projects worth an estimated $77 million to compensate for decades of pollution by its plant in Midland, Michigan, officials said Friday.
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true
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Wildlife, U.S. News, Michigan, Fish, Environment, Traverse City, U.S. News, General News, Pollution
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A deal between the company and government agencies calls for improvements to fish and wildlife habitats tainted by dioxins and other hazardous substances from Dow’s manufacturing complex in its headquarters city of Midland. The chemical giant also will pay for new public recreation areas with trails, fishing platforms and boating launches. “This settlement has been more than a decade in the making by a combined team of state, federal and tribal partners working together for the benefit of Michigan’s environment and precious natural resources,” state Attorney General Dana Nessel said. The agreement would be legally binding and needs a federal judge’s approval to take effect. It would resolve a complaint filed by government agencies that alleges the company’s pollution harmed birds, fish, invertebrates and mammals in the Tittabawassee and Saginaw rivers and their watersheds. Dow’s facility began operating in 1897. For generations it dumped or incinerated wastes that contaminated the 50-mile-long (80-kilometer-long) river valley, which extends into Lake Huron’s Saginaw Bay, with dioxins and related compounds linked to cancer and other illnesses. Cleanup of the Tittabawassee River began in 2007 and is expected to be finished in 2021. No completion date has been set for the other waterways. The pollution has prompted warnings to limit consumption of some fish and wild game, and to avoid touching the soil in certain areas, including parks. Under the agreement, Dow will pay for 13 natural resource projects in Midland, Saginaw and Bay counties that will affect a combined 8,000 acres (3,200 hectares). Construction of a fish passage ramp at a Tittabawassee River dam will provide hundreds of miles of new habitat for migratory species, while the state Department of Natural Resources will get funding to build spawning reefs in Saginaw Bay. Other projects will protect and restore wetlands, farmlands and forests. About 2,000 acres (800 hectares) of private land will be shielded from development through conservation easements. An expansion of the Shiawassee National Wildlife Reserve will provide more room for hunting. Biking and nature trails will be developed in preserved Tittabawassee flood plain areas habitat south of Midland. As part of the settlement, Dow will pay $15 million to a team of trustees including officials with state and federal agencies and the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan. Some of the money will be used to maintain and monitor the effectiveness of the 13 projects, while at least $5 million will fund additional natural resource initiatives selected by the trustees with advice from the public. Dow also will reimburse government agencies for costs of studying how its pollution affected the environment. In a statement, the company said it was “committed to working cooperatively with the ... trustees to move forward with implementation of the proposed restoration plan over the next five years” and had set aside money to pay for the settlement. The trustees will host a public meeting Nov. 21 in Saginaw to provide more details about the plan, said Matthew Schneider, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. “We are thankful to Dow and the trustees for their work in reaching this excellent result, which will benefit the residents of the Saginaw Bay area and the wildlife and waterfowl that inhabit it,” Schneider said.
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