claim_id
stringlengths 1
234
| claim
stringlengths 14
491
| explanation
stringlengths 1
4.18k
| label
stringclasses 5
values | subjects
stringlengths 0
223
| main_text
stringlengths 18
41.7k
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
9463
|
What to know about the new affordable at-home BRCA genetic mutation test
|
This story did do some very important things: including provide cost information and explaining how the test is made available. We’re unclear, though, why this story is something worth doing. There’s no evidence provided in the story to show that this test does anything to improve health outcomes for women. And it doesn’t discuss how the results aren’t always clear-cut–how are women supposed to make sense of the test? Is genetic counseling provided? Patients who are found to carry a deleterious BRCA gene mutation are recommended to undergo more intense surveillance and potentially elective surgery due to their increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer. Patients who have been diagnosed with breast cancer and are found to carry a deleterious mutation are often counseled about bilateral mastectomy as well as having their ovaries removed due to their increased risk of additional cancers. Costs of existing tests may serve as barriers to uncovering this important information, which this story discusses. However, readers needed more information on how accurate this type of testing is, and what happens when they receive results.
|
mixture
|
BRCA
|
The story talks about the test being $149 and that it is the most affordable test on the market. There is no information quantifying the benefits of the test in the story. Has this type of genetic testing been shown to reduce deaths rates from breast cancer? And if so, by how much? Also, according to research, how likely is it to accurately detect the gene? How often are the results wrong? How does it compare on that front to other tests on the market? It is also important to stress that if a patient tests negative for a BRCA gene mutation, they are still at risk for both breast and ovarian cancer. The BRCA gene test can help provide an estimate of risk, but a negative test does not mean that the woman is not at risk. There are no mentions of the harms of testing and then seeking unnecessary treatment or the harms from false positives. We do appreciate that the story says clearly that not everyone should take this test: “Medical professionals say no. The BRCA test is “absolutely not recommended for every single person,” according to Dr. Jennifer Ashton, ABC News chief women’s health correspondent.” However, the story does not indicate if Color provides genetic counseling services to patients undergoing their test. There can be significant implications for patients and their families with both positive and negative results. In addition, the story makes no mention of the possibility of indeterminate results–some patients test for a “variant of uncertain significance,” also known as a VUS. These are detected mutations that may or may not confer an increased risk of cancer. Genetic counseling before and after testing, ether by a certified genetic counselor or a physician with training in medical genetics, is critical to ensure that patients and their families have their results put in the proper context. There is nothing in the story about the quality of the evidence. Was there a journal article published about the test? Did the FDA just approve the test for sale? What do we know about the evidence used for that approval? There is no disease mongering in the story. We liked that the story cited The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which brings some important balance to discussions around screening. The story also quoted the president of Morehouse University School of Medicine, Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice. The two women with the BRCA gene who are quoted in the story appear to be independent, although often in stories like this, the company involved put the reporter in touch with the patients. It would have been nice to know how the journalist found out about the patients. There is no comparison to alternatives. The story made it clear that the only way to get access to the test would be through a physician. It says: “The Color test must be ordered by a physician, either through your own doctor, or an independent physician through the company. Users are asked to send a saliva sample — which carries your D.N.A. — to their lab, where it is analyzed. Results are then sent back to the user online in three to four weeks.” The story does not establish the novelty of the test. Why is the story important now? The story does not appear to rely on a news release.
|
9451
|
Breast Cancer Screenings Still Best for Early Detection
|
Beyond October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, it’s not clear why this story–which is a rehash of a news release–was published. It won’t serve readers well: The story contains no new information; it oversimplifies the ongoing complexities of the debate about appropriate levels of breast cancer screening and their consequences; and overall is unlikely to help women make an informed decision about their medical care. Breast cancer remains a persistent killer of women in the developed world, and while treatments have improved quality of life and some overall survival rates in some groups, uncertainty persists with respect to clinical screening and risk assessment guidelines. An individual woman’s risk of dying of breast cancer is highly variable, based on genetics, environmental, and psychological factors. Thus, articles designed to raise awareness about the need for careful risk assessment and purposeful preventive and interventional care need to put information in careful context because women already at risk, or the worried well, may pay too little or too much attention to the wrong advice.
|
false
|
breast cancer,screening
|
The article lacked information on costs. Insurance does not always cover screening. Beyond vague generalizations of benefits, this article is essentially data free. Based on research, to what degree do these various screening methods save lives? The story doesn’t say. There are potential and actual harms to screenings, including unnecessary biopsies and other tests, anxiety and false negatives. Again, while new technologies have reduced some of these harms, they are not zero. The story doesn’t mention any. No quantifiable or measurable evidence for the value of “just say yes to screening” is offered. What is the evidence behind these methods? We’re not told. This article does not disease-monger. No independent sources were cited. The article is based almost entirely on a single source in a news release issued by Fox Chase cancer center by a mammographer. We’ll will give the story credit for noting that there are several screening methods, and for pointing out that not all women who have symptoms get breast cancer. It’s clear that all of these screening methods are available. It’s not clear what’s “novel” or new about this information. If this piece ran because of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, that should have been more clear. This story appears to rely entirely on the news release.
|
2877
|
China doctor gets suspended death sentence for trafficking newborn babies.
|
A Chinese court on Tuesday handed down a suspended death sentence on a doctor who sold seven newborn babies to human traffickers, a case that sparked widespread anger in a country where child trafficking is rampant.
|
true
|
Health News
|
Zhang Shuxia, 55, an obstetrician in northwestern Shaanxi province’s Fuping county, was found guilty of selling the babies for as much as 21,600 yuan ($3,600) each between 2011 and 2013, the court in Weinan city said. Zhang tricked the parents to give up their newborns by convincing them the infants had incurable diseases or deformities, the court said in a statement on its website. “Though Zhang Shuxia confessed, her behavior violated both professional and social ethics, had an extremely bad social impact, and the circumstance of the crimes were grave,” the court said. A trafficker threw one sick child into a garbage ditch, presuming she was dead, the statement said. Zhang was not convicted in connection with the child’s death, but the court ruled she was partly responsible. The baby was never found. The other six infants were rescued by police and returned to their families. The official Xinhua news agency said it was unclear if Zhang, who was detained in August and stood trial in December, would appeal. Suspended death sentences are typically reduced to life in prison. Child trafficking is widespread in China, where population control policies have bolstered a traditional bias for male offspring, seen as the main support for elderly parents and heirs to the family name, and have resulted in abortions, killings or abandonment of girls. The imbalance has created criminal demand for abducted or bought baby boys, but also for baby girls destined to be future brides attracting rich dowries.
|
2426
|
Diabetes battle 'being lost' as cases hit record 382 million.
|
The world is losing the battle against diabetes as the number of people estimated to be living with the disease soars to a new record of 382 million this year, medical experts said on Thursday.
|
true
|
Health News
|
The vast majority have type 2 diabetes - the kind linked to obesity and lack of exercise - and the epidemic is spreading as more people in the developing world adopt Western, urban lifestyles. The latest estimate from the International Diabetes Federation is equivalent to a global prevalence rate of 8.4 percent of the adult population and compares to 371 million cases in 2012. By 2035, the organization predicts the number of cases will have soared by 55 percent to 592 million. “The battle to protect people from diabetes and its disabling, life-threatening complications is being lost,” the federation said in the sixth edition of its Diabetes Atlas, noting that deaths from the disease were now running at 5.1 million a year or one every six seconds. People with diabetes have inadequate blood sugar control, which can lead to a range of dangerous complications, including damage to the eyes, kidneys and heart. If left untreated, it can result in premature death. “Year after year, the figures seem to be getting worse,” said David Whiting, an epidemiologist and public health specialist at the federation. “All around the world we are seeing increasing numbers of people developing diabetes.” He said that a strategy involving all parts of society was needed to improve diets and promote healthier lifestyles. The federation calculates diabetes already accounts for annual healthcare spending of $548 billion and this is likely to rise to $627 billion by 2035. Worryingly, an estimated 175 million of diabetes cases are as yet undiagnosed, so a huge number of people are progressing towards complications unawares. Most of them live in low- and middle-income countries with far less access to medical care than in the United States and Europe. The country with the most diabetics overall is China, where the case load is expected to rise to 142.7 million in 2035 from 98.4 million at present. But the highest prevalence rates are to be found in the Western Pacific, where more than a third of adults in Tokelau, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands are already living with the disease. Pharmaceutical companies have developed a range of medicines over the years to counter diabetes but many patients still struggle to control their condition adequately, leading to a continuing hunt for improved treatments. Novo Nordisk, Sanofi and Eli Lilly are all major suppliers of insulin and other diabetes therapies.
|
1945
|
Weight Watchers works, scientific study finds.
|
Overweight patients told by their doctors to go to Weight Watchers lose around twice as much weight as people receiving standard weight loss care over 12 months, according to the findings of a study published on Thursday.
|
true
|
Science News
|
In the first randomized controlled trial — considered the gold standard of scientific analysis — to directly compare a commercial weight-loss program with standard care by family doctors, Weight Watchers was found to be more than twice as effective. More people stuck to the Weight Watchers diet, they lost more weight and fat mass, and also shaved more off their waist measurements than those assigned to standard care. Susan Jebb of Britain’s Medical Research Council (MRC) Human Nutrition Research Unit, who led the study, said the results showed Weight Watchers is “a robust intervention that is generalisable to other economically developed countries.” “This kind of research is important so that we can identify clinically effective interventions to treat obesity,” she said. The study, published in the Lancet medical journal, comes in the wake of research last month which said obesity is a global epidemic that is fast replacing tobacco as the single most important preventable cause of costly chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Worldwide, around 1.5 billion adults are overweight and another 0.5 billion are obese, with 170 million children classified as overweight or obese. Obesity takes up between 2 to 6 percent of healthcare costs in many countries. In the weight loss study, which was funded by Weight Watchers International but run as an investigator-led trial with all data collection and analysis conducted by the independent research team, researchers assessed 772 overweight and obese adults in Australia, Germany and Britain. Patients were randomly assigned to receive either 12 months of standard care as usually offered by the primary care team, or referred to and given a 12-month free membership for a Weight Watchers group in their neighborhood. As well as losing twice as much weight as those in the standard care group, patients referred to Weight Watchers were also more than three times as likely to lose 10 percent or more of their initial body weight. Some 61 percent of patients in the Weight Watchers group lost at least 5 percent of their body weight, compared with 32 percent in the standard care group. The average weight loss at 12 months was 5.1 kg (11.2 lbs) for those using Weight Watchers versus 2.2 kg for those on standard care. For those who completed the full 12 months, average weight loss was 6.7 kg on Weight Watchers versus 3.3 kg on standard care. “These important findings show that obesity treatment is effective and structured commercial programs can enhance outcomes,” said Nick Finer a consultant endocrinologist and bariatric physician at University College London Hospitals, who was not involved in the research. In a commentary on the study, Kate Jolly and Paul Aveyard of the school of health and population sciences at Britain’s Birmingham University said cost-effectiveness was a key factor in determining whether commercial programs like Weight Watchers become part of publicly funded health care. They added that “the low cost of these programs — at present about 50 to 60 pounds ($80 to $95) for 12 weeks — makes the case for incorporation intuitively appealing.” David Kirchhoff, CEO of Weight Watchers International said the Lancet study “proves that Weight Watchers is part of the solution to help transform the health of nations.” “There is a clear need for practical treatment solutions that are proven effective, affordable and scalable to have a population-wide impact,” he said in a statement.
|
3784
|
Can Washington deliver on drug costs amid impeachment probe?.
|
Major legislation to reduce prescription drug costs for millions of people may get sidelined now that House Democrats have begun an impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump. Proposals had been moving in Congress, but there are more ways for the process to break down than to succeed. Still, nobody says they’re giving up.
|
true
|
Hillary Clinton, AP Top News, Health care industry, Health, General News, Legislation, Politics, Impeachments, Prescription drug costs, Business, Prescription drugs, Prices, Medicare, Trump impeachment inquiry, Donald Trump
|
Some questions and answers about the legislation and its uncertain prospects: Q: Why, now, is there a big push to lower drug prices? A: Some would say it’s overdue. Drug prices emerged as the public’s top health care concern near the end of the Obama administration as people with health insurance got increasingly worried about their costs. In the 2016 campaign, Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton called for authorizing Medicare to negotiate prices. But after Trump won the White House, his focus shifted to the failed Republican drive to repeal the Affordable Care Act. A year went by before the administration reengaged on prescription drugs . Now, facing the 2020 election, Trump and lawmakers of both parties in Congress have little to show for all their rhetoric about high drug prices. For there to be a deal , enough Democrats and Republicans have to decide they’re better off delivering results instead of election-year talking points. Q: What are the major plans on the table? A: On the political left is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s plan authorizing Medicare to negotiate prices for the costliest drugs. In the middle is bipartisan legislation from Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., to restrain drug price increases. The wild card is Trump. He doesn’t share the traditional Republican aversion to government as price negotiator and keeps complaining that it’s unfair for Americans to pay more than patients in other countries. There’s significant overlap among the major approaches. Trump, the Senate bill, and Pelosi would all limit what Medicare enrollees pay annually in prescription copays. That would be a major change benefiting more than 1 million seniors with high costs. Pelosi and the Senate bill would require drugmakers to pay rebates if they raise their prices to Medicare beyond the inflation rate. Long-available medicines like insulin have seen steep price hikes. Pelosi and the administration would use lower international prices to determine what Medicare pays for at least some drugs. Pelosi is echoing Trump’s complaint that prices are unfair for Americans. “If they wanted to do a deal, it’s sitting right there in front of them,” said John Rother, president of the National Coalition on Health Care, an umbrella group representing a cross-section of organizations. Q: How would any of these plans reduce what I pay for prescription drugs? A: Under Pelosi’s bill, private purchasers such as health insurers and employer-sponsored plans would be able to get the same price that Medicare negotiates. Medicare would focus on the costliest medications for individual patients and the health care system as whole. People on Medicare could be the biggest winners. There’s consensus that seniors should get an annual limit on out-of-pocket costs for medications — $2,000 in the Pelosi bill or $3,100 in the Senate bill. Older people are the main consumers of prescription medicines Q: What would “Medicare for All” do about drug prices? A: Under Medicare for All, the government would negotiate prices for prescription drugs. Whether or not they support Medicare for All, Democratic presidential candidates are calling for Medicare to negotiate prices. Q: Why are drug prices so much higher in the U.S. than in other countries? A: It’s not the case for all drugs. U.S. generics are affordable for the most part. The biggest concern is over cutting-edge brand-name drugs that can effectively manage life-changing diseases, or even cure them. Drugs with a $100,000 cost are not unusual any more. In other countries, governments take a leading role in setting prices. In the U.S., some government programs such as Medicaid and the veterans’ health system get special discounts. But insurers and pharmacy benefit managers negotiate on behalf of Medicare and private health plans. Federal law protects the makers of a new drug from generic competition, which gives the manufacturer a lot of leverage. Pharmaceutical companies say high initial prices are justified to recoup the costs of research and development. However, a major case study — the 2015 Senate investigation of costly breakthrough drugs for hepatitis C infection — found that drugmaker Gilead Sciences priced the medication to maximize profits, not to foster access. Q: What’s the outlook for drug pricing legislation? A: Impeachment could suck the air out of the room. “It is extremely difficult to get things done in that type of environment, and certainly for a president who is largely incapable of compartmentalizing,” said longtime Democratic health care adviser Chris Jennings. “Having said that, the work of policymakers in power must include being responsive to here-and-now domestic problems.” Trump has pointedly refrained from criticizing Pelosi’s bill even as other Republicans called it “socialist.” Pelosi’s legislation had its first committee consideration last week, and the leading Democrat on that committee promoted it using Trump-like rhetoric that it’s unfair for Americans to pay more. The bill will get a floor vote, and it could gain political momentum if a pending budget analysis finds big savings. Democrats would be hard-pressed to drop their demand for Medicare negotiations. But could Trump agree to a more limited form of negotiations than what’s now in Pelosi’s bill? Could he sell that to Senate Republicans? “It boils down to the crude political calculus of whether in the end this will help my side,” said health economist Joe Antos of the business-oriented American Enterprise Institute. “Will Democrats be able to stomach Donald Trump taking credit for all of this? On the Trump side, it is going to be more of a legacy issue for him.”
|
10947
|
Could an Inexpensive, Underused Drug Reduce Blood Loss During Surgery? Study finds tranexamic acid reduces the need for blood transfusions during joint replacement procedures.
|
Investors cheered Spanish group Repsol’s (REP.MC) pledge to slash net carbon emissions to zero by mid-century, saying they hope it will pile pressure on rival oil and gas companies to follow suit in the fight against climate change.
|
true
|
U.S. News & World Report
|
The world’s top oil and gas companies are under heavy pressure, not only from environmental groups but also from institutional investors, to fall in line with targets set in the 2015 Paris climate agreement to limit global warming. Repsol on Monday became the first leading energy firm to commit to a net-zero emission target, outdoing Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) that had set out an ambition to halve emissions by 2050. “It is clear that this is a very significant commitment from Repsol that raises the bar across the oil and gas sector,” said Adam Matthews, Director for Ethics and Engagement at the Church of England Pensions Board, who co-led discussion between a major group of investors with Shell on a climate resolution last year. Several companies set short-term targets to reduce emissions by limiting gas leaks and burning of excess gas, but none have set out long-term reduction targets before Repsol. “We have been pressing fossil fuel companies to commit to align with a net zero emissions pathway by 2050 for some time. It is good to see Repsol showing this leadership, including clear milestones along the way,” said Natasha Landell-Mills, head of stewardship, Sarasin & Partners. “In the end, shareholders need to know their companies are looking forward, not back, when it comes to the energy transition.” Sarasin & Partners manages 14.3 billion pounds ($18.35 billion) in assets. For a Factbox on current targets of the largest oil companies, click here Repsol’s targets encompass 95% of all its emissions, including from fuels sold to clients. It also wrote down 4.8 billion euros ($5.3 billion) in the value of its oil and gas assets to reflect its lower oil and gas price outlook. Net-zero targets are generally expected to be achieved by offsetting emissions through investments in carbon storage technology or in natural sinks such as forests. Companies are also increasing production of natural gas, the least polluting fossil fuel, as well as renewable power such as solar and wind, whose consumption is expected to jump in coming decades as demand for electricity grows. Repsol said it would sharply increase its low-carbon power generation capacity by 2030, partly by expanding its renewables business. Mark van Baal, head of investor advocacy Follow This, which has taken part in a number of shareholder climate resolutions, said Repsol was the first oil major to be “truly aligned” with the Paris goals. “This decision will result in a complete turnaround in investments from exploring for more oil and gas to exploring for new business models in renewable energy,” van Baal said. Fossil fuel burning accounts for around two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions. Energy-related emissions rose by 1.7% in 2018, according to the International Energy Agency. “It’s brilliant to have a poster child because we can all point to that and say ‘well, if they can do it, why can’t you?’,” said the head of corporate governance at a leading UK asset manager.
|
395
|
Pfizer Japan recalls high blood pressure drug over cancer-causing impurity.
|
The Japanese subsidiary of Pfizer Inc is recalling a drug for high blood pressure which was found to contain a carcinogenic substance in its active ingredient valsartan, the drugmaker said on Friday.
|
true
|
Health News
|
More than 763,000 tablets of the drug Amvalo, manufactured from April to July in Mylan Laboratories Limited in India, are the subject of recall, Pfizer Japan Inc said in a statement, adding there were no reports of any damage to health. “We will fully pay careful attention to our manufacturing and quality control to prevent a recurrence,” Pfizer Japan President Akihisa Harada said. Mylan NV said in November it would recall certain batches of blood pressure medicine valsartan in the United States after they were found to contain a probable cancer-causing impurity. Chinese pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturer Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceuticals also said in July it would recall valsartan from consumers in the United States after finding traces of a probable carcinogen. Last year, the Japanese Health Ministry asked pharmaceutical firms to check whether any of their drugs using valsartan contained any carcinogenic impurities.
|
28863
|
Car headrests were deliberately designed to be removed so that they can be used to smash windows during emergencies.
|
What's true: Car headrests can be used as tools to break vehicle windows in emergencies. What's false: Car headrests were not designed to serve this function.
|
mixture
|
Automobiles, Highway Hazards
|
In April 2016, a message circulated on Facebook affirming that car seat headrests were deliberately designed to be detachable and sturdy so that they could be used to break car windows in emergencies: This “survival tip” has been around for several years and has been featured in a number of survival blogs, but it gained widespread popularity in 2012 when it was featured on a Japanese game show: While it is possible to break a car window with a removable headrest, this is an incidental application of that object rather than a deliberate one. The primary intended function of the modern car headrest was to prevent whiplash in case of accident: When Benjamin Katz filed a patent for an automobile headrest in 1921, he noted that the device could stabilize the head when it was subjected to the “jolts and irregular movements” inherent in driving an automobile. The car headrest has since gone through many changes, but these primarily focus on safety, comfort, and manufacturing, not emergency uses. Regulations from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regarding head restraints also focus on reducing or preventing whiplash, not breaking windows. A NHTSA and Department of Transportation ruling in 2004 revisited the standards, specifically addressing “Maximum Gap Allowance and Removability“: Nissan asserted that there are potential production difficulties arising from front head restraint non-removability. Installing a large seat fitted with a head restraint into a small vehicle, Nissan asserted, might be an arduous task. Honda wanted all restraints to be removable by hand, out of concern that non-removable head restraints would limit seat design flexibility. Honda believed that a non-removability prohibition would prevent it from offering the “fully flat seat” option in its CRV model vehicle. [49] DaimlerChrysler concurred with making front seat head restraints more difficult to remove than rear seat restraints because of their safety benefits and the absence of a need to remove them for visibility and functionality reasons. DaimlerChrysler also agreed that there should be some means to remove front head restraints for purposes such as seat cover installation. However, DaimlerChrysler wanted the word “tool” to be interpreted as including the mechanism in their current vehicles requiring two hands to operate. A majority of industry commenters wanted NHTSA to allow removability of rear head restraints in the final rule. Ford believed that removability of rear head restraints would allow occupants to fold seats to increase space and would reduce possible incompatibility with child restraints. Ford stated that while many vehicles are currently designed with head restraints that are removable by hand, Ford does not know of any data regarding misuse or improper adjustment of head restraints caused by hand removability. DaimlerChrysler believed that NHTSA should permit rear seat head restraint removability to facilitate increased vehicle utility and rearward visibility. Agency response to comments on head restraint removability: After considering comments, NHTSA decided to allow removability of head restraints solely by hand. However, for both front and rear optional head restraints, removal must be by means of a deliberate action that is distinct from any act necessary for adjustment. That is, the “action” required for removal must be distinct from that required for adjustment. For example, the head restraint may be removed by depressing a special button or operating a lever located somewhere on the head restraint or the seat back. However, the action involved in adjusting head restraints must be different. This insures that head restraints are not accidentally removed when being adjusted. The new removability requirement uses language very similar to that in ECE 17, Paragraph 5.13. We are establishing the new head restraint requirements to ensure that vehicle occupants receive better protection from whiplash and related injuries. To achieve this purpose, the agency wants to take reasonable steps to increase the likelihood that a head restraint is available when needed. If head restraints were too easily removable, chances are greater that they will be removed. That, in turn, increases the chances that the restraints might not be reinstalled correctly, if at all. By prohibiting removability without the use of deliberate action distinct from any act necessary for adjustment, the likelihood of inadvertent head restraint removal will be reduced, thus increasing the chances that vehicle occupants will receive the benefits of properly positioned head restraints. The ability to break windows in case of emergency was not mentioned anywhere in this discussion, and the major industry concerns appeared to be visibility and whiplash prevention. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 202 does not require automakers to manufacture head restraints specifically so that they can be used to break windows in emergencies. While some can potentially be used that way, they are not designed with that specific purpose in mind.
|
7987
|
Diabetes, lung and heart disease common in U.S. coronavirus patients: CDC.
|
Diabetes, heart disease and long-term lung problems are the most common underlying conditions among Americans hospitalized with the illness caused by the new coronavirus, but more than one in five people requiring intensive care had no such health issues, according to a report issued on Tuesday.
|
true
|
Health News
|
The findings show that higher percentages of COVID-19 patients with underlying conditions were being admitted to hospitals and intensive care units (ICUs), according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. That echoes patterns seen in other countries hit hard by the pandemic. Preliminary data from 7,162 COVID-19 patients for whom the CDC had complete information as of Saturday show that 37.6% had one or more underlying health condition. Widespread testing to identify the full extent of the U.S. outbreak has not been available. Most people infected with the coronavirus develop mild but persistent symptoms such as fever or cough. But difficulty breathing is a symptom sending many people to the hospital, and the new data show how underlying health conditions heighten the odds of complications requiring hospitalization. Researchers found that 78% of ICU patients with COVID-19 had at least one underlying health problem, including diabetes (seen in 32% of patients), cardiovascular disease (29%) and chronic lung disease (21%). Twelve percent had long-term kidney disease and 9% had a weakened immune system. Among hospitalized patients who were not sick enough to need intensive care, 71% had at least one underlying condition, the CDC analysis found. In contrast, among people with COVID-19 who did not need to be hospitalized, only 27% had one or more long-term health issues. But being free of chronic conditions offers no guarantees against serious illness as 22% of COVID-19 patients who ended up in an ICU had no history of underlying health problems. “It is not yet known whether the severity or level of control of underlying health conditions affects the risk for severe disease associated with COVID-19,” according to the report by the CDC’s COVID-19 Response Team. “Many of these underlying health conditions are common in the United States” with an estimated 10.1% of U.S. adults diagnosed with diabetes, 10.6% with heart disease, and 5.9% with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), along with 7.9% of people of all ages who suffer from asthma.
|
3169
|
India’s capital restricts cars as people choke in dirty air.
|
Authorities restricted many private vehicles from taking to the roads of India’s capital on Monday amid a public health crisis that has left New Delhi residents gasping and their eyes burning from toxic air pollution.
|
true
|
International News, General News, India, Air pollution, Public health, Health, Asia Pacific, New Delhi, Air quality, Pollution
|
The “odd-even” scheme will restrict private vehicles with odd-number license plates to driving on odd dates while even-numbered plates are allowed on even-numbered dates. It was begun days after authorities began emergency control measures and ordered the closure of schools as pollution levels reached a three-year high. The state-run Central Pollution Control Board’s air quality index for New Delhi was “severe” at 436, about nine times the recommended maximum. Air pollution in New Delhi and northern Indian states peaks in the winter as farmers in neighboring agricultural regions set fire to clear land after the harvest and prepare for the next crop season. The pollution in the Indian capital also peaks after Diwali celebrations, the Hindu festival of light, when people set off fireworks. Some people distraught over the pollution said they wanted to leave the city of more than 20 million people due to its poor air quality. “I feel like moving out as well because I’m young and I’m still on a stage of building up my life and my career,” resident Divyam Mathur said. Traffic police officers, wearing protective masks, signaled cars to stop for not following the vehicle restrictions on Monday. New Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal appealed for residents to follow the rule and for private taxi and auto-rickshaw drivers to support it. Authorities said almost 1.2 million registered vehicles in New Delhi will be off the road every day during the two-week restrictions. “I don’t think this odd-even scheme will do anything. It’s mostly the stubble burning in the states of Punjab and Haryana which contributes to the pollution, and industrial pollution is also high,” said Ajay Jasra, a New Delhi resident. The vehicle restrictions have been the Aam Aadmi Party-led city government’s pet project to fight air pollution. The scheme was implemented twice in 2016 but remained controversial as critics have debated its impact. Vehicle and industrial emissions, pollutants from firecrackers and construction dust sharply increase each winter, exacerbating what is already a public health crisis. Last year, the New Delhi government ordered firefighters to sprinkle water from high-rise buildings to settle dust, stopped garbage fires and ordered builders to cover construction sites to stop dust enveloping the area as hazardous air quality affected millions of people. World Health Organization data released last year gave India the dubious distinction of having the world’s 10 most polluted cities. Meanwhile, India’s Supreme Court on Monday sought accountability from state governments over the deteriorating air quality, saying the capital was choking every year, which “could not be allowed in a civilized country.” The court’s special bench was hearing pollution matters and ordered the New Delhi government to produce data or records to prove that the vehicle restrictions have reduced pollution. The court also banned construction or demolition activities in the capital until further orders. “This can’t go on,” the court said. “People aren’t safe even inside their houses and rooms.” ___ Associated Press videojournalist Shonal Ganguly contributed to this report.
|
10695
|
New Study Shows Balloon in a Capsule Helps Patients Lose Nearly Twice as Much Weight Than Diet, Exercise and Lifestyle Therapy Alone
|
Obalon Balloon System. Screenshot from FDA recently approved medical devices web page.This news release about a weight loss device recently approved by the FDA provides a basic description of the results of a trial, but doesn’t put them into context. The Obalon intragastric balloon is very similar to other inflatable balloons that are placed in the stomachs of patients with obesity to help them limit food intake temporarily while they try to change their diets and lifestyle. The release fails to clearly explain that the main difference between the Obalon device and other balloons is that patients are not sedated during insertion. The release does not make clear that since the trial did not compare this device to others, there is no evidence about the relative performance of this product. The release does not tell readers that the manufacturer sponsored the trial. It does not point out that this sort of conference presentation is not put through the peer review process of a journal article. A HealthDay story on the device, also reviewed by HealthNewsReview.org, provided some details not found in the news release, including a mention that the results are preliminary and have not yet been peer reviewed and a brief discussion of harms. However, neither the news release or the news story shared that the study was sponsored by the device manufacturer. People who have obesty want to know not only how well an intervention helps them lose weight, but how long the benefits last and how they compare to other options. By neglecting to provide context, the release does not give readers a useful understanding of the trial results.
|
false
|
Association/Society news release
|
The release does not discuss costs. Although the manufacturer has not revealed the price it plans to charge in the U.S., the Obalon device is on the market in Europe and Mexico, where prices, including office procedures, range from $2,500 to $4,000. It should be noted that prices for medical devices in the US are generally higher than those charged in other countries. We will give the release a satisfactory rating because it notes that after one year patients receiving the Obalon balloon and counseling had lost about 7 percent of their total body weight (or about a quarter of their “excess” weight) compared to a bit less than 4 percent total weight loss for those given a sham balloon and counseling. However, since other intragastric balloons are already on the market, most people would want to know how the Obalon device compares. The release should have noted that because the trial did not include competing devices, there is no evidence that indicates whether the new device is any better or worse than other devices. Although the release reports that one trial participant had a gastric ulcer and almost all reported mild to moderate cramping and nausea, the release doesn’t warn readers that this sort of balloon could cause serious, even fatal, complications including esophageal tears, intestinal blockages that require surgery, life threatening allergic reactions, heart attack, cardiac arrest or airway blockage. The FDA approved a package insert that lists these potential risks (see page 11 of the Patient Labeling). The release should have also mentioned the most important risks. The release describes key aspects of the randomized, sham-controlled trial. However, here again, readers should be told that the study did not compare the Obalon device to other intragastric balloons or other obesity treatments, so it does not provide any evidence with which to compare treatment options. The release commits a serious omission by failing to alert readers that because the release is based on a conference presentation, the study report has not been subject to the type of peer review and editorial standards required of research articles accepted by major journals. The lack of detail in the conference abstract raises important questions about the trial, and the news release leaves them unanswered. The release does not engage in disease mongering. Instead, it notes that the Obalon device was tested on people with a BMI of 30 or higher. Also, a quote talks about the device being offered to people “who otherwise would not seek treatment or not have as good a result with diet and exercise alone.” The release fails to report that the manufacturer, Obalon Therapeutics, was responsible for the trial or that the “Study Chair” listed on ClinicalTrials.gov is a company employee. The release tells readers that the trial results indicate the balloon and counseling were more effective than lifestyle counseling alone. It also says that bariatric surgery is the most effective obesity treatment and it does refer to “other intragastric balloons.” However, these vague references to alternatives do not provide readers meaningful information, especially since the release never specifically notes that the trial did not compare this balloon to other similar devices. It’s worth noting that behavioral weight management programs generally result in 5-10 percent weight losses at 6 months to 1 year. When comparing Look AHEAD’s (a lifestyle intervention program) one year data, average weight loss was greater than achieved with Obalon at 8.6 percent. The release says that the Obalon device was approved by the FDA in September, so readers might be able to guess that it will be available in the U.S. relatively soon. The release could have noted that the manufacturer will start selling it in this country in January 2017, and that it has been on the market in Europe and other countries for almost three years. By omitting any details about the difference between the Obalon device and similar intragastric balloons, it is impossible for readers to know what is new about this device. The release could have noted that while the Obalon device is swallowed without an endoscopic procedure or sedation, the ReShape and Orbera balloons require endoscopic placement under mild sedation, and that all three devices require endoscopic removal. Also, it could have told readers that the Elipse brand balloon, which is available in Europe, is swallowed and then eventually excreted, so it normally does not require any endoscopic procedures. The release doesn’t rely on sensational language. However, it could mislead some readers about the devices benefits and soft-pedal its potential harms through this quote: “The significant weight loss achieved with the Obalon 6-Month Balloon System is maintained at 12 months,” said Aurora Pryor, MD, study co-author and Chief Bariatric, Foregut and Advanced GI Surgery, Stony Brook University. “This combination of lifestyle modification and balloon therapy provides a new low risk option for patients struggling with obesity.”
|
26566
|
"Facebook post Says Ron Johnson said Americans should go back to work, because ""death is an unavoidable part of life."
|
A summary of Johnson’s USA TODAY guest column implied he was calling for a widespread return to work. That’s an exaggeration, since Johnson supports continued social distancing and some business closures. But Johnson did refer to death being unavoidable while noting the impacts a prolonged shutdown could have on employment and mental health.
|
mixture
|
Wisconsin, Coronavirus, Facebook posts,
|
"Leaders across the country are largely unanimous in calling for compliance with dramatic social changes to slow the spread of the coronavirus. U.S. Sen Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican elected after a long career in the business world, struck a slightly different chord in a guest column in USA TODAY. The piece drew plenty of attention online and across social media, including an article published March 31, 2020, that has been shared widely on Facebook. That article summarized Johnson’s column with this headline: ""Ron Johnson: Americans Should Go Back To Work, Because ‘Death Is An Unavoidable Part Of Life.’"" This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) Let’s see how that summary lines up with Johnson’s piece. The headline implies Johnson is calling for a widespread — or even comprehensive — return to work. The Johnson piece in USA Today, published March 29, 2020, makes clear at the start he is not calling for any such immediate return to normalcy. Here is how it reads: I’m not aware of any public official, including President Donald Trump, who is calling for a complete opening of the U.S. economy. What more people are saying is that as we learn more about COVID-19, we should evaluate the total societal cost of this awful disease and try to put things into perspective. … Imagine the potential psychological and human toll if this shutdown continues indefinitely, unemployment reaches 20% or higher, as some now predict, and we sink into a deep recession or depression. Johnson says social distancing ""should continue until this outbreak is under control."" But he did also reference death being unavoidable. Here’s the full context for that line: Every premature death is a tragedy, but death is an unavoidable part of life. More than 2.8 million die each year — nearly 7,700 a day. The 2017-18 flu season was exceptionally bad, with 61,000 deaths attributed to it. Can you imagine the panic if those mortality statistics were attributed to a new virus and reported nonstop? Johnson goes on to call for reversing the current labeling of ""essential businesses,"" saying we should instead determine nonessential business ""that pose a risk for coronavirus spread."" He said those could be shut down and financial support provided to the employees and businesses until they can re-open. The brief story linked in the Facebook post describes Johnson’s position more accurately than the headline, though it also opens by labeling him ""the living embodiment of clueless privilege."" A viral Facebook post said Johnson is saying ""Americans should go back to work, because 'death is an unavoidable part of life.'"" Johnson did use the line about death being unavoidable, but the headline exaggerates his position, implying he thinks all or most people should go back to work. He explicitly says he supports social distancing and keeping some businesses closed at this point."
|
19348
|
Barack Hussein Obama will .. force Christian organizations to pay for abortions.
|
PAC ad says Obama will force Christian groups to pay for abortions
|
false
|
Abortion, National, Message Machine 2012, Government is Not God PAC,
|
"A super PAC called Government is Not God is running an ad in newspapers around the country warning readers of dire consequences if the president wins a second term. ""Barack Hussein Obama,"" the ad says, ""will move America to force Christian organizations to pay for abortion."" That claim tops a list of numerous charges about abortion, immigration, Islam and even the Declaration of Independence, which we’ll look at in separate-fact checks. For this one, the topic is abortion. HHS rule The claim is based on a rule to implement the new health care law that was announced in January 2012 by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. It addressed women’s preventive health services that must be covered by insurers without a co-pay, co-insurance or a deductible. At issue is how much organizations with religious ties would be bound by the rule. It was a clarification of the provision in the Affordable Care Act, often known as Obamacare, for co-pay-free preventive care. For individual and small-group plans, the law requires that policies cover ""essential health benefits."" The idea of co-pay-free preventive care stems from studies that show that even moderate co-pays kept women from getting care, such as mammograms or pap smears, according to HHS. The nongovernmental Institute of Medicine recommended that preventive services include all FDA-approved forms of contraception: physical methods such as condoms, diaphragms, cervical caps and IUDs, as well as hormonal methods such as the pill, implants and hormone shots. It includes emergency contraceptives such as Plan B and Ella, though not so-called ""abortion drugs"" like RU-486 that end early pregnancy by blocking the activity of progesterone. Most health insurance plans will have to cover them without a co-pay, co-insurance or a deductible. For most new and renewed health plans, that requirement kicked in Aug. 1, 2012. Religious exemptions The HHS rule provides an exemption for ""certain non-profit religious employers"" that meet a four-part test -- essentially churches and synagogues, but also some primary and secondary religious schools. That left other religious-affiliated organizations, such as universities and hospitals, outside the exemption and in a position where they could be required to cover services to which they have a moral objection. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, along with other groups and conservative leaders, rose up to fight the rule. Here’s why: Plan B and Ella -- the ""morning-after pill"" -- prevent fertilization of an egg, but taken later can prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg. To some, that’s tantamount to inducing an abortion. ""In a Catholic moral perspective and in the view of many other pro-life people, this is an early abortifacient effect, not merely contraceptive, because it ends a life that has already come into being. However, federal law would not define this as an abortion, because it only covers the interruption of an implanted pregnancy,"" Richard Doerflinger, associate director of Pro-Life Activities at the bishops conference, told PolitiFact. In response to the uproar, the administration offered a compromise in February, requiring insurance companies instead of employers to cover contraception if the employer objects. The organizations were also given an extra year to comply with the rule. A White House fact sheet says religious organizations will not have to provide contraceptive coverage or refer their employees to organizations that provide contraception, religious organizations will not be required to subsidize the cost of contraception, and contraceptive coverage will be offered to women by their employers’ insurance companies directly, with no role for religious employers who oppose contraception. To those objecting to the rule, the compromise is little more than a shell game. Said Doerflinger: ""The actual money for this coverage will still come from the premiums paid in by the employer and employee. … The Catholic employer, as much as before, is deprived of its freedom to provide a health plan (and its employees are deprived of the freedom to receive a health plan, for themselves and their minor children) that conforms to their moral and religious principles."" More than two dozen lawsuits against the Obama administration over the rule are pending around the country. So, is the claim accurate? Doerflinger says yes. ""The mandate includes drugs that can cause an abortion; and we haven’t seen a workable scenario in which the money for covering such drugs comes from anywhere but the premiums paid by many Christian employers and their employees,"" he said. We also asked NARAL Pro-Choice America, an abortion rights group, for its take: ""The new contraceptive-coverage policy referenced in the claim … will not force Christian organizations to pay for abortion. The policy requires coverage of all FDA-approved forms of birth control, including emergency contraception (EC). EC is not abortion, rather, it prevents pregnancy. Therefore, no one is required to cover abortion under this policy,"" said Samantha Gordon, spokeswoman for NARAL. ""Also, the administration explicitly exempts religious houses of worship from the contraceptive-coverage requirement. Moreover, the policy allows religiously affiliated employers that presently refuse to offer their employees contraceptive coverage a one-year grace period to come into compliance. These organizations also will be allowed to opt out of the policy permanently if they oppose it."" Our conclusion: There is a narrow window in this claim that has some truth. The wording -- ""Christian organizations will be forced to pay for abortions"" -- is clearly an overreach. Christian organizations won’t be ""forced"" to hand over money for abortion procedures performed at clinics by doctors. But because employers are now required to provide health insurance for employees under the Affordable Care Act (or otherwise face fines) and because that law dictates that preventive care must be provided at no cost to the insured person, there is some force being applied by the federal government. Preventive care, as defined by HHS, encompasses birth control, emergency contraceptives and sterilization -- health services that some people equate with abortion. Overall, the statement creates a misleading impression. But that one element of truth leads us to rate it ."
|
3735
|
Hong Kong to add mystery illness to reportable diseases.
|
Hong Kong’s health chief said Tuesday that a respiratory illness whose cause remains unknown will be added to an official list of diseases that medical practitioners are required to report to the government.
|
true
|
Wuhan, Pneumonia, General News, Health, Hong Kong
|
The disease — an unidentified form of viral pneumonia — has sent 59 people to the hospital in the mainland Chinese city of Wuhan, in central Hubei province. As of Sunday, seven were in critical condition, while the rest were stable. Municipal authorities have ruled out SARS, the severe acute respiratory syndrome that killed 700 people in 2002 and 2003. In Hong Kong, a total of 15 patients were being treated Sunday for symptoms including fever and respiratory infection after recent visits to Wuhan. It is not clear whether they have the same illness as the Wuhan patients. Speaking at a news conference, the health chief, Sophia Chan, said the “severe respiratory disease associated with a novel infectious agent” will be added to a list of reportable infectious diseases in Hong Kong’s Prevention and Control of Disease Ordinance. The regulation enables the government to take stronger measures against the spread of certain diseases, such as tuberculosis and chicken pox. Actions under the ordinance could include enforcing quarantines or limiting the movement of people who are suspected to have infections. “Under the amendment, medical practitioners will have to report suspected cases as well as carry out appropriate investigations and follow-ups to the Center for Health Protection under the Department of Health,” Chan said. The U.S. Consulate General in Wuhan issued a health alert Tuesday for the pneumonia outbreak, warning travelers to Wuhan to avoid animals, as well as animal markets and products. ___ Wang reported from Beijing.
|
39698
|
A first-hand story of a person (some version say it was a woman) who was told by the doctor to use a copper penny next time she got stung by a bee. She tried it a couple of times on both herself and a visiting friend and putting the penny reduced the pain and swelling.
|
Pennies to help remedy bee stings?
|
unproven
|
Medical, Miscellaneous
|
We have not found any credible evidence or research that substantiates putting a copper penny on a sting for relief. We have found a lot of people on the Internet who believe it helps. It seems that copper pennies are regarded as a remedy for a variety of things among folk remedy enthusiasts. We have found suggestions of using copper pennies for combating plantar warts, other kinds of warts (rub 20 pennies on the wart), ringworm (put the penny in vinegar until green), dizziness (hold the penny in your hand), and keeping puncture wounds from becoming infected. Updated 3-30-07 Comments
|
29567
|
"Drinking wine before bed ""officially makes you skinny."
|
"What's true: A 2010 Harvard study found that women who drank gained less weight than non-drinkers. What's false: The 2010 Harvard study found that women who drank wine still gained weight (even if less so than non-drinkers), and no research in 2015 proved that wine ""makes you skinny"" or aids weight loss."
|
false
|
Viral Phenomena, daily mail, harvard, misconstrued research
|
On 17 February 2016 the web site Total Sorority Move published an article which claimed drinking wine before bed “officially makes you skinny,” maintaining: Whether you’re casually sipping a cabernet blend while laying in bed and reading a book or chugging Franzia until you knock yourself out, there’s no denying that we love our evening glass (or bottle, or box) of wine. Now you can shut down all the haters with pure science facts, because a bunch of really smart people at Washington State University and Harvard have decided that yes, drinking wine actually makes you skinny. *starts drinking now* https://t.co/e0KxIkkRrP — Total Sorority Move (@totalsratmove) February 17, 2016 We looked for a link back to the findings of “really smart people” at Washington State University and Harvard. But the article’s only citation was an 11 February 2016 item on the blog of wine purveyor Last Bottle. That post was littered with anecdotal evidence, rather than data: A quick look at the Last Bottle crew confirms just how integral wine is to sculpting a killer beach body, but since we don’t have any recent photos you’ll just have to trust us. And besides, other people have reported similar effects. An article in the Daily Mail profiled four women who claim that drinking wine helps keep their weight down and curb bad eating habits. One of them was Linda Monk, a 47-year-old woman who says she lost six pounds in three weeks. She credits using wine as a “bedtime snack” to satiate cravings for “sweets, biscuits, and chocolate”. The post referenced a May 2015 Daily Mail article which made the same claims, citing evidence such as a 47-year-old woman named Linda who “lost 6lb over the past three weeks and is convinced she has her nightly tipple to thank.” Additional anecdotal evidence came via a woman named Samantha, who explained how wine apparently helped her lose weight: An average day’s food is scrambled eggs for breakfast, chicken salad for lunch and chilli con carne without rice for dinner, accompanied by a good quality glass of red wine. ‘My weight had been creeping up to 10st 6lb, but I now weight 10st and I’m edging towards a size ten. Finally, the article claimed that a “13-year Harvard University study of 20,000 women found that those who drank half a bottle of wine a day had a 70 per cent reduced risk of obesity compared to non-drinkers,” but didn’t actually link to any specific study. We searched for the study in question. Most citations linked back to the Daily Mail assertion, with no information at all about the purported studies. A worrying number of articles contained wording to the effect of “according to the Daily Mail” without any additional verification any such study existed. Given the number of mentions in 2015 (and into 2016), readers wouldn’t be at fault for believing recent research indicated that drinking wine equaled weight loss, according to Harvard. We finally located a Reuters article about such a study from March 2010, a full five years prior to the Daily Mail‘s item. Titled “Wine may help women keep weight in check,” its claims were a bit less sensationalized: The new study, published in the latest issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, is the first to examine ties between alcohol consumption by a normal-weight individual and the risk of becoming overweight or obese. The women were all at least 39 years old when the study began. About 38 percent said they did not drink alcohol; 33 percent said they drank less than 5 grams daily (a standard drink has about 10 grams of alcohol); 20 percent drank 5 to less than 15 grams daily; 6 percent drank 15 to less than 30 grams daily; and 3 percent downed 30 grams of alcohol or more daily (about 2 to 3 drinks per day or more). Over an average of about 13 years, the women generally gained weight. However, the teetotalers gained the most weight, with weight gain decreasing with increasing amount of alcohol consumed … Put another way, Wang said an initially trim woman who did not drink alcohol had about a 43 percent chance of becoming overweight or obese over 13 years. Her risk fell to 33 percent if she drank 15 to 30 grams of alcohol a day. Reuters’ coverage of the research specifically stated all the women in study gained weight, not that they lost any. The women who drank alcohol appeared to gain less in the aggregate, but that did not prove that wine encouraged weight loss. The study in question was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine on 8 March 2010. Of note is that the study made absolutely no distinction between varieties of alcohol in the course of research — wine wasn’t singled out as a specific factor, nor was it differentiated from beer and spirits. Its conclusion stated: Compared with nondrinkers, initially normal-weight women who consumed a light to moderate amount of alcohol gained less weight and had a lower risk of becoming overweight and/or obese during 12.9 years of follow-up. Comments appended to the research identified an large number of conflicting findings and confounding factors, making an absolute conclusion difficult to identify: Previous cross-sectional studies of alcohol intake and body weight have shown positive or null associations in men and inverse or nullassociations in women. Prospective studies that focused on weight change have been equally inconsistent across populations.In the Framingham Heart Study, men and women who increased their alcohol consumption during 20 years of follow-up experienced weight gains larger than the average. In the Nurses Health Study I, an inverse association between alcohol intake and 8-year weight gain was found among 31,940 nonsmoking women. A similar association was noted in the Nurses Health Study II: light to moderate alcohol intake of 30 g/d or less was inversely associated with weight gain and the odds of gaining 5 kg or more in 8 years. In the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey I Epidemiologic Follow-up Study of 7230 participants, women but not men who consumed alcohol gained less weight over 10 years than those who did not. Articles in 2016 inexplicably picked up a nearly year-old May 2015 Daily Mail article, which focused on the anecdotal claims of four British women — who appeared to be actively dieting in addition to losing weight by drinking wine. In passing, that article mentioned (but didn’t link to) research out of Harvard which apparently proved that wine caused weight loss. From that point, several news outlets referenced the Daily Mail as a source of that claim, but none appeared to actually have read the actual study. As it turns out, the research cited was published five years earlier, and in no way indicated that wine helped with weight loss. The study in question examined all alcohol consumption, and found drinkers gained weight, but possibly at a slower rate than non-drinkers.
|
5860
|
Health department urges syphilis testing for pregnant women.
|
The state health department is urging pregnant women to get tested for syphilis after a spike in the number of babies born with the disease.
|
true
|
Prenatal care, Alabama, Health, Syphilis
|
The Alabama Department of Public Health issued the precaution after at least 10 infants were born with the severe illness. That compares with three cases each in 2014 and 2015. Congenital syphilis results from untreated syphilis in the infant’s mother before delivery. It is preventable by ensuring that women with syphilis are treated during pregnancy. In eight of the 10 most recent cases, the mothers either had no prenatal care or received care late into their pregnancies. The state health department is offering a free test to any woman who is not yet enrolled in prenatal care by the second trimester.
|
6253
|
State offers grants for specialized court programs.
|
The state of Ohio is now offering $7.5 million in grant funding to support the expansion of specialized court programs focusing on recovery from substance use or mental health disorders.
|
true
|
Mental health, Mike DeWine, Health, General News, Ohio
|
Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said in a statement Tuesday that the funding will help specialty courts in Ohio direct those arrested for non-violent crimes toward recovery. Specialized court dockets allow judges the flexibility to place defendants with mental health or substance use disorders into treatment rather than sentencing them to jail. The grants to be awarded through the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services are funded through Ohio’s 2020-2021 operating budget. Courts not currently receiving specialized docket or drug court grant funding can apply. The money can be used for payroll costs and recovery supports among other things.
|
27277
|
In 1965 a 'grossly obese' man survived without eating for one year and 17 days, living entirely off his body fat and supplemental vitamins.
|
Mr. A. B. has never been identified publicly, though he was thanked by the authors of the case report “for his cheerful co-operation and steadfast application to the task of achieving a normal physique.”
|
true
|
Medical, weight loss
|
A popular story immortalized in the “weird fact” genre of memes concerns a Scottish man (given the identity “Mr. A.B.” by researchers) who fasted for one year and 17 days, successfully losing 276 pounds in the process. A popular online summary of this feat, taken from “Weird Facts”, reads as follows: In 1965 a ‘grossly obese’ man survived without eating for 1 year and 17 days. He lived entirely off his copious body fat and vitamins, and ended up losing 125kg [276 lb] of weight with no adverse effects. Also, he only pooped every 40 – 50 days Surprisingly, this is essentially an accurate statement of fact. A 1973 case report described Mr. A.B.’s dramatic (and Guinness Book of World Records-worthy) effort to lose weight through starvation: Several years ago a grossly obese young man presented himself for treatment. Initially, there was no intention of making his fast a protracted one, but since he adapted so well and was eager to reach his ‘ideal’ weight, his fast was continued into what is presently the longest recorded fast. During the 382 days of the fast, the patient’s weight decreased from 456 to 180 lb. Five years after undertaking the fast, Mr. A.B.’s weight remains around 196 lb. Indeed, even the aside about Mr. A. B.’s highly intermittent bowel movements is factual. According to the case report, “evacuation was … infrequent, there being 37-48 days between stools.” Mr. A. B.’s case was highlighted by Australian science personality “Dr. Karl” Kruszelnick, who explained in a 2012 post on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s science website that stored fat can indeed serve to fuel a body in the absence of other food: Once you stop eating, your body gets its energy from the glucose in your bloodstream and liver, thanks to your last meal. You carry a semipermanent 0.5 to 1 kilogram of solids in your gut. The glucose from this runs out after about eight hours. Then you start burning up a chemical called glycogen. Glycogen is simply a whole bunch of glucose molecules loosely stuck together. It’s stored in your liver and muscles. Glycogen is really easy to break down into the individual glucose molecules from which it was made. You can burn glycogen to get the glucose you need for about another 36 to 48 hours. After two or three days of fasting … the majority of your energy comes from breaking down fat. The fat molecules break down into two separate chemicals — glycerol (which can be converted into glucose) and free fatty acids (which can be converted into other chemicals called ketones). Your body, including your brain, can run on this glucose and ketones until you finally run out of fat. This is not to say that extreme fasting comes without risk. As a treatment for obesity, prolonged fasting was fairly common in the 1960s and 70s, but it fell out of favor after reports of serious complications and sometimes deaths attributed to the practice. More recent research has suggested the practice could be safe in doctor-supervised treatments, assuming the patient meets certain medical criteria beforehand. Mr. A. B. began his treatment in the hospital, but he completed most of his fast at home, testing his blood glucose and urine regularly. In response to the results of those tests, the doctors occasionally added other non-caloric supplements to his vitamin regime, including potassium supplements and sodium supplements, to correct for deficiencies.
|
29949
|
"A video shows a man vaporized instantly from electrocution and/or exposure to hydrofluoric or “sulfuric hydrofluoric"" acid."
|
This video has been shared and re-shared several times on multiple explicit “shock” websites. It is also grainy, out of focus, and of highly uncertain provenance. It is likely that the video was edited, but of this we are certain: hydrofluoric acid, fluorosulfuric acid, and/or old-school electrocution did not cause a man to disappear into thin air.
|
false
|
Fauxtography
|
Since at least October 2018, the video of a man perched atop a tanker truck ostensibly being electrocuted by an overhead powerline before apparently disappearing into thin air has been shared with multiple explanations of dubious credibility. Some videos, such as one published on LiveLeak, described the incident simply as “man gets electric shock on top of a tanker truck.” More recent iterations, including a viral claim on WhatsApp, suggested a mechanism involving either hydrofluoric acid or “Sulfuric Hydrofluoric acid” and appeared to suffer from myriad translation problems: “Sulfuric Hydrofluoric acid. Evaporating fumes dissolves any living organism in vapor. … Within seconds he get mixed in the air.” Regardless of the mechanism described, vaporizing into thin air as shown is almost certainly not possible, and the video, which is low-quality and appears to have been filmed on a cellphone pointed at a monitor, is extremely grainy and could very well be edited. Here we debunk the three possibilities proposed by the various claims surrounding this video: 1) the man vaporized as a result of electrocution; 2) the man vaporized as a result of hydrofluoric acid; 3) the man vaporized as a result of “sulfuric hydrofluoric acid”, which is not a thing but which we interpret to mean fluorosulfuric acid (or sulfurofluoridic acid). Electrocution Using back-of-the-envelope calculations based on the amount of water and other common constituents of the human body, researchers have estimated it would take 2.99GJ of energy to vaporize a human being. For a power cable to transfer that amount of energy to a human in less than a second, it would require that cable to be carrying a massively unrealistic voltage. Using a (generous) half a second guess for the amount of time 2.99 GJ of energy would have been transferred to the human in this video, and a ballpark estimate of 1000 ohms of resistance in a human body, that power line would have to carry at least 2.5 million volts for human vaporization. The highest voltage power lines in existence (which look nothing like the ones in the viral video) carry at most one million volts of energy. We don’t know what happened to the man in this video, but he did not vaporize as a result of contact with that power line. Hydrofluoric Acid Hydrofluoric acid has a well-earned reputation as a deadly acid, but its deadly nature does not stem from its strength as an acid (it is actually considered a weak acid), but rather its ability to penetrate through tissue. As a result, hydrofluoric acid can be deadly via a number of mechanisms, but these mechanisms take much longer than a half a second to be fatal, and none of them could plausibly result in the wholesale vaporization of a man. Though the extent of an injury from exposure to hydrofluoric acid depends on the amount, time, and route of exposure, its ability to permeate tissue can cause widespread internal cellular damage and, according to the CDC, “even small splashes of high-concentration hydrogen fluoride products on the skin can be fatal.” Despite that fact, effects from skin exposure would usually take 12-24 hours to first show up. The video shows a man exposed to a cloud of vapor, and inhalation of hydrofluoric acid vapors would cause much quicker irritation to the lungs as well as chronic damage over time, but it would in no way evaporate a man. “Sulfuric Hydrofluoric Acid” As mentioned above, “sulfuric hydrofluoric acid” is not the name of a real chemical. Fluorosulfuric acid (also known as sulfurofluoridic acid) is a real thing, and unlike hydrofluoric acid, fluorosulfuric acid is a strong acid that reacts violently with bases or when mixed with water. It does not combust, however, nor is it explosive. Instead, its primary danger to humans is via burns to the skin or eyes, or irritation to lungs when inhaled. A secondary risk is that it can react to form hydrofluoric acid. A chemical burn does not a vaporization make, however, and (as discussed above) neither would anything associated with hydrofluoric acid, either.
|
3799
|
Trump plan would channel prescription discounts to patients.
|
The Trump administration Thursday unveiled a plan to channel now-hidden prescription drug rebates directly to patients, saying it would bypass middlemen and lower prices for consumers.
|
true
|
Medication, Alex Azar, Health, Politics, North America, Prescription drug costs, Business, Medicare, Prices, Prescription drugs, Donald Trump
|
The proposed regulation from Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar would eliminate behind-the-scenes discounts among drugmakers, insurers and go-betweens and instead require that they be paid directly to consumers when they buy their medications. The idea is to do away with a hidden cost seen as contributing to artificially high list prices for prescription drugs. The proposal was co-authored with the Health and Human Services inspector general’s office. The plan comes as President Donald Trump is under political pressure to deliver results on his repeated promises to slash prescription drug costs. Democrats in Congress want to empower Medicare to directly negotiate prices with drug companies, but Republicans prefer a market-based approach that keeps the government out of setting prices. The impact for consumers would not be immediate, since the changes would take effect over the next year if all goes according to plan. Also, drugmakers do not currently provide discounts for all their medications. “When you go into the pharmacy, there is something going on that you don’t know about,” Azar said in an interview. “Another actor is getting a payment (but) under this proposal you would actually get that money as a discount.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reacted skeptically, saying the rebate proposal “puts the majority of Medicare beneficiaries at risk of higher premiums and total out-of-pocket costs, and puts the American taxpayer on the hook for hundreds of billions of dollars.” The California Democrat added, “Experience tells us that merely trusting Big Pharma to lower its drug prices for consumers is not a solution, it’s a prescription for more of the same.” Prices for brand-name drugs have continued to rise, although data shows the total number of price hikes this year is somewhat lower than at the same time in 2018, and the overall percentage increase isn’t as steep. Facing heavy criticism from Trump and Democrats, some drugmakers have pledged to take fewer or smaller increases as the industry tries to avoid government regulation. Thursday’s proposal applies directly to Medicare prescription drug plans and Medicaid managed care plans, but administration officials say they believe the impact will eventually be broader. Insurers and middlemen like CVS and Express Scripts opposed the plan, saying that the discounts from drugmakers are used to keep premiums lower for everybody. “We are not middlemen, we are your bargaining power,” Matt Eyles, head of the industry lobby America’s Health Insurance Plans, said in a statement. “We cannot achieve those savings if our leverage and negotiating power is weakened through well-intentioned but misguided actions like this proposed rule.” HHS officials acknowledge that Medicare prescription premiums could go up by $3 to $5 as a result of the change, but said they expect greater savings for people purchasing medications. Those patients would see their copays and cost-sharing reduced when they go to fill a prescription. Drugmakers applauded the administration’s action. Stephen Ubl, head of the lobbying group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said in a statement the plan would “fix the misaligned incentives in the system that currently result in insurers and pharmacy benefit managers favoring medicines with high list prices.” Drug companies pay rebates in order to make sure their medications are covered by insurance plans that are the intermediaries between them and patients. Thursday’s complex proposal would work by doing away with an exemption from federal anti-kickback rules that currently allows drugmakers, insurers and middlemen called pharmacy benefit managers to negotiate rebates among themselves. It would be replaced with a new exemption for discounts offered directly to consumers. HHS says today’s hidden rebates can amount to 26 percent to 30 percent of a drug’s list price. Azar contends that under the current system everybody but the patient benefits from high prices. A high list price makes room for bigger negotiated rebates for insurers and middlemen. And drugmakers then merely build that expectation into their prices. By doing away with hidden rebates, Azar says he’s hoping to force the industry to lower its prices. “This makes the rebates transparent, and it makes them available to patients,” said Azar. “Drug companies now for the first time will compete on the basis of lower list prices.” Democrats, however, say pharmaceutical pricing remains a black box, and there’s no guarantee prices will reflect the actual costs of research, development and manufacturing. Consumers are worried about prices for brand-name drugs, particularly new medications that promise breakthrough results. Generics account for nearly 90 percent of prescriptions filled, but brand-name drugs account for more than 70 percent of the spending. Before joining the Trump administration, Azar was a top executive for drugmaker Eli Lilly. That led to criticism that he would be an industry pawn. But the drugmakers vehemently disagree with some of his other ideas, including an experiment using lower international drug prices to cut some Medicare costs.
|
11615
|
New Pill Found to Cut Weight With Few Side Effects: Study
|
The story does a good job placing this drug into the context of the current competition to bring a new blockbuster weight-loss pill to market, and it brings in a critical, independent voice, albeit late in the story. But it doesn’t provide enough details to allow readers to make their own judgments about the quality of the evidence. The story focuses too much on the drugs and not enough on whether this drug (or any drug) is a viable remedy for obesity. The story – and the issue – is a big deal because obesity is such a big deal in the US, with major impacts on morbidity, mortality, quality of life, and costs. People, doctors, health plans, and drug companies all want treatment options that help people lose weight and keep it off safely. This story reports on several new drugs that are likely to gain market approval by the FDA, which would effectively double the number of drug treatment options currentlly available to patients and providers. The biggest problem with weight loss drugs in the past has been that the side effects seemed to greatly overshadow their impact on body weight, and all weight loss drugs deserve close scrutiny on their side effect profile. Given the high prevalence of obesity in our country (1/3 of all adults), close attention should be paid to the cost of any new interventions, which if applied broadly could dramatically impact national health care expenditures.
|
true
|
"There is a passing reference to costs, which is more than the other two stories provided. But it would not have taken much effort to gather some basic cost ranges for a drug that has to be taken twice a day for at least a year to see results. The story did give weight loss amounts for people in the study. We wish they had calculated the number needed to treat – how many people would have to take the drug for how long in order to have one benefit. The one truly independent voice in this story, Dr. David L. Katz, says ""What’s most impressive about this two-year clinical trial is how unimpressive it is."" Instead of going on to attribute all of the analysis of what that is to Katz, the story could have gone the extra step of seeing if others shared that view and really bearing down on the numbers to see how strong the results really are. By our rough count, by the second year, they were dealing with a trial consisting of fewer than 500 people. Nonetheless, because the story met the minimum standard for this criterion, we’ll judge it to be satisfactory. Mixed bag – but we’ll give this a barely satisfactory score. This story is the only one of the three that we reviewed on this study that buries the fen-phen connection. And none of them take the time to spell out how much damage fen-phen really caused. As with the other stories, it breezes past any side effects or other long-term problems by saying, ""(the) team noted that for those taking lorcaserin, there was no increase in heart valve problems as had been seen with the discredited diet drug Fen-Phen. However, common side effects included headache, dizziness and nausea."" Although, unlike the other stories, it points out about a competing drug, ""FDA briefing documents posted online Tuesday acknowledged Qnexa’s effectiveness in helping patients lose weight, but said the review panel should take into account a number of potential nervous system and psychiatric side effects, the Associated Press reported."" But, again, connected with our ""Evidence"" criterion comments above, was the study rigorous enough to answer tough questions about safety? We wish the story had explored this more deeply. Can we be sure this drug is safe, since so many prior weight loss drugs fell down on this point? There’s a troubling sentence in this story that doesn’t appear in the other coverage, ""The report is published in the July 15 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, and was sponsored by Arena Pharmaceuticals, of San Diego, Calif., which used its own doctors as part of the study group."" If that’s true, that is something that should have been explored, at least in a sentence or two. Doctors studying themselves seems to defy the whole concept of a double-blind, placebo-controlled, purely scientific study. At the same time, this story does a better job than the other two of making sense of the research for three reasons. Despite our feelings that the limitations of the study could have been emphasized even more, we’ll judge this one satisfactory – especially in light of the competition. The second sentence begins, ""A potential player in fighting the obesity epidemic."" That is the sole reference to the problem of obesity, and, although it contributes to the framing of obesity as a disease that needs medication versus a risk factor for disease that can be altered with lifestyle changes, it doesn’t quite register as disease mongering. So we judge this to be satisfactory. Of the three, this story makes the best use of outside sources and does the best job of identifying conflicts of interest. It should have taken the extra step of noting Arne Astrup’s conflicts of interest, given that he is the chief ""independent"" booster of the drug. But in the first two paragraphs it says ""industry-funded research,"" ""work was sponsored by the drug manufacturer"" and ""was sponsored by Arena Pharmaceuticals."" Like the other two pieces, it ignores the idea that drugs might not work better than exercise or diet. It took one year on a drug for people to lose 13 pounds on average. That’s a little more than 1 pound a month, and that number dropped considerably the second year. As Katz points out, ""Among those who remained, lorcaserin produced relatively modest weight loss when combined with diet and exercise counseling, and that weight loss was maintained in over half of the participants only so long as they kept taking the drug…This close look at lorcaserin reaffirms that better daily use of feet and forks holds far greater promise for meaningful, sustainable and affordable weight control than pharmacotherapy."" That is something that merited more than just a comment from Katz. The story makes it clear that this is a drug company study of a drug that is ""being considered for approval"" by the FDA."" It gives a bit of a timeline but could have said how long it might take before the drug, if approved, hits shelves. The story shows how this drug builds on the successes and failures of fen-phen, although it takes a while to do so. It also explains what the other in-trial drugs do better than was done in the other two stories we reviewed on this study – by WebMD and AP. We rule this satisfactory because it’s clear that the story goes beyond the news release. But the top of the story does feature some marketing-like language, including these two quotes: ""In this long-term study of lorcaserin for treating patients for obesity, there was good weight loss, outstanding safety profile and the drug was extremely well-tolerated,"" said lead researcher Dr. Steven Smith… ""As patients are looking for additional options and physicians are looking for new tools, [lorcaserin] provides us with a look into the future for what’s going to be available for helping patients lose weight,"" he added."
|
|
5650
|
Anti-mosquito spraying planned in Rhode Island.
|
Rhode Island officials say they have scheduled anti-mosquito spraying for Sunday in four areas of the state where eastern equine encephalitis has been detected.
|
true
|
Health, Westerly, General News, West Warwick, Rhode Island
|
Environmental and health officials say the spraying will be done in the evening and overnight hours, weather permitting. The state has identified the four areas as “critical risk” locations for the disease. The areas include Central Falls, parts of Westerly, West Warwick and northern Rhode Island near the Massachusetts towns of Uxbridge, Douglas and Mendon. Spraying won’t be performed over bodies of water and other sensitive areas. The state’s first human case of eastern equine encephalitis since 2010 was reported last month, in a person over 50 from West Warwick. The disease also has been found in mosquitoes in Central Falls and Westerly.
|
24296
|
"Debra Medina Says a prank phone call caused ""400 children to be taken from their parents... without warrant."
|
Medina says 400 children were taken from their parents because of a hoax
|
mixture
|
Civil Rights, Texas, Debra Medina,
|
"Republican Debra Medina recently issued a call to action asking fellow Texans to join her in ""the fight for freedom"" that she's dubbed the cornerstone of her campaign for governor. ""Why have we Texans allowed 400 children to be taken from their parents, from a prank call, without warrant?"" her Jan. 27 e-mail states. ""This is NOT FREEDOM."" Medina didn't respond to several phone calls to elaborate on what she meant. But it’s all but certain she was referring to the Yearning for Zion Ranch raided by state officials in April 2008, leading to 439 children being placed into foster care for about two months while authorities investigated child abuse suspicions about men living on the ranch outside Eldorado, where a polygamist sect of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints had settled. By all accounts, a March 30, 2008, telephone call to a West Texas family violence shelter led the shelter to contact state officials who then got a judge’s permission to raid the ranch. The judge also authorized the removal of children from the ranch. Authorities said then that the crucial initial call came from a 16-year-old girl who told the shelter she’d suffered sexual and physical abuse at the hands of her husband on the ranch. Texans watching the saga—including the separation of many children from their mothers and siblings—grew uncertain over whether state officials had overstepped their lawful duty to intervene in response to reports of child abuse or neglect. In May 2008, the Texas Supreme Court ordered all but a handful of the children to be returned to the ranch. The court further ruled that the state went too far by removing every child. It also said the state failed to show that any more than five teenage girls were being sexually abused or that prepubescent children were in danger. In the following months, however, officials filed criminal charges ranging from bigamy to sexual assault of a child against 12 men connected with the ranch, including sect leader Warren Jeffs, 54. Last November, Raymond Jessop, 38, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for sexually assaulting an underage girl with whom he had a ""spiritual marriage."" His young wife had become pregnant at age 16. But the state has ended its day-to-day oversight of the ranch residents; the last girl returned from foster care in August 2009. And officials never found anyone who admitted to being the girl authorities say called the crisis center. They did determine, however, that the call was made from a phone in an apartment in Colorado Springs, Colo., then home to Rozita Swinton, a woman who has been convicted making another hoax call. Spokesman Patrick Crimmins of the Texas Department of Family Protective Services, which oversees Child Protective Services, the agency responsible for investigating suspicions of abuse and neglect, conceded that the call from Colorado prompted investigators to seek judicial approval to visit the ranch. But Crimmins disputed the notion that the call—hoax or not—prompted the removal of children. ""Once caseworkers arrived at the YFZ Ranch,"" Crimmins said, ""the investigation that occurred and the subsequent removal was based on what investigators found — evidence of abuse."" A December 2008 DFPS report concluded that 12 girls who’d been living on the ranch were victims of sexual abuse. The report said more than 260 children suffered neglect because they were exposed to sexual abuse in their households. Medina correctly said more than 400 children were taken from their parents. And the detention of the children happened after state authorities were called by the shelter that fielded a call from Colorado that may have been a hoax — though no authority has proved the call was a prank. Significantly, the removal of children didn’t solely occur because of the call, as Crimmins said. The children were taken temporarily based on what investigators saw upon the raid. Therefore, Medina's additional claim that the children were removed ""without warrant"" isn't supported."
|
27535
|
Plastic soda bottles left in unsuspecting residents' yards may be bottle bombs.
|
This investigation began on December 13th of last year. Since then, police have found several of these devices and the Dayton Bomb Squad has been called to detonate some of them. If you find a similar device, you’re asked to call 9-1-1 immediately, and do not try to pick it up or move it.
|
true
|
Crime, crime warnings
|
“Bottle bombs” (also commonly known as “Drano bombs” or “works bombs”) are not a new phenomenon; they’ve been a favorite of youthful pranksters for decades, as their construction requires only a few ordinary, commonly available components: plastic soda bottles, aluminum foil, and Drano (or other brand of household drain or toilet cleaner): Good morning to you all. I want to make you aware of a recent incident that occurred this morning in York Twp. This type of incident directly affects your safety as well as your children’s safety. This morning, at approximately 8:00 am, I was dispatched to an address, on Bemis Rd near the Saline City Limits, for an unexploded pop bottle bomb. When I arrived, I noticed a 20 ounce pop bottle, on the ground, in the callers front yard. After I inspected it closer, I determined that it was in fact a “Works” Bomb. I was able to clear the device away from the house and once I moved it, it detonated itself within 30 seconds. After leaving that house, I checked other yards in the area during my patrols. I located a second one, just a few doors down from the first one. As I took care of the disposal/detonation, the homeowner came out and asked me what it was. When I showed her what it was, she immediately told me that she saw the bottle and that she had planned on picking it up when she got her morning paper. Like the first one, once I moved it, it detonated in short order. There was a high probability that this would have detonated in her hand/face while she carried it to the trash. A “Works” Bomb is Drain-o and Tin Foil, mixed together inside of a bottle. The chemical reaction between the Drain-o and the Tin Foil makes a volatile build up of gases and subsequently detonates the bottle with a great amount of force. Once the detonation occurs, the chemical substance that is in the bottle is actually boiling liquid. The amount of force that is generated at the time of the explosion is enough to severe fingers and also deliver 2nd and 3rd degree chemical burns to the victim. The chemicals can possibly cause blindness and the toxic fumes can be harmful. **SAFETY**SAFETY**SAFETY***……….When you are out and about in your yards, please be mindful of these devices. If your picking up your morning paper, or mowing your grass, or if you let your children out to play; whatever your activities are, please use the following precautions. 1) If you find a soda bottle or any other bottles, examine it carefully before you touch it or get near it. If it shows signs of swelling, or melting in any way, DO NOT TOUCH IT! Call 911 and let us respond to take care of it. 2) If you find a soda bottle that has any liquid in it, DO NOT TOUCH IT! Call 911 and let us respond to check it / dispose of it. Both bombs this morning appeared to be slightly swollen, with a dark colored liquid, inside of it. This liquid could have easily been mistaken for left over soda. I know that calling 911 for a soda bottle may sound silly or like a misuse of your Police protection but trust me, it is not. You do not want one of these devices detonating in your hand or your children’s hands or in your pets face. We are here to incur the danger for you so that you are and your loved ones are not harmed. So please check your yard thoroughly before letting your children out to play and be mindful before you just deem that soda bottle as garbage and pick it up. In closing, please educate your children on the dangers and consequences of making these devices. It has become popular with the youth in the past few years, to do this as a prank, but there have been some changes to the law. Not only could it be deadly to the maker or the victim, but making one these devices is called, “Possession of a Substance with Explosive Capabilities”. If it causes no damage, its a 15 year Felony. If it causes damage, its a 20 year Felony. If it causes physical injury, its a 25 year Felony. If it causes serious injury, the penalty can be “Up to life”, and if it causes death, its Mandatory Life without the possibility of Parole. These are statutory guidelines only. These penalties are what could be imposed but it does not necessarily mean that these penalties would be imposed. In general, one need simply push some aluminum foil balls into a plastic bottle, add some Drano, and screw the cap tightly onto the bottle. The combination of the hydrogen chloride or sodium hydroxide in the fluid and the aluminum foil creates a strong chemical reaction which releases hydrogen gas; when that gas builds up to sufficient pressure, it ruptures the side of the plastic bottle, releasing the contents in an explosive burst: Although the force of pressure-based bottle bombs may seem small when compared to other types of explosives (such as gunpowder-based ones), any form of explosive has the potential to cause serious injury, and since bottle bombs have no conventional fuse they can be dangerously unpredictable, exploding earlier or later than their wielders expect. (Aluminum foil is typically coated with a layer of wax, so it can take up to ten minutes or so for the fluid to strip away the wax and react with the aluminum foil, enhancing the chances that a soon-to-explode bottle bomb may be picked up by an unwary passer-by.) Additionally, the caustic cleaning agents used in bottle bombs can cause severe burns when they come into contact with skin (either through spillage in the construction of the bombs or through being sprayed widely in the resulting explosions) and produce toxic fumes. The above-quoted e-mail warning about neighborhood residents discovering undetonated bottle bombs in their yards was sent out by Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Deputy Keith Mansell in April 2010 after he discovered two Drano bombs left in the yards of residents of York Township, Michigan. For the most part, those who concoct bottle bombs mix the ingredients, immediately set their work aside, and stand back to watch it explode within a minute or two. However, there are ways of delaying the mixture and/or reaction of the ingredients so as to cause a delayed detonation, so those who discover objects that appear to be bottle bombs should refrain from handling them and contact authorities for removal. At about the same time as Deputy Mansell’s warning hit the Internet, the town of Methuen, Massachusetts, experienced a rash of similar plastic-bottle bomb placements, including two that blew apart mailboxes: A rash of homemade plastic-bottle bombs used to blow up mailboxes has prompted arson investigators and the state police fire marshal’s office to offer up to a $5,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of anyone responsible for making and setting off the incendiary devices. [Methuen police arson investigator Matt] Bistany said [a plastic bottle a resident discovered sticking out the front of her mailbox] is at least the third device of its kind found in the neighborhood in the last few weeks, although in the two other cases, the bombs actually succeeded in blowing apart the mailboxes. Barry said the bombs, made up of typical household chemicals poured into plastic bottles and then sealed shut with the cap, can be very powerful. “We take these very seriously,” he said. “Kids have lost their fingers and had their faces injured from these things. It’s very serious.” Some more cases of bottle bomb discoveries include one such item found on an Oregon elementary school playground on 18 February 2013: A chemical-based bottle bomb, mixed inside a Gatorade container, was discovered on the playground of Periwinkle Elementary School, and the Oregon State Police responded to destroy the device, according to Albany Police Department reports. A caller reported the bomb, which was under the covered play structure, to 911. The OSP bomb squad arrived, detonated the bottle and seized it as evidence. The bottle has been sent to the Oregon State Police Crime Lab for testing. A woman residing in Wichita, Kansas, called police on 16 February 2013 after someone detonated bottle bombs nearby: A 24-year-old woman called police after hearing several explosions [outside]. She also reported seeing three teenage males wearing dark clothing fleeing from her house. When officers arrived on the scene, they found the remnants of chemical bombs in melted two-liter pop bottles. The bomb squad was then called, according to Wichita police Sgt. Bart Brunscheen, to dispose of the contents. “This is a serious crime and anybody near it could be injured,” he said. Also in February 2013, police in Beavercreek, Ohio, warned residents about a recent rash of bottle bomb incidents in the community: Beavercreek Police are investigating their 7th pop bottle bomb incident and now they’re asking for your help. Police warn that these devices are extremely dangerous. So far, no one has been hurt but they say it’s only a matter of time. The incidents have taken place in the Hunter’s Ridge, Christalee Acres and Oakbrook Chase Estates neighborhoods. The most recent incident happened at the intersection of Oakbrook Boulevard and Adams Way. Police found two pop bottle bombs and disposed of them safely. They say there are no witnesses.
|
33687
|
Drug users are disposing of their used needles by putting them into the coin return slots of public telephones, thereby infecting unsuspecting victims with hepatitis and HIV.
|
Health Related Hoaxes and Rumors (Centers for Disease Control)
|
false
|
Horrors, classic urban legends, hiv legends, hypodermic needle
|
Just when you thought it was safe to leave the house, out pops another breathless piece of scarelore warning us about a new appearance of that bogeyman of our era, AIDS. (A cousin to this scare has to do with deliberate infection of young people who are stabbed with contaminated needles by anonymous assailants at movie theatres and dance clubs. See our Pin Prick Attacks page for more about this related legend.) This time it’s drug addicts placing their used, HIV-laden needles into pay phone coin slots in order to stab (and infect) hapless, innocent victims who want nothing more than to retrieve a coin or two and receive death sentences for their troubles. (Drug addicts have been using syringes and needles for decades — you have to wonder why they didn’t start leaving them in Pepsi cans and pay phone coin slots until after AIDS came to world-wide attention.) We’re told that this isn’t a tale from some “hearsay urban legend source,” but rather from “phone company workers, through the EMT instructor.” In other words, the one and only source for this warning is an unnamed EMT instructor somewhere who heard it from an unidentified telephone company workers somewhere. You can’t beat that as a reliable source … Examples: [Collected on the Internet, 1998] A very good friend of mine is in an EMT certification course. There is something new happening that everyone should be aware of. Drug users are now taking their used needles and putting them into the coin return slots in public telephones. People are putting their fingers in to recover coins or just to check if anyone left change. They are getting stuck by these needles and infected with hepatitis, HIV, and other diseases. This message is posted to make everyone aware of this danger. Be aware! The change isn’t worth it! P.S. – This information came straight from phone company workers, through the EMT instructor. This did NOT come from a hearsay urban legend source. [Collected via e-mail, October 2007] World Health Organization Warning Very troubling important message! This happened in the St. Bruno area of Montreal just a few days ago in a movie theater. A person sat down on something sharp on the seat. Upon examination, it turned out to be a needle with a note attached: You have just been infected with HIV. The Center for Disease control reports several similar events recently in other cities. All the needles tested positive. The center reports that needles were also found in the coin return section of public telephones, as well as in the coin return section of soft drink machines. They are asking everyone to exercise extreme prudence in these situations. All public seating should be carefully scrutinized before using. A very careful visual inspection should suffice. Furthermore, you are asked to communicate this notice of potential danger to all your family and friends and as many people as possible. This notice is so important, you can save even one person from this danger by circulating this warning. Please, take a few seconds right now to pass this one. To date, there are no known instances of contaminated needles turning up in pay phone coin returns, let alone an unsuspecting telephone user’s being infected by one. “We have been looking at all of our phones and have not found a single instance of where this has happened,” Bell Atlantic spokesman Cliff Lee said in a November 1998 article in The Buffalo News. A December 1998 article in the Chicago Tribune stated: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has no reports of any such infection, nor does the Howard Brown Memorial Health Center in Chicago that treats many HIV cases. The Illinois, Cook County and Chicago Departments of Public Health and the Chicago Police Department have no records of any such incidents.The Illinois Public Telecommunications Association, an umbrella group representing about 150 coin-operated phone companies, has no reports of needles found in pay phones, and Ameritech says that in our five-state region only once, more than two years ago, did someone find a hypodermic needle in a coin slot. That person was not stuck. On 9 February 1999 two people were injured in Pulaski, Virginia, when they put their fingers into the coin return slots of pay telephones and were jabbed by (uncontaminated) needles left in those slots. The next day, four hypodermic needles were found — wrapped in cotton, thus not presenting much of a danger to anyone — in post office mail slots and a night deposit box in nearby Wythe County. No one was infected or seriously injured in those incidents. Did the legend come true? We doubt it. You see, six days earlier the major newspaper of that area carried an article about this very legend, exposing it as a hoax. Most likely a prankster or two read it and decided to pull some legs. On 29 October 2009 a student at Middle State Tennessee University was stuck by a hypodermic needle after reaching into the change dispenser of a Pepsi machine located on campus. She was treated at Middle Tennessee Medical Center and later released. Police are examining the syringe. A second syringe was discovered on 4 November 2009 in a “Vitamin Water” vending machine at that college’s student center. No one was injured in that incident. In 2000, some thoughtful soul re-worked the original scare about coin returns on pay phones into one focused on a variety of vending machines and set it in Canada: [Collected on the Internet, 2000] I am forwarding this email about something really scary I heard about today. Because it is certainly worth about, I am sending this out to you . . . Please read the following anecdote: On an average day in your life, you are out and decide you are thirsty. You notice a pop machine in your surroundings. You go over to the pop machine, & drop in a loonie. After collecting your beverage, you reach in the little compartment to collect your 50 cents change. Once reaching in, you feel a sharp prick on the finger you inserted into the change box. Your finger is bleeding, you bend down to look inside the small area to see what pricked you. What you see is a small needle, with a note beside it: “YOU NOW HAVE THE H.I.V. VIRUS”, it reads. ***This is not some scary fiction story! THIS IS NOW HAPPENING IN ALBERTA!! !… Please read on and then pass this warning to people you care about. At our student council meeting this afternoon, our advisor (a teacher at the school) told us that last week, she received a phone call from a friend at the University of Lethbridge. THE ABOVE SCENARIO HAPPENED THERE RECENTLY at the University of Lethbridge) !!! How many it happened to or why not many have heard about it is beyond me, but THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING!!!!!!!!!!! Police suspect that this is the work of a particular cult in western Canada. It (these incidents) began in Saskatchewan and have now spread into Alberta. The prime targets are major cities, but there’s no saying that it couldn’t occur in smaller towns. It happened in Lethbridge and they are on the alert especially in Edmonton and Calgary. What happens is that somehow someone inserts a syringe or a needle/pin that has been infected with the HIV virus into a vending machine compartment. Beside it they leave a note saying that whomever has been pricked and is now infected. I KNOW IT SOUNDS CRAZY, BUT TAKING A PEEK INTO ANY COMPARTMENT OF ANY PUBLIC MACHINE (PAY-PHONE,POP MACHINE, VENDING MACHINE) *** BEFORE STICKING YOUR HAND IN THERE COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE *** Whether it is where you’d get your change, or where you’d reach in and collect a can of pop or pick up a bag of chips… Be on the look-out for a note or a needle. In order for someone to read the note or get pricked by the needle, they must be in a place where, if they checked first, anyone could see it. ***Don’t let yourself become a victim & Please PASS on!!! *** Despite the forceful claims made in this later version of the “AIDS needle found in coin return” scare, there have not been any such incidents in Edmonton, Calgary, or any other Canadian cities. Moreover, officials of the University of Lethbridge (Alberta) have been bedeviled by inquiries about this story since it first appeared on the Internet. All who have asked have been told the same thing: There haven’t been any such attacks on their campus. (A February 2009 report about three people pricked by hidden hypodermic needles taped to doorknobs and a payphone in Vancouver, Washington, is still under investigation.) This newer version of the “AIDS needle found in coin return” tale incorporates the “AIDS announcement note” motif of the earliest AIDS urban legend, the venerable AIDS Mary. (Fellow who foolishly invites woman he doesn’t know to spend the night wakes to find her gone and “Welcome to the world of AIDS” scrawled in lipstick on his bathroom mirror.) This same motif is used in the later dance club versions of the “Pin-Prick Attacks” legend. (Girl dancing at popular nightclub feels a small prick on her arm, then finds the note stuffed into her pocket, taped to her back, or pressed into her hand.) A few facts and common sense tips: Additional information:
|
18039
|
Medicaid spending declined by 1.9 percent in 2012, the second such decline in 47 years.
|
Obama official touts lower Medicaid spending
|
true
|
Georgia, Medicaid, Kathleen Sebelius,
|
"The Obama administration’s top health care official recently gave a speech in Atlanta and made some specific comments about Medicaid spending that we wanted to diagnose. PolitiFact Georgia was alerted to comments U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius made on the topic through Twitter posts from people who heard her speak. ""Sebelius says Medicaid spending dropped 1.9% in 2012. First time in 47 years,"" one person tweeted. But as we’ve learned with the popular social media tool, you can’t always tell the whole story about something in 140 characters. Sebelius offered more context in her speech. ""(D)espite some of the rhetoric in Washington, the cost outlook for Medicaid is as strong as it’s been in a long time,"" Sebelius said during her speech to the National Conference of State Legislatures. ""In 2012, Medicaid spending per beneficiary actually fell 1.9 percent, the first time it had fallen in 47 years, except for the year when prescription drug costs shifted to Medicare Part D."" PolitiFact Georgia wanted to know whether Sebelius was correct that Medicaid spending per beneficiary declined by nearly 2 percent last year. We also wanted to find out how many times there has been a decline since the program was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965. Medicaid has been a big issue in Georgia over the past year. The state’s top political leaders have refused to join the Obama administration’s plans to expand Medicaid coverage, starting in 2014. Sebelius told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in an exclusive interview during her recent visit here that the state’s stance would hurt many working-poor families. But Georgia leaders say the state cannot afford to pay for the estimated 650,000 residents who would be eligible for Medicaid under the expansion. The federal government has pledged to pick up nearly the entire tab in the coming years. Georgia leaders are dubious Washington can follow through with such a commitment and fear state taxpayers might have to foot the bill. There have been many news accounts in recent years about the rise in spending on Medicaid, which provides health services to many low-income Americans. An estimated 54 million Americans receive Medicaid, according to congressional testimony. Medicaid spending has consistently grown higher than the nation’s economic input. The costs rose dramatically in the aftermath of the Great Recession. Many fear it is a budget buster unless costs are brought under control. So how could Sebelius be right about a cost decline? The secretary’s office sent us an actuarial report it put together to support her claim. It was a report on the current fiscal health of the Medicaid program, with statistics on past, present and future spending. ""Acute care fee-for-service Medicaid expenditures are projected to grow at an average rate of 5.7 percent per year over the next decade. In 2012, these expenditures are estimated to have declined by 1.9 percent. But they are projected to increase in 2013 and later years,"" the report says on Page 27. By 2012, the report means the federal government’s fiscal year 2012, which began Oct. 1, 2011, and ended Sept. 30, 2012. Sebelius said in her speech that Medicaid spending in 2020 will be 14 percent lower than previously projected. One government spreadsheet we looked at showed federal Medicaid spending rose steadily since its creation. The only years we saw a decline were in 2006, the year when Medicare Part D took effect, and in 2011, which would include portions of fiscal year 2012. Medicare Part D was a drug benefit plan that federal officials said would save seniors money. Medicaid recipients eligible for the Part D benefits were automatically enrolled into the new Medicare program, which lowered total Medicaid spending, federal officials say. ""As a result of this shift in coverage, Medicaid drug spending (net of rebates) decreased 44 percent from 2005 to 2006,"" according to the Medicaid report that a HHS official sent us. The same HHS report attributed the 2012 decrease in Medicaid spending on a decline in costs on hospital services and prescription drugs. Some news accounts said fewer new recipients added to the Medicaid rolls helped decrease spending. The HHS report says that was a small factor. The report credits the controversial Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, as being another small factor in the spending decline. Other organizations sent us reports with similar findings: The only other year Medicaid spending decreased was in 2006. To sum up, Sebelius said per capita Medicaid spending declined by about 2 percent in 2012, the first time in the history of the program that happened, aside from 2006. The reports we reviewed confirm her claim. She was making a much larger point: That Medicaid costs might not increase as rapidly as some had predicted, even though they will still go higher. The federal government has warned spending is going to rise again sharply in the next few years. Her claim is accurate but could have used a little more context.s ."
|
28533
|
We investigated a number of hoaxes, rumors, and conspiracy theories associated with a mass shooting on the Las Vegas strip on 1 October 2017.
|
Even after Vegas shooting conspiracies had begun circulating, forum posters recalled the post as linked to the boxing match. Although there was some confusion, posters for the most part correctly identified the Craigslist post as dated to early August 2017. The advertisement was legitimate, but it was retrofitted to align with false flag theories about the Vegas shooting and its original connotations (fizzled predictions about a “race war” at a boxing match) were elided in the retelling. Claims that it “disappeared” were down to the fact the page was more than 45 days old at the time it recaptured social media attention.
|
mixture
|
Politics Conspiracy Theories, las vegas, las vegas mass shooting, las vegas shooter
|
On 1 October 2017, a shooter opened fire on an outdoor country music festival in Las Vegas, killing 58 people and wounding hundreds. As is often the case with major or tragic events, rumors immediately began to flow, even before the shooting ended and the investigation began. The shooting began just after 10 P.M. local time (or after midnight on 2 October 2017 on the East Coast). Many of the claims circulated during prior mass shootings and reflected “tropes” commonly invoked by such events, and others were unique to the incident and circumstances: Although outbreaks of violence are frequently attributed to the Islamic State before an initial investigation takes place, a propaganda arm for the group attempted to claim responsibility for the attack. However, investigators quickly ruled out their involvement in the shooting. No. A Facebook page claiming to be run by antifa operatives in Melbourne, Australia posted and then deleted a status update essentially blaming the massacre on American antifa protesters. However, credible news sources and the group itself pegged the Facebook source as phony before the Las Vegas shooting. Also no. Photographs of a Trump protester circulating on social media do not show the Vegas gunman: Oftentimes, initial compelling rumors continue spreading long after a mundane explanation has emerged. Many social media users heard about an eerie warning spread by a visibly agitated woman nearly an hour prior to the massacre, but far fewer saw that the witness to that purported prediction later walked her claims back significantly. No. The concept of a “second shooter” became embedded in American consciousness after the first conspiracy rumors circulated about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. A meme that appeared after this particular mass shooting highlights purported “inconsistencies” in the “narrative” of the incident, but it does not vary much from the other conspiracy theories that come up after every such incident: Similar rumors take root in the wake of nearly all mass shootings, but neither investigators nor any evidence has indicated that anyone other than Stephen Paddock fired into the crowd at the concert. The rumor of a second shooter during the mass shooting in Las Vegas … received so much attention, Las Vegas police addressed it at a [3 October 2017] news conference. “I want to emphasize Paddock is solely responsible for this heinous act. We are aware of the rumors outside of the media and also on social media that there was more than one assailant,” said Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Undersheriff Kevin McMahill said. He said, there was no evidence to support the theory of another shooter. Yes. CBS attorney Hayley Geftman-Gold was relieved of her duties after a controversy after post-shooting remarks attributed to her were captured and publicized by a blog. A status update was widely shared as a “silver lining” after the massacre: Thomas Gunderson October 2 at 4:48am · I want to say this right now while it’s fresh. People PLEASE listen to me! There are bad people in this world, but tonight, I saw every race and gender come together to save lives and protect each other. I had women tie my leg up to stop the bleeding, I had men carrying me on their back to safety and I had many black officers and civilians holding my hand and staying with me every second of the way. Our president is far from perfect, but the divide this country is being created by media and the select few cases that they spread world wide. But you don’t get to see the good in people. I’m lying in my hospital bed right now in tears, not because I’m injured but because I did my best to save lives and not once did I see color or gender. Nor did anyone else. My friends, please please take a step back, turn off the tv and go love the person next to you. Black, white, Mexican, straight, gay or anything else. Love on them and show that we are united as one in this country and NO ONE, no matter how hard they try, can’t break us! Ever! Its veracity remains unclear at this time. On 3 October 2017, a Facebook post appeared featuring purportedly leaked crime scene photographs of the Mandalay Bay room from which the shots were fired: The authenticity of the photographs is unknown, and it is not clear whether they were leaked (versus being taken by a bystander or obtained in a fashion other than surreptitious distribution). Another claim common in circulation after the Las Vegas massacre was that mass shooters are affected by psychotropic drugs such as benzodiazepines, antidepressants, or anti-psychotic medications: On 3 October 2017, Facebook user Rikki Raulerson shared the following Facebook status update, the contents of which are unverified: So here goes…. Especially to those of you saying to stop talking about this, stop making assumptions etc. Call me crazy, call me dramatic, call me whatever you want. I’m posting this for those of us who were on the strip Sunday night, who know what we saw and what we were told by police officers, security guards, and even the local news when all of this madness started. And I am posting this in hopes of informing others who have believed everything they’ve seen on the news. If while leaving the Cosmopolitan, we had been told there was one shooting at the Mandalay Bay, Anthony and I would have not been worried for our lives and we would have continued to go out, knowing we weren’t headed to that particular area of the strip. But that’s not what we were told. We were told that there were 7 confirmed shooters, and confirmed deaths at multiple hotels. Including Bellagio, the Aria and New York New York. Being told this by a security guard, who then told us to go to the third floor for safety. However, Anthony says, “No Rikki. This is a very popular hotel, I don’t feel like the third floor of this popular hotel in public is the safest place. We’re going to try and get out of here right now.” Running back to our hotel next door, Vdara, we are told once again by police/security checking our id and room key, “yes multiple hotels effected. Go to your room and do not leave.” We then get to the room, immediately turn on the news and start watching out of our windows to figure out what is going on. The news also states, live, that the Bellagio had been effected and there was one confirmed death. Now… skip ahead about an hour. The news is no longer stating anything about the other hotels effected. They say it is one person. Every bit of info that was being initially given to us was disappearing. We could physically see from our window view, fire alarms going off at the cosmopolitan, and multiple cop cars and ambulances pulling up there as well. We wanted more information about what was happening at these other hotels right next to us, and we weren’t getting it. And we still aren’t. Monday morning I am of course telling my friends and family about our experience, and I was starting to really feel like I was crazy. Everyone was telling me there was only one shooter, and I just couldn’t understand what I had seen. Finally, other people like myself started speaking out. I was relieved to know that I wasn’t crazy, but now just as confused as to why the media is trying to hide this information. There are now videos and statements popping up all over the web, showing proof of other shooters and other effected hotels. Why are they trying to hide this?! If for no other reason, think about being a family member of the others who died or were injured at these other hotels. They deserve the respect, and the truth as to what happened to their loved ones. Now, can we please stop talking about Gun Control for just a few minutes, and figure out what is really going on here? Figure out the real motive of this incident, and inform people of the truth. Laws can be put in place for anything and everything. There will always be people who break them. And especially with all of the technology we have now days, it is not very hard to find anything you want. Whether it’s an illegal weapon, drugs, anything. Laws will always be broken. So let’s stop pretending this incident wouldn’t have happened if more laws were in place, but instead demand the truth about what really happened that night, and why? Don’t be so naive. Although this rumor is a variation on the “second shooter” claim, it also fails to take into account the difficulties faced by eyewitnesses in identifying the specifics of the shooting as it happened. Due to the close proximity most Vegas casinos share (many are connected to neighboring venues) and the acoustics of the Strip, a barrage of gunfire from one location could easily be mistaken for one from somewhere nearby. The post in question was nebulous, and still managed to inaccurately describe the subsequent attack. Although the general location (the Las Vegas strip) fit the prognostication, no other elements were compelling enough to consider the claim credible. No. Although the meme’s origin was unknown, it was one of many satirizing Bachmann’s positions. No. A disreputable source claimed that Mandalay Bay security guard Jesus Campos was an “accomplice” to Las Vegas Strip mass shooter Stephen Paddock, but the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) put paid to the phony story with alacrity. For the most part, no. Conspiracies swirled arround a Las Vegas Craigslist ad archived on 17 August 2017; date stamps suggest it was published on or around 3 August 2017: On 6 October 2017, Puppet String News claimed: Once again we have a tragic event in America, and just like massive protests across America the Las Vegas shooting had ads for actors on Crowds On Demand back in August before the shooting. Two things seem to pop up after major events take place in America in the last year or so, and that is we get a fucked up investigation and there always seems to be ads for actors before an event like the Las Vegas shooting. So now we have new evidence with crisis actors being looked for on Craigslist and Crowds On Demand a month before the Las Vegas event…I think it’s time we launch an investigation into Crowds On Demand don’t you? WorldTruth.tv asserted the same day (in a post riddled with typographical errors) that the suspicious advertisement had conveniently been deleted after the Las Vegas shooting: A California based company called ‘Crowds on Demand’ placed an advert back in August for ‘crisi actors in the Las Vegas area. The adverts, which has since been removed, advertised for protests, Rallies, Audiences, PR Stunts, and Celebrity Events. Crowds on Demand had also placed the same advert on Backstage.com, and as of today, it is still online:Note the wording – “attending a show/concert” … So is it just a coincidence that 6 weeks before the La Vegas shooting farce, we have a notorious company known for hiring crisis actors placing adverts to recruit people as crisis actors for an unspecified event in Las Vegas? However, all Craigslist posts expire automatically after 30 to 45 days. Even going by the latest date the post was archived (19 August 2017) and not the likely date it was posted (3 August 2017), 49 days passed between the date of the post and 6 October 2017 and two months between the posting date and the 1 October 2017 shooting. Moreover, anti-semitic conspiracy theorists previously set their sights on the same posting — as part of predictions that bad actors planned chaos for the then-recent Mayweather/McGregor bout. Another post in a general conspiracy forum warned: It’s obvious to most that a race war is being pushed. The McGregor/Mayweather fight could be used as a catalyst for such. Mayweather has already planted seeds by calling McGregor racist (even though Floyd referred to Pacquiao as a little yellow monkey). Today an ad was found on Craigslist looking for crisis actors in Vegas. It’s been up for two weeks. A friend called, and the dates these “actors” are needed is Aug 25th – Aug 27th. Awfully coincidental, eh? Be careful ya’ll, remember to let your love and light shine above all else.
|
8784
|
Gilead wins OK to promote drug for hepatitis B.
|
Gilead Sciences said on Monday it won U.S. approval to promote its AIDS drug Viread for treating adults with chronic hepatitis B.
|
true
|
Health News
|
Hepatitis B is a potentially life-threatening infection that can destroy the liver. Gilead estimates that more than 400 million people worldwide have the disease, which is most prevalent in Asian countries. It is the leading cause of liver cancer and complications kill up to 1.2 million people per year. Viread, known generically as tenofovir, is a once-daily tablet that works by blocking an enzyme necessary for the virus to replicate in liver cells. The drug has been available in the United States as a treatment for HIV infection in adults since 2001. Gilead already markets another hepatitis B drug, Hepsera, which saw second-quarter sales of $90 million. RBC Capital Markets analyst Jason Kantor estimated that Hepsera currently has 44 percent of the market, which remains significantly underserved. “Compared to the available drugs, Viread is likely to be considered best-in-class based on its potency, resistance profile, long-term safety, and price,” he said in a recent research note. Truvada, which had second-quarter sales of $516 million, is a pill that combines Viread with Emtriva, another of Gilead’s HIV drugs. Shares of Gilead, which lost 34 cents to close at $56.43 on Nasdaq, were slightly higher at $57.23 in after hours trading. Year-to-date, the stock is up about 24 percent, compared with a gain of about 11 percent for the Biotech Index.
|
23045
|
Livable Damascus Says Steve Spinnett has court judgments against him for trespass and harassment.
|
Livable Damascus says Steve Spinnett has judgments against him for trespass and harassment
|
mixture
|
Oregon, Ethics, Livable Damascus,
|
"Anyone following Damascus politics is probably not surprised that the race for mayor has taken a nasty turn. Candidate Steve Spinnett, who has a long history of community and political activism, says political mailings, one of them anonymous, have made wild accusations about him. He brought several documents to PolitiFact Oregon, and one in particular caught our eye. A mailer from Livable Damascus stated that Spinnett had previous judgments against him for trespass and harassment. ""In Mr Spinnett’s deposition,"" the mailer said, ""he stated that he had two previous judgments against him,"" for trespass and harassment. Trespass? Harassment? That sounds serious. PolitiFact Oregon decided to check it out. First we asked representatives of Livable Damascus for the facts to back up their claims. Randy Russell, who signed the mailer, provided court documents from a 1993 civil dispute he and his wife, Kathy, had with Spinnett over trees removed from the Russell property. The documents refer to a deposition in which Spinnett purportedly acknowledged judgments against him, but Russell couldn’t produce the actual deposition. Kathy Russell said they lost their copy in a flood. A check of public records showed nothing involving Spinnett and harassment. So we’re left with no proof of that claim. Next, we turned to Washington County court records, which show there were indeed two entries, both involving trespassing, against Spinnett. Spinnett explained that the charges came from a peaceful anti-abortion demonstration in Forest Grove back in 1989, through his association with a group called Advocates for Life. Spinnett was charged with two counts of criminal trespassing in connection with the protest. He was convicted of one in January 1990 and spent two days in jail. The other case was dismissed. Spinnett was involved in a high-profile anti-abortion case from the past. Advocates for Life and about 30 people including Spinnett were sued by Lovejoy Surgicenter of Portland for blocking doors and preventing patients from entering buildings. The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear an appeal of the $8.2 million damage award Lovejoy won against the protesters. The Oregonian’s coverage of that case notes Spinnett was among the protesters fined $1 for nuisance and $1 for trespassing, in addition to larger awards for the overall judgment. Remember though, the document released from Livable Damascus claims Spinnett had judgments against him for both trespassing and harassment. We have one true claim (trespassing) and one claim for which no proof has been offered."
|
35045
|
"Rush Limbaugh once said, ""It has not been proven that nicotine is addictive."
|
However, Limbaugh effectively confirmed the authenticity of the quotation and reiterated the same point in a lengthy rebuttal of FAIR’s article, which the organization itself printed. Limbaugh wrote (emphasis added):
|
true
|
Questionable Quotes
|
In February 2020, Rush Limbaugh announced he had been diagnosed with “advanced lung cancer,” prompting widespread reflection on the controversial and influential conservative talk radio host’s career, as well as renewed scrutiny of his past pronouncements. In light of Limbaugh’s lung cancer diagnosis, some of his detractors suggested that a measure of irony was at work, given his previous statements on smoking and nicotine. In particular, some social media users shared the following quotation, attributed to Limbaugh: “There is no conclusive proof that nicotine’s addictive… And the same thing with cigarettes causing emphysema, lung cancer, heart disease.” Social media users posted several memes containing the same quotation, including the following AZ Quotes graphic: The statement first emerged in 1994, when the left-leaning non-profit organization Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) published an in-depth examination of several dozen false and misleading claims made by Limbaugh on his radio and television shows, in his books, and elsewhere. The July/August edition of FAIR’s newsletter Extra! contained a report with the headline “The Way Things Aren’t — Rush Limbaugh Debates Reality.” In the “Weird Science” section of the eight-page article, FAIR highlighted the following claim, made by Limbaugh during the April 29, 1994, episode of his radio program “The Rush Limbaugh Show”: “There is no conclusive proof that nicotine’s addictive…[or with] cigarettes causing emphysema, lung cancer, heart disease.” FAIR refuted those assertions as follows: Nicotine’s addictiveness has been reported in medical literature since the turn of the century. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop’s 1988 report on nicotine addiction left no doubts on the subject; “Today the scientific base linking smoking to a number of chronic diseases is overwhelming, with a total of 50,000 studies from dozens of countries,” states Encyclopedia Britannica‘s 1987 “Medical and Health Annual.” By that time, Limbaugh was already a leading conservative voice in American media, and his radio show was syndicated to hundreds of stations across the country. FAIR’s exposé made a splash and garnered news coverage by major outlets including The Associated Press. The lengthy magazine article later formed the basis for a book entitled “The Way Things Aren’t: Rush Limbaugh’s Reign of Error,” which was published in 1995 and debunked more than 100 of Limbaugh’s falsehoods. One of the book’s authors, Steve Rendall, told Snopes the tape recordings he had made of Limbaugh’s radio broadcasts during that era had not survived the intervening 26 years, and therefore could not be consulted. Similarly, we did not find any official transcript of the April 29, 1994, episode. (Limbaugh’s website features an archive of thousands of recordings and transcripts of his shows, but it only stretches back to the year 2000).
|
2432
|
Fitness experts extol machine-less workout.
|
Man versus machines? In the realm of fitness at least man seems to be winning.
|
true
|
Health News
|
Despite a gym floor bulging with weight-lifting equipment, fitness experts said the only thing people need to push, pull and lift is the weight of their own body. “If more people knew you could get a good physique using your body as a bar bell, they could take matters into their own hands,” said Bret Contreras, author of “Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy,” a guide to bodyweight-only workouts aimed at everyone from the exercise-challenged to the personal trainer. Known as “the Glute Guy,” Arizona-based Contreras has been resistance training for 21 years. But in high school, he couldn’t do a push-up. “At 15 I was so skinny people used to make jokes,” the 37-year old said. “I just got so tired of being made fun of I decided to take charge.” Often thought of as a stepping stone to weight training, bodyweight training can be a complete, whole body workout in itself, Contreras said. Once the person masters the simpler version of a push-up, squat, or chin-up, a more advanced version can be tackled, often with a little help from the living room furniture. “Find things in the environment: a table to get underneath, hold on to the sides of and then pull the body upward; a rafter for a pull-up,” he said. “To work your glutes (buttocks muscles), all you need is a couch.” Contreras recommends the beginner start with 15 minutes a day and increase over time. “It doesn’t have to be intimidating,” he said. “You could do a 20-minute workout three times a week and have an incredible physique, so long as you push hard and keep challenging yourself.” Bodyweight exercises return people to the way they move naturally, according to Lisa Wheeler, national creative manager of group fitness at Equinox, the upscale chain of fitness centers. “We squat, lunge, crawl, reach,” she said, adding that a bodyweight class at Equinox is called “Animal Flow” because its crab crawls, lunges and swings were inspired by the primal movement patterns of man and beast. “Bodyweight training is great for mobility, stability and creating movement patterns,” she said. “You want to build a strong foundation, be stable around the shoulders, hips and spine.” Because the load doesn’t change, progression is achieved by changing the center of gravity of the exerciser or the complexity of the movement. Another challenge, she said, is getting enough pull to match the push of most bodyweight exercises. “Bodyweight training can make everything else better,” she said. “Dancers, moms, we all live push-pull now.” Jessica Matthews, an exercise physiologist with the American Council on Exercise, said bodyweight training blends with the trend toward functional training, or training that mimics the way we move in everyday life, as opposed to the older bodybuilder model of targeting one muscle group at a time. “Our body is one kinetic chain, everything moves together, so most everyday exercises will move multiple muscle groups,” she said. Matthews said not only can bodyweight training be done anytime, anywhere, it also works easily into popular interval training, circuit and boot camp workouts. “Using bodyweight exercises allow more of a cardiovascular component because you can move rapidly from one exercise to the next,” Matthews said. So are machines a thing of the past? “I think there’s a place for everything,” she said, “For some people a fixed path might be the way to go. It boils down to having proper joint stability and quality range of movement, then adding load. Form is imperative.”
|
38139
|
Las Vegas shooting survivor Kymberley Suchomel was found dead at her home after emerging as an important witness who could identify a second shooter.
|
Las Vegas Shooting Witness Who Identified 2nd Shooter Found Dead
|
false
|
Mass Shootings
|
A young woman named Kymberley Suchomel who survived the Las Vegas mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Festival that left 58 dead died suddenly a week later. However, Suchomel didn’t come forward as a witness who saw a second shooter, and her death hasn’t been described as suspicious. Suchomel, 28, was not injured in the Las Vegas mass shooting but described the emotional strain of the tragedy in various interviews and social media posts in the days that followed. Then, about a week after the Las Vegas shooting, Suchomel’s grandmother, Julie Norton found her granddaughter dead in her bed when Norton arrived to babysit her great-granddaughter. Suchomel had a history of epilepsy and was being treated for a a pituitary tumor at the time, Sea Coast Online reports. Days after the shooting (and prior to her death), Suchomel explained to the Victorville Daily Press how she and her friends escaped with their lives as a gunman, perched from a hotel suite on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, opened fire on some 20,000 concertgoers on Oct. 1. Fringe websites quickly seized on Kymberley Suchomel’s tragic death to support unsubstantiated conspiracy theories that there was a second gunman involved in the Las Vegas shooting. The idea was that Suchomel was silenced after coming forward as a key witness. The website “A Sheep No More” was one of the first, filing a false report under the headline “Las Vegas Shooting Witness Who Identified Multiple Shooters, Found Dead.” Your News Wire, a website known for publishing fabricated reports, went a step further and falsely reported that Suchomel had identified four shooters. Many more sites published similar stories, and they all used a tactic that’s commonly used to advance fabricated reports: combining an actual news story (like Suchomel’s untimely death) with unsupported conspiracy theories (like Suchomel being a witnesses to a second Las Vegas shooter). However, there’s no evidence to support persistent conspiracy theories that there was as second Las Vegas shooter — or that Suchomel was a witness. Kymberley Suchomel gave her account of what happened at the festival to the Victorville Daily Press on October 2, 2017. She described where she was, what she saw and how she escaped. Nowhere in that description does Suchomel indicate that she witnessed a second gunman. In the end, reports about Kymberley Suchomel’s untimely death are true — but claims that Suchomel’s death was suspicious and that she was a witness to a second Las Vegas shooter are fiction. That’s why we’re calling this one truth and fiction. Comments
|
9569
|
MICHIGAN ATHLETIC GROUP SAYS CONCUSSION PROGRAM WORKS
|
Concussions incurred during sporting events in middle and high schools may have substantial health impacts on young athletes. Recognition of those impacts has grown exponentially in the US, generating earnest efforts to find ways to diagnose possible problems during games, before an athlete returns to the fray and runs the risk of making things worse. A number of companies now market baseline testing products, which usually involve a “baseline” neurological exam at the start of the season. Later, if the athlete is injured during a game, a shorter “sideline” exam can be conducted to compare to the original exam. This AP story reports on a Michigan-based organization that made baseline testing available to schools in order to gather data over the course of a year about the frequency of potential concussions across ages, genders and type of sport. The story does a nice job of summarizing the results of that study but treats the concept of baseline testing uncritically. Can the brief sideline diagnostic efforts in the midst of a game actually detect a problem in the making? It depends on who you “ask.” Baseline testing is currently fashionable in medical circles. The Journal of the American Association (JAMA) has published articles concluding that baseline procedures are valid tests of cognitive function in athletes, a conclusion disputed by articles in other journals. The CDC has a webpage explaining baseline testing that offers details about when to do the tests but with no efficacy critique. And web pages from “The Sports Concussion Institute” tout the testing as evidence-based. But is it? We could find no controlled trials showing that neuropsychological testing improves outcomes after sports-related concussions. And that, in turn, may mean that baseline testing is still a form of expert opinion masquerading as evidence-based science. Since companies are selling baseline testing products, the possibility of industry influence on the conduct of research exists. These details were needed in the to story to present a full picture of what’s at stake. Sports-related head injuries are increasingly implicated in permanent brain damage. Determining their frequency and potential severity while there is still time to treat or, ideally, avoid the problem is critical.
|
mixture
|
Concussion
|
The story includes details about costs incurred by the state-based organization that conducted the study. While the story heralds the “positive impact” of this testing program and goes on to note that schools participating in the pilot program “removed players for possible concussions at a higher rate” than schools not in the pilot program, the story contains no data that would allow the reader to assess that comparative statement. And if there isn’t any, that should be made clear. Through no fault of the Michigan High School Athletic Association, we don’t know if removing more students from sports activities saves their brains from long-term harm, since no studies have been done. Pulling high school athletes, or any athletes, from a game or labeling them inaccurately as being concussed and missing additional games (which could happen with a false-positive result) can cause anxiety and disappointment. Many athletes would be devastated by a lost opportunity to participate in the big game. There is no discussion of the evidence for this method–which makes us wonder why the headline of the story was “Michigan athletic group says concussion program works.” How do they know it works? Baseline testing (see description of what it is in the summary above) has become an increasingly popular strategy for diagnosing potential head injuries. But while much reflection on the technique to date—including this story—is uncritical, this type of testing has not yet survived controlled clinical trials, to the best of our knowledge. In an evidence-based world, the data are not yet in hand–and the story should have made that clear. Possible head injuries in sport are receiving much-deserved attention. The story includes no independent medical experts who could provide perspective on this type of program. While the story does not compare the baseline testing concept with alternatives, it does note that several companies now market concussion-testing procedures. It makes no effort to compare those products, or to compare other strategies to evaluate athletes. Concussion-testing programs are clearly available. The story makes the claim that this study is the “first-ever head-injury survey” conducted by the Michigan High School Athletic Association. That is true. The organization composed a news release to accompany the release of the study. If the reporter encountered it, he clearly supplemented that material with his own reporting.
|
30023
|
A photograph shows a prescription for several stimulants, sedatives, and narcotic painkillers issued to singer Elvis Presley the day before he died.
|
Nichopoulos died on 24 February 2016 at the age of 88.
|
false
|
Fauxtography
|
On 3 December 2018, the Facebook page “Pictures in History” posted what appeared to be a prescription written by Elvis Presley’s doctor, George Nichopoulos, the day before the singer died at his Graceland estate in Memphis on 16 August 1977: Several clear indicators show this document to be a forgery. First, the ZIP code “34108” does not correspond to Memphis, Tennessee, but rather to part of Naples. The forger transposed a couple of digits, as the correct ZIP code for the Memphis address is 38104. Second, we find it unlikely that a doctor would spell his own name incorrectly. Presley’s controversial personal physician (colloquially referred to as “Dr. Nick” even after he lost his medical license in 1995) was Dr. George Nichopoulos, not George “Nichopolous.” Even if Dr. Nick had accidentally misspelled his name in this one instance, though, it’s still the case that the handwriting on the prescription in no way matches Nichopoulos’ actual signature. Below is his real signature as it appeared on a loan agreement between Presley and Nichopoulos signed in 1975 and the signature on the forged prescription for comparison: That being said, the forged document does speak to some historical realities. The faux prescription lists a variety of drugs that were frequently prescribed for Presley while he was a patient of Nichopoulos. Dilaudid (hydromorphone) and Percodan (oxycodone/aspirin) are both narcotic painkillers, Amytal (amobarbital) and Quaalude (methaqualone) are sedative drugs that Presley used to sleep, and Dexedrine (dextroamphetamine) and Biphetamine (amphetamine salts) are both stimulants similar to Adderall. Dr. Nichopoulos prescribed them all: Between 1975 and 1977, he had prescribed 19,000 doses of drugs. In the first eight months of 1977 alone, he had written 199 prescriptions totaling more than 10,000 doses of sedatives, amphetamines and narcotics: all in Elvis’s name. Nichopoulos was blamed for the singer’s death and branded a “Dr. Feelgood” in the media. In September 1981 he faced trial on “14 counts of overprescribing uppers, downers, and painkillers to Presley, entertainer Jerry Lee Lewis, himself, and eight others”: The two counts of the indictment dealing with Presley allege Nichopoulos “unlawfully, wilfully and feloniously” prescribed for the entertainer “certain quantities” of the synthetic narcotic, Dilaudid; the painkillers Percodan and Demerol; the sedatives Quaalude and Parest; the barbiturate Amytal; the stimulants Dexedrine and Biphetamine; and the appetite suppressant Ionamine from May 17, 1976, to Aug. 16, 1977 — the day Presley died at the age of 42. Nichopoulos was acquitted on all counts in November 1981, but in 1995 the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners permanently suspended his medical license, stating that he had been “overprescribing to numerous patients for years.”
|
9454
|
Gene therapy helps boys with 'Lorenzo's Oil' disease
|
This story is one of two that we are reviewing (the other is from the New York Times) that focuses on a recent paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine. At issue is a novel gene therapy used to limit or eliminate symptoms related to the disease adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD). The AP story does a good job of making clear that the treatment is not yet available for widespread clinical use and does a fair job of describing the study and its results. However, the story appears to mischaracterize current treatment options for the disease, and overlooked the potential harms. Left untreated, ALD often leads to death within 1-10 years of diagnosis. And there are precious few treatment options available. What’s more, the primary treatment, bone marrow transplantation, relies on the availability of a donor — and poses significant health risks of its own. All this makes new treatment options incredibly important for ALD patients and their loved ones. However, the fact that we are talking about the life and well-being of patients — usually children — also makes it incredibly important to place the work in context. Limitations, availability and unanswered questions are always key points worth making, and especially so when many parents are eager for information about something that may affect the health and well-being of their children. The story does a decent job here. But the story also appears to provide an unnecessarily limited view of potential treatment options. ALD is already a daunting diagnosis with limited treatment options available. Characterizing those options as being even more limited than they already are is problematic.
|
true
|
ALD,gene therapy,Lorenzo's oil
|
The story does not discuss cost, but it does at least acknowledge that cost may be an issue. As the story notes: “The main questions are how long the benefits will last, how much the treatment will cost if it wins approval, and whether it will replace stem cell transplants from donors, he wrote” (emphasis added). The New York Times was stronger on this point, disclosing the risk that costs might be “absolutely crazy.” The story notes that, two years after treatment, 15 of the 17 patients who received the gene therapy treatment for ALD “were neurologically stable.” That’s sufficient to earn a satisfactory rating here. However, it would have been better if it had clarified what “stable” means in this context. Did patients not display any additional symptoms of ALD after the beginning of treatment? Did the condition worsen and then improve? Or did the condition plateau at a certain point after treatment began? Potential adverse effects were not addressed at all. According to a supplement of the journal article, side effects ranged from fever and seizures to gastroenteritis. The side effects listed in the supplement also included those for one patient (2018), whose ALD symptoms worsened significantly after treatment began. The story does note that one of the 17 patients did die from a worsening of the disease. It’s not clear what effect, if any, the treatment had on the relevant patient. However, the story does not note the side effects experienced by any of the 15 patients who became neurologically stable. Would most parents accept these side effects as acceptable risks, given the severity of ALD? Probably. But they need to be mentioned. The release does a fair job of describing the study. It’s worth noting that this story also makes clear that it remains unclear how long the relevant benefits observed here may last. That’s an important point, and one that’s also missing from the New York Times story. No disease mongering here. The story discloses that Bluebird Bio, the company that hopes to market this gene therapy, paid for the study. The story also notes that “some researchers work or consult for the company.” That’s enough to earn it the Satisfactory rating. However, the story also quotes one of those researchers directly, but does not note that this specific researcher (David Williams) has conflicts of interest. According to an appendix of the journal article, Bluebird Bio also funds other projects by Williams. The company has also licensed one of Williams’ patents. That doesn’t necessarily mean that anything in the study is shady, but conflicts of interest should be acknowledged — and this story would have been stronger if it had made note of Williams’ conflicts of interest specifically. The story states that “The only effective treatment [for ADL] is a stem cell transplant from a matched sibling.” That’s not accurate. Bone marrow transplants have to come from matched donors, but those donors are not necessarily siblings. In addition, some patients are also able to receive stem cell implants coming from cord blood. It can be difficult to find a matched donor for transplant treatment, and the treatments can pose significant risks. There’s no need to make something that’s already difficult seem more difficult. The story would be stronger if it explicitly stated that there is no clear timetable for this treatment to become clinically available, if ever. That’s particularly true given language in the opening paragraph that calls this treatment “another win” for gene therapy. However, the story does provide enough information that readers can figure out the treatment isn’t available yet. Specifically, the story notes that “The main questions are how long the benefits will last, how much the treatment will cost if it wins approval, and whether it will replace stem cell transplants from donors….The U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires gene therapy participants to be monitored for 15 years, so these patients will continue to be studied, Williams said. Eight more patients are being added to the study as part of Bluebird’s plans to seek approval of the therapy in the U.S. and Europe” (emphasis added). The story is sufficiently clear on this point to earn it a satisfactory rating. However, the New York Times story offers a deeper understanding of how this work developed over time and how it fits into the broader fields of gene therapy and ALD treatment. The release incorporates information not found in the news release.
|
8137
|
New Delhi and scores of Indian districts under lockdown to contain coronavirus spread.
|
New Delhi will be under lockdown until March 31, the Indian capital’s government announced on Sunday, seeking to keep citizens indoors to prevent the spread of coronavirus and giving police powers to punish violators.
|
true
|
Health News
|
The city’s borders with neighboring states will be sealed and public transport will be suspended, said the city’s chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal. “We have learnt this from the world that the less you venture outside, the less you come in contact with the world that much we can save ourselves,” Kejriwal told reporters. “We are saying this repeatedly that you can save yourself from coronavirus,” he said. The order to shut down the capital came hours after hundreds of millions of Indians heeded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal for people to self-isolate for a day to contain the spread of the disease. India has registered 341 cases of coronavirus, with seven deaths, the federal government said in statements on Sunday. Experts have said the number of cases mirror rates during the early stages of the outbreak in other countries, which then went on to see very rapid growth. While Sunday’s curfew was voluntary and not an outright ban on movement, it was followed by series of announcements by states to continue the lockdown till the end of March. At least 75 districts across the country where cases of coronavirus have been detected have been put under stringent lockdown. “State governments will issue orders allowing only essential services to operate in about 75 districts with confirmed COVID-19 cases or casualties,” said a home ministry official in New Delhi. Indian Railways, which carries more than 25 million commuters a day, canceled all passenger train services until March 31. Medical experts say a lack of testing facilities could be hiding the true extent of cases in India, which has a population of more than 1.3 billion people. Testing has been expanded to private laboratories and will now include asymptomatic people who have had contact with confirmed cases. Firefighters in western India fumigated areas around closed markets, public squares and urban slum districts. “The curfew period gave us a chance to scale down each and every activity across India,” said a senior aide to Modi, adding that a more rigid approach could trigger protests or unrest. “A breakdown of law and order will be the worst thing to happen at this point,” he said on condition of anonymity. Factories, large industrial parks and banks have declared shutdowns or found ways to minimize contact in offices. Confirmed cases in South Asia, including India, have increased to 1,145 with 12 deaths reported. In Sri Lanka, police arrested over 110 people for violating a curfew. The country has registered over 80 cases. Afghanistan, with 34 cases, reported its first death from the coronavirus on Sunday.
|
27109
|
Razor blades were found in gas-pump handles in Michigan.
|
Every year, parents and children hear rumors of Halloween candy tainted with everything from razor blades to poison to drug. Oftentimes those reports are nothing more than hoaxes.
|
true
|
Viral Phenomena
|
On 16 April 2019, local news stations in Coloma Township, Michigan, began reporting that razor blades had been found in the handles of gas pumps there. Historically we have found an overlap between real reports of sharp objects placed in mundane items, like gas-pumps and shopping-cart handles, and urban legends of such incidents. So Snopes.com readers questioned whether the latest round of sharp-objects-on-handles could be believed. In this case, the reports are true. A total of eight razor blades were found at a Speedway gas station. Two of them were lodged in the plastic handle covering, police said. “It’s kind of shocking and it’s kind of unsettling, to say the least, that someone would actually put that there or try to do that intentionally,” Coloma Township Police Chief Wes Smigielski told local television news station WSBT. For years, hoaxes about HIV-infected needles tucked into places like the coin-return slots of pay phones and gas-station pump handles have circulated on the internet, as well as false claims that madmen were using such needles to prick unsuspecting moviegoers. However in May 2017, a California man was hospitalized after getting stuck by a needle lodged in a gas-pump handle. Hiding razor blades in places so that people might accidentally hurt themselves is a demented but familiar phenomenon. In 2012, a baby was treated for minor injuries after being cut by a razor blade hidden in her new footie pajamas. In 2014, a little boy also received minor injuries from razor blades maliciously taped to playground equipment in Illinois. In 2015, a North Dakota woman reported finding one embedded in the handle of a shopping cart.
|
2786
|
U.S. hospitals hit with shortage of intravenous saline.
|
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday it is working with the three manufacturers of intravenous saline solutions commonly used to hydrate hospital patients to address a shortage caused by a spike in demand.
|
true
|
Health News
|
Healthcare providers are reserving supplies of the fluids for their most seriously ill patients, and the product manufacturers - Baxter International Inc, Hospira Inc and B. Braun Medical Inc - have stepped up production in response, said Valerie Jensen, FDA’s associate director for drug shortages. “We have not heard of anyone running out of the IV solutions at this point, but we know the hospitals are not comfortable with the low supplies,” Jensen said. Manufacturers first notified FDA late last year that they expected delays in filling orders, but an increase in hospitalizations two weeks ago partly due to rising numbers of flu cases exacerbated the problem, she said. “The increase in demand pushed this into a shortage,” Jensen said. To cope with the shortage, healthcare providers are using substitute products such as oral hydration fluids or smaller IV saline bags with slower drip rates when appropriate, said Bona Benjamin, director of medication use quality improvement for the American Society of Health System Pharmacists. “We have heard from our members all over the country that the shortage is serious,” Benjamin said. “People are able to cobble together enough of a supply to get by day to day.” Baxter spokeswoman Deborah Spak said the company has increased its production and is managing inventory to ensure supplies for customers with the most urgent needs. “Baxter has been manufacturing solutions at maximum capacity in amounts exceeding those of prior years and is making investments to further increase supply in 2014,” Spak said. Hospira said it is expediting shipments to help mitigate local supply disruptions. “We are doing everything we can to meet the increase in demand,” said company spokesman Dan Rosenberg. Cathy Denning, a registered nurse with Novation, a supply chain company that works with hospitals and other healthcare providers, said it could be another two months before the shortage is resolved. FDA’s Jensen said the agency is also looking into alternative sources, including overseas suppliers, to help address the shortage.
|
5804
|
VA data show veteran suicide highest in US West, rural areas.
|
Suicide among military veterans is especially high in the western U.S. and rural areas, according to new government data released Friday that show wide state-by-state disparities and suggest social isolation, gun ownership and access to health care may be factors.
|
true
|
Access to health care, Health, Politics, North America, Veterans, Veterans affairs
|
The figures released Friday are the first-ever Department of Veterans Affairs data on suicide by state. It shows Montana, Utah, Nevada and New Mexico had the highest rates of veteran suicide as of 2014, the most current VA data available. Veterans in big chunks of those states must drive 70 miles or more to reach the nearest VA medical center. The suicide rates in those four states stood at 60 per 100,000 individuals or higher, far above the national veteran suicide rate of 38.4. The overall rate in the West was 45.5. All other regions of the country had rates below the national rate. Other states with high veteran suicide rates, including West Virginia, Oklahoma and Kentucky, had greater levels of prescription drug use, including opioids. A VA study last year found veterans who received the highest doses of opioid painkillers were more than twice as likely to die by suicide compared to those receiving the lowest doses. The latest VA data also reaffirmed sharp demographic differences: Women veterans are at much greater risk, with their suicide rate 2.5 times higher than for female civilians. Among men, the risk was 19 percent higher among veterans compared to civilians. As a whole, older veterans make up most military suicides — roughly 65 percent were age 50 or older. “This report is huge,” said Rajeev Ramchand, an epidemiologist who studies suicide for the RAND Corp. He noted that the suicide rate is higher for veterans than non-veterans in every single state by at least 1.5 times, suggesting unique problems faced by former service members. “No state is immune.” Ramchand said it was hard to pinpoint specific causes behind veteran suicide but likely involved factors more prevalent in rural areas, such as social isolation, limited health care access, gun ownership and opioid addiction. Nationally, 70 percent of the veterans who take their lives had not previously been connected to VA care. “This requires closer investigation into why suicide rates by veteran status are higher, including the role that opiates play,” Ramchand said. The dataset offers more detailed breakdowns on national figures released last year, which found that 20 veterans a day committed suicide. The numbers come from the largest study undertaken of veterans’ records by the VA, part of a government effort to uncover fresh information about where to direct resources and identify veterans most at-risk. The department has been examining ways to boost suicide prevention efforts. “These findings are deeply concerning, which is why I made suicide prevention my top clinical priority,” said VA Secretary David Shulkin. “This is a national public health issue.” Shulkin, who has worked to provide same-day mental health care at VA medical centers, recently expanded emergency mental care to veterans with other than honorable discharges. The department is also boosting its suicide hotline and expanding telehealth options. Ret. Army Sgt. Shawn Jones, executive director of Stop Soldier Suicide, said veterans suicide is an issue that needs greater awareness to provide community support for those in need. Transitioning back to civilian life can be difficult for active-duty members who may return home with physical and mental conditions and feel unable to open up friends or families. As a result, some veterans can feel overwhelmed by daily challenges of finding a job, buying a home and supporting a family. “It can be tough because the military is a close-knit community and you have that familial feel,” Jones said. “As you transition out, you tend to lose that a little bit and feel like an island onto yourself.” The attention on veteran suicide comes at a time when the VA has reported a huge upswing in veterans seeking medical care as they have returned from conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Veterans’ groups say the latest data may raise questions about the department’s push to expand private-sector care. “Veterans often have more complex injuries,” said Allison Jaslow, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, citing limitations if civilian doctors don’t understand the unique challenges of the veterans’ population. If doctors don’t ask the right questions to a veteran complaining of back pain, for instance, they may prescribe opioids not realizing the veteran was also suffering PTSD or brain injury after being blown up in a humvee, said Jaslow, a former Army captain. Expanding private-sector care and stemming veterans’ suicide are priorities of President Donald Trump. In a statement this week as part of Suicide Prevention Month, Trump said the U.S. “must do more” to help mentally troubled veterans. ___ Follow Hope Yen on Twitter at https://twitter.com/hopeyen1
|
402
|
J&J, plaintiffs 'close' to deal on Pinnacle hip implant lawsuits: lawyer.
|
Johnson & Johnson’s DePuy Orthopaedics unit is in settlement talks to resolve the bulk of individual lawsuits alleging the company’s metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip implants were defective and caused severe injuries, a lawyer for the plaintiffs said on Monday.
|
true
|
Health News
|
Texas-based plaintiff lawyer Mark Lanier said lawyers for the consumers had talked to the company in recent days to reach an agreement to resolve the long-running litigation that includes more than 10,000 cases. “It’s still not a done deal, but we’re getting close,” Lanier said, adding that plaintiffs hope to reach a final agreement by the end of the year. Lanier said it was uncertain at this point how many of the roughly 10,000 Pinnacle lawsuits would be subject to the settlement. He declined further comment. A spokeswoman for DePuy on Monday declined to comment. Bloomberg first reported on the settlement talks. In 2013, DePuy ceased selling the metal-on-metal Pinnacle devices after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration strengthened its artificial hip regulations. The Pinnacle system continues to be sold with other material combinations. Metal-on-metal hip implants have come under scrutiny over allegations that the products cause a build-up of metal ions in the blood, causing groin pain, allergic reactions, bone erosion and tissue death. J&J denies those allegations, saying the company acted appropriately and responsibly in the development, testing and marketing of the devices. Last month, J&J agreed to pay $120 million to resolve deceptive marketing claims by several U.S. states over metal-on-metal hip implants. DePuy said the settlement involved no admission of liability or misconduct on the part of the companies. J&J to date has faced several federal jury trials over the Pinnacle hip implants. It won the first case in 2014, but lost all subsequent trials, with verdicts ranging from $151 million to $540 million. J&J has appealed those verdicts. News of the settlement talks on Monday caused a federal judge overseeing an ongoing Pinnacle trial in Dallas to dismiss the jury in that case. Lanier said that case, involving five Texas plaintiffs, has not been settled yet.
|
38339
|
President Trump plans to cut federal funding for Meals on Wheels, a program providing meals to the elderly, poor and veterans, to save money for his border wall.
|
President Trump Plans to Cut Meals on Wheels Program
|
mixture
|
Government
|
President Trump’s budget blueprint would eliminate some sources of federal funding for local and national Meals on Wheels programs — but the status of the Older Americans Act, which provides about 35 percent of funding for Meals on Wheels, isn’t yet clear. The Trump administration released a “skinny budget” blue print that outlined the elimination of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and Community Services Block Grant (CDBS) programs, which provide grants that some local on Wheels programs rely on, the New York Times reports: In addition to the cuts at the E.P.A. and the State Department, Mr. Trump’s team is expected to propose a wide array of cuts to public education, to transportation programs like Amtrak and to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, including the complete elimination of the $3 billion Community Development Block Grant program, which funds popular programs like Meals on Wheels, housing assistance and other community assistance efforts. HUD has awarded more than $3 billion through the CDBG program in each of the recent fiscal years. In 2015, Meals on Wheels of America, the nonprofit’s national chapter, received just $248,000 total in government grants, accounting for about 3 percent of its $12.9 million annual operating budget. The bulk of Meals on Wheels of America funding came from corporate and foundation grants (84 percent), which presumably wouldn’t be impacted by the elimination of CDBG grants. However, Jenny Bertolette, a spokesperson for Meals on Wheels of America, said in a statement that some local Meals on Wheels programs rely on CDBG and CDSG to stay afloat. Also, Bertolette indicated that the state of other important Meals on Wheels funding sources isn’t yet clear: Details on our network’s primary source of funding, the Older Americans Act, which has supported senior nutrition programs for 45 years, have not yet been released. This vital Act provides 35 percent of the total funding for Meals on Wheels (both congregate and home-delivered programs) nationally. With a stated 17.9 percent cut to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) budget, however, it is difficult to imagine a scenario in which these critical services would not be significantly and negatively impacted if enacted into law. “The problem with a skinny budget is it is lean on details. So, while we don’t know the exact impact yet, cuts of any kind to these highly successful and leveraged programs would be a devastating blow to our ability to provide much-needed care for millions of vulnerable seniors in America, which in turn saves billions of dollars in reduced healthcare expenses” said Ellie Hollander, President and CEO Meals on Wheels America. The need is growing rapidly, and federal funding has not kept pace. The network is already serving 23 million fewer meals now than in 2005, and waiting lists are mounting in every state. At a time when increased funding is needed, we fear that the millions of seniors who rely on us every day for a nutritious meal, safety check and visit from a volunteer will be left behind. This successful public-private partnership, for which every federal dollar is matched with about three dollars from other sources, enables at-risk seniors to stay out of more expensive healthcare settings and remain more healthy, safe and independent in their own homes, where they want to be. After all, we can provide a senior with Meals on Wheels for an entire year for roughly the same cost of an average one-day stay in the hospital or ten days in a nursing home. So, if Congress approves Trump’s “skinny budget’ plan, it appears that Meals on Wheels would be “significantly and negatively impacted.” But the extent of the impact, and the status of other federal funding sources for local Meals on Wheels programs, isn’t yet clear. For those reasons, we’re calling reports that President Trump plans to cut Meals on Wheels “truth” and “undetermined.” Comments
|
9103
|
CHEO researchers identify practices leading to safer outcomes in procedural sedation for children
|
Children treated in emergency rooms facing painful procedures are usually given a sedative. This news release on a Canadian study reports that the safest form of sedative among six different drug combinations is ketamine, according to the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Canada, which led the study. This release does a good job of explaining the study methods but leaves out a couple important numbers — the total number of patients studied, and the absolute numbers when describing the safety benefit of ketamine in comparison to the other medications. From the published study we learn that there were about 6,300 participants from six different emergency centers and it took five years to collect the data. These numbers would have made the release stronger. Each year, thousands of children are brought to the emergency room with injuries requiring painful procedures. How best to sedate children who must undergo these procedures has been an open question with a subtle balance between adequate sedation and independent respiration. There are different schools of thought regarding the best drugs to use with no clear answers overall. This large retrospective study demonstrates an overall adverse event rate of approximately 11 percent with the use of the drug ketamine demonstrating the lowest risk. This large well-designed study adds to clinician understanding of the best approaches to pain management in children arriving in the emergency room.
|
mixture
|
Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute,pediatric medicine,sedation
|
There was no mention of cost. The costs of a visit to the emergency room can be extensive with the cost of sedation a relatively small part of the overall cost. Even so, ballpark costs of sedation would have been helpful to include. The release did not give absolute numbers for the benefits, just percentages. The main benefit statement is in the excerpt below. We wish the release had told us the number of patients in the groups with the highest and lowest risk for side effects. “The results of the study show that choice of sedation medication had the biggest impact on the incidence of adverse events and need for significant interventions in response to those events. The incidence of serious adverse events was lowest among patients sedated with ketamine-alone and highest among patients sedated with combination drugs ketamine plus propofol or fentanyl.” The release did a good job of explaining possible harms that occur in relation to different types of sedation. A few words about the specific adverse events seen with ketamine would have been of value. As a dissociative agent, ketamine is known for its ability to produce bizarre dreams, and hallucination as well as excessive salivation. Here is an excerpt from the release: “The overall incidence of adverse events in the study population was 11.7%. The most common events were a decrease in oxygen saturation (5.6%) and vomiting (5.2%). Significant interventions in response to an adverse event were rare, occurring in only 1.4% of children. Two other practices – receiving an opioid prior to sedation and having a laceration repair – were associated with the occurrence of vomiting, oxygen desaturation and need for significant interventions.” The release describes the study as a multi-center observational study that included “children from six emergency departments across Canada, sedated with six different medication combinations.” We wish the release had told us the number of patients studied (6,300), how many received each type of sedation, and the length of the study (five years). There was no disease mongering. The release clearly notes that the study was funded by a federal Canadian program. The release names propofol and fentanyl as two alternatives to ketamine, among the six medications evaluated. We give it credit for providing this general comparison of sedation drugs: “The incidence of serious adverse events was lowest among patients sedated with ketamine-alone and highest among patients sedated with combination drugs ketamine plus propofol or fentanyl.” The availability of the different sedation methods isn’t addressed. Readers must assume that the study looked at the common types of sedation used. The release addresses novelty with the statement: “According to the authors, this study represents the largest and most robust prospective emergency department procedural sedation cohort to date. It includes children from six emergency departments across Canada, sedated with six different medication combinations.” While not definitive, this large well-designed study does add to clinician understanding of the best approaches to pain management in children arriving in the emergency room. The release doesn’t rely on sensational language. We think the release may have strayed into unjustifiable territory by suggesting the study findings may be “practice-changing.” That remains to be seen but we’ll give the release the benefit of the doubt on this claim.
|
919
|
First Ebola patient in eastern Congo's main city dies.
|
The first Ebola patient in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s largest city, Goma, has died, the government said on Tuesday.
|
true
|
Health News
|
The spread of the virus to Goma, a city of roughly 1 million people on the border with Rwanda, has raised fears the outbreak, which is already the second deadliest Ebola epidemic ever, could spread more widely. The patient was a priest who became infected during a visit to the town of Butembo, one of the epicentres of the outbreak, before taking a bus to Goma, according to Congo’s health ministry. He was being driven from Goma to a clinic in Butembo on Monday to receive treatment when he died, North Kivu province’s Governor Carly Nzanzu told an Ebola response meeting. The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday that health officials had identified 60 people who had come into contact with the pastor since he was taken ill and that half of them had been vaccinated. Goma, a lakeside city more than 350 kilometers (220 miles) south of where Ebola was first detected a year ago, is the largest city to be affected by the outbreak, which has infected more than 2,500 people and killed nearly 1,700. Three Ebola cases which originated in Congo were confirmed in neighboring Uganda a month ago, but no new cases have since been registered in that country.
|
6688
|
Surgeon General: Federal drug classification needs changes.
|
The nation’s drug classification system should be revisited but illegal drugs shouldn’t simply be decriminalized nationwide, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams told a gathering of police leaders focused on the opioids crisis Thursday in Boston.
|
true
|
Alex Azar, Health, Boston, North America, Legal Marijuana, Michael Pence
|
“Our scheduling system is functioning, but not as ideally as it could,” he said of the federal schedule for controlled substances maintained by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Food and Drug Administration. “Things aren’t static. We have to continue to evolve.” Adams, who serves as the primary adviser on public health and scientific issues for U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, said one concern is that researchers are having difficulty studying the medial potential of marijuana because of the drug’s classification. The DEA considers marijuana a “Schedule I” drug along with heroin and LSD because it has no “currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse,” according to its website. “Just as we need to look at our criminal justice laws, we need to look at our health laws and regulations, and that includes the scheduling system,” Adams said. But Adams said he isn’t supportive of “across-the-board” decriminalization of illegal drugs as some countries in Europe have tried. “I don’t think it’s the federal government’s place. I don’t personally think it makes the country safer,” he told the roughly 400 law enforcement officials from about 30 states in attendance. He said the federal government should instead encourage local jurisdictions to develop drug policies that work for them. “Local control and local innovation is what I’m all about,” said Adams, who was appointed by President Donald Trump last year after serving as Indiana’s State Health Commissioner under then-Governor Mike Pence, who is now Trump’s vice president. “What works in Boston, Massachusetts, isn’t going to work in Dallas, Texas and vice versa.” As the national opioid epidemic rages, Adams said his office is focused on addiction prevention and education efforts around prescription painkillers. It’s also pushing for expanded use of naloxone, an overdosing-reversal drug, among emergency responders and families dealing with substance abuse. His office issued a recent advisory stressing the importance of it close at hand and having the proper training to administer it. The two-day summit at Harvard Medical School runs through Friday and is being hosted by the Police Assisted Addiction & Recovery Initiative. The Massachusetts-based organization supports police efforts nationwide that are trying to get more people struggling with drug addiction into treatment programs.
|
26594
|
We've done more tests in eight days than South Korea has done in eight weeks.
|
The best numbers available don't support what Trump said. As of March 24, about 348,582 people in South Korea had been tested since it began in early February. A credible database of U.S. testing estimates that between March 15 and March 24, the U.S. conducted about 331,000 tests. These numbers do not reflect the different population sizes: South Korea, about 51.5 million; and the U.S., about 327 million. When you consider per capita testing, which is the more important number, South Korea’s efforts were six times higher than that of the U.S. The timing of the testing is also an important consideration.
|
false
|
Health Check, Donald Trump,
|
"Boasting about his administration’s response to the novel coronavirus — and arguing the outbreak would soon be under control — President Donald Trump claimed that recent American efforts to test widely for COVID-19 surpass those of other countries. ""We've done more tests in eight days than South Korea has done in eight weeks,"" Trump said during a March 24 virtual town hall hosted by Fox News, re-iterating a statement made just moments prior by Dr. Deborah Birx, the head of the White House coronavirus response. The statement was repeated during the White House briefing that evening. Trump doubled down the next day, tweeting that ""over an eight day span, the United States now does more testing than what South Korea (which has been a very successful tester) does over an eight week span."" Why the comparison with South Korea? South Korea has been heralded globally for its swift response to the pandemic, which appears to have slowed its rate of new infections. Meanwhile, a national shortage of tests has hamstrung American efforts, resulting in many people at risk being forced to delay testing until they are seriously ill. With that context, we were curious. Is the president’s claim accurate? Has American testing been as robust as his statement indicates? We contacted the White House and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but we never heard back. But the numbers suggest his picture is inaccurate and, more importantly, missing crucial context to understanding the battle against COVID-19. South Korea publishes a daily report of how many tests it’s performed. As of March 24, about 348,582 people had been tested, and testing began in early February. About 9,000 of those people were confirmed positives for the virus. (The 345,582 figure includes tests that were run, but hadn’t yet yielded a positive or negative answer.) In the United States, it’s harder to tell. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doesn’t put out updated, aggregated counts of tests performed in public and private labs — which is important. Since the start of March, a large chunk of American-done tests have been conducted in commercial — not government-run — labs. Experts pointed us to a credible tally that suggests that, on the raw numbers, the president’s stat is flawed. The COVID Tracking Project, a dataset managed and updated by volunteer journalists and scientists, estimates that, as of March 24, American labs performed a total of 359,000 tests for COVID-19. That number comes from state and local health departments around the country, including testing done in both public and commercial labs. Between March 15 and March 24, the United States conducted about 331,000 tests, per the tracker. The raw comparison, then, suggests that the United States’ eight-day tally falls short of South Korea’s eight-week tally. Out of curiosity, we looked at the March 23 data for South Korea as well. At that point, they had run 338,036 tests. So even if Trump was off by a day, the American figure still falls short. More importantly, experts reminded us, this raw-data comparison isn’t that meaningful. If you want to compare between the two countries, you need to look at the bigger picture. More effective comparisons Put simply, ""raw numbers are not the best metric, given population size differences,"" said Jennifer Kates, a global health researcher at the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation. (Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent program of the foundation.) That’s because the United States is simply a much larger country than South Korea — about 327 million people, compared to about 51.5 million. To account for that, researchers serious about comparing the nations’ responses would adjust to per-capita rates of testing. That shows the extent to which the number of tests performed accounts for helping people at risk of infection. ""If a country has five people in it, of course they could only have five tests,"" said Dr. Robert Gallo, director of the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and a co-discoverer of HIV. When you control for population, the American response compares poorly. Its current tally of 359,000 tests per 327 million people comes out to about 1,084 tests per million. South Korea has run closer to 6,768 tests per million. Put another way, South Korea’s testing rate for coronavirus is more than 6 times that of the American rate. To catch up, Kates noted, American labs would need to perform 2.24 million more tests — not an insurmountable task, but definitely a lift. It’s not just the number of tests performed, either. Researchers have stressed repeatedly that the timing of when the tests were run is also a big part of the equation. Both nations reported their first cases on the same day, Jan. 20. In the entire month of February, American labs ran fewer than 1,000 coronavirus tests, per the volunteer COVID tracker. (Government health officials had begun sounding the alarm in January.) By Feb. 29, South Korea had completed more than 55,000 tests, with almost 30,000 awaiting confirmation, for a total of more than 80,000 tests performed. ""For the assertion … the U.S. has done more #COVID19 testing in the last 8 days than South Korea cumulatively, that doesn't mean anything,"" tweeted Dr. Eric Topol, a physician and researcher. ""Nearly 0 tests were done for 2 months when they were desperately needed."" Many public health researchers say the U.S. is still not running enough diagnostics daily to meet demand — arguing that, though there has been significant improvement, labs need to be doing about 150,000 tests per day. Right now, the COVID tracker suggests about 65,000 tests are being run per day. While that is a substantial increase from even a week ago, it’s still well below the target number. Beyond testing, there’s the question of what happened after results were confirmed. Patients infected, epidemiologists argue, should be targeted, caught early and quickly separated from other people. That’s a key step to stopping the spread of the virus – and something that still hasn’t happened on a large scale. ""South Korea followed up tests vigorously to support isolation and quarantine — the steps needed to reduce spread,"" said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, vice dean for Public Health Practice and Community Engagement at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. ""The U.S. has a long ways to go to develop this critical capacity."" Trump claimed that the United States has ""done more tests in eight days than South Korea has done in eight weeks."" The CDC has not put out comprehensive data on this. But independent work on the subject suggests the comparison is flawed. In eight days, the United States performed almost as many tests as South Korea did in eight weeks, but not necessarily more. In addition, that statistic is relatively less important. The American rate of testing per capita is more than six times lower than South Korea’s. It’s certainly possible to catch up, but that hasn’t happened yet. The president’s statement frames the data in a way that is misleading and doesn’t accurately represent the status of the American response to COVID-19."
|
36457
|
"Comedian Dave Chappelle said, ""If you stopped listening to Michael Jackson because of an HBO documentary, I have some bad news for you about the Catholic Church."
|
Did Dave Chappelle Say ‘If You Stopped Listening to Michael Jackson … I Have Some Bad News About the Catholic Church’?
|
unproven
|
Entertainment, Fact Checks
|
The March 2019 wide release of documentary Leaving Neverland prompted a flurry of social media activity, among the posts was a meme purportedly quoting comedian Dave Chappelle about reaction to the documentary, Michael Jackson, and the Catholic Church:Originally published via Facebook by “The Mind Unleashed” on March 11 2019 (archived here), the meme’s text was watermarked by the page and read:IF YOU STOPPED LISTENING TO MICHAEL JACKSON BECAUSE OF AN HBO DOCUMENTARY.I HAVE SOME BAD NEWS FOR YOU ABOUT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.The meme stopped short of explicitly attributing the quote to Chappelle, but the inclusion of his image implied that he first said this, and led to subsequent attributions in transcribed versions of the meme. An IMDb quotations section featured a rough transcription of Chappelle’s 2004 bit about Jackson, which did not involve the Catholic Church or the 2019 documentary at all:Or maybe he did it. Who knows? Who knows? That’s the thing, that’s what I want to say: Who knows? Who the fuck knows? Mike, God, and this little boy know, that’s about it. That’s about it. Only reason I can even talk about this shit is everybody’s speculating. They all think he did it, and I don’t think he did it. I’m alone in this. I don’t think he did it. I’m not gonna say “I don’t think he did it”, that’s too strong. Let me just say I’m reserving judgment until all the facts come out.But so far from what I’ve heard, I mean the kid said he was dying of cancer, he was in Make-A-Wish Foundation, he claims he had two weeks to live, and it was his dying wish to meet Michael Jackson. Come on, Man. Give me a fucking break. This kid is 10-years-old, he don’t remember “Thriller”. The fuck you want to meet Michael Jackson for, honestly? I remember “Thriller” and I just kinda wanted to meet this *****. Like, I wouldn’t break an appointment to meet him, I’ll put it that way. I’d have to already be free. That’s ridiculous, that’d be like if I’m dying in two weeks and go “Oh, mama, get me in a room with Chubby Checker.” I wouldn’t wanna meet that motherfucker. Not in my last two weeks. why not Usher, or somebody like this.So then the kid claims he goes to Michael’s house – this is where it all gets crazy – I don’t… like, you know, he does everything you’d expect at Michael’s house, they climb trees, and rode roller coasters and Ferris wheels, the chef made cookies, pies, and cakes, they was petting a monkey and giraffes, sing songs: kid shit. And in the middle of all this child like activity, for some reason, Mike pulled out some wine and some pills and sucked this kid’s dick – folks it hurts me to say it – and the kid had the nerve to call that abuse. Motherfucker, that is a good host.Goddamn, what else do you want? What else do you want? I’m lucky to get a glass of grape drink at my friend’s house, let alone a roller coaster ride and my dick sucked. Mike must be confused, like “I brought you in my house, I fed you, I sucked your dick, and this is how you repay me, motherfucker? This was your wish not mine. I thought you were dying in two weeks, what happened to that motherfucker? I’ve been in court for a year and a half, you get stronger every time I see you.”Three days later on Reddit, an older Chappelle routine about Jackson was shared to r/videos. However, the bit did not include any reference to the Catholic Church, and it was performed more than a decade before the release of Leaving Neverland. The only news reference to Chappelle in relation to the documentary’s release was a retread of material from Chappelle’s Show in or around 2004.It remains possible (but unlikely) that Dave Chappelle did contrast reaction to Michael Jackson’s legacy after Leaving Neverland with reaction to ongoing child sex abuse scandals involving the Catholic Church. While the original meme and its copies neared six-figure share counts, we found no documentary material suggesting the quote was correctly attributed to Chappelle.
|
2060
|
Hispanics in U.S. outlive whites, blacks: report.
|
Hispanics in the United States outlive whites by 2-1/2 years and blacks by nearly eight years, U.S. government researchers said on Wednesday, and other experts said clean living may play a role.
|
true
|
Health News
|
They said the life expectancy for a Hispanic baby at birth is nearly 81, compared with 78 years for non-Hispanic white babies and just under 73 for black babies. As a population, U.S. residents born in 2006 can expect to live 77.7 years, according to the new report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics. It shows that Hispanics have a higher life expectancy at nearly all ages, even though Hispanics in the United States tend to be poorer than the population as a whole. “Although seemingly paradoxical, these results are consistent with the findings of numerous studies which show a Hispanic mortality advantage despite this population’s lower socioeconomic status,” Elizabeth Arias of the CDC, who wrote the report, said in a statement. In spite of having less education and access to care, Latinos have a 35 percent lower risk of death from heart disease, a 40 percent lower risk of cancer, and a 25 percent lower risk of stroke than the general population, said David Hayes-Bautista of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at the University of California Los Angeles. Hayes-Bautista said the reasons are not yet clear, but he thinks it is likely due to culture and behavioral differences rather than genetics, given that U.S. Hispanics are such a diverse group. “Latinos compared to non-Hispanic whites are far less likely to smoke, drink and use drugs,” he said. “Clearly, it is not driven by income and education.” Other findings from the report: * Hispanic males at birth have a life expectancy of nearly 78, and if they reach the age of 65, their life expectancy is 84 years. For Hispanic females, life expectancy at birth is 83 years, and that jumps to nearly 87 if they live to be age 65. * For white males in the United States, life expectancy at birth was 75 and rose to 82 years if they reach age 65. For white women, life expectancy at birth was just over 80 years but rose to nearly 85 once they have made it to 65. * For black males, life expectancy at birth was 69, and 80 years once they reach age 65. Life expectancy for black females was 76 at birth, and 83 years if they reach age 65.
|
10014
|
Stroke study puts 2 procedures on equal footing
|
The issue of surgery vs. stents for stroke prevention is a contentious one in medicine. So when two large new trials–an American study dubbed CREST and the ICSS trial from Europe–report apparently conflicting conclusions about the benefits of each approach within 24 hours, we need skillful reporting that can help the average consumer make sense of it all. While this LA Times story did an adequate job of explaining the main findings of each study, its coverage tilted excessively toward the CREST team’s view that stents are equivalent to surgery for preventing strokes. The competing New York Times story did a better job of challenging or at least questioning this interpretation. Strokes are a major cause of death and disability, and carotid artery stenosis is an important contributing factor to this problem. Although stents have been growing in popularity as a less-invasive alternative to open surgery for stenosis, there has been no definitive evidence to show that stents are equally effective. Whether the CREST study provides this evidence is an important issue for patient care.
|
mixture
|
"If stenting and surgery are both ""effective ways to limit stroke risks,"" as the story headline says, shouldn’t the cost of each procedure be an important factor in deciding which one to choose? This story, regrettably, did not even nod in the direction of cost. Again, the story lays out these studies’ primary findings in reasonable quantitative detail. It could have done a better job, however, of examining which study’s results are more likely to reflect the experience of the typical patient. The story suggests that the highly trained American CREST surgeons were more skilled at inserting stents, and this is why they achieved better results than their less experienced European counterparts in ICSS. That may well be true, but the typical patient in the U.S. won’t be operated on by a CREST surgeon; their surgeon will probably be less experienced, and their outcomes may be less favorable. The story gives us the key essentials regarding what happened to patients in both studies and their risk of major complications such as stroke or heart attack. However, we feel the story could have done a better job of questioning the notion, aggressively advocated by the CREST investigators quoted in the story, that stents and surgery are equally effective for preventing strokes. As the data reported in the story show, the risk of stroke immediately after the procedure was significantly higher in the stent group compared with the surgery group (4.1% vs. 2.3%). It was only after heart attacks were included in the analysis that the two approaches were considered equivalent. The finding of more postoperative strokes with stents is consistent with other research suggesting that angioplasty might well cause strokes by causing artery plaque to break off and cause a blockage that might not have occurred otherwise. The studies covered in this story were both large randomized controlled trials that can be expected to provide high-quality clinical evidence. However, the story failed to point out an important difference: the CREST results were presented at a scientific meeting and have not yet been subjected to rigorous review by outside experts, whereas the ICSS data were published in a peer-reviewed medical journal, The Lancet. The story suggests that it is possible to make an apples-to-apples comparison between these two studies, but until the complete results of the CREST study are reviewed and published, this isn’t really the case. No disease-mongering in this story. The study quotes a number of experts, some of whom were affiliated with the CREST study as well as others who were not. This normally would be more than enough to earn the story a satisfactory rating, but in the case we feel that the story should have gone a bit further. The story is primarily a comparison of results from the CREST and ICSS studies, but we hear plenty from the American CREST investigators and nothing from the European ICSS team or anyone with a European perspective. We realize how difficult it can be to get a quote from European sources on short notice, but if you’re going to allow someone to claim, as this story did, that ""North American surgeons do the job better,"" you have to be prepared to offer the Europeans a chance for a rebuttal. The benefits of a European voice were on display in the competing New York Times piece, which more forcibly questioned the idea that stents and open surgery are equally effective treatments. A second shortcoming: the story noted that the CREST trial used Abbott stents exclusively, but it didn’t explain that Abbott was a sponsor of the study. Abbott’s participation could conceivably have influenced the results in favor of the stent group. The story gives short shrift to discussion of drug treatment instead of surgery for asymptomatic patients. This is a controversial issue in medicine, and these results are unlikely to end this debate. The story states that carotid artery surgery has been around since the 1960s and is quite common and that stenting, although newer, also is a fairly common procedure. Both of these procedures have been around for some time and the story does not mischaracterize their novelty. The story includes multiple interviews with expert sources, so it clearly didn’t rely on a news release."
|
|
24322
|
U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison “has voted nine separate times to raise the national debt ceiling.”
|
Doing things one at a time in drug development is not a luxury that GlaxoSmithKline can afford any longer, the head of pharmaceuticals at Britain’s largest drugmaker told Reuters.
|
true
|
Economy, Texas, Rick Perry,
|
Luke Miels, who joined GSK in September 2017 after a contract dispute with his former employer AstraZeneca, said picking the most promising projects and developing them quickly now takes precedence over spreading the risk of failure. “In the past, 10 programs were chosen, a budget for eight was allocated. Usually what happened was that time was the trade off that was made,” he said in an interview. “Now what we do is we pick five or six programs, and concentrate investment there.” GSK, like rivals, was in the habit of testing new drugs first on patients who had run out of other treatment options. If successful, it would try patients at an earlier stage of their disease, replacing older, established treatments. In today’s market, where rivals in the United States and China catch up fast if a new class of drug shows promise, GSK has to run costly drug tests on humans in several settings at the same time, even if it means dropping other drug candidates. “Rather than do things sequentially, you do them in parallel, or as close to parallel as possible,” Miels said. GSK, which is battling to return to profit growth, has taken this approach for instance with an experimental drug that for now goes by the code name of GSK’916 against multiple myeloma, a common and incurable type of blood cancer. Likewise, GSK doubled down on its quest to bring a drug known as GSK’165 to market as a rheumatoid arthritis treatment, even after initial results in a mid-stage drug trial did not show a clear enough reading. “This drug has very interesting effects on pain. That could potentially reduce the use of opioids and pain meds,” Miels said. More trials will be run to make the pain argument more clearly, he added. GSK expects a decline of 5%-9% in adjusted earnings per share this year, excluding exchange rate moves, as it suffers from generic competition to its inhalable lung drug Advair and pressure from rival Gilead in HIV treatments. Miels said a tougher stance on drug prices by U.S. lawmakers and medical insurers was one of the reasons for the need for speed in bringing drugs to market - to try to remain ahead of competitors for as long as possible. At the same time, rapid growth in the Chinese market was spurring a more sophisticated healthcare system there, with local biotech groups quick to catch up with Western pioneers in drug development, producing similar drugs for their home market.
|
26693
|
“(Barack Obama) set up anti-pandemic programs in 47 vulnerable countries as a way to protect against something like the coronavirus, exactly. Do you know that Trump closed 37 of them?”
|
News reports in early 2018 said the CDC was preparing to scale back its anti-pandemic programs in some countries because an early source of funding was running out and the agency didn’t expect to receive new money from the Trump administration. The spending bills that lawmakers ultimately passed provided more money for those CDC programs than Trump’s budget requests asked for. The programs are part of the Global Health Security Agenda, an initiative to help countries reduce their vulnerability to infectious diseases.
|
false
|
National, Public Health, Pundits, PunditFact, Coronavirus, Joy Behar,
|
"Joy Behar, a co-host of ABC’s ""The View,"" accused President Donald Trump of dismantling anti-pandemic programs the Obama administration set up across the globe. Barack Obama ""set up anti-pandemic programs in 47 vulnerable countries as a way to protect against something like the coronavirus, exactly,"" Behar said during the March 9 episode of the show. ""Do you know that Trump closed 37 of them?"" The TV host’s claim is wrong, and it’s not entirely clear how she got her numbers, either. Trump did fail to replace top national-security officials in charge of coordinating the U.S. response to pandemics, and he unsuccessfully sought to cut funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But he never slashed the programs Behar was referring to, however. As the Washington Post noted, there were concerns among global-health leaders that U.S. funding for an initiative known as the Global Health Security Agenda was running out, and that some U.S.-run pandemic-prevention programs would have to be downsized as a result. But the Trump administration never pulled the plug on those programs, although it did propose smaller budgets. Congress has injected more money into them in recent budget requests. One day after we reached out to ABC for comment, Behar made a tongue-in-cheek correction on air. ""The other day, I mistakenly said that Trump shut down anti-pandemic programs that Obama had set up in nearly 40 countries,"" Behar said. ""I’m happy to say, he only attempted to cut funding for them, but that did not ultimately go into effect. Isn’t that good?"" The CDC has been operating public-health programs in a number of foreign countries as part the Global Health Security Agenda, which the United States helped launch in 2014. The initiative — which now includes 67 countries — is a global effort to help countries reduce the risk of infectious diseases. The bulk of its early funding came from a one-time, five-year emergency spending bill that Congress approved in late 2014 to respond to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. The package appropriated almost $600 million for the CDC ""to support national public health institutes and global health security."" The CDC had hoped those funds would be replenished once the five-year supplement expired in October 2019, according to reports. But as the expiration date approached, it looked like the agency could be left with just the core annual budget to pull from. National news outlets reported in the spring of 2018 that the CDC was bracing for a possible funding drop-off. The CDC planned to scale back operations in 39 of 49 countries and focus on 10 ""priority countries,"" according to emails reviewed by the Wall Street Journal. In the end, however, Congress provided enough funding to sustain the programs, experts told us. (The White House and CDC did not respond to our requests for comment. The CDC told Factcheck.org it ""did not have to cut back its work"" to 10 countries.) ""The president's budget proposed slashing funding for CDC's (global health security) initiatives,"" added Claire Standley, an assistant research professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Global Health Science and Security. ""In the end, that didn't happen."" The worry in early 2018 was that the budget for the CDC’s global disease-prevention programs would be just over $50 million, as it had been in past years, when the supplement from 2014 was still the primary funding source. Trump’s 2018 budget proposal put it in that ballpark. But the budget Congress ultimately passed bumped the appropriations for ""global disease detection and other programs"" up to $108.2 million. The same amount was provided in 2019. In November 2018, the Department of Health and Human Services pledged an additional $150 million ""to support capacity strengthening in high-risk countries around the world"" at a meeting in which the U.S. affirmed its commitment to the next phase of the Global Health Security Agenda. The Trump administration’s 2021 budget request appropriated $225 million for the same global-health programs, up from $183.2 million in 2020. As we’ve reported, Trump has consistently proposed cuts to certain CDC budgets, but the bills Congress ultimately passed — with Trump’s signature — have steadily increased funding for the CDC’s infectious-disease activities. Experts said the administration’s wavering support has likely made it difficult for the CDC to plan out its activities. ""I don't think the 37 out of 47 statement is accurate,"" Standley said. ""But I do think that the Trump administration, in failing to provide consistent funding and clear indication of the priority placed on global health security capacity building, has made it difficult for the CDC to sustain the programs and successful efforts put into place since 2014."" ""Programs weren’t shut down in the end, but you can also say that the administration didn’t prioritize them in the proposed budget,"" added Jennifer Nuzzi, an associate professor of public health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. It’s not clear why Behar referred to a shutdown of 37 of 47 programs when the 2018 news reports said the CDC was considering scaling back 39 of 49 operations. It’s possible she pulled from a tweet by Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., whose claim that Trump ""shut down 37 of 47 global anti-pandemic programs"" was debunked by other fact-checkers. But however you crunch the numbers, it’s hard to get to 47 countries — or 49, for that matter. Trump has put no one in charge of Coronavirus.He is pushing cuts to the budgets of all the agencies that fight pandemics. He shut down 37 of 47 global anti-pandemic programs. Trump made a choice to make us vulnerable...to this pandemic and the next one and the next one. A 2019 annual report on the Global Health Security Agenda says the CDC provides financial support and technical assistance to 17 priority countries, plus technical assistance for 14 countries and CARICOM, a group of 15 Caribbean countries and dependencies. One CARICOM country is Haiti, which is already listed among the countries receiving technical assistance from the CDC. Another is Montserrat, a British territory. That adds up to 44 total countries, or 50 if you include six other countries that Standley said received some early support specifically related to the Ebola outbreak. Behar said Obama ""set up anti-pandemic programs in 47 vulnerable countries as a way to protect against something like the coronavirus"" and ""Trump closed 37 of them."" News reports in 2018 said the CDC was planning to shrink its operations to help foreign countries prevent infectious diseases because it didn’t expect to receive new funding once the supplement it received in 2014 ran out. But the programs didn’t shut down in the end. The spending bill that lawmakers ultimately passed that year provided more money for those CDC programs than Trump’s budget request originally asked for. Behar corrected her statement."
|
37608
|
Twenty states now revoke driver's licenses for people who have not paid back their student loans.
|
Do Twenty States Now Suspend Driver’s Licenses of People Who Haven’t Paid Back Student Loans?
|
false
|
Fact Checks, Viral Content
|
In February 2020, a screenshot (missing a date) circulated on Facebook, featuring a tweet by journalist Barbara Ehrenrich about how “20 states now” revoked driver’s licenses of people who had not been paying back their student loans:20 states now take away the drivers licenses of people who fall behind in their student loan payments— a measure no doubt designed to ease the transition from debtor to fugitive.— Barbara Ehrenreich (@B_Ehrenreich) November 19, 2017The tweet, which was dated November 19 2017, said:20 states now take away the drivers licenses of people who fall behind in their student loan payments— a measure no doubt designed to ease the transition from debtor to fugitive.As noted in previous fact checks, Twitter’s format was not friendly to the inclusion of citations. In addition to a truncated format inhibiting the sharing of background information on a tweet’s claim, the brief messages were also great for capturing as an image and resharing — as was the case here, without a date for context.In Ehrenrich’s tweet, the specific claim held that borrowers’ licenses could be suspended, and it was published on November 19 2017. On November 18 2017, the New York Times published an article titled “When Unpaid Student Loan Bills Mean You Can No Longer Work,” with a subheading: “Twenty states suspend people’s professional or driver’s licenses if they fall behind on loan payments, according to records obtained by The New York Times.”In its second paragraph, the article reported:Few people realize that the loans they take out to pay for their education could eventually derail their careers. But in 19 states, government agencies can seize state-issued professional licenses from residents who default on their educational debts. Another state, South Dakota, suspends driver’s licenses, making it nearly impossible for people to get to work.That article focused on a compounding issue in the states indicated at the time of its publication. Strapped borrowers, often people who suffered a primary financial setback such as injury or illness, were further hampered in getting on their feet due to the suspension of their professional licenses issued by the state. In one additional state, South Dakota, driver’s licenses might also be suspended for borrowers in default.However, the piece’s subheading indicated “professional or driver’s licenses,” without articulating that initially reported split — 19 states revoking or suspending professional licenses (unrelated to driving typically), and one, South Dakota, suspending driver’s licenses.The article further reported the practice of revoking or suspending professional licenses dated back to the 1980s when “state agencies started experimenting with aggressive collection tactics.” Those escalating tactics were encouraged by the Department of Education, which recommended in 1990 that states “deny professional licenses to defaulters.”According to the detail of the article, many of the counted states said they did not enforce laws enabling the suspension or revocation of licenses over unpaid student debt:In some states, the laws are unused. Hawaii has a broad statute, enacted in 2002, that allows it to suspend vocational licenses if the borrower defaults on a student loan. But the state’s licensing board has never done so, said William Nhieu, a spokesman for Hawaii’s Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, because no state or federal student loan agencies have given it the names of delinquent borrowers.Officials from Alaska, Iowa, Massachusetts and Washington also said their laws were not being used. Oklahoma and New Jersey eliminated or defanged their laws [in 2016], with bipartisan support.South Dakota did not — at least according to the 2017 article — begin withholding driver’s licenses from defaulted borrowers until approximately 2015:The federal Department of Education urged other states to act similarly. “Deny professional licenses to defaulters until they take steps to repayment,” the department urged in 1990.Two years [before late 2017], South Dakota ordered officials to withhold various licenses from people who owe the state money. Nearly 1,000 residents are barred from holding driver’s licenses because of debts owed to state universities, and 1,500 people are prohibited from getting hunting, fishing and camping permits.A map color-coded states engaging in either practice — suspending professional licenses needed by borrowers to work and pay off debt, or driver’s licenses. It was labeled:Twenty states around the country can seize professional, driver’s and other licenses from residents who default on their student debt.Three states’ policies were detailed underneath that map: Iowa, Kentucky, and South Dakota. According to the New York Times, Iowa and South Dakota suspended driver’s licenses specifically if borrowers were in default, but Iowa state officials denied suspending any licenses in the five years before 2017:Iowa Any state-issued license, including a driver’s license, can be revoked. The Iowa College Student Aid Commission said it has not used that power in the last five years.South Dakota The state can revoke driver’s, hunting and fishing licenses, as well as camping and park permits. As of October, 1,550 people with educational debt had their licenses blocked.Kentucky The state’s Higher Education Assistance Authority said it does not track how many default notices it sends to licensing agencies. Records from licensing boards show that 308 nurses and 223 teachers have had their licenses blocked in recent years.Of those three states, Iowa denied suspending or revoking licenses dating back at least as far as 2012. South Dakota counted 1,550 total “blocked” licenses of any description between 2015 and 2017, and Kentucky counted 531 suspended professional licenses between nurses and teachers “in recent years.”In 2015, ABC News reported that 22 states maintained laws allowing for suspension or revocation of some form of licensing for defaulted student loan borrowers. That article suggested that at the time in 2015, the states of Iowa and Montana were then “considering bills that would repeal laws that allow states to suspend the driver’s licenses of student loan defaulters.”Incidentally, the Times‘ map was shared in screenshot form to Imgur in November 2017, with the title “TIL 20 states can legally take away your driver’s license for falling behind on student loan payments”:TIL 20 states can legally take away your driver’s license for falling behind on student loan paymentsVery few commenters appeared to read the article, but one wrote:You clearly didn’t read the article, with regard to [driver’s licenses], it only specifies [South Dakota], and your graphic only adds one more state.The article that appeared was behind Ehrenrich’s claim and the Imgur post was published in November 2017. In April 2019, U.S. News and World Report stated that a smaller group of 13 states was engaging in the aggressive collections behavior described by the original reporting:Bipartisan legislation was reintroduced [in March 2019] in Congress to prohibit states from revoking or denying professional licenses solely because of default on a federal student loan. And legislation passed in Alaska, Illinois, Kentucky, North Dakota, Virginia and Washington has already prohibited the practice in those states.A September 2019 item by StudentLoanHero.com indicated that the number of states where either professional or a driver’s license could be suspended totaled four. Only South Dakota was identified among the states as suspending driver’s licenses:Currently, there are four states — Florida, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Tennessee — where state-issued professional licenses can be suspended. And in South Dakota, a driver’s license suspension for student loan default is also a real possibility.A tweet circulating in February 2020 suggested that “20 states now take away the drivers licenses of people who fall behind in their student loan payments,” and that tweet was originally shared immediately following a New York Times article reporting that 20 states revoked or suspended primarily professional licenses from student borrowers in default. Of the two states extending that action to driver’s licenses, one did not enforce the law (Iowa). In the intervening years, a number of states stopped revoking or suspending any licenses, and as of late 2019, the practice remained ongoing in five states. Wording of the undated screenshot suggested the practice was escalating, when years of reporting showed that the opposite was true.
|
37479
|
"In November 2009, Donald Trump tweeted: ""Obama's handling of this whole pandemic has been terrible! As President, ALL responsibility becomes yours during a crisis like this, whether or not you're entirely to blame. John McCain, and for that matter myself, would never let thousands of Americans die from a pandemic while in office."
|
Did Donald Trump Criticize ‘Obama’s Handling of This Pandemic’ in November 2009?
|
false
|
Disinformation, Fact Checks
|
"In mid-April 2020, screenshots of a tweet attributed to United States President Donald Trump on November 23 2009 began circulating, in which he purportedly criticized then-President Barack Obama’s handling of the H1N1 (also called swine flu) pandemic:Obama’s handling of this whole pandemic has been terrible! As President, ALL responsibility becomes yours during a crisis like this, whether or not you’re entirely to blame. John McCain, and for that matter myself, would never let thousands of Americans die from a pandemic while in office.A purported screenshot was shared to iFunny.co on April 16 2020:Comments on the entry indicated that many readers believed the tweet was authentic:“Damn theres really one of these for fucking everything”“Tweets that didn’t age well”“It be like that”“Oops! That didn’t go very well….”Iterations of the image spread on Facebook and Twitter, but seemingly only in screenshot form. No one linked to an original tweet, despite the fact that a date was clearly displayed: November 23 2009.We first used Twitter’s advanced search capability to attempt to locate the tweet, with no success in any of the iterations. We were unable to locate any tweets attributed to Trump in the days around November 23 2009, and only one tweet where Trump used the word “pandemic” on or before April 2015:The CDC chief just said Ebola is spreading faster than Aids. Marines are preparing for a pandemic drill. Stop all flights from West Africa!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 9, 2014However, a tab search we had open for “Obama” or “pandemic” updated with a contemporaneous tweet from Trump on April 17 2020:Biden/Obama were a disaster in handling the H1N1 Swine Flu. Polling at the time showed disastrous approval numbers. 17,000 people died unnecessarily and through incompetence! Also, don’t forget their 5 Billion Dollar Obamacare website that should have cost close to nothing!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2020We broadened the search for all tweets from Trump between November 1 and December 1 2009; Trump joined Twitter in March 2009, per his bio on the platform. In 2009, he was not tweeting nearly as much, and the month-long query returned just three tweets:Of course, deletion was a possibility (albeit an unlikely one), so we expanded our search parameters to see what precisely Trump was saying about Obama from when he joined in March 2009 through the end of that year.As it turns out, not much — or more accurately, nothing at all. Trump did not even mention Obama by name for the whole of 2009 on Twitter:In all of 2010, Trump mentioned Obama once in passing, and did not criticize him:By 2011, Trump had begun taking to Twitter to voice his views on the Obama administration, sending just under fifty tweets mentioning the then-President. But during that year, he didn’t use the words “H1N1,” “swine flu,” or “pandemic” in any of those tweets.In 2012, Trump was regularly tweeting about President Obama — occasionally in a non-critical fashion:Obama is angry, frustrated and desperate. He said “voting is the best revenge” http://t.co/HFQiGRDb He is divisive.— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 5, 2012The dying NY Daily News put out a false report about my kids not wanting me to criticize Obama…totally false!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 25, 2012As I said on @foxandfriends this a.m., you have to give Obama credit—he won! …— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 3, 2012I am happy to hear that Pres.Obama is considering giving Anna Wintour @voguemagazine an ambassadorship. She is a winner & really smart!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 5, 2012But once again, he didn’t mention Obama alongside the words “pandemic,” “swine flu,” or “H1N1.” In fact, he only used the word “pandemic” once before April 2015, tweeting in October 2014:The CDC chief just said Ebola is spreading faster than Aids. Marines are preparing for a pandemic drill. Stop all flights from West Africa!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 9, 2014Prior to April 2015, Trump did mention “Ebola” in just under 50 tweets, many of them critical of Obama. Only one of those tweets included the word “handling,” and he mentioned Obama’s name about 31 times in that entire span:""@BreitbartNews: Donald Trump, Chuck Todd Agree: No Trust of Feds' Handling Ebola Because of Obama Admin Scandals: http://t.co/YSpj0GpfBK""— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 10, 2014No mentions of any “pandemic” by Trump prior to April 2015; even through 2017 (his first year of office), Trump only used the word “pandemic” in that single tweet from 2014 above.If Trump deleted the tweet, it would likely live on in the form of manual retweets dating to well before the COVID-19 pandemic. But once again, a search turned up zero results — no one had even seemingly transcribed the tweet in the screenshot:As of April 17 2020, a search on Google for the text of the tweet turned up three results, two of which pointed back to iFunny. The single entry not pointing to iFunny was dated April 17 2020.It was true President Trump criticized President Obama’s handling of Ebola, and that he criticized the previous administration’s management of H1N1. But the latter criticism primarily occurred in April 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic wore on and on.A circulating screenshot attributed the following tweet to Donald Trump: “Obama’s handling of this whole pandemic has been terrible! As President, ALL responsibility becomes yours during a crisis like this, whether or not you’re entirely to blame. John McCain, and for that matter myself, would never let thousands of Americans die from a pandemic while in office.” It appeared to be an entirely novel invention, and we found no trace of it before it emerged on iFunny on April 16 2020. Multiple searches indicated Trump didn’t begin criticizing President Obama using Twitter until around 2012."
|
9604
|
FDA approves first dissolving stent for US patients
|
FDA approval of a dissolvable stent sets the stage for wide use of a device that may—emphasis on the “may”—reduce complications in heart disease patients whose blocked arteries are treated with more typical metal stents. This story offers us that news peg but quickly and decisively tells readers that information about the long-term benefits, as well as the safety, of these new stents is still missing in action. That important warning should be of great use to heart disease patients and is nowhere to be found in a Reuters story about the FDA decision, which reads more like a celebratory press release. That said, two things we’d have welcomed in this story: First, a frank discussion about what patients should do if they’re facing stent placement–do they typically have any choice in what kind of stent they receive? Is it reasonable to refuse this method until more data is in? And second, what is the actual material used in the stent, and is it used in other medical devices? Metal stents have safety concerns, primarily higher risks of blood clots that could lead to heart attack. If dissolvable stents serve to minimize that subsequent risk, they would indeed constitute an improvement over current metal stents. But no one knows if this is the case yet — and this story’s open discussion of the unknowns makes it rise above many competitors’ stories.
|
true
|
dissolvable stent
|
This piece does an admirable job of providing cost information in the face of reluctance by Abbott Labs, the stent’s designer, to disclose such information. The reporter, instead, offers readers a sense of the typical hospital bill for “stenting procedures.” You will not be surprised to learn that such surgery is not cheap at about $30,000. A major message of this story, to its credit, is that the benefit of these dissolving stents has not yet been established–there is no data yet. This is important, because the whole point of designing a dissolvable stent is to minimize longer-ranging complications resulting from metal stents. The story does briefly describe a company-conducted study. It says “patients who got Absorb fared about as well as those receiving Abbott’s older metal stent after one year.” However, we’re not told really what that means in terms of survival and reduced cardiac events. The text offers a list of complications found with the new device, apparently recorded in the clinical trial: allergic reactions, infections, internal bleeding. And it gives us quantified information on “heart-related complications” for both the dissolvable and metal stents. But the story’s main message is that we simply do not know if these stents cause complications over the long term. It does quote a source who helped conduct the clinical trial for Abbott and who describes the “theoretical” reason for the new stents as allowing arteries to return to their “normal” shapes after the stents dissolve and, thus, prevent the kinds of problems that afflict permanent mesh stents, including a higher risk of blood clots. But the only study mentioned by the story, and by Abbot Labs in a news release, lasted a single year, while the stents are designed to completely dissolve over the course of three years. The one-year study conducted by Abbott Labs is summarized in this story, but not explained in enough detail to permit a reader to judge its quality. No disease mongering here. Permanent mesh stents have complications, so the search for an alternative is useful. Both of the sources—one who conducted the research testing the stent and one who advised the FDA—are clearly identified, as is Abbott Labs as the creator and presumed funder of the stent. A financial analyst is also included. This is sufficient for a Satisfactory rating, though none of these sources represent the ideal of what we’re looking for–a medical expert who is independent of the research and the stent’s FDA approval process. The reporter’s efforts to emphasize the long-term safety questions of this new stent lead her/him to make clear comparisons between the dissolvable stent and both metal stents and drugs. For example, at one point the story notes that recent research showed that treating chest pain with drugs leads to outcomes similar to those that result from use of stents. Missing from this comparative information are the efficacy of metal stents with polymer coatings that deliver a drug to prevent arterial re-clogging. The news peg for this story was FDA approval of the device for patients with coronary artery disease. But although the Abbott Labs’ press release suggests that the dissolvable stent is available worldwide (“in more than 100 countries, including the United States”), the story does not mention U.S. access to the device. The Reuters story covered this criterion better. The story makes it clear what is new about this type of stent. The story’s emphasis on the lack of long-term safety data is a strong departure from the information provided in the Abbott Labs press release.
|
3593
|
Georgia woman fatally bit by rattlesnake while gardening.
|
A Georgia woman who was bitten by a rattlesnake while gardening has died.
|
true
|
Georgia, Gardening, Snakes, Health, General News, Heart attack
|
News outlets report 62-yaer-old Priscilla Meridith was bitten last month and suffered an allergic reaction and heart attack that left her in a medically induced coma she never woke up from. Meridith’s family says she suffered the heart attack and organ failure while she was hospitalized. She died last week. Relatives say Meridith wasn’t given anti-venom while treated at the Southeast Georgia Health System Brunswick Campus, as hospital staff said Meridith was allergic. The hospital’s emergency medical director, Dr. Mohsen Aklaghi, says staff followed Georgia Poison Control recommendations. Poison Control Managing Director Dr. Gaylord Lopez tells WJAX-TV that allergic patients can still be given antivenom if they’re “good candidates” based factors including medical history and vital signs.
|
26338
|
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp “mandates restaurants reopen”
|
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s order said that restaurants can reopen if they follow 39 rules, including that employees wear face masks. Many Atlanta-area restaurants have chosen not to reopen their dining rooms due to concerns about health and safety. Many restaurants have sued their insurers after being denied business interruption insurance claims.
|
false
|
Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, Facebook posts,
|
"Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s decision to reopen many businesses sparked a social media dress-down from a restaurant owner in the Atlanta area. John Gianoulidis, owner of the Kafenio Greek Diner, said Kemp’s order will hurt small businesses. ""Kemp mandates restaurants reopen, whether I reopen dining rooms or not. I file for business interruption insurance, it does not go through since I am ‘allowed’ to operate full capacity,"" he wrote in an April 20 Facebook post that has been reshared thousands of times and drew national media attention. The owner then described a series of problems he faces, including that he still has the pressures to pay rent and unemployment insurance. ""Guys, this is about screwing the working class and small business, not about helping us,"" he wrote. A Facebook post that repeated the restaurant owner’s post without identifying him was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) Exactly what happens for any business owner’s unemployment insurance and rent is difficult to fact-check, because those are based on private contractual arrangements. The full impact on restaurants won’t be known for months, if not longer. But we can fact-check if Kemp mandated restaurants to reopen. ""I’ve had people take me to task for the usage of the word mandate,"" Gianoulidis told PolitiFact in an email. Kemp’s order said that restaurants ""are hereby permitted to resume providing dine-in services"" as of April 27. The order includes 39 restrictions, including that restaurant workers must wear face masks, limit the number of patrons, and discontinue salad bars and buffets. In other words, restaurants are allowed to reopen, as long as they follow the rules, but they are not required to. Restaurants still have a choice. Still, the hardships faced by restaurant owners like Gianouidis are real. Georgia processed about 1.4 million unemployment claims from March 16 to April 25. Roughly 30% were from the food and hospitality sector, state labor data show. Industry data show that as of May 6 around 31% of restaurants have reopened their dining rooms, said Karen Bremer, CEO of the Georgia Restaurant Association. Whether it’s feasible for a restaurant to reopen under the 39 conditions depends on the size of the restaurant since seating is limited. The profit margin for a restaurant is between 4 and 6 percent, which means ""if your sales are off by 50%, you are paying to be open to take care of customers and employ people. You are burning cash to do it,"" Bremer said. Restaurants face a series of challenges to reopen. Former restaurant workers collecting unemployment may not want to come back. It’s harder to buy meat amid shortages. It takes time to empty kitchens of expired food. Following Kemp’s decision, more than 120 Atlanta restaurants announced they would not reopen their dining rooms due to health and safety concerns, though many are offering takeout. Gianoulidis said Kafenio Avondale is open only for takeout/delivery while his College Park location has remained closed. Gianoulidis told PolitiFact that the cost and hassle of reopening the dining room following all of the protocols ""is not worth the risk or cost."" ""At least 80% of my customers now are not wearing masks and acting like it is all over,"" he told PolitiFact. ""It seems like since people are tired of being careful, most just gave up and are making believe there is nothing wrong."" Gianoulidis said that his claim under business interruption insurance was denied. Multiple lawsuits have been filed by restaurants and other businesses or nonprofits against insurers that say claims for business interruption insurance policies were wrongly denied. The insurance industry argues that policies were not designed to provide coverage against diseases such as COVID-19. ""Pandemics are not generally covered by business interruption,"" said Lauren Anderson, spokeswoman for the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies. ""Most standard policies list pandemics as an exclusion."" Bremer, with the Georgia Restaurant Association, said that the majority of restaurant owners she has spoken to have had their claims denied for business interruption insurance. She said after previous viruses in past years, more policies added virus exclusions. She has told owners to file claims anyway. But even claims under policies without exclusions for viruses are being denied, said lawyer John Houghtaling. In addition to his Georgia clients, Houghtaling is the lawyer for the Business Interruption Group, which was formed by some of the nation’s top chefs to help businesses that have been denied insurance claims. The insurance ""industry is taking a completely universal approach regardless of what the policy says,"" he told PolitiFact. Gianoulidis wrote in a Facebook post that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp ""mandates restaurants reopen."" Kemp’s order didn’t force restaurants to reopen, but it allowed them to reopen as long as they follow 39 conditions. Many have determined that they will not open their dining rooms, due to health, safety or financial reasons. The challenges and pain faced by restaurant owners is real, but the specific claim about Kemp’s order mandating restaurants to reopen is wrong."
|
9158
|
Allergan Granted Marketing Authorization by the FDA for TrueTear™, the First Intranasal Neurostimulating Device Proven to Temporarily Increase Tear Production
|
Even though this news release about the first FDA-approved neurostimulator intended to increase tear production in patients with dry eye is carefully worded, it glosses over key points and leaves out useful information and context. It says primary endpoints were met, without explaining precisely what those endpoints were. It reports the total number of patients in two trials (145), but not how many were in each one or whether any dropped out or had unsatisfactory results. It does not mention that one trial involved just a one-day test in which some patients compared the device to a sham device. It includes a quote that calls the device a “technological breakthrough,” even though there have not been any trials comparing the device to existing treatments. Another quote from a university professor fails to note that he receives consulting and speaking payments from the company. Dry eyes can result from a number of diseases, medications, use of contact lenses, and aging. It is a fairly common condition (with a prevalence of about 14 percent) and in serious cases, dry eyes can cause pain and blurred vision, and increase the risk for infection, inflammation, and ulcers of the corneas. But this release doesn’t satisfactorily explain how patients benefit from the neurostimulator device. It does underscore the importance of Clinicaltrials.gov and PubMed. These federal websites provide information about human clinical trials and follows up with published research results. The news release referred to two studies, but left out useful information. Searches of the public websites revealed that one of the studies lasted just a single day, and that there have been other trials of the device that were not mentioned in the release.
|
false
|
Allergan,dry eyes,intranasal neurostimulator
|
Even though this tear stimulator has been approved for sale, no price is mentioned in the release. After an internet search on costs we came up empty-handed. A specialized device like this is expected to cost a few to several hundred dollars. Will it be covered by insurance plans? The release doesn’t say. The release discloses that “direct clinical benefit of temporarily increasing tear production as a therapy for patients with dry eye disease was not assessed.” That is, we don’t know if patients will see actual benefits from the device. But other claims were made. The release says that the device temporarily increases tear production, but not by how much or for how long. The section describing the results of two studies manages to avoid providing any actual results. It says that primary effectiveness endpoints were met, but nowhere does it say what those endpoints are. The release also fails to say how many of the study participants had more tear production using the neurostimulator. Dry eyes is a chronic problem, and we don’t know from the release if the device helped prevent consequences of drug eyes including pain and damage to the cornea that may occur. Does tear production occur just at the time of stimulation (a few seconds) or if it lasts throughout the day. For example, would people have to use the device every hour? This remains unknown at this time because such studies were not done, nor were they required to gain FDA marketing approval. We will give the release a satisfactory rating because it includes a list of adverse events and warns that there is no long term safety data. But the side effects are described only in percentages and there is no indication of the severity of the events. Other reports about the device indicate that the news release left out information about adverse events seen in other trials, as well as speculation about potential long term effects. An article published in Clinical Ophthalmology, which describes an experiment that appears to be a precursor to “Study 2” in the news release, describes three device-related adverse events, including one migraine headache in a patient with a history of migraines, along with two cases of nasal discomfort that lasted a day or two. An article written by a doctor who said he tested the device reports that “The exact mechanism of action of OD-01 is still under investigation, because there is some suggestion that the device may produce long-term effects. One proposed mechanism is that neurostimulation works to kick-start the system through some form of lacrimal gland remodeling.” Well, if use of the device could cause long term effects, including changes to the glands that produce tears, the release should have mentioned that potential. While the news release includes a basic description of two studies, it leaves out key information, including the number of study participants in each trial (giving only a total of 145 patients for both trials) and what their Schirmer scores were. (The Schirmer test involves putting a piece of paper under a patient’s eyelid to soak up moisture.) The release also makes no mention of results from two other trials of the device that are listed on Clinicaltrials.gov, which means readers have no way of knowing if these other trials produced results similar to the ones that the company included. What’s more, the article published in Clinical Ophthalmology mentioned above appears to be a precursor of the “Study 2” mentioned in the release. It took place in Mexico two years before the six-month device trial listed on Clinicaltrials.gov. So it appears that the company included results from only some of the studies they have performed. As noted above, no actual clinical endpoints are evaluated meaning we can’t know whether the device will help alleviate pain, blurring of vision, or corneal problems caused by dry eyes. The news release doesn’t engage in disease mongering, but it doesn’t provide any context about dry eye either. Although readers will assume that Allergan (and Oculeve, which first developed the device before it was bought by Allergan) funded the studies, the release includes a quote from a university professor without disclosing that he serves as an advisor or consultant to Allergan and makes paid speeches on behalf of the company. (See “Faculty and Disclosures” link in this Medscape CME article.) The news release includes quotes calling the device a breakthrough and touting its superiority to other dry eye treatments, without clearly noting that neither of the studies mentioned in the release compared the device to other treatments. It also doesn’t name any alternative treatments now in use, including artificial tears, and immunosuppresant drugs and tear duct plugs. The release says that the device has been granted marketing authorization by the FDA. One can safely assume the product will be on the market by the end of the year. The release says this is the first neurostimulator intended to increase tear production in patients with dry eye problems. As noted above, the release includes a quote calling the device a breakthrough. This language seems premature for a device that has been tested in only 145 patients for at most six months (and many of those patients tried the device on only a single day), and before any trials have been done that compare the device to existing treatments.
|
7620
|
Court: Posting patient’s photo on social media not illegal.
|
A senior care facility nurse’s aide did not violate state law when she posted a photo of a patient with Alzheimer’s disease on social media because the photo itself was not a health record and didn’t violate the patient’s privacy, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled.
|
true
|
Patient privacy, Health, Media, General News, Social media, Minnesota, Elder care, Alzheimers disease
|
The ruling, issued last week, found that since the 2017 social media post provided no other identifying information, it wasn’t a health record. The post included a demeaning message. Madonna Summit in the southern Minnesota city of Byron told the aide to remove the post. The woman was later fired. Staff also received training on patient privacy and cellphone use. But the ruling alarmed some elder care advocates who say it essentially tells aide workers they can post images of patients online without legal repercussions. “This ruling could have serious implications for people living in residential long-term care,” Joseph Gaugler, a professor at the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health, told the Star Tribune. “Given that the majority of nursing home residents are living with cognitive challenges, the opportunity for anyone to post what could be personal and/or inappropriate posts on social media without the consent of residents or their legally authorized representatives is troubling.” In the June 2017 post on the aide’s personal social media page, the patient is sitting in a chair and the aide is wearing scrubs. Under the photo, the aide wrote, “This little (expletive) just pulled the fire alarm and now I have to call 911!!! Woohoo.” The aide told investigators with the state Health Department that she posted the photo because she “thought it was funny.” The patient’s husband sued Madonna Summit, alleging the post revealed information about the health of his wife, who died in 2018. In its review, a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals considered whether the post and photo should be classified as a health record. The Minnesota Health Records Act defines a health record as “any information, whether oral or recorded in any form, that relates to the past, present or future physical or mental health or condition of a patient.” Examples of protected records include lab reports, X-rays, prescriptions and other technical information used to assess someone’s health, the court said. “The photograph and accompanying caption are certainly not posted in the best taste, but they do not fall under the definition of a ‘health record’ in the Minnesota Health Records Act,” Senior Judge Roger Klaphake wrote. The decision upholds a lower court’s ruling to dismiss the lawsuit. Peter Sandberg, an attorney for the patient’s husband, said the court failed to recognize the “potent threat” posed by social media. Sandberg said someone who knew the aide could have identified where she worked and deduced that the woman suffered from a mental impairment based on the photo’s caption. “A smartphone is a potent tool for invading someone’s privacy,” Sandberg told The Associated Press, “and what’s posted on social media can become a permanent stain.”
|
2842
|
South Korea to cull more than 20,000 ducks after report of possible bird flu.
|
South Korea will cull more than 20,000 ducks after reporting its first possible outbreak of bird flu since 2011, the agriculture ministry said on Friday.
|
true
|
Health News
|
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said a duck farm in Gochang, North Jeolla Province, about 300 km (186 miles) southwest of Seoul, was likely to have been contaminated by the H5N1 virus. Final tests are due out later on Friday. The suspected case of the virus was reported on Thursday and the provincial government has taken pre-emptive measures to control the spread of any disease and ordered a cull of more than 20,000 poultry at the farm. Poultry movement controls have also been ordered and 24 poultry farms in four provinces, that recently bought ducks from the Gochang farm, have been quarantined. Asia’s fourth-largest economy has had four outbreaks of the virus in the past 10 years, the last one in 2011 which led to the slaughter over 3 million poultry, but no human cases of the bird flu strain have been reported. In Asia, around 150 people in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong have been infected by the new H7N9 strain of bird flu since it emerged in China last year, claiming at least 46 lives.
|
32180
|
The flu shot is dangerous and full of risks the pharmaceutical companies don't want you to know about.
|
We, of course, are not healthcare providers and cannot make any medical decisions for you. The purpose of this post is to correct misinformation on the Internet, and there are few topics that lend themselves to as much misinformation as vaccines. All healthcare decisions, however, should be made between you and your doctor.
|
false
|
Medical, anti-vaccine, flu, vaccinations
|
Every flu season sees an increase in viral web stories making largely unsubstantiated allegations about the health risks of the flu shot that include claims about their scary-sounding ingredients, connections to a variety of diseases (including Alzheimer’s), and their supposed lack of efficacy in general: The pharmaceutical industry, medical experts and the mainstream media are candid in telling us that flu vaccines contain strains of the flu virus. What they are less likely to reveal though is the long list of other ingredients that come with the vaccine. It is now a known fact that flu vaccines contain mercury, a heavy metal known to be hazardous for human health. Mercury toxicity can cause depression, memory loss, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory problems, ADD, oral health problems, digestive imbalances and other serious health issues. The article quoted above, which is representative of the text and claims that appear nearly identically in hundreds of Facebook posts, makes a number of claims that need to be investigated on their own merits: Claim: The flu shot makes you sick to begin with. FALSE Flu shots work by introducing dead (inactivated) strains of influenza virus, which trigger your immune system to create antibodies to fight those strains. These antibodies make your body more prepared to fight if should it be exposed to an active strain in the future. Because the strains are inactive, any sickness you develop after the shot is not caused by influenza, according to the Harvard Medical School: The vaccine is made from an inactivated virus that can’t transmit infection. So people who get sick after receiving a flu vaccination were going to get sick anyway. It takes a week or two to get protection from the vaccine. But people assume that because they got sick after getting the vaccine, the shot caused their illness. It is, of course, possible that feelings of sickness come from some of the side effects of the injection, but the vaccine itself is not infecting you in any way. Claim: Flu vaccines contain other dangerous ingredients such as mercury. Flu shots administered from multi-use vials may contain a preservative called thimerosal, which breaks down into ethylmercury in the body. Mercury is an element and as such it can be found in many different chemical forms. But when people are concerned about mercury toxicity, they are concerned about methylmercury, which is indeed toxic at high levels and could cause some of the problems listed above. Ethylmercury, on the other hand, passes through your body quickly, and numerous studies have found it safe for use in vaccines (though there is some evidence that its use could be problematic for infants — a population that CDC does not recommend for flu shots anyway). Saying ethylmercury is dangerous because is contains mercury is like saying that your table salt is at risk of spontaneous combustion because it contains sodium. Thimerosal, additionally, has been used for decades by the anti-vaccine movement to stoke vaccination fear by suggesting it causes by suggesting it causes autism. This link has been discredited over, and over, and over, and over, and over again and is further compromised by the fact that autism rates are still climbing despite the fact that childhood vaccines no longer contain this ingredient. Claim: The flu shot can give you Alzheimer’s disease. The “leading immunogeneticist” Dr. Hugh Fudenberg, whom the article cites as the authority on this claim, had his medical license revoked in 1995 for ethical misconduct and was an outspoken proponent of the widely discredited MMR-autism link. His claim of the link between Alzheimer’s and vaccines, though hard to trace, may or may not come from a talk he gave at the 1997 NVIC International Vaccine Conference. The statement has not been backed up by any published peer-reviewed research since then. In fact, a 2001 study found that adults exposed to vaccines were at a lower risk of Alzheimer’s. Claim: The very people pushing flu vaccinations are making billions of dollars each year. MIXTURE Pharmaceutical companies (sometimes) profit from vaccines, but the fact that a company makes a profit is an appeal to emotion and is not evidence to support the claim of a faulty product or of nefarious intent. It also may not be accurate. A recent Atlantic article covered this question extensively, stating: Not only do pediatricians and doctors often lose money on vaccine administration, it wasn’t too long ago that the vaccine industry was struggling with slim profit margins and shortages. The Economist wrote that “for decades vaccines were a neglected corner of the drugs business, with old technology, little investment and abysmal profit margins. Many firms sold their vaccine divisions to concentrate on more profitable drugs.” The suggestion of massive profits from flu shots ignores the fact that profits margins are generally much higher for other drugs than for flu vaccines, as well. The same Atlantic article cites one estimate that puts the vaccine market at around $24 billion. This sounds like a large number, but it would, in fact, account for only two to three percent of the pharmaceutical market worldwide. Claim: There is a lack of real evidence that young children even benefit from flu shots. FALSE Many anti-vaccine articles parrot the claim that “51 studies involving 260,000 children showed no benefit compared to a placebo for children under the age of two”. This stems from a 2008 meta-analysis that did indeed conclude that there is less efficacy for children under the age of two, something the CDC already recognizes on their website. However, of the 51 studies analyzed and the 260,000 observations those studies included, only one study (at the time) was performed on children below the age of two using inactive strains (the kind found in flu shots). A later study in 2011 that reviewed over 5,000 research articles concluded that flu shots “consistently show highest efficacy in young children (aged 6 months to 7 years),” categorically rejecting the claim that there is a lack of “real evidence” that “young children” benefit from the shot. Claim: The flu shot makes you more susceptible to pneumonia and other contagious diseases. People with compromised immune systems are at higher risk of complications from vaccines when those vaccines contain live strains (which, again, the flu shot does not), and some skin reactions are possible immediately following an injection. However, the notion that the flu shot “weakens the immune system” is false. According to a review paper in the journal Pediatrics: Vaccines may cause temporary suppression of delayed-type hypersensitivity skin reactions or alter certain lymphocyte function tests in vitro. However, the short-lived immunosuppression caused by certain vaccines does not result in an increased risk of infections with other pathogens soon after vaccination. Claim: The flu shot causes “vascular disorders” such as “fever, jaw pain, muscle aches, pain and stiffness in the neck, upper arms, shoulder and hips and headache.” While the term “vascular disorder” is fear-inducing, it merely describes anything having to do with veins and arteries. The flu shot does not, de facto, cause any of these problems, but all the complications listed above are listed by the CDC as possible side effects. It is worth noting, however, that the flu will almost certainly give you some or all of these symptoms—and with a much greater intensity than the symptoms resulting from a flu shot. Claim: Children under the age of 1 are at risk of a “neurotoxic breach” of the blood-brain barrier. The blood-brain barrier is the medical term for the chemical and physical adaptations humans and other animals have that prevent pathogens and other chemicals in the body from entering the central nervous system. For this claim about “neurotoxic breach” be true, an infant would have to have a relatively weaker blood-brain barrier than an adult. The idea that the barrier is weaker in young infants, however, is a long-held but unsubstantiated myth. Numerous studies have refuted the claim, showing that the blood-brain barrier is fully developed in the womb, long before a child is born. Claim: Flu shots carry an increased risk of narcolepsy. There is a well-documented, though statistically minor, connection between a specific H1N1 flu vaccine (Pandemrix) and narcolepsy. But such reports concerned only that one vaccine, which was produced for a specific flu strain, and have limited relevance to the seasonal flu shot. Pandemrix is available in Europe but not the United States or Canada. Claim: The flu shot weakens immunological responses. FALSE This claim, from a scientific standpoint, is a repeat of the earlier false claim (above) that suggests your body is more susceptible to infection or disease after a flu shot. “Harmful immunological responses” is a broad and unhelpful term that, while it may have aided in turning up “literally thousands” of responses in an academic search, is not really all that surprising as the term would includes the already documented risk of a skin and allergic reactions that come with pretty much any injection. Claim: The flu shot can cause serious neurological disorders. The neurological disorder specifically associated with flu vaccines is the Guillain-Barré Syndrome—a terrifying disease that causes nerve damage and sometimes paralysis. A widely cited study on a population of individuals who received the H1N1 vaccine in 1976 showed an increased risk of contracting this disease — whose cause is unknown — compared to those who did not receive the vaccine: The Institute of Medicine (IOM) conducted a scientific review of this issue in 2003 and found that people who received the 1976 swine influenza vaccine had an increased risk for developing GBS. The increased risk was approximately one additional case of GBS for every 100,000 people who got the swine flu vaccine. Scientists have several theories about the cause, but the exact reason for this link remains unknown. The link between GBS and flu vaccination in other years is unclear, and if there is any risk for GBS after seasonal flu vaccines it is very small, about one in a million. Studies suggest that it is more likely that a person will get GBS after getting the flu than after vaccination. It is important to keep in mind that severe illness and death are associated with flu, and getting vaccinated is the best way to prevent flu infection and its complications. This topic has been heavily researched for decades, and no specific consensus regarding the link or mechanism behind the flu virus and the disease has been established. What has been established, however, is how small the risk is relative to the risks of contracting complications from flu itself. A 2013 study in The Lancet stated that: The relative and attributable risks of Guillain-Barré syndrome after seasonal influenza vaccination are lower than those after influenza illness. Patients considering immunisation should be fully informed of the risks of Guillain-Barré syndrome from both influenza vaccines and influenza illness. Current iterations of the seasonal flu shot do not have any live strains in them (though the nasal spray includes weakened strains), nor do they have any mercury (in the United States), detergent, antifreeze, or aluminum. They contain, at most, 50 times less formaldehyde than a pear.
|
8659
|
Spain overtakes China in coronavirus infections.
|
Spain overtook China in the number of those infected with coronavirus on Monday, as the government tightened restrictions on a population entering its third week under one of the strictest lockdowns in Europe.
|
true
|
Health News
|
Business leaders criticized Spain’s actions over the weekend to ban all non-essential work until mid-April and to extend for another two weeks a nationwide shutdown that has paralyzed industries like car manufacturing and tourism. “If you stop the country, we’ll have a huge social problem within five months,” Antonio Garamendi, president of Spain’s business association, said in a television interview. The total number of infections rose to 85,195 on Monday, above the 81,470 registered in China where the disease originated. An overnight death toll of 812 people brought fatalities in Spain from the virus to 7,340. Still, the daily infection increase has slowed since the introduction of lockdown measures, falling to 12% on average in the past five days from around 20% in the preceding 10 days, said health emergency spokeswoman Maria Jose Sierra, brought in to substitute for her predecessor who has tested positive for the virus. Madrid held a minute of silence for the victims of the disease, and Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings was played from loudspeakers at the town hall while the regional, Spanish and European Union flags flew at half mast. The government said it was imposing caps on funeral prices, following reports that undertakers were taking advantage of increased demand. The left-wing government must tread a fine line between slowing the spread of a disease that has overwhelmed the health service and preserving employment in a country with the second-highest jobless rate in Europe. The government gave businesses an extra 24 hours to wind down operations, with full closure of non-essential activity to start on Tuesday. Spain unveiled earlier this month a 200 billion euro ($220 billion) economic aid package to help furloughed workers get benefits and businesses draw state-backed credit lines. In further measures to soften the blow of the outbreak, the government is likely to approve on Tuesday a moratorium on rent for vulnerable groups like unemployed people with dependents, government sources said. However, in a show of how some parts of the economy such as grocery retail are booming as people hunker down at home, supermarket chain Dia said on Monday it had hired 1,000 people to deal with increased demand in online orders.
|
9179
|
FDA approves first treatment for frequent urination at night due to overproduction of urine
|
This news release heralds the FDA’s first approved treatment for adults who get up at least twice nightly to urinate due to a condition known as nocturnal polyuria, or overproduction of urine at night. The news release does a good job of cautioning that this treatment isn’t for everybody who suffers from frequent nighttime urination, but it falls short in describing the size of the benefit, which is a small improvement over a placebo. It also downplays the fact that this is an old drug — desmopressin — being adapted for a new use. While it’s good to see old drugs re-purposed in ways that might be beneficial for patients, the flip side is that companies typically use this as an opportunity to raise the price of the medication. Frequent urination at night is a common annoyance, especially in older people. In other words, it’s prime click bait material. So it didn’t surprise us to see at least one media outlet exaggerate the benefits of this product. Men’s Health ran with this misleading story: “Here’s How You Can Stop Waking Up Every Night to Pee.” But in this case you can’t blame the news release which did a good job of explaining that this treatment is designed to treat only a specific subset of cases, known as nocturnal polyuria, in which the body produces a disproportionate amount of urine at night. It’s not for the entire 20 percent or so of men who suffer from frequent nighttime bathroom runs as Men’s Health implies. It would have been helpful if the release had shared the estimated prevalence of this condition. This appears to be an attempt to expand the market for an existing drug. If the pricing trend holds, this approval of an older drug for a new indication may result in a significant price increase.
|
mixture
|
FDA,nocturnal polyuria,overproductive urine
|
The FDA evaluates drugs without considering the cost, which is why we give the release a pass for not mentioning the price tag. We hope the FDA could one day also comment on the projected cost of drugs and their cost-effectiveness. How much will this re-purposed drug cost? We found a 5-milliliter bottle of generic desmopressin acetate on the market for $69.95. However, the manufacturer that won approval for this new use might charge significantly more when it markets the drug under the name Noctiva. The company had no comment on pricing, according to a recent report in FiercePharma. The news release is vague on benefits, stating that although trials “showed a small reduction in the average number of night-time urinations with Noctiva compared to placebo, more patients treated with Noctiva were able to at least halve their number of night-time urinations, and patients treated with Noctiva had more nights with one or fewer night-time urinations.” The benefit of being able to “halve the number of night-time urinations” is uninterpretable. In fact, data submitted to the FDA shows patients using the drug went from an average of more than three urinations per night to about two, but the placebo was almost as effective. By our calculation, those using a placebo got up an average of one extra time every three nights compared with those who took the real drug. In other words, not a huge difference. The percentage of patients who experienced one or fewer nighttime urinations was 40 to 45 percent for those using Noctiva versus 30 to 34 percent for those taking a placebo. Again, a modest benefit. The news release does well describing harms, providing extensive details on adverse effects, particularly warning that Noctiva can cause a potentially life-threatening drop in blood sodium and shouldn’t be used by those at risk for that condition. The release says the drug will come with a boxed warning and a Medication Guide to draw attention to the risk. It also lists the most common side effects: nasal discomfort, cold symptoms, nasal congestion, sneezing, high or increased blood pressure, back pain, nose bleeds, bronchitis and dizziness. It cautions against use in pregnant women and children as well as patients with symptomatic congestive heart failure or uncontrolled hypertension and patients with certain nasal conditions such as colds or allergies. We would have liked to see the news release mention that 4 percent of patients in the trials stopped therapy due to adverse events. Also, an FDA document expressed concern that the drug could mask symptoms of underlying conditions, which was only alluded to in the news release with an advisory that doctors treat underlying conditions that could cause frequent urination. The news release provides information about the strength of the research with this statement: “Noctiva’s efficacy was established in two 12-week, randomized, placebo-controlled trials in 1,045 patients 50 years of age and older with nocturia due to nocturnal polyuria.” Evidence derived from two relatively short-term studies on a daily drug that could potentially be used for years doesn’t seem particularly strong. Do we know if the benefits are durable or whether the slight benefit over placebo might dwindle to nothing after 6 months or a year of use? The drug can have serious side effects but nocturnal polyuria is not a life-threatening condition. Patients and physicians would be well-served with longer term safety data. And as stated above, placebo was nearly as effective as the drug in reducing the number of night-time visits to the bathroom. The news release doesn’t engage in disease mongering. It provides useful context about what the condition is, but not how common it is. That would have been a useful addition. The news release doesn’t mention that the efficacy trials for desmopressin to treat nocturnal poluria were sponsored by the manufacturer, Serenity Pharmaceuticals. There’s no mention of other treatments for nocturnal polyuria including behavioral strategies such as fluid restriction and medications including the generic form of desmopressin (see the section on novelty). The news release mentions that this drug is already approved for other uses and that the newly approved therapy is manufactured by Renaissance Lakewood for Serenity Pharmaceuticals. The news release downplays the fact that this is not a new drug. It does acknowledge that there are other FDA-approved medications that also contain desmopressin, the active ingredient in this new product, but we would have liked to see this fact higher up in the release. In fact, desmopressin has been approved for use in the U.S. market since 1978 and has been used to treat a variety of conditions including diabetes and hemophilia A. Physicians have also been prescribing desmopressin to treat nocturia, although it wasn’t officially approved for that use until now. There’s no sensationalizing here.
|
21030
|
At a minimum, 40 percent of those who view child pornography end up molesting children as a result.
|
Mike DeWine cites link between viewing child pornography and molestation cases
|
false
|
Ohio, Children, Crime, Mike DeWine,
|
"There is no category of crimes more revolting to most people than sexual crimes committed against children. In the wake of the Penn State scandal, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine rolled out a new ""Crimes Against Children"" initiative on Nov. 18 targeting Internet predators who trade child pornography or actually molest or attempt to molest children. Flanked by police chiefs and prosecutors, DeWine announced that he was dedicating a new 15-person unit to focus on stopping crimes against children. The unit would be part of the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which is run by his office. Attempting to demonstrate the prevalence of the crimes in today’s society, DeWine focused on the link between viewers of child pornography and the actual molestation of children. ""At a minimum, 40 percent of those who view child pornography end up molesting children as a result,"" DeWine said. ""At least 40 percent, some estimates as high as 80 percent."" PolitiFact Ohio was struck by the relatively high percentage cited by DeWine and the cause and effect he said exists between viewing child porn and committing physical acts of sexual contact against children. Could four in 10 people who viewed child porn really be committing sexual acts against children? We turned first to DeWine’s office for some supporting evidence, who quickly e-mailed us a pair of studies said to back up his claim. The first study, entitled ""A Profile of Pedophilia: Definition, Characteristics of Offenders, Recidivism, Treatment Outcomes, and Forensic Issues, is from doctors at the Mayo Clinic. It states that 30 to 80 percent of arrested individuals who viewed child pornography and 76 percent of individuals who were arrested for Internet child pornography had molested a child, according to studies and case reports. The study quotes from a November 2004 article from the American Prosecutors Research Institute called ""From Fantasy to Reality: The Link Between Viewing Child Pornography and Molesting Children"" written by Candice Kim. It also apparently references a 2000 study of sex offender inmates in a Federal Bureau of Prisons program. Kim’s report cites a U.S. Postal Inspection Service finding that 80 percent of purchasers of child pornography are active abusers and nearly 40 percent of the child pornographers investigated over several years have sexually molested children. A footnote indicates the statement is taken from the 2002 testimony Ernie Allen, director of The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, when he appeared before a congressional committee. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service made 1,807 child porn arrests from January 1997 to March 2004 which netted 620 ""confirmed child molesters,"" the article states. That is a child molestor rate of 34.3 percent, according to the statistic provided by U.S. Postal Inspection Service Agent Ray Smith during a 2004 interview with Kim. Other statistics found in the report include a Pennsylvania-based law enforcement task force reporting that 51 percent of individuals arrested for pornography-related offense were also determined to be actively molesting children or to have molested in the past. In Dallas, a similar task force put that figure at 31 percent. The original source of those statements was again Allen’s 2002 congressional testimony. The other study cited by DeWine’s office is a 2005 study funded by a congressional grant to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. In that study of 1,713 people arrested nationwide for child pornography in a one-year period from July 2000 to July 2001, 40 percent were ""dual offenders"" who sexually victimized children and possessed child pornography with both crimes discovered in the same investigation. So what are all these studies saying? They are saying there is a link between those arrested by various state and federal law enforcement agencies for child porn possession and acts of molestation of children by this same group of people. What the do not say, though, is that the link exists for the entire group of people that views child porn and whether those people molest children. As the 2005 National Center for Missing & Exploited Children report puts it ""we do not know if these child porn possessors were representative of all Internet-related child porn possessors."" Furthermore, that report states that there is no known evidence supporting cause and effect -- that simply possessing child pornography encourages or causes child victimization. There has been no study of this issue. ""Knowing a considerable number of dual offenders were discovered during investigations of Internet-related, child-sexual victimization and child porn possession cases does not explain how possessing child pornography is related to child victimization or whether it encourages or causes such victimization,"" states the report. ""We do not have data to determine this."" Later, the report states as to whether the child porn viewing is done before the molesting ""we had no information about the sequencing of crimes committed by dual offenders."" Meanwhile, a 2000 study done by psychologists working with prisoners in the Federal Bureau of Prisons sex offender treatment program found that 76 percent of inmates charged with child pornography crimes admitted to having committed contact sex crimes. That study was followed up in 2009 by a similar study which found that 85 percent of 155 convicted sex offenders had committed at least one ""hands on sexual offense."" However, a paper prepared by one of the primary authors of both studies, Andres Hernandez, stresses not to apply the statistics of those convicted of child porn possession to the larger ""unknown"" population of child porn users. ""The number of individuals who are apprehended by law enforcement for committing child porn offenses represents a small proportion of the population of individuals collecting, trading and producing child pornography worldwide,"" Hernandez writes. ""Some individuals have misused the results (of the two studies) to fuel the argument that the majority of child porn offenders are indeed contact sexual offenders and, therefore, dangerous predators. This is simply not supported by the scientific evidence."" Said Hernandez’s paper: ""Some individuals in law enforcement are tempted to rely on a biased interpretation of our study...to prove that the majority of child porn offenders are child molestors."" Hernandez’s paper also notes something not reported in this 2009 study — that a 42-person sample of the prisoners were asked questions about when they began possessing child porn compared to when they began committing contact sexual crimes. ""The vast majority of our subjects indicated they committed hands-on abuse prior to seeking child pornography via the Internet,"" he writes. ""The results indicated that in 41 of 42 cases examined hands-on sexual crimes preceded child porn offenses."" So where are we left as we bid this abhorrent subject goodbye? At a news conference promoting a crackdown on sexual crimes against children, DeWine made statements stating that ""at a minimum 40 percent of those who view child pornography end up molesting children as a result."" Molestation crimes are horrific. And while DeWine’s statement is overly broad, it does contain an element of truth: that people who commit acts of child molestation also often view child pornography. His statements are based on studies which are all of those arrested for child porn offenses and range from a 31 percent child molester rate up to 85 percent, depending on the study. However, several of the authors of those studies caution that the numbers should not be generalized to the bigger universe of all people who have viewed child porn -- those who have been arrested and those who have not. And that’s exactly what DeWine did. And researchers caution that there is no evidence that the molesting of children by those possessing child porn takes place as a result of viewing the child porn, a claim made by DeWine. Quite to the contrary, study of this cause-effect relationship we found suggests that nearly all offenders committed acts of molestation prior to looking at child porn. Those are critical facts that would give a different impression of DeWine’s claim. On the Truth-O-Meter, his claim rates ."
|
9528
|
How optimism may help you live longer
|
A story by CBS news plays up a new study in the American Journal of Epidemiology that could give anyone reason to feel optimistic: Optimism itself is linked to a longer life, at least based on a survey of professional nurses over the years. The survey used by the researchers was the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS), which reaches out to tens of thousands of medical nurses every 2 years and asks them basic questions. The data is often used to help guide public policy. The story attempts to lay out the potential benefits of optimism and their relation to various diseases and longevity–but it did so using relative risk numbers, which are not reflective of the true impact. The story also missed an important discussion about how much the results could stem from having good health–that perhaps this causes the optimism, and not vice versa. Also, no independent sources–who could provide insight and some skepticism–were included. Most everyone on Earth wants to live longer, but we often have trouble picking the healthy behaviors that lead to longevity. If a sense of optimism — a totally cost-free medical intervention — could help encourage the right behaviors, extend lifespan, and improve the quality of life, that’d be a boon around the world. Unfortunately, it’s a devilishly tricky question to ask, given the strong counterargument: Maybe healthy people just feel more optimistic because they’re doing well, while sick or injured people have a lot more to worry about and feel more pessimistic. This nuance is important to convey to readers given the limitations of this study–how it couldn’t prove cause and effect.
|
mixture
|
optimism
|
Optimism is free of charge, and anyone who says differently is overly optimistic about stealing your money. Readers are told that the most optimistic nurses (top 25%) had nearly a one-third lower chance of dying, at least compared to the the most pessimistic group (lowest 25% of the survey group for optimism). We’re also clued into some of the data behind the longevity numbers: the drop in risk of diseases and conditions that kill the most Americans. For example, according to the study’s analysis, the most optimistic nurses had a 39% lower risk of having (and dying from) a stroke. The problem? All these numbers are presented in relative risks, instead of absolute risks. To know how meaningful these findings were, we need to see the absolute risk of death among the most optimistic of nurses compared to the least optimistic. Being overly optimistic can put people into harm’s way — say, thinking they’re better drivers than they really are, and upping the risk of an accident. (There are a number of studies about this very thing.) But that’s a kind of common sense we don’t think needs calling out in a story. The story’s phrasing on the evidence was direct and clear: it was “observational and cannot prove a cause-and-effect relationship between optimism and a longer life.” However, this caveat didn’t come until the ninth paragraph in the story, and was preceded by a headline and several statements that suggested a cause-and-effect relationship was at hand. The story also ends with advice on how to become more optimistic to achieve better outcomes. For these reasons, the story is not satisfactory on this criterion. Also, an important limitation to this research wasn’t discussed: One reason people may self-identify as optimistic is because they’ve never endured the mental and physical setbacks of someone who’s experiencing or survived a significant medical or mental issue. There’s no sign of dramatic or charged language here. Two of the study’s authors are interviewed. Chatting with an outside source would definitely have strengthened this story, and may have exposed the reverse causation issue we previously brought. The story does discuss healthy dietary choices and exercise. Optimism may not be FDA-approved, but we’ll optimistically assume all readers know that it’s widely available. There could have been more included on how optimism can be a learned skill, for those who would like to become more optimistic. The story explains what’s novel here is how the research looks at all-cause mortality vs specific health behaviors and outcomes. This is established with this statement: “Optimism in prior research has been shown to be related to better health behaviors and better health outcomes, particularly in cardiovascular disease,” postdoctoral research fellow Kaitlin Hagan, co-lead author of the study, told CBS News. “So in our study we wanted to expand that and look at all-cause mortality and be able to see whether optimism improves other health behaviors that then affects mortality, or whether there’s an independent effect of optimism on mortality.” The reporting here appears to be original, as we didn’t detect any copy/pasted quotes.
|
10204
|
Erbitux Cancer Drug Is Cleared For Use On Head, Neck Tumors
|
In this story we learn of a potentially important new development in the treatment of head and neck cancer. The FDA recently approved the drug Erbitux for head and neck cancer after granting the application a priority review, a status only given to treatments it believes represent ‘significant improvement’ over existing treatments. The author presents accurate information on the novelty of the drug, its availability and potential side effects and does not exaggerate the prevalence or seriousness of head and neck cancer. The author also quantifies the benefit of the drug in absolute terms by giving the survival for both arms of the study. However, the story contains phrases that appear identical to some in the FDA’s news release and apppears to rely on this release as the only source of information. No other sources are quoted. In doing so, the story misses some information that was not present in the press release. Most notably, it is still uncertain how Erbitux will compare with cisplatin, the current standard of care for chemotherapy, since the trials did not directly compare them. The author also does not mention the costs of Erbitux, which are likely to be substantial compared to the much cheaper cisplatin.
|
mixture
|
The author does not mention the costs of the drug, which are likely to be substantial compared to the much cheaper cisplatin. Quantitative estimates of survival are given for both the drug and the radiation-only groups. The side effects of Erbitux are accurately presented. Although there is mention of two studies, the story not describe the study design. Nor does the story explain that the studies did not directly compare Erbitux to the current standard of care for chemotherapy – cisplatin. The fact that there has been no direct comparison between Erbitux and cisplatin makes it more difficult to interpret what the results mean for current practice. There is no obvious disease-mongering. The story accurate represents the prevalence and seriousness of head and neck cancer. Only a single source – the FDA – is quoted. Although the author does mention radiation as the alternative and that the side effects of Erbitux plus radiation are similar to that of radiation alone, there is no mention of cisplatin and other newer chemotherapy drugs that are the current standard of care. The story accurately states that Erbitux has recently been approved by the FDA The story is clear that Erbitux was first used to treat colon cancer, but is now approved to treat head and neck cancer. Identical phrases appear in the story and in the FDA’s news release. The lack of independent sources also suggests that the author has relied on the press release as the only information source.
|
|
5702
|
Plutonium found in Colorado soil; 2nd test shows lower level.
|
Elevated levels of plutonium were found in the soil near a former nuclear weapons plant outside Denver, while a second test showed far lower levels, health officials said Tuesday.
|
true
|
Colorado, Nuclear weapons, General News, Denver, Environment, Public health
|
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said it is trying to sort out the conflicting results of tests done near the Rocky Flats plant, which made plutonium triggers for nuclear warheads from 1952 until 1989. The plant underwent a $7 billion cleanup that was finished in 2005. The health department is taking the test results seriously, but it does not believe there is an immediate threat to public health, said Jennifer T. Opila, director of the department’s Hazardous Materials and Waste Management Division. One test on the sample registered plutonium at 264 picocuries per gram, Opila said in a written statement. That’s more than five times above the Rocky Flats cleanup standard of 50 picocuries per gram. The second test on another portion of the same sample registered 1.5 picocuries per gram. The department is waiting for more details, including the exact location of the sample and technical data about how the soil was collected and tested. The sample was taken from a former buffer zone east of the plant in the path of a proposed toll road. The testing was done by the Jefferson Parkway Public Highway Authority, which hopes to build the road to complete a belt route around the Denver metro area, Opila said. Rocky Flats covered 10 square miles (26.5 square kilometers) of wind-swept prairie 16 miles (26 kilometers) northwest of Denver. The plant had a long history of leaks, fires and environmental violations, which led to an FBI raid, a grand jury investigation and an $18.5 million fine against operator Rockwell International. Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge was created on the former buffer zone around the perimeter of the site and turned over to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Two square miles (5 square kilometers) at the center of the site, where the plutonium was handled, is controlled by the U.S. Department of Energy and remains closed to the public. The soil where the elevated plutonium was found was on the former buffer zone but not on refuge land. David Lucas, manager of the refuge, said the Fish and Wildlife Service is aware of the test results and is deferring to the state health department and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The refuge opened to the public last year, but a coalition of environmental and public health advocates has filed a lawsuit saying the government did not do enough to ensure it’s safe. Bob Schaeffer, a spokesman for the coalition, said the refuge should be closed until more soil samples are tested, and a comprehensive study of potential risks should be completed before authorities decide whether to build the toll road. “Doing anything less would be irresponsible,” he said in a written statement. Rocky Flats is one of six former nuclear, chemical or toxic weapons sites that the U.S. government has converted into wildlife refuges. ___ Follow Dan Elliott at http://twitter.com/DanElliottAP.
|
6561
|
Residents say tests find toxic chemicals after plant fire.
|
Tests detected toxic substances in soil, water and ash samples taken from residents’ property miles away from a Houston-area chemical plant that flooded during Hurricane Harvey, caught fire and partially exploded, according to a class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday.
|
true
|
Houston, Hurricane Harvey, Floods, Lawsuits, Business, North America, Environment, Fires, Hurricanes, U.S. News
|
The 15 residents named as plaintiffs link the toxins to products stored or made at Arkema Inc.’s facility in Crosby, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northeast of Houston, and say the releases violated environmental protection laws. The residents fault Arkema and its France-based parent company for failing to take more precautions to control flooding — the plant is in a government-designated flood plain — and to fully warn them about the health risks of smoke and water from the site. According to the lawsuit, one woman’s two daughters had respiratory trouble and headaches after moving back into their home, where the toxins were found. Another plaintiff, Shannan Wheeler, told The Associated Press that he found gooey black deposits in his flower beds and developed a thick, scaly rash while picking up grass clippings after mowing following the final fire. “The third or fourth scoopful, I noticed the stinging, the tingling,” said Wheeler, noting that his doctor told him scarring was likely. “The next one was like, ‘Damn it.’ I thought I’d gotten in ants. It started getting red. I kept picking up. After two more, I said that’s enough, something’s wrong here.” In a written statement Tuesday, Arkema said it hasn’t detected chemicals in off-site sampling that exceeds levels for clean-up set by the state’s environmental agency. “We don’t know what these lawyers tested for,” the company wrote, saying that it wouldn’t comment further on the lawsuit. The company has previously declined to say which chemicals were released during the fire or discuss how large its inventory quantities were prior to the incident. It provided only the names of its chemicals on its website last month after days of public pressure. Arkema’s legal troubles have widened in the past week. The civil attorney and the criminal district attorney for Harris County, which includes Houston, announced a pending lawsuit and investigation. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and U.S. Chemical Safety Board announced last month that they were investigating. And a group of about two dozen homeowners and first responders are part of a state lawsuit that seeks more than $1 million. They also blame Arkema for sickening them and failing to fully warn them about the hazards. Arkema executives have insisted that they planned for flooding conditions, bringing in backup generators and moving containers with the chemicals to higher ground. Accident plans the company had filed with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in recent years noted that hurricanes, flooding and power loss were potential hazards, but it didn’t explain what it would do if faced with them. Despite a National Hurricane Center warning on Aug. 27 that areas around Houston could get 50 inches (130 centimeters) of rain, company officials said they couldn’t have predicted the unprecedented flooding. As Harvey dumped the rain, Arkema’s power and generators at its Crosby facility failed, leading refrigeration systems to shut down. That caused its organic peroxides, used in a range of products from plastics and paints, to destabilize. Arkema abandoned the facility Aug. 29 after, executives have said, as much as 6 feet (1.8 meters) engulfed it. A mandatory 1.5-mile (2.4-kilometer) evacuation zone was created in anticipation of a fire and explosion, displacing hundreds of residents for about a week. After one container storing hazardous materials caught fire Aug. 31 and exploded, an Arkema executive claimed that smoke from that was a “non-toxic irritant.” Fifteen responders were treated for exposure at local hospitals. On Sept. 4, after a second container caught fire and then the remaining others were burned under supervision, an executive said Arkema’s air-quality testing within the evacuation zone had shown “no evidence of any issues.” But the class-action lawsuit, filed in a Houston federal court, said several residents had found “strange black ash” and “black residue” on the ground after each Arkema explosion sent plumes of smoke in the air. Scientific testing of samples —collected up to 6 miles away — found materials from multiple families of toxic chemicals, according to the suit. The toxins identified include volatile organic compounds, which can cause cancer, and harmful polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons formed during the incomplete burning of organic substances. The lawsuit said tests also detected dioxins and furans, which the EPA has said may change hormone levels in those exposed. “Given the toxicity of the substances released,” according to the lawsuit, “the 1.5-mile perimeter was not far enough to adequately protect either first responders or those living beyond the perimeter who were not evacuated.” In 2016, an analysis led by Texas A&M University researchers identified Arkema’s facility as one of the biggest risks in a corridor with the country’s greatest concentration of petrochemical plants. State and federal regulators have penalized the plant multiple times in the last decade. In June 2006, for example, Arkema failed to prevent unauthorized emissions during a two-hour warehouse fire. In February, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined Arkema more than $90,000 for of 10 serious safety violations found during an inspection. ___ Sign up for the AP’s weekly newsletter showcasing our best reporting from the Midwest and Texas: http://apne.ws/2u1RMfv
|
7380
|
Montenegro: Dozens detained in clashes over priests’ arrests.
|
Montenegrin police said Thursday they have detained around 60 people following clashes at protests demanding the release of eight Serbian Orthodox Church priests jailed for leading a religious procession despite a ban on gatherings related to the new coronavirus outbreak.
|
true
|
Dusko Markovic, Religion, Podgorica, Health, Serbia, General News, Montenegro, Arrests, Europe, Virus Outbreak, Europe, Public health, International News
|
Twenty-six officers were injured during the unrest late Wednesday in the towns of Niksic and Pljevlja, police said. One of the injured policemen has been hospitalized, the statement said. Prime Minister Dusko Markovic in a televised address on Thursday described the protests as a “brutal attack on the state that could have unforeseeable consequences on public health.” “Everything we have achieved in the past three months ... has been brought into question,” he said. “There is no reasonable explanation or justification for such behavior.” Police insisted they intervened with pepper spray and dispersed the protesters into smaller groups after they threw rocks, bottles and other objects and blocked traffic. Police were “brutally attacked for no reason,” the statement added. Police property was damaged in Niksic, while protesters in Pljevlja stoned the police station in the town, the statement also said. Some people were detained in other towns where they tried to organize gatherings, including the capital, Podgorica. The protests followed the arrest of the Serbian Orthodox Church priests who had led a procession Tuesday that a few thousand people attended without wearing face masks or respecting distancing rules. The incidents add to tensions between the government and the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro, which earlier this year organized months-long protests against a religious law that critics say would strip the church of its property. Montenegrin authorities have denied this would happen. A country of 620,000 people, Montenegro split from much larger Serbia in a referendum in 2006. Serbian nationalists both in Serbia and Montenegro have never fully recognized the separation of what they view as a historic Serbian territory. In Serbia, populist President Aleksandar Vucic said Thursday that “we fail to comprehend” why Bishop Joanikije and other priests remain in detention. He added Serbia cannot interfere in any way but “will remain by our people and the church as much as we can.” Large gatherings are still banned in Montenegro as part of efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The detained priests are facing charges of violating health regulations during the virus outbreak by organizing the procession. ___ Follow AP pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
|
27948
|
A fatal wave of molasses swept through Boston in January 1919.
|
Boston is not a city that forgets anything easily. There are those who claim that on a hot summer day in the North End, you can still smell the molasses.
|
true
|
Horrors, freakish fatalities
|
“As slow as molasses in January.” There was one memorable exception to that truism. And it was a deadly one. Forty minutes past noon on 15 January 1919, a giant wave of molasses raced through Boston. The unseasonably warm temperature (46 degrees) was the final stress needed to cause a gigantic, filled-to-capacity tank to burst. 2,320,000 gallons (14,000 tons) of molasses swept through the streets, causing death and destruction. Eyewitness reports tell of a “30-foot wall of goo” that smashed buildings and tossed horses, wagons and pool tables about as if they were nothing. Twenty-one people were killed by the brown tidal wave, and 150 more were injured. The chaos and destruction were amplified — and rescue efforts were hampered — by the stickiness of the molasses. Those persons attempting to aid others all too often found themselves mired fast in the goo. The day after the disaster, the New York Times reported: A dull, muffled roar gave but an instant’s warning before the top of the tank was blown into the air. The circular wall broke into two great segments of sheet iron which were pulled in opposite directions. Two million gallons of molasses rushed over the streets and converted into a sticky mass the wreckage of several small buildings which had been smashed by the force of the explosion. The greatest mortality apparently occurred in one of the city buildings where a score of municipal employees were eating their lunch. The building was demolished and the wreckage was hurled fifty yards. The other city building, which had an office on the ground floor and a tenement above, was similarly torn from its foundations. One of the sections of the tank wall fell on the firehouse which was nearby. The building was crushed and three firemen were buried in the ruins. In November 2016, new findings about the Great Molasses Flood were presented at the American Physical Society’s Division of Fluid Dynamics in Portland: “Temperatures dipped just below freezing the night following the accident,” aerospace engineer and fluid dynamicist Nicole Sharp, lead author of the study, told Live Science. “Based on our data, it’s possible the viscosity of the molasses increased by a factor of four or more due to that drop in temperature. That does not sound like such a big difference, but the high viscosity of the molasses was a major factor for rescue work.” If the tank had collapsed in warmer weather, the molasses would have been more like honey than tar, and would have “flowed farther, but also thinner,” reducing the number of people who became fatally stuck, said Shmuel M. Rubinstein, a Harvard University professor whose students investigated the disaster, according to The New York Times. About half of the victims of the flood, he added, “died basically because they were stuck.” The original cause of the deadly disaster, which has remained a mystery for the past century, was explored in another study published [in 2015]. Ronald Mayville, a senior structural and metallurgical engineer with Simpson, Gumpertz & Heger in Waltham, Mass., concluded that several design flaws had contributed to the tank’s collapse. The walls of the tank, Mr. Mayville argued, were too thin to hold 2.3 million gallons of molasses and made from a low-manganese steel susceptible to fracture – the same type of steel, coincidentally, used on the Titanic. “The steel conformed to the standards of the time,” Mayville told the Boston Globe. “But now it’s known you need to have a higher ratio.”
|
10073
|
'Holy grail of cancer research': doctors positive about early detection blood test
|
This story is about one of several studies on so-called “liquid biopsies” that were presented at the 2018 annual conference of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). Liquid biopsies are blood tests for possible markers of cancer in the blood. It’s an emerging technology (we have written about extensively) that has yet to be shown to be as clinically usefully as the current gold standard for confirming a cancer diagnosis: getting a tissue sample. The Guardian story not only misleads readers with a grandiose headline, it fails to provide readers with a balanced discussion of the significant limitations and harms that many experts consider salient when it comes to liquid biopsies. The cost and availability of these specialized tests are neglected, as is the fact that the study mentioned has yet to be published. What would have helped this article most of all would have been including an additional independent, critical voice that could speak to these likely reader concerns: Is this technology ready for widespread use? Is it as good or better as existing cancer screening methods? Who should get this test? When articles are written as this one is — with unjustified speculation suggesting that a simple test will catch cancer early and that means less people will die of cancer — it does a huge disservice to readers. It is speculation bordering on misguided promotion. The appeal of a noninvasive test for cancer is undeniable, but at this time the consensus opinion of cancer specialists is that this technology is not ready for meaningful clinical application because the accuracy, reliability, and reproducibility are still unknown. Any article on liquid biopsies should make that clear. In other words, though there is great appeal from such a test, here described as a “holy grail,”, it isn’t clear how far along we are to seeing such tests in clinical practice. The first place they may appear could be for a different indication – specifically, following patients diagnosed with cancer who undergo treatment. Such tests could be used to determine if there is microscopic residual cancer not seen or identified using current methods. The goal described in the Guardian story is more challenging.
|
false
|
The Guardian
|
Costs are not mentioned. As we’ve reported in the past, one company has marketed their similar test with a $1,000 price point. This story errs on the side of promoting potential benefits without providing critical context. It includes two reckless quotes (one by a lead author, another by an independent source) which suggest that the liquid biopsy: This study did not address cure, survival, or productivity. Furthermore, the story lists the accuracy of “diagnosing” 10 different types of cancer (with an ‘accuracy’ of 56% – 90% depending on the cancer) without making it clear these are the percentage of people already known to have cancer who had a positive test confirm its presence. We did appreciate this inclusion: The number of patients in who cancers were detected was small. For example, although the test detected ovarian cancer with 90% accuracy, only 10 ovarian cancers in total were detected. To be useful to readers, the story should have included the rate of false-positives and false-negative results. Or, what’s known as test sensitivity — how often the test is correct when the disease is present; and specificity – how often the disease tests negative when the disease is not present. The percentages reported likely represent the sensitivity. So the article did provide some numbers, but it was limited and not explained in a way that would allow the reader to appreciate how good (or not good) the test really was. The story includes no mention of what many experts consider to be the most important considerations when it comes balancing the harms vs. benefits of liquid biopsies. These include: The story includes some basic details about the trial. But it didn’t discuss limitations–notably that any data presented at a medical conference is preliminary until published and peer-reviewed. Also, the story touts potential benefits for screening healthy-seeming people for early signs of disease. But in the study itself, about half of the people had already been diagnosed with cancer. If the test is applied to the general population as this story suggests is appropriate, there will likely be many more false-positives than were recorded in the study. It’s also important to note that an expert panel from ASCO and CAP (American Society of Clinical Oncology; and College of American Pathologists) recently reported: While it offers overly inflated claims of benefit, there is nothing to suggest that the piece displayed disease mongering about cancer itself. The story would have been stronger, however, if it had noted that catching cancer earlier doesn’t always translate to curing cancer. The story didn’t disclose that the researchers had significant conflicts of interest. (See disclosures.) The current gold standard for confirming the diagnosis of most cancers is a tissue sample. This is not addressed in the article and should have been. It also could have been clearer that for some cancers there are no approved screening tests. Availability of liquid biopsies are not directly addressed, though it is implied they are not yet available. We’ll give this one a just-barely satisfactory. There are a host of different liquid biopsies being tested. They look for a variety of markers associated with cancers such as proteins, cancer cells, and even circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is in the case of this study. This was not mentioned in the article. We couldn’t find a related news release. Because the story includes quotes from people not affiliated with the study, we think it’s safe to assume the story didn’t rely on one.
|
8284
|
Despite horror stories, California cruise passengers won't let coronavirus spoil their fun.
|
With a white captain’s hat perched on his head, Calvin Ballard seemed relaxed as he waited to depart on his first-ever cruise to Mexico, unfazed by the possibility of being trapped on a ship under siege by an outbreak of coronavirus.
|
true
|
Health News
|
Like many fellow vacationers streaming onto an ocean liner docked near Los Angeles, Ballard said he was well aware that passengers aboard other cruises had ended up stranded for weeks, far from home, and he vowed to take special care to stay healthy. Nonetheless, he was determined to have a good time. “What we’re planning on doing is washing our hands often, trying not to touch things and then touch our mouths, and just being aware of how we come into contact with people - the smart stuff,” the 55-year-old asset manager from Orange, California, said cheerfully. “We’re focusing on enjoying ourselves.” Ballard and his wife, Judy, 50, sporting a sailor’s cap, were among some 2,350 Carnival Cruise Line passengers who departed on Thursday from the Port of Long Beach on a three-day voyage to the resort city of Ensenada on Mexico’s Baja coast. From those pausing for interviews with Reuters just outside the terminal, it was clear most passengers had packed extra hand sanitizer with their sunscreen and would likely approach the food buffet lines with greater trepidation than in the past. All readily acknowledged that the coronavirus scare and stories of cruise ships under quarantine in Cambodia and Japan were not far from their minds. “We’ve all heard the horror stories,” said Andrew MacKenzie, 37, from Napa, California, as he waited with a buddy before boarding the Carnival Imagination. But all professed they had made peace with the idea of being herded into relatively close quarters with hundreds of strangers, and were resolved to follow meticulous hand hygiene and keep a safe distance from anyone who appeared sick. Embarking passengers said they also took comfort knowing their North American getaway was far from the epicenter of the coronavirus epidemic, which has infected more than 75,000 people and killed over 2,200. The overwhelming bulk of cases and deaths are in China. “Hopefully we’ll be just fine,” said Shirley Sosin, 67, traveling with her friend, Bernadette Neve, 53, both of them registered nurses from Fresno. They booked their trip well before the coronavirus outbreak but felt reassured by steps Carnival said it has instituted to minimize the risk, including more rigorous pre-cruise health screenings and “enhanced onboard sanitation measures.” A central precaution is a strict prohibition against any passengers or crew who have been to China, Hong Kong or Macau during the previous 14 days - the presumed incubation period of the virus. The cruise line promised full refunds for passengers denied boarding. Although the carrier said it is operating as usual in North America and Australia, its parent, Carnival Corp, the world’s largest cruise ship company, is taking a major hit from coronavirus-related disruptions of its business in Asia. The company, which ended 2019 with adjusted earnings per share of $4.40, has projected its 2020 financial performance will be diminished by 55 to 65 cents a share, including passenger compensation for canceled bookings. Paul Meade, 57, a resident of Lincolnshire, England, capping a family visit to Utah with a quick trip to Mexico, said he and his wife were “following the (coronavirus) story on the news.” “But a three-day cruise from L.A., I don’t think there’s anything to worry about,” he said. “We do know the precautions for good hygiene, and we practice them anyway, so I don’t think there’s reason to be overly concerned.” Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, agreed there was little to fear from coronavirus, in light of precautions taken by cruise lines. “The risk of someone getting the flu is infinitely greater than the risk of getting coronavirus if you’re cruising in the Western Hemisphere, or even to Hawaii,” he said. Schaffner said cruise lines have done much in recent years to improve disinfectant measures and training of personnel in good hygiene, reducing the frequency of onboard outbreaks of food-borne and respiratory illnesses. Nevertheless, he said diligent hand-washing, proper covering of coughs and sneezes and self-reporting of illnesses are key to curtailing germs, including seasonal flu and norovirus, a severe intestinal disease that has been particularly troublesome at sea. Coronavirus is spread primarily through tiny droplets coughed or sneezed directly from an infected person into the face of someone nearby, as opposed to the more contagious “airborne” transmission of a virus like measles, which can remain suspended in enclosed spaces and be breathed in hours after being exhaled by sick individuals, Schaffner said. Although coronavirus can also be picked up from surfaces, droplet spread is seen as its principal vector, so “widespread disinfection is unlikely to be effective” in curbing its transmission, according to a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance. Overall, the risk of contracting coronavirus on a cruise in North America remains “very, very low,” Schaffner said, adding that his advice to someone expressing an interest in taking such a trip: “Bon voyage.”
|
7316
|
The shunned: People from virus-hit city tracked, quarantined.
|
Meron Mei, a sophomore at Wuhan University in the Chinese city at the heart of a viral outbreak, went back to his home village and started to cough.
|
true
|
Beijing, AP Top News, International News, General News, Wuhan, Health, Coronavirus, Travel, Asia Pacific, Virus Outbreak, Weekend Reads
|
So he went to the hospital and got checked. Doctors determined it was a common cold, not the new coronavirus, he says, and he returned home. Then a week ago, he says, five officers showed up at his house in Xishui County, a two hour drive from Wuhan. They wore masks and wielded blue, gun-shaped thermometers. Now Mei finds himself under constant surveillance by plainclothes police. His doorstep has been posted with a red warning: “Do not approach – patient with suspected pneumonia.” Doctors in gowns, goggles and masks check his temperature three times a day, and the government calls him constantly to monitor his condition — despite tests that he says show his body is free of the coronavirus. His phone is constantly checked; its camera has been disabled and his photos deleted. He relayed his story to The Associated Press via messages in English to prevent officers from reading them. “I am in prison,” said Mei, whose story could not be independently verified by the AP. “I’m so angry. I feel physically and mentally exhausted.” As China institutes the largest quarantine in human history, locking down more than 50 million people in the center of the country, those who have recently been to Wuhan are being tracked, monitored, turned away from hotels and placed into isolation at their homes and in makeshift quarantine facilities. The information available to regular people is uneven. Uneasy residents have circulated lists of hundreds of people from Wuhan containing sensitive personal information including addresses, phone numbers, national ID numbers, dates of birth and occupations. One list sent by a Shanghai resident to the AP lists 174 people in the city’s Putuo district, including a foreigner, some city natives, many people from other parts of China, and an apartment where the resident lives. The identification numbers were authentic and matched other data on the list, according to a Chinese ID reference tool. “Inside information! Accurate and reliable!” said one post sharing the list, in a screenshot shared with the AP. “Putuo friends please pay attention, the people listed here have all gone to Wuhan, and they aren’t allowed into hospitals, so they’re being forcibly isolated at home! Neighbors, don’t go outdoors under any circumstances!” During the past decade, the Chinese government crafted a rigorous system of social control, which it calls “stability maintenance.” Through methods high-tech and low, from face-scanning cameras to neighborhood informants to household registration, Beijing keeps track of its 1.4 billion citizens, managing them via community-level officials. Such monitoring doesn’t typically bother most people in China. Usually only political dissidents or minorities are subject to overt state control. But in times of extraordinary stress, such as the virus outbreak, these systems swing into action nationwide. On Jan. 25, an extraordinary televised meeting of the Politburo Standing Committee, China’s ruling inner circle of power, ordered officials to carry out “prevention and control work” with special emphasis on “monitoring, screening and warning.” Since then, millions of local officials and officers have mobilized to monitor, screen and warn — and restrict, to varying degrees — in a governance approach that Beijing calls “blanket-style tracking.” “We must effectively manage people from Wuhan according to the principles of ‘tracking people, registering them, community management, inspecting them at their door, mass transfers, treat abnormalities,’” Li Bin, deputy director of the Chinese National Health Commission, said at a news conference the next day. Officials say — and some experts agree — that the stringent measures are necessary. “This epidemic is spreading quite quickly, which presents challenges and is putting pressure on our control and prevention work,” said Ma Xiaowei, director of the Chinese National Health Commission. “The country has adopted more powerful measures, which should be able to control the epidemic at a lower cost and faster speed.” A woman who works in education in Wuhan said she had been back in her hometown in China’s Inner Mongolia region for nearly two weeks when friends and relatives forwarded her an Excel sheet that contained not just her name but her ID number, address, and occupation. At first, she said, she felt shock, then fury. “It listed a bunch of people in the whole city who had come back from Wuhan,” said the woman, Na. Like many Chinese, she gave only her last name so she could speak openly on a sensitive topic. Police are vigilant about cracking down on information spread through unofficial channels, and many people are often hesitant to speak to the foreign press. “I was so angry,” Na said. “This could affect me later in life.” Unlike Mei, Na’s hometown is more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) from Wuhan, and she wasn’t confined to her home. But Na said she began to receive calls from the police, community officials and a newly established epidemic prevention center. Because government departments often fail to share or coordinate data collection, many calling Na asked the same questions. On the first day, she said, she got a dozen calls , possibly more, asking a slew of questions: Where are you? When are you going home? Who’d you come into contact with? “It’s so bothersome,” she said. “I made it clear that I didn’t want my personal information leaked.” Others upset at leaks took to Weibo, a Chinese social media platform, and demanded to know what was going on. Most posts were deleted, but the censors left up a post by Cui Baoqiu, the vice president of Chinese cellphone maker Xiaomi, who criticized the leaks for stigmatizing people from Wuhan. “Sick people are not criminals,” Cui said. “This data must be managed by a few people in the government. They need to tighten to their controls.” Whether the leaks were intentional is unclear. Various government departments gather reams of data from cameras, cellphones, and social media, as well as through transportation records and queries from health and security officials. In one case, Nick, who asked to be identified by only his English name, said he had merely driven through Wuhan but later found his name on a leaked list. In other cases, people were told to report on anyone suspected of having gone to Wuhan by ringing a hotline. A woman who answered a hotline for Baoshu, a village in Fujian province, confirmed they were offering a 1200 RMB ($173) reward for information. And in a news conference Thursday, a China State Railway Group representative said it is providing passenger data to the government. Many of the more than 9,600 confirmed cases are in Wuhan and surrounding cities in Hubei province. Virtually the entire province was locked down last week. But even Wuhan natives who slipped out before the trains and planes stopped running are finding there’s no escape. An IT worker from Wuhan who also asked only to be identified by his English name, Andy, to protect his family’s privacy, was sightseeing in Beijing with his wife and two children when he heard the government was closing off his hometown. The family went to Nanjing, a city near China’s coast, but the Intercontinental Hotel turned them away after seeing their national ID cards, which include their Wuhan addresses. Andy finally found a room at the five-star Shangri-La hotel and settled in, planning to stay until it was safe to go back home. On Monday, reception called: Police were kicking them out. It didn’t matter that Andy’s family hadn’t been in Wuhan for more than a week, or that they’d been wearing masks for nearly two. Everyone from Wuhan was being ordered to stay at an isolated Home Inn for 14 days. When they saw their room at the new hostel, Andy panicked: it was drafty. He stuffed wet towels in the cavity underneath his door, but worried it was futile since doors were opened for meals. He was awake until 2 a.m., fretting over his two young children and imagining potentially virus-filled air from the hallways, swirling into their room. Andy says he “totally understands” and “trusts” the government, and appreciates the hard work of doctors and nurses on the front lines. He’s grateful, but he can’t stop worrying. “I understand that in such a big country you don’t want this to spread further,” he said. “What I can’t accept is, what about my children? Who’s going to guarantee our safety?”
|
11137
|
Women’s weight-loss surgery may help kids
|
"This story covers the potential role that maternal weight loss surgery can play in breaking a family’s cycle of obesity. It would be difficult for news consumers to independently scrutinize the claims in the story because the study has only been published online for subscribers and for media who are granted access. The general public won’t have access to the study or its data until the November edition of the journal is printed. For now, the general public can only read a journal news release that said the paper had been accepted for publication in November. The story stated, “The study was published last week in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.” We wish that the newspaper would have been more clear about what ""published"" really meant in this case. It’s NOT published for the general public to be able to access. In the increasingly competitive world of medical journals, we don’t know why the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism would distribute a news release about something that won’t be publicly available for two months – except that it is an increasingly competitive world of medical journals and journals seem to love the publicity they get from published articles. Savvy readers and consumers who want to scrutinize the claims that appear in the news release and in news stories will have to wait until the full study is published in the traditional sense – meaning anyone can access it – and that’s two months away."
|
mixture
|
"This story did not provide information on the cost of weight loss surgery or indicate whether it is covered by health insurance. This story accurately summarizes the benefits for children. Benefits include improved cardiovascular markers such as insulin sensitivity and lower cholesterol and that children were 3 times less likely to be obese compared to their siblings born before weight loss surgery. The article also lists maternal health benefits such as not gaining as much weight during pregnancy and lower risk of diabetes and high blood pressure. Fetal malnutrition is the only potential adverse effect of maternal weight loss surgery that the story mentions. A quote from the lead researcher states that fetal malnutition is not a concern for women who have had weight loss surgery before pregnancy. While this may have been the case in the research being referenced, there are not a lot of data to definitively support this statement. Other possible complications including anemia or bleeding in the stomach or intestines were not mentioned. This article states that the information presented is based upon a study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. What it did not explain is that it was only published online for subscribers of the journal and for media. News consumers who do not subscribe to the journal (how many would?) do not have access to the complete data and won’t have access to it until it appears in the printed publication in November. So all the general public can access is a news release that said the paper had been accepted for publication. A fact omitted from the story but contained even in the press release is that the women in the study had a less common form of weight loss surgery called biliopancreatic diversion. So there was no discussion of whether the same risks and benefits of this type of surgery would apply to women undergoing the more common gastric bypass surgery. Obesity is a significant public issue. This story appropriately discussed the risks of obesity and significant weight gain during pregnancy on the mother and child’s health. The story includes quotes with the lead investigator and with an independent researcher. The story references first line behavioral treatment options including education about the risks of obesity, exercise and diet. The story should have listed weight loss medication, but rates satisfactory in this category because it indicates that more aggressive treatment may be needed if behavioral approaches fail. No information on the availability or prevalence of weight loss surgery for women of child-bearing age was given. And no information was given about how common is the particular method of biliopancreatic diversion surgery that was used in this study. The story quotes the lead investigator: “To our knowledge, our paper is the first to demonstrate that dramatic maternal weight loss causes metabolic improvements in their children."" The newspaper (and other media and journal subscribers) got access to an online posting of the study. The general public won’t have access to that study and its data until it’s published in print in November. It does appear that the paper interviewed the author and an independent source, so we’re going to give the story the benefit of the doubt and rule it satisfactory."
|
|
8993
|
Mangoes helped improve cardiovascular and gut health in women
|
The news release focuses on a small, short-term study of healthy women that found consuming two cups of mango a day was associated with reduced systolic blood pressure. However, it is not clear how much the systolic blood pressure was reduced or how the researchers accounted for normal, daily variations in blood pressure. The release also neglects to note how mango consumption would fit into other approaches that can be taken by healthy adults to maintain healthy blood pressure. Without a control group in the study to prove otherwise, it’s possible the consumption of two cups of any fruit, or even any food, may affect systolic blood pressure. And the phenomenon of post prandial (after eating) drops in blood pressure are very real and affect a significant percentage of the population, especially the elderly. Consequently, it would be quite important to see the impact of consumption of two cups of anything on systolic blood pressure before concluding that it was the mangoes. This was a small, preliminary study and — as the release itself notes — “mangos may be a heart-healthy fruit” and longer-term studies are needed before drawing any firm conclusions. Given the vague nature of the reported findings, the fact that the relevant research paper is not publicly available (at the time of this review) and the preliminary nature of the study, the question becomes: why issue a news release on this now? After all, if the researchers think mangos may be a heart-healthy fruit, that means the researchers also believe they may not.
|
false
|
cardiovascular disease,mango,National Mango Board
|
Cost is not addressed. That said, if one has access to mangoes, their cost is likely comparable to many other fruits in some parts of the country and higher in others. This raises the question of cost and access to fresh fruits and vegetables — which is a significant problem in many parts of the U.S. — but which is beyond the scope of what we can expect to be addressed in a news release. Taking all of this into account, we’ll mark this as “not applicable.” The release doesn’t quantify the benefits, instead noting that “once mango was consumed, systolic blood pressure was significantly lower two hours after mango intake compared to baseline values.” The release described benefits — all surrogate markers for health — in a similar way for reduced pulse pressure and reduced methane levels in the breath of three of the six patients who produced methane. What does “significantly lower” mean? And since all of the patients were described as healthy, do the reductions actually matter? Mangoes are a fruit. Eating fruit is generally a good idea — as long as it is part of a balanced diet. The “balanced diet” part is missing from the release. Mangos are not inherently unhealthy, but they do contain a significant amount of sugar. So, if one is going to increase one’s mango consumption, that should be offset by reducing other sources of sugar in the diet. Adding two cups of mangoes a day at 214 calories is not insignificant unless calories are cut back elsewhere in the diet. To be clear, we don’t think mangoes need a warning label — but a simple note that mango consumption should be incorporated into a balanced diet would have been valuable. The release did a fairly good job of describing the number of study participants, as well as their age, sex and health status. However, the release doesn’t address a key point that’s relevant to any study of blood pressure: how did they account for normal changes in blood pressure? In general, blood pressure follows a daily pattern: it’s lower at night, rising during the course of the day until afternoon, then lowering again from the late afternoon into the evening. That means that it’s important to understand how the study accounted for this normal variation. The release states that “systolic blood pressure was significantly lower two hours after mango intake compared to baseline values.” Okay, but how did they establish the baseline? And when did patients eat the mango? For example, if they consumed the mango at lunchtime, their blood pressure would likely have been lower two hours later anyway. And as noted above, post prandial (after eating) drops in blood pressure affect a significant percentage of the population, especially the elderly. The study should have compared the impact of consuming two cups of any foods on systolic blood pressure before concluding that the mangoes were responsible for the drop. The release states that “two cups of mangos a day had beneficial effects on systolic blood pressure among healthy postmenopausal women.” However, if the women had healthy blood pressure levels already (as the release indicates), they didn’t need to lower their systolic blood pressure. Treating blood pressure as something that is inherently bad is misleading. High blood pressure can be dangerous. So can low blood pressure. It’s maintaining a healthy blood pressure that is important. The release clearly notes that the research was partially funded by the National Mango Board. We were unable to access the published study to check whether any conflicts of interest were disclosed. There are a host of options for patients who would like to lower their blood pressure — including a number of pharmaceutical interventions for patients who have high blood pressure. This study focused on healthy adults, so the pharmaceutical interventions are likely not relevant. But there are also a host of lifestyle-oriented options for people who are at risk of high blood pressure or who want to ensure they maintain a healthy blood pressure. These choices include things like reducing sodium intake, being physically active, and maintaining a healthy body weight. None of these things are mentioned in the release. It would have been good to see a reference to incorporating mango consumption into a broader effort involving a healthy diet and lifestyle choices — rather than treating mango consumption as a stand-alone intervention. The release doesn’t mention this, but presumably people know that mangoes are already available to the public. We’ll rate this not applicable. The release states that “This is the first study to demonstrate positive vascular effects of mango intake in humans.” The question is whether the study actually does demonstrate these effects. Given the lack of controls, we can’t be certain. This concern is addressed under “quality of evidence.” The headline states that “mangoes helped improve cardiovascular…health in women.” But the release doesn’t support that. The release tells us that healthy women who ate mango had reduced systolic blood pressure two hours after eating mango. It doesn’t tell us how much of a reduction there was. It doesn’t tell us whether the same result might occur with a different type of food. And it’s not clear that reducing the blood pressure of women who had healthy blood pressure is necessarily an improvement of cardiovascular health.
|
27606
|
Wheaties cereal sticks to magnets because it has metal flakes.
|
Wheaties and other breakfast foods are fortified with iron, which reacts to magnets.
|
true
|
Food, alternative health, food, natural news
|
In January 2014, alternative health and conspiracy web site NaturalNews.com posted a video showing Wheaties cereal flakes sticking to a magnet. The site claimed that this was irrefutable proof that the cereal is “full of metal fragments.” The video, created by “The Health Ranger” Mike Adams, was created to give the impression that the flakes were hidden in the cereal by a ne’er-do-well corporation: Wheaties breakfast cereal, manufactured by General Mills, has been found to contain so many microscopic fragments of metal that individual flakes can be lifted and carried using common magnets, a Natural News Forensic Food Lab investigation has found and documented. We see this science experiment done pretty frequently with any iron fortified cereal – it makes for a cool video! Iron is really important for your body to function well, and your body only absorbs as much as it needs. Indeed, in 2011, Scientific American posted instructions on how to perform the experiment with any iron-fortified breakfast cereal: What does your breakfast cereal have in common with Earth’s crust? They both have some of the same materials in them. It might seem strange to compare a bowl of cornflakes to a pile of dirt. But science can help us find one of the most common elements on Earth in your cereal: iron. Even though iron only makes up less than 5 percent of the mass on Earth, it is found in a lot of places: rocks, cereal—and even in your blood! It’s also the most frequently used metal on the planet; it makes up most of steel, which is a mixture of iron and other ingredients. A quick review of searches for “breakfast cereal magnet experiment” shows that it is a popular children’s experiment. Here, a similar experiment is successfully demonstrated with Total breakfast cereal:
|
6629
|
Oregon imposes temporary ban on some vaping products.
|
Oregon’s governor ordered a temporary ban Friday on the sale of flavored vaping products amid an outbreak that has sickened more than 1,000 people nationwide -- and killed two in Oregon.
|
true
|
Kate Brown, Health, General News, Marijuana, Oregon, U.S. News
|
Several other states, including Washington, New York, Michigan and Rhode Island, have also imposed temporary bans. The illnesses first appeared in March, with symptoms including 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 some said they vaped only nicotine. Gov. Kate Brown’s order imposes a 180-day ban on all flavored vaping products and on the sale of other sources or additives as they are identified in cases of vaping-related lung injuries or deaths. “The safest option for Oregonians right now is to not use vaping products of any kind. Until we know more about what is causing this illness, please, do not vape,” Brown said. The Oregon Health Authority had asked Brown for a six-month ban on sale and display of all vaping products, including tobacco, nicotine and cannabis. The agency also urged Oregonians to stop using all vaping products until federal and state officials have determined the cause of the illnesses. The Oregon Retailers of Cannabis Association said it was very grateful the governor did not implement a complete ban on cannabis vaping products, like Massachusetts did. The group told its members that technical questions and issues need to be worked out and that it will try to “ensure the government acts responsibly and makes evidenced-based decisions that do not needlessly harm the legal cannabis industry.” Brown also called on state agencies to develop plans within 90 days for consumer warnings, product testing and disclosure of the ingredients of vaping products. Brown also directed state agencies to develop proposals for long-term solutions for consideration by the Legislature, which convenes early next year. State Rep. Cheri Helt, a Republican from Bend, said she’ll seek bipartisan legislation to address the dangers of vaping, including bans if necessary. In Oregon, eight cases have been reported, two of which resulted in death. Brown said federal action “is long overdue to address this national public health crisis.” President Donald Trump has said he plans to ban flavored vaping products nationally. ___ Follow Andrew Selsky on Twitter at https://twitter.com/andrewselsky ___ Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com
|
13369
|
"You would receive a citation for taking a dildo to class"" at the University of Texas."
|
Cocks Not Glocks said students would get citations for taking dildos to class. Texas obscenity law allows citations to be issued to dildo toters provided the dildo is displayed and the person doing so is reckless about who could be offended and the display lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value. That said, we failed to identify any instance of such a ticket being issued nor did UT officials say it was likely to happen--which leaves such a citation hypothetical and situational, it seems to us. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context. https://www
|
mixture
|
Education, Regulation, Texas, Guns, Cocks Not Glocks,
|
"A student group at the University of Texas at Austin warned of legal repercussions for taking sex toys to class. The group, Cocks Not Glocks, was founded to highlight what protesters depicted as the absurdity of Texas’ campus carry law, Senate Bill 11, which as of Aug. 1, 2016 newly allowed students at public colleges and universities to bring concealed firearms into classrooms and campus buildings, except in areas excluded by school rules. Since 1995, licensed individuals had been allowed to carry concealed handguns onto public college and university grounds. On Aug. 24, 2016, UT’s first day of fall-semester classes, Cocks Not Glocks drew wide attention when it distributed about 4,000 dildos on campus in a show of opposition to campus carry. The group wrote on its Facebook event page, which showed almost 10,000 people pledging to attend the dildo distribution on the university’s Main Mall: ""The State of Texas has decided that it is not at all obnoxious to allow deadly concealed weapons in classrooms, however it DOES have strict rules about free sexual expression, to protect your innocence. ""You would receive a citation for taking a DILDO to class before you would get in trouble for taking a gun to class,"" the entry said. We’ve looked into the campus carry debate before, finding True a professor’s claim that prospective job applicants, students and guest speakers had decided to steer clear of the university out of concern concealed weapons might be present. But could one really get a citation for taking a dildo to class? A reader exhorted us to check. Group points to state obscenity law We messaged the Cocks Not Glocks Facebook page to ask for the basis of the citation claim and got a response from group founder and former student Jessica Jin, who wrote: ""UT school rules cite Texas state law when it comes to obscenities and state law says that openly brandishing/distributing/promoting a phallic object in public is an offense."" So a student who carried a concealed dildo to class, she acknowledged, ""of course wouldn't be in any sort of trouble."" Jin continued: ""Our demonstration, which could be seen as an act of performance art also, if it weren't covered by free speech and demonstration protections that superseded state obscenity clauses, would have qualified as an obscenity in Texas."" Specifically, she pointed us to the Texas Penal Code chapter 43, titled ""public indecency,"" sections 21 and 22. So we pulled up the Texas Penal Code, noting section 43.21, which states that material qualifies as ""obscene"" if: —""The average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that taken as a whole appeals to the prurient interest in sex."" --It ""depicts or describes… the male or female genitals in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal… or a device designed and marketed as useful primarily for stimulation of the human genital organs…"" --""Taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, and scientific value."" Next, section 43.22 of the code states that ""a person commits an offense if he intentionally or knowingly displays or distributes an obscene photograph, drawing, or similar visual representation or other obscene material and is reckless about whether a person is present who will be offended or alarmed by the display or distribution."" ""An offense under this section is a Class C misdemeanor,"" it states. We looked up penal code chapter 12, ""punishments,"" and found that a Class C misdemeanor is punishable by a fine of up to $500. Jin also told us that UT school rules cite state law as the basis for outlawing dildos. In the 207-page ""general information"" catalog, we flipped to subchapter 13-200, ""prohibited expression,"" then to section 13-201, ""obscenity,"" which states: ""No person or organization will distribute or display on the campus any writing or visual image, or engage in any public performance, that is obscene. A writing image or performance is ‘obscene’ if it is obscene as defined in Texas Penal Code, Section 43.21 or successor provisions…"" No evidence of citations So it looked like there’s a risk of getting into trouble for brandishing a dildo in class. So, can and would such tickets be issued? Our search of the Lexis Nexis news database didn’t turn up instances of Texans getting prosecuted for brandishing dildos. Across the board, the only apparent prosecutions for sex toy crimes were made under a state law, overturned in 2008, which banned the sales of ""obscene"" items. We emailed the University of Texas and asked if students would indeed receive a citation for taking a dildo to class, as school rules seemed to indicate. A top spokesman, J.B. Bird, responded by email that the university couldn’t speculate about a ""hypothetical situation."" Bird wrote: ""The university works carefully to enforce its policies based on facts. In First Amendment situations, context also matters tremendously."" So, maybe no citations. Then again, Bird wrote: ""I can tell you that the university does enforce its rules."" Speaking to the distribution of dildos by Cocks Not Glocks at the start of the fall 2016 semester, Bird said no tickets were issued because ""the protests around campus carry earlier this year appeared to be examples of protected political speech."" Reminder: The Texas penal code (based on the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Miller v. California) exempted material from obscenity restrictions unless it lacks ""serious"" political value. From outside UT, we heard back from the University of Houston Law Center, which referred our questions about whether citations would be issued for classroom dildos to Peter Linzer, a professor of constitutional law, who wrote back that there is no ""definitive answer"" on the legality of toting dildos into classrooms because two portions of relevant state law make the offense situational: ""lacks serious, literary, artistic, political and scientific value"" and ""is reckless about whether a person is present who will be offended."" ""Tell the students to ask if anyone is offended,"" Linzer wrote. ""A cop would make a fool of himself (by issuing a citation) and I doubt that the Travis County DA would prosecute."" Our attempt to elicit comment from Rosemary Lehmberg, the Travis County district attorney, ran aground. By email, she said her office only prosecutes felony charges. To get a fix on misdemeanor prosecutions such as citations for dildo possession, Lehmberg suggested we reach out to the city’s municipal courts. There, we were unable to identify anyone who could speak to charges leveled for wielding dildos on campus. Our ruling Cocks Not Glocks said students would get citations for taking dildos to class. Texas obscenity law allows citations to be issued to dildo toters provided the dildo is displayed and the person doing so is reckless about who could be offended and the display lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value. That said, we failed to identify any instance of such a ticket being issued nor did UT officials say it was likely to happen--which leaves such a citation hypothetical and situational, it seems to us. The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context.
|
36438
|
"On March 18 2019, ""Muslims marched into a college in Nigeria, separated out the Christian students and killed them. 70 dead."
|
Were 70 Christians Massacred by Muslims in March 2019?
|
unproven
|
Disinformation, Fact Checks
|
On March 19 2019, a Facebook user shared the status update below (archived here), claiming that 70 Nigerian Christians had been massacred by Muslims one day previously:Yesterday, muslims marched into a college in Nigeria, separated out the Christian students and killed them. 70 dead.Ten days later, the status had been shared tens of thousands of times. However, its comments did not include any citation or link to a news article providing details about the purported massacre.The popular and far-reaching post was an example of text-based status updates, which have already proved to be a common and pernicious tool for spreading disinformation and misinformation. In previous weeks, similar status updates contained claims — for example — that new IDs in Chicago enabled undocumented immigrants to vote, that United States President Barack Obama had settled 70,000 Somali refugees in what would become Rep. Ilhan Omar’s district in order to get her voted into office, and that a voting access bill allowed undocumented people to vote.In early March 2019, journalism school Poynter published an article about the proliferation of falsehoods or shaky mixed truths in the popular Facebook status update format:But since [the format was introduced], like other formats on Facebook, the text post feature has been weaponized into an effective way to spread misinformation on the platform.Over the past few weeks, some of the most viral hoaxes on Facebook have spread in the form of text posts. They make salacious political claims without linking to any website or attaching a photo or video. They often come from regular Facebook users instead of Pages or Groups.A classic element of misinformation in the example above was its use of “yesterday” as a marker of chronological relevance; rumors that purportedly occurred “yesterday” often spread in perpetuity thanks to their perceived relevance. A search of Twitter revealed that the same claim continued circulating about “yesterday” more than a week after the initial post was published on Facebook:https://twitter.com/ChoadStarfight1/status/1111402629391761410Yesterday, muslims marched into a college in Nigeria, separated out the Christian students and killed them. 70 dead.— rabbit (@barbtallent2014) March 29, 2019https://twitter.com/DwightLittle53/status/1111588501508812800Yesterday, muslims marched into a college in Nigeria, separated out the Christian students and killed them. 70 dead.— Daniel Cusimano (@DanielCusimano) March 27, 2019Yesterday, muslims marched into a college in Nigeria, separated out the Christian students and killed them. 70 dead.— Bette Anderson (@wufandmew) March 27, 2019However, some people did make note of the date and adjusted their tweets accordingly:To all the Australian media ,70 christian worshippers were killed in Nigeria by Moslim cowards.Where is the outrage and all the rest of the bullshit you have become infamous for.Have your bosses not authorized you to comment ,cowards.— ted moffat😎🌞🤘👍🇦🇺 (@teddles1) March 19, 2019Still, though, few posts included any sort of link or citation. Two days before the Facebook post appeared, a similar (but not identical) claim was shared on Twitter — presumably as part of the conversation after a deadly March 15 2019 mass shooting at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand:@DavidMuir 3/4/19 Christian communities in 3 villages in Benue State, northern Nigeria were attacked by Muslim Fulani, 23 people were killed. 3 days later, more attack on nearby villages, more deaths. Jan, 70 Christians murdered in other Fulani attacks. Not word of this in MSM— stsInVA (@stsInVA) March 17, 2019Some of the claims were similar to ones made in a March 18 2019 Facebook video shared by MRCtv, “The Left Hypes Mosque Massacre, But Ignores Thousands of Christians Killed By Muslims.” At approximately the 1:10 mark, the speaker claims that 69 people and a stillborn baby were killed in “just the last week,” possibly the source for the status update’s claims.Once again, no link. Thus far, all claims about 70 Nigerian Christians killed on a specific day in March 2019 were asserted without any citation whatsoever. The frequency with which the claim was made was likely a factor in its popularity, creating a false impression of accuracy due to apparent consensus.A WXYZ article published on the same day as the original status update was titled “Hundreds of Christians killed in Nigeria attacks,” but its details did not match the claim. The story also contained nuance that was not included in the headline:From February through mid-March [2019], as many as 280 people in Christian communities in northern and middle Nigeria were killed in attacks.Islamic Hausa-Fulani militants and Boko Haram continue to attack Christians in the country — in 2018, there were thousands killed.Last week, 52 women and children were killed and 100 homes were destroyed in attacks on the Inkirimi and Dogonnoma villages in Maro, Kajuru Local Government Area (LGA), according to the Christian Broadcasting Network.The provided figure (280) was different than the number (70) in the status update, and the first sentence said “in Christian communities,” not that the victims were necessarily themselves Christians. WXYZ referenced a March 17 2019 report by the Christian Broadcasting Network, “Nigerian Christians Under Siege: Attacks Claim 120 Lives Since February.”Bizarrely, that piece referenced a completely different number of deaths in Nigeria:At least 120 people have been killed in a series of alleged attacks by the Fulani militia on Christian communities in the Adara chiefdom of southern Kaduna in Nigeria since February [2019], according to the nonprofit group Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).The organization reported 52 people were killed and 100 homes were destroyed last Monday in the latest attacks on Inkirimi and Dogonnoma villages in Maro, Kajuru Local Government Area (LGA). The victims included women and children.CBN cited Christian Solidarity Worldwide’s March 14 2019 statement.Going back through both cited reports, we were unable to locate the 280 deaths referenced by WXYZ, nor did we find any mention of the March 18 2019 attack in the original status update. One portion in the CSW statement appeared to partially match the subsequent claim made in the MRCtv video, but the number of deaths (including a stillborn baby) was revised up by the latter to either 69 or 70:On 11 March [2019], 52 people were killed and around 100 homes were destroyed in attacks on Inkirimi and Dogonnoma villages in Maro, Kajuru Local Government Area (LGA). The victims included women and children. According to survivors, their assailants divided into three groups; one group was shooting, another set fire to homes as people ran away, and the third waited in the bush to intercept fleeing villagers. Later that evening, dozens of people were injured and 43 houses were burnt in an attack on Ungwan Gora village.Pictures have emerged of hospitalised survivors of the Dogonnoma attack, showing men women and young children with deep machete wounds to different parts of their bodies. CSW was informed that one traumatised female survivor who suffered a deep cut to the hand had delivered a stillborn baby soon after the attack.No mention was made in the entirety of the statement about a college, a university, or the separation of Christians from non-Christians before any killings were carried out. The ranking site Media Bias Fact Check firmly classifies CBN as “Conspiracy-Pseudoscience”:Sources in the Conspiracy-Pseudoscience category may publish unverifiable information that is not always supported by evidence. These sources may be untrustworthy for credible/verifiable information, therefore fact checking and further investigation is recommended on a per article basis when obtaining information from these sources.Factual Reporting: MIXEDNotes: The Christian Broadcasting Network was founded by Christian televangelist Pat Robertson in 1961. Its best known for the show called the The 700 Club, which features Pat Robertson making extreme right wing and conspiratorial claims. For example, Pat Robertson claims that natural disasters occur due to gay immoral acts. The actual news broadcast on CBN has a very far right bias in reporting and also delves into right wing conspiracies. Anything heard on the CBN or the 700 Club needs to be fact checked. This source is a borderline hate group. (D. Van Zandt 3/24/2017)A March 13 2019 BBC article reported 69 total casualties:At least 69 people have been killed in several attacks on villages in Katsina state, north-western Nigeria.Witnesses say dozens of attackers rode motorcycles into villages and killed anyone they found.The assailants appear to have been ethnic Fulani cattle herders who have a history of tension with local farmers.Police say the attack is not linked to the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which is mainly active further east, particularly in Borno state. […]For months, the area has been terrorised by raids blamed on semi-nomadic Fulani herders attacking Hausa farmers. Both groups are Muslim.Most Fulani-related violence in Nigeria is concentrated around central Plateau state, where Muslim herders are pitted against Christian farmers. Thousands have been killed in recent years.According to that article and other international reporting, those deaths occurred in multiple outbreaks of violence (not a massacre at a college), that two warring groups are Muslim, and that in one area Christian farmers and Muslim herders were at odds in an ongoing crisis. It did not describe a massacre in which Christians were separated and targeted. This appears to be part of a long-running and inflammatory disinformation campaign about violence in Nigeria and the tensions that fuel it.According to the original Facebook status update, 70 Christian Nigerians were targeted and killed on an attack at a college on March 18 2019. That claim continued to spread as “yesterday” on social media, and no citation was ever included. Even information spread by propaganda groups about purported targeting of Christians in Nigeria made no such claim, and we were unable to find any news item reporting that any such massacre occurred.The popularity of the rumor appeared to be a direct response to an outpouring of grief due to a massacre of Muslims in New Zealand, but the reason the “mainstream media” did not report is likely because it never happened as reported in the first place.
|
8417
|
Portugal extends coronavirus lockdown, promises masks and hand gel.
|
Portugal extended its national coronavirus lockdown for a further 15 days on Thursday and promised to make protective gear widely available and to gradually reopen businesses if the spread of the disease continues to slow.
|
true
|
Health News
|
As the country flattened its curve of new cases - now at 18,841 with 629 deaths, a fraction of those in neighbouring Spain - the new presidential decree approved by parliament allowed for a gradual reopening of some services and companies. It did not specify which ones or when, saying this would depend on data continuing to show a slowdown in the spread of the new coronavirus. “We have to start reviving the economy while keeping the pandemic under control,” said Prime Minister Antonio Costa shortly before parliament approved the third extension of the lockdown, now in place until May 2. Initially declared by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on March 18, the national lockdown restricted the movement of people and led thousands of businesses to suspend activities, especially in the restaurant and hotel sector. Costa said remote working should continue in the next month to contain the spread of the disease but said public services should be “re-established” and that he hoped childcare centres could reopen. Costa also said the government had approved plans to ensure masks and hand gel were available en masse in the coming fortnight. “It is fundamental to give the Portuguese the confidence to leave their homes and for this we must make means of protection abundant,” he said. The municipality of Portimao in southern Portugal and the Madeira Islands said they would distribute 250,000 masks to their populations from next week, after health authorities reported on Monday they were considering making the use of masks obligatory in closed public spaces. Health Secretary Antonio Sales said on Wednesday Portugal’s coronavirus curve had flattened due to the “excellent behaviour and civic-mindedness of the Portuguese people” who obeyed the lockdown rules imposed by the government. The coronavirus outbreak has hit various sectors of the tourism-dependent, export-oriented economy. Around 80% of Portuguese companies either still operating or temporarily shuttered by the outbreak have reported a sharp drop in revenues, at times exceeding 75%. The International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday it expected Portugal’s economy to contract by 8% this year, way above the central bank’s prediction last month of a drop between 3.7% and 5.7%. “In 2020 we will lose a significant part of our gross domestic product, something that cost us so much in recent years,” Portugal’s Finance Minister Mario Centeno said at a parliamentary hearing on Thursday afternoon. Centeno, also Eurogroup chief, said Portugal continues to back eurobond joint debt issuance to tackle the economic fallout from the coronavirus epidemic. Though the finance ministers of eurozone countries agreed an immediate rescue package worth half a trillion euros, member states are divided on how to finance subsequent economic recovery. “Europe’s position depends on the positions of member states and that’s more complex because it depends on commitments between countries, with different paths, priorities, approaches and political situations,” Centeno said. Ratings agency Moody’s downgraded its outlook for Portugal’s banking system to ‘negative’ from ‘stable’ on Thursday, expecting banks’ asset quality and profitability to deteriorate over the next 12-18 months due to the pandemic.
|
17830
|
On responding to chemical weapon use in Syria
|
Ryan has said all along he wanted more aggressive help for moderate groups fighting Assad. But here we’re testing whether his position has changed regarding a U.S. military response to Syrian use of chemical weapons. We know that after Obama drew the red line suggesting some sort of military intervention, Ryan endorsed that general idea, then 11 months later rejected Obama’s plan for it. But we don’t see a major reversal of position here -- in part because Ryan’s views on what to do about chemical weapons were ill-defined in 2012 and remain so now. It’s true Ryan rejected Obama’s proposed limited strike once chemical weapon use became reality, but he says he did so because of objections to Obama’s timing, strategy and execution. We found no evidence Ryan had previously backed -- or rejected -- this kind of limited strike. And he still says military intervention remains an option. His statements contain some inconsistencies, however. In 2012, Ryan said American ground troops would be an appropriate response if a red line was crossed, but his position on that is now unclear because he won’t answer questions about it. And the September 2013 statement he issued is a model of confusion as opposed to his feisty debate comments. In it, he strongly implied Obama’s strike was too small and not forceful enough, but then threw water on a limited strike because it could kill civilians.
|
mixture
|
Foreign Policy, Military, Wisconsin, Paul Ryan,
|
"In the 2012 campaign, Paul Ryan repeatedly criticized President Barack Obama’s foreign policy but agreed with Obama that use of chemical weapons by the regime in Syria was a ""red line"" that would prompt U.S. action. A year later, after Obama asserted the line had been crossed, it was Ryan who came in for criticism when he opposed the president’s call for a military strike aimed at weakening Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces. Did Ryan reverse his position on the ""red line,"" as some commentators and news reports said? Let’s test this on the Flip-O-Meter. First, our standard disclaimer: The Flip-O-Meter does not measure whether any change in position is good politics or good policy, but simply whether a political figure has changed his or her position. Our research starts with 2011 comments by Ryan, the Wisconsin congressman and 2012 GOP vice presidential nominee who is widely considered a potential 2016 presidential candidate. In a 2011 speech at the Hamilton Society, Ryan endorsed a larger military and a more activist role in the world for the United States. He decried ""brutal crackdowns"" by various regimes, saying, ""We have a responsibility to speak boldly for those whose voices are denied by the jackbooted thugs of the tired tyrants of Syria and Iran."" So in 2011 Ryan used tough language, but was vague what actions were appropriate and when they should be taken. Comments in 2012 We found little else from Ryan regarding Syria until the fall 2012 campaign, when Ryan had been added to the GOP ticket by presidential candidate Mitt Romney. As could be expected, Ryan echoed his running mate’s criticisms of Obama’s approach in Syria. Amid reports that Assad might be preparing to use chemical weapons, Obama was asked at an Aug. 19, 2012 news conference ""whether you envision using U.S. military, if simply for nothing else, the safekeeping of the chemical weapons."" Obama responded: ""We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. That would change my calculus."" He added: ""We cannot have a situation where chemical or biological weapons are falling into the hands of the wrong people."" Major media outlets generally agreed that Obama was, directly or indirectly, warning Syria it could face American military intervention. In the October 2012 vice-presidential debate with Joe Biden, Ryan bought into Obama’s ""red line"" rhetoric. But first, he complained fiercely that Obama had dallied while Assad slaughtered tens of thousands of Syrians and al-Qaida had entered the fight. Ryan said Obama had failed to aid moderate dissident elements in the country, wrongly gave Russian leader Vladimir Putin veto power over U.S. efforts to deal with Syria, and neglected relationships with allies in the region. Pressed on what Romney-Ryan would do if elected, Ryan said they agreed with Obama’s ""red line"" on chemical weapons. And Ryan, echoing Romney’s call for a tougher line, put some meat on the bone, endorsing American ground troops in Syria for the limited purpose of securing chemical weapons in the context of a ""red line."" Ryan emphasized that was the only scenario for U.S. boots on the ground. Ryan’s comments didn’t tell us much about the nature of any military action in case of a red line violation. But he made clear he was willing to use U.S. troops in Syria to secure chemical weapons. Comments in 2013 Fast forward to Aug. 21, 2013, almost exactly one year after Obama’s ""red line"" remark. On that day, international chemical weapons inspectors now say, a deadly attack on opposition-held suburbs of Damascus included the use of the nerve agent sarin. The Associated Press reported that the United States and its allies alleged the Syrian government was responsible. After the attack, Obama threatened missile strikes against Assad, then unexpectedly sought congressional approval for them, and then stepped back when Russian-led diplomatic efforts led to an ongoing United Nations-backed mission to scrap Syria’s capacity to make chemical weapons and destroy its stockpile. Critics said Obama’s twists and turns on a military strike undermined the notion of a tough response, and in Syria the delays angered residents and disappointed opposition leaders. Notably, Obama did not propose American troops on the ground. Next came Obama’s announcement on Aug. 31, 2012 that he would seek congressional approval for a military strike. Ryan briefly commented, saying, ""The President has some work to do to recover from his grave missteps in Syria. He needs to clearly demonstrate that the use of military force would strengthen America's security. I want to hear his case to Congress and to the American people."" Then, on Sept. 11, 2013, a day after Obama addressed the nation and with Obama still seeking congressional approval for a strike, Ryan announced his opposition, while the House’s two top GOP leaders backed a strike. Ryan’s lengthy statement said a lot about why Obama was off track but left us wondering about Ryan’s own views on military intervention. At various points he seemed clearly to suggest Obama’s proposed military strike was too small, calling it a ""feeble"" deterrent and too ""limited"" to degrade chemical-weapons capabilities when a ""firm response"" was needed. Ryan also repeated his 2012 criticisms that Obama had failed to aid rebels and had deferred to Russia. But at points he appeared to question the wisdom of any strike, saying, ""A military strike could kill innocent civilians and earn the ire of everyone involved"" and ""drop America's standing in the Middle East even further."" Ryan didn’t rule anything out, saying America must ""carefully weigh all options."" His statement ended with a proposal for action that did not mention military intervention: ""Instead of the proposals put forth by the President, we should tighten sanctions on Assad's regime and give aid to the moderate elements of the opposition. "" Asked to clarify Ryan’s position on military intervention, aide Kevin Seifert told us: ""Paul Ryan’s concerns aren’t limited to ‘size,’ they are about the strategy."" He continued: ""It’s the mismatch between the president’s stated objective and the proposed strategy to achieve it."" Seifert would not say how Ryan would view another proposal for military intervention came before Congress. More comments Four days after Ryan put out his September 2013 statement, the ""UpFront with Mike Gousha"" show aired an interview with Ryan in which he expressed deep pessimism about using inspections to get the chemical weapons out. Gousha cited Ryan’s debate position that agreed with Obama on a ""red line"" and asked him why he had now changed his position. Ryan said he had not changed his position; he just found Obama’s specific proposal to be incoherent. Gousha followed up: ""Bottom line, do you think we should take military action because Syria used chemical weapons on its people?"" Ryan, shaking his head from side to side, responded strictly in the context of Obama’s plan: ""No. No, I do not believe he should do this because I don’t think this administration has any game plan for any of the contingencies surrounding it."" For additional perspective on Ryan, we spoke to Michael O’Hanlon, director of research for the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution, and UCLA history professor and Middle East scholar James Gelvin. They offered differing interpretations of Ryan’s comments, but neither saw a full reversal by the congressman. O’Hanlon saw an inconsistency in Ryan rejecting Obama’s plan as too meek while Ryan himself earlier had specifically endorsed nothing more muscular for taking on Assad. Gelvin sees Ryan’s position as opportunistic politically but fairly consistent from a policy standpoint. He believes Ryan is in the foreign-policy camp that says, if we’re going to use force, do it big. Our rating Ryan has said all along he wanted more aggressive help for moderate groups fighting Assad. But here we’re testing whether his position has changed regarding a U.S. military response to Syrian use of chemical weapons. We know that after Obama drew the red line suggesting some sort of military intervention, Ryan endorsed that general idea, then 11 months later rejected Obama’s plan for it. But we don’t see a major reversal of position here -- in part because Ryan’s views on what to do about chemical weapons were ill-defined in 2012 and remain so now. It’s true Ryan rejected Obama’s proposed limited strike once chemical weapon use became reality, but he says he did so because of objections to Obama’s timing, strategy and execution. We found no evidence Ryan had previously backed -- or rejected -- this kind of limited strike. And he still says military intervention remains an option. His statements contain some inconsistencies, however. In 2012, Ryan said American ground troops would be an appropriate response if a red line was crossed, but his position on that is now unclear because he won’t answer questions about it. And the September 2013 statement he issued is a model of confusion as opposed to his feisty debate comments. In it, he strongly implied Obama’s strike was too small and not forceful enough, but then threw water on a limited strike because it could kill civilians."
|
8330
|
U.S. to seize exports of masks and gloves amid coronavirus crisis.
|
The United States will seize exports of key protective medical gear until it determines whether the equipment should be kept in the country to combat the spread of the new coronavirus, two federal agencies announced on Wednesday.
|
true
|
Health News
|
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will hold exports of respirators, surgical masks and surgical gloves, according to a joint announcement made with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA will then determine if the equipment should be returned for use in the United States, purchased by the U.S. government or exported. President Donald Trump issued a memorandum on Friday that directed federal agencies to use any authority necessary to keep the highly sought-after medical supplies in the United States. Governors, mayors and physicians have voiced alarm for weeks over crippling scarcities of personal protective gear for first-responders and front-line healthcare workers, as well as ventilators and other medical supplies. The move to seize exports will include N95 respirator masks, which filter airborne particles and are used to protect against COVID-19, the potentially lethal respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus. The U.S. manufacturing company 3M Co, a leading producer of the masks worldwide, said on Monday that it had reached a deal with the Trump administration that would allow it to continue to export the masks to Canada and Latin America despite the new restrictions. The company had said days earlier that ceasing exports to those regions would have “humanitarian implications.” A federal regulation that outlines FEMA’s procedures for seizing and vetting the exports will go into effect on Friday and remain in place until Aug. 10, according to a draft version posted online. FEMA will aim to make decisions about exports quickly and seek to minimize disruptions to the supply chain, the draft regulation said. Some state and local government officials have accused FEMA in recent days of confiscating shipments of masks and other supplies coming from overseas. An official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security who requested anonymity to discuss the matter earlier this week said half of the protective gear brought to the United States on U.S. government flights can be redirected to high-need areas around the country, but disputed the idea that the equipment had been seized. FEMA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
|
34244
|
The sentences handed down in two May 2018 criminal cases were widely disparate due to racial differences in the defendants.
|
But the notion that these two cases demonstrate disparities in sentencing due to race (or any other factor) is extremely problematic because they were so disparate and involved so many different variables other than race. One case took place in Georgia, the other in California. One case involved a 15-year-old high schooler as a defendant, the other a 79-year-old man in declining health. One case involved the use of a weapon, the other did not. One case was about an armed robbery, the other about sexual molestation. Moreover, the sentences in both cases were primarily established through negotiated plea deals and not merely the fiat of judges.
|
unproven
|
Politics, the other 98%
|
Racial discrepancies in criminal sentencing are a long-standing concern in the United States and a common feature of online debate and social media memes, as we have examined on several occasions. In the summer of 2018 another set of cases formed the basis of a viral post published by the left-leaning Facebook page “The Other 98%.” The 1 June meme showed a photograph of black teenager Dayonn Davis and details of his conviction and sentencing, side by side with a photograph of Lyle Burgess along with details of his punishment: [DAVIS] 15-year-old honor roll student with no prior record steals sneakers: TRIED AS AN ADULT, GETS 5 YEARS IN PRISON. [BURGESS] Wealthy 79-year-old white man rapes 5-year-old girl: GETS 90 DAYS HOUSE ARREST. THIS IS AMERICA Next to the meme, “The Other 98%” added “This is why they kneel,” a reference to ongoing protests by National Football League players against racial injustice, which involve kneeling or not taking to the field while the the national anthem is played before games: In support of the claims contained within the meme, “The Other 98%” cited two sources. The first was a June 2018 article published by The Root, which reported that: An 18-year-old Columbus, Ga., teen will spend the next five years in prison, plus 10 years on probation, after stealing a pair of Nike sneakers when he was 15. Dayonn Davis took the shoes from the unsuspecting owner who tried to sell them on Facebook. But despite the fact that he has no prior criminal record, Judge Bobby Peters handed down the stiff sentence … The second source was a May 2018 article by the Huffington Post, which reported that: A retired California businessman has accepted a controversial plea deal that spares him prison time for sexually assaulting a 5-year-old girl. Lyle Burgess, 79, of Stockton pleaded no contest to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor on May 23, for which he received 90 days in jail and five years of probation. According to the terms of sentencing, he isn’t required to register as a sex offender and may serve his sentence under house arrest. His home is in an upscale gated community. Dayonn Davis According to Muscogee County court records, on 29 May 2018 Dayonn Davis was given a 15-year sentence after pleading guilty to robbery by force. The 18-year-old was ordered to serve five years in prison and the remaining 10 years on probation. Because he had no prior convictions, Davis was sentenced under the state of Georgia’s First Offender Act, meaning that his felony conviction would be removed from his criminal record if he fulfilled all the requirements of his custodial sentence and probation. According to the state’s case against him, Davis arranged to buy a pair of Nike Air Jordan ‘Oreo’ shoes from a young man named Carlton Anthony Jr., in Columbus, Georgia, in January 2016, when Davis was 15 years old: Prosecutor Sadhana Dailey [said] Davis made contact with the owner after seeing the shoes for sale on Facebook. Another male accompanied Davis to the rendezvous, where Davis asked to try on the shoes. Finding they fit, he told the seller, “These shoes is took.” Davis’ companion then pulled out a pistol, and everyone ran. But Columbus police quickly tracked Davis down and found the stolen shoes in his closet. Dailey said Davis initially would not name the second suspect, though eventually he did. The victim, however, could not identify the person Davis named as the gunman when shown a photo lineup. Under Georgia’s 1994 Juvenile Justice Reform Act, minors charged with one of seven serious felonies are tried as adults. Such was the case with Davis, who was originally charged with armed robbery and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Davis claimed not to have known that his accomplice would bring a gun to the robbery, but facing a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 10 years without parole, he entered into an agreement with prosecutors whereby he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of “robbery by force” and instead received a five-year prison sentence with the possibility of parole. Even so, the punishment garnered local and national news coverage and was clearly viewed as harsh by some, given that Davis was 15 years old at the time of the offence, had no prior juvenile record, and the items taken in the robbery were of relatively low monetary value. Speaking to the National Public Radio affiliate WABE, his attorney Susan Henderson said: “He really is a good kid that made a really dumb, 15-year-old mistake … He owns up to the fact that he made a mistake.” However, Muscogee County District Attorney Sadhana Dailey rejected claims that Davis’ punishment was excessive. In a statement sent to ABC News affiliate WTVM, Dailey wrote: This case was an armed robbery, not a theft. It’s not about shoes, it is about the victim. Armed robbery is a crime against the person and is not about the property. The victim was robbed at gunpoint. The property that was taken is not important to the charge. The fact that these robbers were willing to shoot the victim for his shoes shows their callousness for another teen’s life and is a danger to anyone who has an item that this defendant or his accomplice wants. The teen victim could have been killed in this armed robbery. As demonstrated in this area’s recent trial of triple murders of a family in Upatoi, young people are capable of killing for as little as shoes. It’s not clear whether Davis was on the honor roll at Kendrick High School, as the Other 98% meme claimed, but Henderson certainly averred in court that he had been receiving A and B grades before his arrest in 2016 (although she said his grades had dropped since then), according to the Ledger-Enquirer. As of 28 September 2018, Davis remained incarcerated in the Muscogee County Jail. Lyle Burgess According to San Joaquin County court records, on 23 May 2018 Lyle Burgess was sentenced to 90 days’ detention and five years probation for violating Section 261.5(c) of California’s penal code, a statutory rape law which states that “Any person who engages in an act of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor who is more than three years younger than the perpetrator is guilty of either a misdemeanor or a felony …” Burgess, who was 79 years old at the time of his sentencing, had entered a “no contest” plea in connection with his violation. He was initially charged with “continuous sexual abuse of a child,” a serious felony which carries a sentence of between six and 16 years in state prison, after the parents of a then five-year-old girl accused him of touching her private parts repeatedly between October 2015 and November 2016. That charge was later replaced with four counts of “lewd acts upon a child” (Sec. 288a of California’s penal code). Burgess pleaded not guilty to all four counts, and his attorneys requested that San Joaquin County Superior Court judge Michael Mulvihill dismiss the charges, arguing that not enough evidence established that Burgess had touched the girl with “the intent of arousing, appealing to, or gratifying the lust, passions, or sexual desires of that person or the child.” Burgess’ attorneys also maintained that both the young girl and her mother had been inconsistent in their accounts of the molestation. (The details of the case might be disturbing to some readers, and we have redacted certain names from court records as a precaution against identifying the victim.) The prosecution, led by San Joaquin County District Attorney Tori Verber Salazar and Deputy District Attorney Kathleen Murray, urged Mulvihill to reject the motion to dismiss, arguing that no innocent explanation covered Burgess’ touching the girl in her private parts and alleging that, when he was confronted by her parents, Burgess had admitted to touching the child and offered to give them money if they did not bring charges against him. In the end, Judge Mulvihill sided with the prosecution and rejected Burgess’ motion to dismiss the charges against him. The trial was scheduled to begin on 20 April 2018, but two days before that, Burgess entered a plea agreement with the prosecution. Under the deal, the state dropped the four counts of “lewd acts upon a child” (which carried a possible sentence of six to 16 years), and Burgess pleaded no contest to “unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor who is more than three years younger,” a statutory rape charge which carried a sentence of no more than one year in county jail. On 23 May, Judge Ronald Northup sentenced Burgess to 90 days in county jail but recommended home detention (i.e. “house arrest,” as the meme stated). Burgess was given five years of probation with the conditions that he not make any contact with his victim, hand over any firearms he may own, not break any laws, submit himself and his property to searches, and stay away from parks, schools, and “areas where children frequent.” Burgess was not ordered to register as a sex offender, despite that course of action’s being available as one of the possible conditions of his five-year probation. Burgess’ punishment was greeted with widespread outrage. Ken Meleyco, a lawyer for the victim’s family, told Sacramento television station KTXL that: A five, six year-old little girl was molested. Normally the sentence is state prison, and then when you’re released you have to register as a sex offender … The girl is not doing good. She’s showing all the symptoms of somebody who’s been molested. She’s in counselling, she’s going to be in counselling all her life. In response to the criticism, San Joaquin County issued a press release explaining that Burgess’ sentence was the result of a negotiated settlement worked out with all parties involved (including the victim’s family), taking into account the mitigating factors that the child victim was not “sexually penetrated” and the perpetrator was elderly and in frail health: The People of the State of California reached a negotiated settlement/alternative resolution in this case. Based upon on assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the evidence presented in the case, along with a review of the case facts and testimonies presented at the preliminary hearing, Defendant Burgess was offered a felony sex related charge, Penal Code § 261.5, and accepted with a plea. This charge was agreed upon by all parties, including the parents of the child victim. Summary of Case Facts: Burgess was arrested on Nov. 23, 2016 and subsequently charged with four counts of Penal Code § 288(a), lewd acts upon a child. After the preliminary hearing and a review of the investigation, the charge was later amended to a violation of Penal Code § 261.5(c), unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, of which he was ultimately convicted. A preliminary hearing was held on November 1, 2017. Both the victim and her mother testified. At the preliminary hearing, there were no allegations that the child had been sexually penetrated by any means. (A transcript of the preliminary hearing has been available to the public since November of 2017). After discussions with the defense, and consultation with the family of the victim, Burgess agreed to enter a plea. Based on that representation, the charge would be amended to Penal Code § 261.5(c), despite no sexual penetration having occurred. This decision was based on assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the evidence in this case and the testimony at the preliminary hearing. On April 18, Burgess plead no contest to Penal Code § 261.5(c). On May 23, 2018, Burgess was sentenced to 90 days in the county jail, with the opportunity to apply for home detention. This sentence was initiated by the San Joaquin County Court, on the basis of the defendant’s age and health condition. Burgess was placed on five years of probation. The evidence presented required the judicious use of prosecutorial discretion to achieve the best outcome under the circumstances. The San Joaquin County District Attorney’s office remains committed to pursuing justice on behalf of the people of the State of California. Conclusion On the whole, the factual claims contained in the Other 98% meme were accurate but left out certain salient details. Dayonn Davis was 15 years old and reportedly a good student at the time of his offense, which was indeed his first. However, he did not merely “steal sneakers”; he engaged in an armed robbery in which an accomplice helped him steal shoes from another teenager at gunpoint. Davis was tried as an adult — Georgia law requires that course of action for any minor charged with armed robber — and he was indeed sentenced to five years in prison. But the meme left out the fact that his sentence, although it appeared harsh to many observers, was the result of a plea agreement with prosecutors and was lower than the 10-year minimum sentence he could have faced if he had been convicted of armed robbery (as opposed to robbery by force). The meme’s presentation of Lyle Burgess’ conviction was more complete. Burgess was indeed 79 years old at the time of his sentencing, and he was convicted under a statutory rape law for molesting a five-year-old girl. The maximum sentence available to the judge in Burgess’ case was 12 months in county jail, but he instead gave Burgess five years’ probation and 90 days detention, recommending that Burgess serve his sentence under house arrest and not be required to register as a sex offender.
|
3844
|
Jury deliberating in Utah case involving major opioid ring.
|
A jury began deliberating Thursday in the case of a Utah man accused of running a multimillion-dollar opioid ring that shipped potentially poisonous, fake prescription drugs across the country, causing at least one fatal overdose.
|
true
|
Opioids, General News, Utah, Prescription drugs, Salt Lake City, U.S. News
|
Prosecutors said during closing arguments that Aaron Shamo’s operation helped fuel the nation’s opioid epidemic by making hundreds of thousands of pills available to addicts and other users. They say it might have been responsible for dozens of other fatal overdoses. “Shamo was a master manipulator. He knew what buttons to push to get people to do what he wanted, which was to keep working for his organization and keep making more money, more money, more money,” U.S. prosecutor Vernon Stejskal told jurors. Defense attorneys countered that the 29-year-old Shamo wasn’t a kingpin, just a “dummy” who was desperate to make friends and ended up taking blame for the operation. Shamo testified during the trial that he convinced himself that he was helping people who needed the drugs, while making money for himself and his friends. He is facing 13 counts of operating a criminal enterprise, selling drugs that caused a death and other charges. The jury deliberated for about 90 minutes Thursday without reaching a verdict. They are expected to continue Friday. Authorities have said the 2016 bust of the operation run from Shamo’s basement in suburban Salt Lake City ranked among the largest in the country. More than $1 million was found in his dresser, according to court documents. With the help of a handful of friends, Shamo bought the powerful opioid fentanyl online from Chinese manufacturers, pressed it into fake oxycodone pills and sold it on the dark web, prosecutors said. Two friends Shamo had met while working at eBay packaged the pills, sometimes processing so many that they had to vacuum them off the floor, prosecutors said. Another former co-worker sent them out through the U.S. mail. In 2016, prosecutors said, some of those drugs reached 21-year-old Ruslan Klyuev, a baby-faced, curly haired technophile who lived in a working-class suburb of San Francisco. He died hours after crushing and snorting the fake oxycodone. A medical toxicologist testified that he would not have died if the fentanyl from the pills had not been in his system. Shamo’s lawyers downplayed those findings and blamed the mixture of substances in the young man’s system, including alcohol and cocaine additives. Defense attorney Greg Skordas argued that Shamo was a college dropout who was naive enough to buy much of the drug-making equipment in his own name. He started with a partner who set up the pill press to make counterfeit Xanax before another friend suggested scaling up to make fake oxycodone, and yet another buddy handled most of the manufacturing of the pills, authorities said. Shamo is a “follower, he’s a pleaser ... he’ll do anything these kids tell him to do because he wants to be friends,” Skordas said. The drug ring began to fall apart when customs agents intercepted a fentanyl package from China. From there, investigators say they worked their way up to the raid on Shamo’s home in November 2016, apparently in the middle of a pill-pressing run.
|
11221
|
Cannabidiol Reduces Symptoms of Psychosis
|
This US News & World Report story reports on a small study measuring brain activity, but makes it sound like a major step forward. The specifics of the study are glossed over, no connection is made between brain activity and clinical symptoms or outcomes, and there’s no mention of cost or potential harms. In addition, the story relies on a news release from the research university where the study was done and canned quotes from the study author. People coming into emergency rooms with psychotic symptoms is a common enough occurrence that there are established treatment guidelines. The symptoms may be caused by any number of things, such as drugs of abuse or medications, as well as mental illness or other medical conditions. To manage patients, antipsychotic drugs are often administered. These drugs come with a raft of side effects, so a treatment that could quell symptoms quickly with fewer side effects would certainly be useful. There is some evidence that cannabidiol might be helpful for acute psychosis, though much more is needed. News coverage of current research can be worthwhile if it puts new findings into context.
|
false
|
U.S. News & World Report
|
The article did not mention costs of cannabidiol. Internet sources of cannabidiol can cost 4 to 20 cents per milligram, though the dosage and quality of these products is not regulated. The study used a 600 mg dose, so the cost would be $24-$120 for a single dose. The FDA-approved version of the drug (approved for childhood epilepsy, not psychosis) runs $32,000 a year, although insurance may cover some of that cost. The headline claims that CBD reduces symptoms of psychosis, but never provides any evidence that is true. We’re told that people with psychotic symptoms who received cannabidiol “showed decreased abnormal activity” in MRI scans of brain activity. The very next sentence states: “These results suggest that CBD can help re-adjust brain function to normal levels.” Did normal “brain function” mean no more psychosis? We’re not told. More importantly, brain activity is not a symptom. The article made no mention of possible side effects of cannabidiol, which can include tiredness, diarrhea, and changes of appetite/weight. These effects are considered mild, but we maintain that the potential for untoward effects deserve consideration. The article does not help readers evaluate the study’s strengths or weaknesses. This was a randomized clinical trial (a strength) done in 33 subjects (a small enough number to be a weakness). Additionally, there is no mention of the timing between administration of the study drug (just a one-time dose) and measurement of brain activity (at baseline or follow-up). More importantly, the article does not help readers how abnormal brain activity relates to overt (or obvious) psychotic symptoms — or that normalizing brain activity has clinical significant effects. Further, there is no mention as to why participants “experiencing psychotic symptoms but not yet diagnosed with psychosis” were chosen. In the larger clinical trial by the same investigator, the CBD compound was given in individuals with overt psychosis. The reason for the selection of this study population is unclear, as is the duration of therapy. No disease-mongering here, although more could have been said about the frequency of psychosis and which disorders it’s most commonly associated with. The only source quoted in the article was a study author. An independent perspective is crucial to convey the significance of this study and its findings. The article does mention older antipsychotic drugs, but does not compare their effects on the main outcome — abnormal brain activity. One might expect a comparison of side effects between traditional antipsychotics and cannabidiol, which is likely where the latter would seem advantageous (if the therapeutic effects are equivalent, which is not at all clear). We’ll give this a satisfactory rating because the article mentions the FDA approval of the drug for epilepsy, which implies that its commercially available. But it’s not clear if the dosing would be similar. The story indicates there is previous research that shows a connection between CBD and how it affects psychosis. The article appears to rely heavily on this King’s College London news release.
|
33017
|
"An association of pediatricians ""admitted"" that HPV vaccine Gardasil causes ovarian ""failure"" or cancer."
|
The College is posting this statement so that individuals considering the use of human papillomavirus vaccines could be made aware of these concerns pending further action by the regulatory agencies and manufacturers. While there is no strong evidence of a causal relationship between HPV4 and ovarian dysfunction, this information should be public knowledge for physicians and patients considering these vaccines.
|
false
|
Medical, american college of pediatricians, gardasil, warnings
|
On 28 January 2016, the web site Truth Kings published an article under the headline “Pediatricians Association Admits HPV Vaccine Causes Ovarian Failure.” As with many similar “shocking medical truth” items, the article’s headline wasn’t supported by the text of the article itself, which linked to entirely unrelated medical information as support for the headline’s proclamation: The HPV vaccine is heavily pushed to both teen girls and boys. Even though countries such as Japan won’t formally have stated that they don’t want to support it, the United States continues to massively push this vaccine despite all the push back world-wide. The HPV money grab by pharmaceutical companies is blatant and unchecked. Well, now things just got a whole lot worse: The American College Of Pediatricians has announced that the HPV vaccine is “possibly” associated with ovarian cancer. You can view the document here. Clicking through on on the hyperlinked word “here” led to the web site of the American College of Pediatricians, not the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which is the mainstream organization for that particular medical specialty. A 31 July 2005 Boston Globe article reported on the difference between the two groups: The American Academy of Pediatrics, composed of leaders in the field, had found no meaningful difference between children raised by same-sex and heterosexual couples, based on a 2002 report written largely by a Boston pediatrician, Dr. Ellen C. Perrin. [But President George W. Bush]’s statement [to the contrary] was welcomed at a small organization with an august-sounding name, the American College of Pediatricians. The college, which has a small membership, says on its website that it would be “dangerously irresponsible” to allow same-sex couples to adopt children. The college was formed just three years ago, after the 75-year-old American Academy of Pediatrics issued its paper. The Family Research Institute and the American College of Pediatrics are part of a rapidly growing trend in which small think tanks, researchers, and publicists who are open about their personal beliefs are providing what they portray as medical information on some of the most controversial issues of the day. The tiny American College of Pediatricians has a single employee, yet it has been quoted as a counterpoint to the 60,000-member American Academy of Pediatrics … [Roughly 13 dissenting pediatricians] formed a new organization, the American College of Pediatricians. [A founder] declined to give figures for the College’s membership, but a fellow board member, Dr. Bose Ravenel, said there are between 150 and 200 members. The College’s website said there is scientific evidence that gays and lesbians are more prone to mental illness, substance abuse, and other problems, concluding with a strong warning against same-sex parenting … The College has been widely quoted in the media, sometimes without an explanation, as saying that it broke away from the Academy, largely over the issue of same-sex parenting. In other words, the American College of Pediatricians is a very small, recently-formed group created in response to a political disagreement over same-sex parenting, whose focus is promoting parenting by married, heterosexual couples: The Mission of the American College of Pediatricians is to enable all children to reach their optimal physical and emotional health and well-being. To this end, we recognize the basic father-mother family unit, within the context of marriage, to be the optimal setting for childhood development, but pledge our support to all children, regardless of their circumstances. The American College of Pediatricians promotes a society where all children, from the moment of their conception, are valued unselfishly. We encourage mothers, fathers and families to advance the needs of their children above their own. We expect societal forces to support the two-parent, father-mother family unit and provide for children role models of ethical character and responsible behavior. By contrast, the American Academy of Pediatrics’ mission statement is more concise about their focus of addressing the health needs of children: The mission of the American Academy of Pediatrics is to attain optimal physical, mental, and social health and well-being for all infants, children, adolescents and young adults. To accomplish this, AAP shall support the professional needs of its members. With respect to the Gardasil vaccine, the prevailing science-based medical viewpoint of it issued by the AAP is as follows: HPV vaccine is recommended for children aged 11-12 years so that they are protected before exposure to the virus. There are three types of HPV vaccine (Cervarix, Gardasil, and Gardasil-9) that are given as a 3-dose series. Girls should receive 3 doses of any of these vaccines to prevent HPV-related diseases. Boys should receive 3 doses of HPV4 (Gardasil) or HPV9 (Gardasil-9). Teens 13 years and older who either did not get any or did not receive all of the HPV vaccines when they were younger should complete the vaccine series. Adolescents and young adults need all three shots for full protection. The AAP’s official policy statement on Gardasil can be read in full here. Organizational scope and purpose aside, the article in question published by the American College of Pediatricians was titled “New Concerns about the Human Papillomavirus Vaccine.” However, that article didn’t “admit” that the vaccine caused cervical cancer (a finding that would be considered newsworthy and widely reported); in fact, the article stated in its opening paragraph that: Adverse events that occur after vaccines are frequently not caused by the vaccine and there has not been a noticeable rise in POF (premature ovarian failure) cases in the last 9 years since HPV4 vaccine has been widely used. Portions of the article that were critical or cautious about Gardasil pertained not to cancer, but to ovarian “dysfunction.” That term is broad and is most frequently associated with conditions such as Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, or PCOS. And even that caution was expressed as a call for more data, rather than as documentation of specific cause-and-effect relationship between Gardasil and “ovarian dysfunction”: Numerous Gardasil safety studies, including one released recently, have looked at demyelinating and autoimmune diseases and have not found any significant problems. Unfortunately, none of them except clinical safety pre-licensure studies totaling 11,778 vaccinees specifically addressed post-vaccination ovarian dysfunction. Prior to their January 2016 statement, the American College of Pediatricians had released a single policy statement on Gardasil. While the AAP focused on the benefits and safety aspects of the vaccine, the ACP’s statement espoused a more morality-focused viewpoint. Nonetheless, the ACP’s policy statement still favored Gardasil vaccination over abstention: The debate as to whether vaccinating adolescents against a sexually transmitted infection such as HPV may contribute to an increase in premarital sex is not settled. Given the effectiveness of these vaccines against HPV infection and its morbidities, the American College of Pediatricians favors offering HPV vaccination to all children and young adults even if they are committed to abstinence until marriage. Although abstinence outside of marriage is very effective in preventing all types of STIs, there are potential risk circumstances beyond an individual’s control, including sexual assault and the infection of one’s future spouse. Parents should closely monitor their children’s activities while reinforcing both morally and medically sound values. If parents do not model sexual fidelity or fail to restrict their children’s exposure to sexually explicit media, including pornography, then they can expect their children to be at high risk for STI acquisition, and those children should not wait to be vaccinated against HPV. Also, parents should consider that many adolescents will be involved in high-risk activities without their knowledge, and waiting until this is realized may place the child at risk for acquiring HPV. However, the College maintains that use of HPV vaccines should not be mandated by regulatory authorities, but remain a personal decision by parents and their children. In short, Truth Kings‘s alarmist revelation about Gardasil came not from the long-esablished American Academy of Pediatrics, but from a politically-focused breakaway organization devoted to supporting specific moral stances. Even then, that latter organization didn’t take an initial stand against Gardasil, and their January 2016 policy statement merely called for further study about a potential connection between Gardasil and ovarian dysfunction. The word “cancer” did not appear a single time in that release, nor was the organization “admitting” anything by any stretch of the imagination. Moreover, Truth Kings‘s appended image was simply a stock photograph unrelated to Gardasil. Finally, the American College of Pediatricians acknowledged “there is no strong evidence of a causal relationship between HPV4 and ovarian dysfunction” and stopped well short of rescinding their previous advice on HPV vaccination in their concluding remarks:
|
2214
|
Canada police probing 'possible policy breaches' at National Microbiology Lab.
|
Canada’s national police force said on Monday it is investigating a referral by the country’s Public Health Agency over “possible policy breaches” at its National Microbiology Lab, whose work includes research on the most dangerous human and animal pathogens, such as Ebola.
|
true
|
Health News
|
“We can confirm that we have received a referral from the Public Health Agency of Canada,” Julie Courchaine, spokeswoman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), said in a statement. “We will not speculate on the potential outcome of the investigation. In order to maintain the integrity of the investigative process, we have no further comment at this time.” The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) said it advised the RCMP of the “possible policy breaches” in late May. The agency declined to provide any specifics, saying only that it is “looking into an administrative matter” at the lab and “taking steps to resolve it expeditiously.” CBC News on Sunday reported that Xiangguo Qiu, a Chinese-educated doctor who is head of the Vaccine Development and Antiviral Therapies section in the Special Pathogens Program at the lab, was escorted out of the National Microbiology Lab (NML) in Winnipeg earlier this month amid the investigation. Qiu, who was part of a team working out of the NML that developed ZMapp, a vaccine for Ebola used during the 2014 outbreak in West Africa, had also been an adjunct microbiology professor at the University of Manitoba. A spokesman for the university told Reuters that Qiu had been a non-salaried adjunct professor but that her appointment had ended, “pending an RCMP investigation.” Both the PHAC and the RCMP refused to comment on Qiu’s reported removal, and the NML referred all questions to the PHAC. “There is no employee from the NML under arrest or confined to their home,” Eric Morrisette, spokesman for the PHAC, said. “We can assure Canadians that there is no risk to the public and that the work of the NML continues in support of the health and safety of all Canadians.” Qiu, who is still listed on the university’s website, could not be reached via multiple attempts for comment. CBC News reported that Qiu’s husband, Keding Cheng, a biologist at the NML, and an unknown number of her students from China were also removed from the lab. Reuters also could not reach Cheng for comment. The RCMP has “assessed that there is no threat to public safety at this time,” Courchaine, the spokeswoman, said in an email. The alleged removal comes amid heightened tensions between Canada and China, which began when Canada, carrying out an extradition request from the United States, arrested Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, in Vancouver in December 2018. The sensitive nature of the research conducted at the NML means material housed there could be of interest to foreign countries. The CBC reported that Qiu’s removal came several months after IT specialists at the NML entered her office after hours and replaced her computer.
|
2437
|
Scientists win Nobel for mapping body's 'cell traffic' system.
|
Three scientists won the Nobel medicine prize on Monday for plotting how cells transfer vital materials such as hormones and brain chemicals to other cells, giving insight into diseases such as Alzheimer’s, autism and diabetes.
|
true
|
Health News
|
Americans James Rothman, 62, Randy Schekman, 64, and German-born Thomas Suedhof, 57, separately mapped out one of the body’s critical networks in which tiny bubbles known as vesicles enable cells to secrete chemicals such as insulin into the surrounding environment. This cellular machinery, which has evolved over a billion years, is so sensitive that slight malfunctions in the mechanism can cause serious illness or death. “Through their discoveries, Rothman, Schekman and Suedhof have revealed the exquisitely precise control system for the transport and delivery of cellular cargo,” the Nobel Assembly at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute said in a statement when awarding the prize of 8 million crowns ($1.2 million). Their research on how cells transport material around sheds light on how insulin, which controls blood sugar levels, is made and released into the blood at the right place at the right time. Diabetes and some brain disorders have been attributed at least in part to defects in the vesicle transport systems. The scientists’ work explains an “absolutely essential” component of cell biology that helps scientists understand how the brain or hormone secretion works, said Dr. Jeremy Berg, who for years worked as director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, a part of the National Institutes of Health, which underwrote much of the research. “It’s one of the prizes for which there is not a treatment that came out of it directly, but there are probably literally thousands of laboratories around the world whose work would not be taking place the way it is without their work,” said Berg, who is director of the Institute for Personalized Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. The Nobel committee said the work could help in understanding immuno-deficiency and brain disorders such as autism. “Their discoveries could perhaps have clinical implications in psychiatric diseases, but my guess is that they will be more useful for the understanding of how cells work,” said Professor Patrik Rorsman of Oxford University. Schekman, a geneticist, first became interested in how proteins move within cells in 1974. At the University of California, Berkeley, he began working on yeast, a single cell microorganism. Research showed his findings applied equally to human cells. Among Schekman’s research aims is to study whether the accumulation of the protein amyloid in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients is due to disruption of the vesicle system. Suedhof, a neuroscientist, has focused particularly on the brain and questions of human thought and perception, emotions and actions determined by signaling between neurons, cells which constitute the foundation of the nervous system. “My major interest is in trying to understand how neurons in the brain communicate - how these processes get established during development, and how they become impaired in autism and schizophrenia,” Suedhof said in an interview. Suedhof said the work was really about “cell traffic,” the ability of cells to move material around. Medicine is the first of the Nobel prizes awarded each year. Prizes for achievements in science, literature and peace were first awarded in 1901 in accordance with the will of dynamite inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel. “My first reaction was, `Oh, my god!`” said Schekman, who was woken with the good news. “That was also my second reaction,” he added, according to a University of California, Berkeley, statement. Schekman said in an interview that his work was born out of a desire to understand how it was possible for one cell to talk to the other. He said figuring that out would help deepen understanding of how the brain works, “one of the most important questions in biology today.” Suedhof said while he and his fellow prize winners had worked separately they had met each other “many, many times.” They had “argued and sometimes agreed and sometimes disagreed,” he said with a laugh. (This story is refiled to amend sixteenth paragraph to read University of California, Berkeley instead of Berkeley University)
|
4630
|
US heads to court to build Trump border wall in Texas.
|
Three years into Donald Trump’s presidency, the U.S. government is ramping up its efforts to seize private land in Texas to build a border wall.
|
true
|
U.S. News, AP Top News, Lawsuits, Politics, Environment, Courts, Eminent domain, General News, Texas, Donald Trump
|
Trump’s signature campaign promise has consistently faced political, legal, and environmental obstacles in Texas, which has the largest section of the U.S.-Mexico border, most of it without fencing. And much of the land along the Rio Grande, the river that forms the border in Texas, is privately held and environmentally sensitive. Almost no land has been taken so far. But Department of Justice lawyers have filed three lawsuits this month seeking to take property from landowners. On Tuesday, lawyers moved to seize land in one case immediately before a scheduled court hearing in February. The agency says it’s ready to file many more petitions to take private land in the coming weeks. While progress has lagged, the process of taking land under eminent domain is weighted heavily in the government’s favor. The U.S. government has built about 90 miles (145 kilometers) of walls since Trump took office, almost all of it replacing old fencing. Reaching Trump’s oft-stated goal of 500 miles (800 kilometers) by the end of 2020 will almost certainly require stepping up progress in Texas. Opponents have lobbied Congress to limit funding and prevent construction in areas like the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, an important sanctuary for several endangered species of jaguars, birds, and other animals, as well as the nonprofit National Butterfly Center and a historic Catholic chapel. They have also filed several lawsuits. A federal judge this month prevented the government from building with money redirected to the wall under Trump’s declaration of a national emergency earlier this year. Also, two judges recently ordered a private, pro-Trump fundraising group to stop building its own wall near the Rio Grande. Even on land the government owns, construction has been held up. In another federal wildlife refuge, at a site known as La Parida Banco, work crews cleared brush this spring and the government announced in April that construction would soon begin. Eight months later, the site remains empty. According to a U.S. official familiar with the project, work crews discovered that the land was too saturated. The planned metal bollards installed on top of concrete panels would have been unstable because of the water levels in the soil, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person did not have authorization to share the information publicly. U.S. Customs and Border Protection declined to comment on the issue of saturation at La Parida Banco, saying construction there was “currently in the design phase.” In a statement, CBP says it continues to need a border wall for “the enduring capability it creates to impede and/or deny attempted illegal entries while creating additional time to carry out successful law enforcement resolutions.” The agency says it plans by the end of 2020 to have 450 miles (724 kilometers) of walls built and another 59 miles (95 kilometers) under construction, “pending availability of real estate.” The Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution requires the government pay “just compensation” to anyone whose land is taken for public use. But the government can deposit an amount it deems fair with the court, then seek to take the land immediately on the basis that a border wall is urgently needed. Even as border crossings have plummeted from record highs for families earlier this year, Justice Department attorneys argue the government needs to take land as quickly as possible. “Time is of the essence,” the lawyers wrote in Tuesday’s motion. In the case of the land targeted on Tuesday, the government has deposited $93,449 with the court for 12.6 acres (5 hectares). U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez has not yet ruled on the motion. Roy Brandys, an attorney for the landowners, said both sides were close to settling and allowing the government to take the land, potentially within a week. “When landowners disagree with the government over valuation, there is a transparent, court supervised process for determining just compensation,” said Jeffrey Clark, an assistant attorney general, in a statement. Ricky Garza is a lawyer with the Texas Civil Rights Project, which represents six landowners at various stages of the eminent domain process. Some landowners support a border wall and have agreed to work with the government. Others worry about losing part of their property to a “no man’s land” between the wall or the river. Several have vowed to fight as long as they can. Garza pointed out that the Rio Grande Valley is one of the poorest regions of the United States. “This is a severe use of government power against people who have very little,” Garza said. “Our leaders say there’s only so much money to go around. But then you see numbers in the billions appropriated for something that almost no one in the community wants.”
|
37117
|
Accusations that President Bush lied to the American people about whether there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq are counterbalanced by quotes from prominent Democrats about Saddam Hussein and weapons in Iraq. Most of these statements were during the debate over whether to use force against Iraq.
|
Bush lied about weapons in Iraq? What about the Democrats
|
true
|
Government, Politics, Terrorism, War
|
There are several quotes. Most of them come during a time in the Clinton administration when decisions were being made about action against Saddam Hussein and amid concerns about weapons of mass destruction. We’ll take them one at a time. “One way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them. That is our bottom line.” President Clinton, Feb. 4, 1998 This was a quote from President Clinton during a presentation at the Pentagon defending a decision to conduct military strikes against Iraq. “If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction program.” President Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998 Bill Clinton went to the Pentagon on this occasion to be briefed by top military officials about Iraq and weapons of mass destruction. His remarks followed that briefing. “Iraq is a long way from USA but, what happens there matters a great deal here. For the risks that the leaders of a rogue state will use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against us or our allies is the greatest security threat we face.” Madeline Albright, Feb 18, 1998 This is a quote from Albright during an appearance at Ohio State University by Albright, who was Secretary of State for Bill Clinton. “He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten times since 1983.” Sandy Berger, Clinton National Security Adviser, Feb, 18, 1998 This was at the same Ohio State University appearance as Madeline Albright. “We urge you, after consulting with Congress, and consistent with the U.S.Constitution and Laws, to take necessary actions, (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq’s refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs.” Letter to President Clinton, signed by Sens. Carl Levin, Tom Daschle, John Kerry, and others Oct. 9, 1998 According to the U.S. Senate website, the text of this letter was signed by several Senators, both Democrat and Republican, including Senator John McCain and Joseph Lieberman. “Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process.” Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA), Dec. 16, 1998–Truth!The text of this statement by Nancy Pelosi is posted on her congressional website. “Hussein has .. chosen to spend his money on building weapons of mass destruction and palaces for his cronies.” Madeline Albright, Clinton Secretary of State, Nov. 10, 1999 This was from an appearance Albright made in Chicago. She was addressing the embargo of Iraq that was in effect at the time and criticism that it may have prevented needed medical supplies from getting into the country. Albright said, “There has never been an embargo against food and medicine. It’s just that Hussein has just not chosen to spend his money on that. Instead, he has chosen to spend his money on building weapons of mass destruction, and palaces for his cronies.” “There is no doubt that … Saddam Hussein has invigorated his weapons programs. Reports indicate that biological, chemical and nuclear programs continue a pace and may be back to pre-Gulf War status. In addition, Saddam continues to redefine delivery systems and is doubtless using the cover of a licit missile program to develop longer-range missiles that will threaten the United States and our allies.” Letter to President Bush, Signed by Sen. Bob Graham (D, FL,) and others, December 5, 2001Truth!The only letter with this quote from December 5, 2001 that we could find did not include the participation of Senator Bob Graham, but it was signed nine other senators including Democrat Joe Lieberman. It urged President Bush to take quicker action against Iraq. “We begin with the common belief that Saddam Hussein is a tyrant and a threat to the peace and stability of the region. He has ignored the mandated of the United Nations and is building weapons of mass destruction and the means of delivering them.” Sen. Carl Levin (D, MI), Sept. 19, 2002 These were remarks from Senator Levin to a Senate committee on that date. “We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country.” Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002 This and the quote below was part of prepared remarks for a speech in San Francisco to The Commonwealth Club. “Iraq’s search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power.” Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002 “We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction.” Sen. Ted Kennedy (D, MA), Sept. 27, 2002 Part of a speech he gave at Johns Hopkins. “The last UN weapons inspectors left Iraq in October of 1998. We are confident that Saddam Hussein retains some stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, and that he has s ince embarked on a crash course to build up his chemical and biological warfare capabilities. Intelligence reports indicate that he is seeking nuclear weapons…” Sen. Robert Byrd (D, WV), Oct. 3, 2002 On the floor of the Senate during debate over the resolution that would authorize using force against Iraq. He was urging caution about going to war and commented that even though there was confidence about the weapons in Iraq, there had not been the need to take military action for a number of years and he asked why there would be the need at that point. “I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force– if necessary– to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security.” Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Oct. 9, 2002 Senator Kerry’s comments were made to the Senate as part of the same debate over the resolution to use force against Saddam Hussein. “There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons and will likely have nuclear weapons within the next five years … We also should remember we have always underestimated the progress Saddam has made in development of weapons of mass destruction.” Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D, WV), Oct 10, 2002 Senator Rockefeller’s statements were a part of the debate over using force against Saddam Hussein. “He has systematically violated, over the course of the past 11 years, every significant UN resolution that has demanded that he disarm and destroy his chemical and biological weapons, and any nuclear capacity. This he has refused to do” Rep. Henry Waxman (D, CA), Oct. 10, 2002 Senator Waxman’s contribution to the Senate debate over going to war. “In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda members. It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons.” Sen. Hillary Clinton (D, NY), Oct 10, 2002 Senator Clinton acknowledged the threat of Saddam Hussein but said she did not feel that using force at that time was a good option. “Without question, we need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator, leading an oppressive regime He presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation … And now he is miscalculating America’s response to his continued deceit and his consistent grasp for weapons of mass destruction So the threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real …” Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Jan.23.2003 In a speech to Georgetown University. Last updated 4/16/04
|
28551
|
The Red Cross blocked the distribution of 400 hamburgers to Harvey evacuees in Texas.
|
What's true: Some sort of disagreement occurred between Red Cross volunteers and local samaritans over serving hamburgers to victims of Hurricane Harvey. What's undetermined: When the incident occurred and why; the nature of the dispute; whether the reasoning was fully explained to the good samaritans trying to distribute hamburgers.
|
mixture
|
Viral Phenomena, beaumont, hamburgers, lindsey scott
|
On 4 September 2017, we received a number of e-mails asking whether it was true the Red Cross prevented a woman named Lindsey Scott from distributing 400 hamburgers to evacuees of Hurricane Harvey in Texas. The emails referred to a series of articles that made the claim, with their sole source being a 2 September 2017 Facebook post that appeared on Jamie Mitchell Matuska’s page. The message was long, and read in its entirety: My sister says I can use her FB page to get something off my chest if I identify myself lol. This is Lindsey Scott, and I’m astonished at the behavior of the Red Cross husband/wife team at the mid-county Jack Brooks airport yesterday. Who together accosted me and took turns berating me because I was trying to bring 400 warm hamburgers to our hungry evacuees, who according to them did not need the food because they had “already had a sandwhich.” Yes, they had 1 sandwhich in 24 hours. They were desperate for a hot meal! The Red Cross proceeded to try and load the warm, ready to eat burgers into an ice chest. The pilot, who had donated his time, fuel, money, plane and arranged the delivery of the burgers was horrified at not being able to serve them (he actually came to volunteer as well). I confess I just stood there with my mouth gaping open, fighting back tears while they told me that I did not know what I was doing and they had not even seen me volunteering. This is not a normal reaction for me but either exhaustion or pregnancy hormones got the best of me because I simply couldn’t find the words to fight back… The Red Cross was not there at 6:30 am when we got there to find we had no food to serve the 100s of evacuees who had sat on a bus all night and some who had not eaten in 24 hours. They were not there when the sun came up and they woke up hungry, angry, tired, scared, and frustrated. They did not see them fighting over donuts that OUR friends and family answered the call to bring at 7:00 am. They did not see the tears over dehydrated babies while we worked to arrange the delivery of pedialite and formula. They showed up HOURS later….when we had already coordinated the delivery of food and supplies with our LOCAL community members (who came out in droves) and The Sky Hope Network through our wonderful State Representative Dade Phelan after just a single phone call. And the reason they didn’t see me (sweating and sunburned) is because I spent most of the day on the aviation side of the airport on the tarmac coordinating the landing, unloading, and transport of supplies the Sky Hope Network was flying in all day. (which was no easy feat considering the insane, chaotic state of the Jerry Ware terminal). I do not care they weren’t there (I understand the vast, severe, damage that ranges from Corpus, Rockport, Houston all the way to Louisiana). I do, however, care how they treated the people of our community when they arrived! These supplies/donations were made by OUR LOCAL community members and the Sky Hope Network (not the Red Cross) and the Red Cross wanted them all shipped to their warehouse for processing and distribution. Apparently they don’t do “local distribution.” Say what?! We need these things here, locally, NOW. And while we refused to turn away anyone who came on foot or by other means (evacuee or not) or any other church, group, or organization asking for supplies…the Red Cross tried to prevent us from sharing OUR donations (contributed by our community for our community and surrounding areas). The kids that are barefoot need shoes NOW, not two weeks from now…and we had more than enough to share. And the way, these two representatives of Red Cross treated local people who were donating their time (many in the wake of having lost everything of their own) and spending countless hours away from their kids and families in the wake of such tragedy hurts my heart. I pray this is not representative of the Red Cross organization as a whole. People who donate their money would be horrified. I’m thankful for our local volunteers who continued to fight with them (when I could not) and saw that the burgers and supplies were distributed to ALL those that needed them. As, OUR motto was, we turn no one away. One thing I learned from this is THANK GOD I’m from TEXAS. Our men may spit, smoke, dip, cuss, and drink from time to time…but when the shit hits the fan, our husbands, brothers, dads, uncles, cousins, sons, and all the other men we know put on their boots, waders and get their boats and trucks and go to work! They aren’t afraid to get dirty or work long hours in the dark. They aren’t afraid of a little water, or snakes, or dogs that aren’t kenneled. They are strong enough to carry you out of your home and they can deal with being hungry, wet, cold, and tired (they deal with this sitting in deer and duck blinds half the year). They have the know how to save your animals (horses, cows, etc) and they WON’T QUIT until the work is done. And our community will answer the call to donate, collect and distribute supplies and food wherever it’s needed. I won’t be waiting on the Red Cross. Rant over. Predictably, the claim stirred up anger and rants on social media: PLEASE DO NOT DONATED TO THE RED CROSS!! GIVE TO THE SSLVATION ARMY!! RED CROSS REFUSED TO GIVE DONATED HOT HAMBURGERS TO TEXANS!! — Cody Anderson (@Cody_anderson72) September 5, 2017 The post was vague about what exactly transpired when the writer purportedly landed along with a pilot and 400 hamburgers, presumably at Jack Brooks airport in Beaumont. The post also does not mention exactly when the incident occurred or why they were unable to distribute the food. Blogs and web sites repeated the claim, but only one (IJR) indicated that they had contacted the Red Cross (unsuccessfully) for further information. We contacted the Red Cross for comment and their National Spokesperson, Jenelle Eli, sent us a statement indicating that the incident did indeed occur but that the volunteers who initially refused to serve the burgers acted based on their training around food safety. The Red Cross claimed that the burgers were eventually served: The safety of the people we serve is our first and utmost priority. Our volunteers and workers on the ground may not be perfect, but they are all working with the best of intentions and to the best of their ability. Please know that if a volunteer or volunteers steps in to a situation, they are not trying to overshadow the generosity or compassion of spontaneous assistance being offered but doing so based on training and past experience with that goal–the evacuees safety–in mind not with an intention to “take charge” or in any way diminish those kind efforts. With donations like food especially, we have policies and procedures in place solely to protect the health of those who may already be in a weakened or vulnerable health state. Since the Red Cross cannot ensure the safety of food prepared in a non-commercial setting, we do not typically accept home-cooked food as donations. Even properly prepared food, if not clearly monitored, can quickly go bad through no fault of those who prepared or are serving it–which could make a bad situation worse. With all that in mind, we have spoken with the Deputy Director and volunteers on the scene. Again, while the volunteers may have appeared overzealous, they intervened out of a desire to protect impacted by Harvey, with their health and well-being in mind. Eventually, our volunteers assisted in handing out the burgers to people impacted by Harvey. These are extremely challenging and often life threatening situations–everybody is trying to meet all needs, while being cut off from the floods. We greatly appreciate not just our volunteers but ALL volunteers and the generous support of the public. We are constantly reviewing our policies and procedures, learning to adapt–because each disaster is different–and learning from experiences. It is our hope you’ll understand that we’re all trying to do the right thing. Thank you for your patience and understanding. It remains unclear whether the volunteers fully explained their motivations to Scott, whether they failed to cite food safety concerns out of fear of insulting her, or the manner by which they “accosted” and “berated” her. We received a response from a forthcoming Matuska later that day, along with contact information for several witnesses to the incident. In reference to questions we posed to Scott, Matuska sent the following reply: [P]er Lindsey: No one [from the Red Cross] said anything about a safety concern. The Red Cross’s position was that [evacuees] had already eaten a sandwich … Lindsey tried to explain she believed at least two buses had not gotten one [because] we ran out [of food]. [Red Cross workers] didn’t [appear] to be concerned about safety [because] they [placed the hamburgers] into an ice chest to save for later. There were problems the entire time they were there with them not wanting volunteers to distribute things. My understanding is that the food was eventually handed out per the volunteers[.] She explained that she believed the hamburgers were eventually distributed to evacuees after they were placed into “ice chests.” A subsequent message from Scott via Matuska in response to the provided Red Cross statement added that “obviously [she] didn’t cook [the] burgers [herself],” indicating they were not “home-cooked food” donations.
|
9078
|
Promising New Leprosy Vaccine Moves Into Human Trials
|
The news release focuses on a recently launched phase 1 clinical trial, designed to test whether a potential leprosy vaccine called LepVax is safe enough to move forward into more advanced clinical trials. The release does not address cost, prematurely refers to the vaccine as “a breakthrough,” and does little to discuss potential harms — other than to note that phase I trials are focused on safety. The release also offers little information about the effectiveness of previous attempts to develop leprosy vaccines, which would have been valuable context. The release is clear about the potential availability of the vaccine, noting that the phase 1 trial could be completed in 2018 and that a decision to proceed with more trials will be made then. The release states, in its very first sentence, that launching this phase 1 clinical trial “marks a significant step forward in the prevention and treatment of leprosy.” That’s a bold statement, and strong claims require strong evidence. The fact is that, according to FDAReview.org, 25 percent of treatments in phase 1 trials don’t even make it to a phase 2 trial. And, according to a 2016 report from the biotech group BIO, less than 10 percent of treatments that enter phase 1 trials are eventually approved for clinical use (though the success rate rises to 11.9 percent for non-cancer drugs). The problem of overstating the accomplishment of reaching phase 1 trials is compounded by the fact that, while the release mentions previous attempts to vaccinate against leprosy, the release doesn’t mention how effective other leprosy vaccines were (or are). Entering clinical trials is only one milestone on the path to clinical use. What’s more important is how the proposed treatment performs while in those trials. The release does make this clear, much lower in the text, but it would have been stronger if it had dialed back the bold claims from the beginning.
|
mixture
|
Infectious Disease Research Institute,Leprosy Vaccine
|
Costs aren’t mentioned. We know that it is far too soon to put a specific price tag on the treatment, but the release could have discussed the feasibility of scaling up manufacturing, whether the process is costly or time-consuming, etc. How much could the vaccine, which the release tells us is the first “developed specifically for leprosy” and “produced by totally synthetic methods,” cost patients? Based on the information in the release, it’s anyone’s guess. The release does note that the study will be focused on safety and immune system response which earns a minimal Satisfactory rating for clearly establishing the purpose of a phase 1 study. There is currently no information on how effective this vaccine is in human subjects. There is also no mention of how this vaccine weakens the mycobacterial load in those already exposed. The whole goal of a phase 1 trial is to determine what, if any, potential harms are associated with a given treatment. The release makes note of this, which is why we give it a satisfactory rating. That said, if animal trials turned up any potential harms that may be relevant to human subjects, those should have been mentioned here. And even if animal trials didn’t turn up any potential harms, the release would have been stronger if it had mentioned that. The release makes multiple claims that can’t be supported by a phase 1 study. This release is focused on the beginning of a phase 1 trial, so there’s no evidence to review yet, and yet a researcher is quoted saying, “We believe this may be the most exciting breakthrough in leprosy treatment since multi-drug therapy, the current treatment for leprosy, was launched in the 1980s. We look forward to this vaccine improving the health outcomes of people diagnosed with leprosy. And, it may be that this vaccine can lead to interruption of the transmission of leprosy all together.” Those statements can’t be supported for an experimental vaccine that has never even been tested in a human. No disease mongering here. Funding sources are all clearly laid out. The release states that there are no other leprosy vaccine candidates, despite the fact that multiple countries (including India and Brazil) already use a leprosy vaccine (though the effectiveness of that vaccine is widely debated). The release would have been stronger if it had noted this vaccine and articulated how LepVax aims to improve on it. The release notes that drug therapies do exist for leprosy, though it focuses on the drawbacks associated with treatment rather than the extent to which the treatment is effective. The release also refers to “previous attempts” — presumably at developing a vaccine — “that have used vaccines primarily developed for other diseases.” But it doesn’t discuss how effective these “previous attempts” have been. For example, a 1996 paper in The Lancet reported that a modified vaccination regime involving the so-called BCG vaccine, which is also used to vaccinate against tuberculosis, gave at least 50 percent protection against leprosy. Presumably the goal of LepVax is to improve the efficacy of leprosy vaccination, but the release would have been stronger if it had addressed this and provided the relevant context. Again, the idea that it increased humoral and cellular responses to those already exposed requires further explanation (this was noted in the description on clinical trials.gov). The release does a good job here, noting: “Early results from the Phase I study should be available in 2018, and the partners are currently exploring mechanisms to advance the vaccine through later-phase clinical trials should results from the Phase I study (clinical trial NCT03302897) support further evaluation.” This is a mixed bag. The release does try to articulate how this vaccine differs from previous attempts to develop leprosy vaccines. For example, the release states that previous vaccination efforts have relied on vaccines developed for preventing other diseases. However, that may be misleading. For example, as this 2011 paper describing the history of leprosy vaccine research notes, one long-running (and large-scale) trial in the 1980s and 1990s involved modifying an existing vaccine with “irradiated, autoclaved M. leprae purified from the tissues of infected armadillos” (M. leprae being the bacteria that cause leprosy). That sounds like something targeting leprosy pretty specifically. The release is unsatisfactory here on multiple fronts. First, a researcher is quoted calling the phase 1 study a “breakthrough” which it clearly isn’t. Second, the release states that, because of LepVax, “it could be possible to prevent disease development in people already infected with the leprosy bacterium.” It could just as easily have said, “it may not be possible to prevent disease development.” Thirdly, if one is going to make bold claims, where is the evidence to back it up? The only reference we could find to the role of LepVax in limiting the development of leprosy was in a 2014 report from a Novartis Foundation meeting, which referred to a study that was done in an animal model involving 21 armadillos. Both of those concerns, in conjunction with our concerns about calling the beginning of a phase 1 trial a “significant step forward” in leprosy prevention/treatment, give this release a Not Satisfactory rating.
|
20448
|
"Rod Monroe Says ""the No. 2 cause of death in the U.S. (for) women under 50 is being killed by their spouse or domestic partner."
|
Is intimate partner violence the second leading cause of death for women under 50?
|
false
|
Oregon, Families, Crime, Women, Rod Monroe,
|
"During the 2012 legislative session, lawmakers passed a bill that requires the state's school districts to put policies in place combating teen dating violence. The legislation passed with a pretty wide margin. During the debate, statistics were thrown out left and right in support of the new policy. One in particular caught our attention. While speaking in favor of House Bill 4077, Sen. Rod Monroe, D-Portland, said ""teen dating violence is where it all starts, and where it ends is with the fact that the No. 2 cause of death in the U.S. (for) women under 50 is being killed by their spouse or domestic partner. No. 2 cause of death. Only exceeded by automobile accidents."" There's no disputing that intimate partner violence, as it's commonly referred to in support circles, is a major problem nationally and worldwide. But could it really be the second leading cause of death for women under the age of 50? Monroe didn't have any support for his claim when we reached him at home. He mentioned that he'd heard the statistic some eight years ago at a conference in San Diego. Since then, he said, he'd read it in several articles. Without a lead, we had to start from scratch. Our first step was to check in with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC has a specific division that looks into injury and violence prevention. As it happens, injury is the leading cause of death for Americans between ages 1 and 44. Gail Hayes, a spokeswoman for the Injury Center, showed us how to drill down into the data on hand. We looked for the leading causes of death for women between the ages of 1 and 50 from 1999 to 2009. This is what we found, in descending order: Malignant neoplasms (cancer), unintentional injury (largely motor vehicle accidents and poisoning), heart disease, suicide, stroke and then -- at sixth place -- homicide, which would include intimate partner violence. Unfortunately, you can't dig down any deeper into the homicide category to get a good idea of just how many of those are perpetrated by intimate partners. Even if we could have gone further, the rankings didn't seem to support Monroe. Once you remove biological causes of death -- cancer, heart attack and stroke -- homicide comes in at third place, after unintentional injuries and suicide. Hayes was kind enough to check in with some of the Injury Center scientists to see if they'd heard the statistic that Monroe cited. The best she could come up with was the fact that just over 41 percent of female homicides aged 1-50 were ""intimate-partner related."" But, she said, that data applied to only 16 states and couldn't be reliably nationalized. The CDC had some recent reports on the issues of intimate partner violence, but none of them referenced Monroe's statistic. Our next step was a call to the National Domestic Violence Hotline. We spoke with Angela Hale who also said she hadn't heard of the statistic that we were trying to verify. We did find a similar statistic referenced in the abstract for a paper published in the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery. Ultimately, that lead never panned out. The closest we could find was a another report from 1991 that stated ""violence was the second most common cause of injury overall and the most common cause of injury of women aged 15-44."" But violence didn't necessarily mean intimate partner violence. In fact, the only thing the article says about such violence is that 62 percent of the violent incidents involved husbands or boyfriends. Ultimately, we ended where we started: With no source to back up the claim. In the end, the onus is on the speaker to offer a source for what he said. Monroe didn't have one -- and after days of searching, we couldn't find one. There is no doubt that intimate partner violence is a serious issue, but there doesn't seem to be any evidence that it ranks as the No. 2 cause of the death for women under 50. The highest it might rank -- and even this is a stretch -- is sixth place, according to CDC data. Return to OregonLive to comment on this rating."
|
939
|
Mental health issues in Hong Kong surging amid tumultuous protests, experts say.
|
Stress and trauma over the political turmoil surrounding Hong Kong’s extradition bill has created an unprecedented mental health problem that the city is not equipped to deal with, medical professionals say.
|
true
|
Health News
|
Discussion of mental health carries a huge stigma in the Chinese-ruled territory, and younger people are particularly vulnerable because of the stresses of everyday life: exorbitant living costs, cramped housing, academic pressure and a gloomy view of the future, medical professionals say. On Tuesday, embattled Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said the bill, which would allow people to be extradited to mainland China for trial, was “dead.” In the same remarks, she acknowledged that there were entrenched social problems in Hong Kong. “I come to the conclusion that there are some fundamental deep-seated problems in Hong Kong society. It could be economic problems, it could be livelihood issues, it could be political divisions in society,” Lam said. “The first thing we should do is identify those fundamental issues and hopefully find some solutions to move forward.” Hong Kong’s youth have been at the forefront of the city’s biggest and most violent protests in decades, with police firing rubber bullets and tear gas in chaotic scenes that grabbed global headlines. Anger and frustration over the extradition bill, and the government’s handling of it, have pushed many to desperation. The deaths of four young people have been linked to frustration with the legislation, while messages from at least three others have triggered emergency responses. “It’s hard to see the future if there is no solution. Our government should understand how we think,” said Kayi Wong, a 23-year-old designer who attended the city’s latest protest on Sunday, which organisers said drew 230,000 people. Wong said she felt depressed reading about the recent deaths. Many people feared there would be more amid multiple societal problems, she added, including housing issues, family troubles and what she described as an inability to communicate feelings effectively to each other. The special administrative region is still reeling from events on July 1, when protesters smashed their way into the Legislative Council building and ransacked it. Lam had suspended the bill after earlier protests in June and said it would lapse next year, but protesters want it scrapped altogether and have pressed her to step down. She said on Tuesday the government had felt “pain” over recent deaths in the city. Calls to support groups and local non-governmental organisations have surged, particularly after storming of the legislative building, said Karman Leung, chief executive of one such group, Samaritans Hong Kong. “The news repeats day after day. Everybody is talking about it. It causes them stress and they feel like they cannot get out of that environment,” Leung said. Because of the stigma surrounding mental health and with a heated political issue at the root of their stress, people don’t feel they can talk about it, said Zoe Fortune, the chief executive of City Mental Health Alliance. “It’s a double whammy and people don’t know where to go for support,” she said. Conflict between family members with different standpoints increases tension and further fractures society, say volunteer counselling groups. Some such organisations, including the Division of Counselling Psychology, under the Hong Kong Psychological Society, have started offering free counselling. A person seeking treatment for mild depression at a public facility would have to wait more than a year to see a psychologist, said Jasmin Fong, a counselling psychologist for the Psychological Society. A private 50-minute session with a psychologist costs between HK$800-HK$3000 ($102-$384), making private treatment out of reach for large swathes of the population. Online groups using mobile applications such as Telegram have sprung up to prevent future deaths. One chat assembled thousands of members to find a Facebook user who posted that he planned to kill himself. Members split into teams at 40 spots around the city’s Admiralty district, the scene of some of the largest protests, and tried to get him to talk to trained social workers. He was later found unharmed. Unless issues are solved fundamentally, the mounting mental stress won’t ease, said Joe, a Hong Kong student who declined to give his last name because of the sensitivity of the issue. The arrests of young people, including a 14-year-old, in connection with the attack on the legislative building have only added to the burden, he said. “They are Hong Kong people, just like our family members,” Joe said. “Very serious things are happening, so it is hard to stay positive and optimistic.”
|
33716
|
A lawsuit brought by an injured fan revealed that an umpire blew an important call in a 1908 baseball game.
|
As satisfying as this legend may once have been to fans of that long-ago Pittsburgh club, the plainer truth is that the Pirates lost the 1908 pennant because the Chicago Cubs were the better team on the field that day.
|
false
|
Sports, baseball
|
Few tangible elements remain of the 1908 baseball season: The players who took part in it, the reporters who covered it, and the fans who followed it have all passed away; the ballparks that hosted its contests have long since been torn down; and that pre-radio, pre-television era produced no recordings or broadcasts through which those long-ago games might be recreated for modern audiences. Virtually all we have left to bear witness to the events of that season are century-old newspaper accounts and box scores, the memoirs of long-dead participants, and a clutch of black-and-white photographs. Nonetheless, what remains of that 1908 baseball season suffices to inform us that those who lived through it witnessed one of the most exciting pennant races in the history of major league baseball: A three-team, season-long chase among the Chicago Cubs, New York Giants, and Pittsburgh Pirates for the National League flag; a pursuit that ended with Chicago and New York in a flat-footed tie and Pittsburgh a mere half-game behind them both, necessitating that a final contest be waged to break the tie. On 8 October 1908, the Cubs and Giants faced off one last time at the Polo Grounds in New York: Chicago triumphed, 4-2, to take the National League pennant and advance to the World Series (where they defeated the Detroit Tigers, a victory that for over a century remained as the Chicago Cubs’ most recent championship). What makes the 1908 season especially remarkable is that the final Cubs-Giants game was not technically a playoff (i.e., an extra game tacked onto the end of a season to break a tie), but rather a replay of a contest that had been waged two weeks earlier — a contest that was itself the most controversial game in major league history. On 23 September 1908, as the Cubs and Giants squared off for the third game of a four-game series at the Polo Grounds, the two teams were even in the standings (Chicago having erased New York’s two-game lead by sweeping a double-header from the Giants the previous day), with the Pittsburgh Pirates breathing down both their necks. That third contest went into the bottom of the ninth inning with the score knotted at 1-1, but singles by Art Devlin and Fred Merkle put Giant runners on first and third with two out, and when Al Bridwell followed with a clean single up the middle, the Giants had seemingly won the game, 2-1, to reclaim sole possession of first place. It was not to be, though. When the Giants’ first-base runner, Fred Merkle, saw the winning run cross the plate, he instinctively veered out of the basepath and headed towards center field in order to reach the clubhouse before a crush of delirious New York rooters swarmed onto the field, failing to run all the way to second base in the process. Meanwhile, the Cubs retrieved a baseball (not necessarily the same one that was in play at the end of the game) and tossed it to Chicago infielder Johnny Evers, who stepped on second and proclaimed that Merkle was out because he never touched second and that the winning run was thereby nullified. The two umpires working the game sided with the Cubs and — taking into account the throng of fans on the field and the approaching darkness — declared the game a 1-1 tie. National League officials upheld the umpires’ decision, the game was replayed two weeks later as the tie-breaking final contest of the 1908 season, the Giants lost that replay, and Fred Merkle went down in history as the “bonehead” who cost New York the pennant by single-handedly blowing a game the Giants had fairly won. (A hundred years later, debate continues over whether Merkle should bear the blame for making a foolish blunder, or whether he merely followed the custom of his day and was an innocent victim caught in middle when the league finally started cracking down on a rule that had not previously been strictly enforced by umpires.) Every recounting of the 1908 National League pennant race focuses on the “Merkle game,” but whenever teams finish a long campaign locked in a tie, one can look back across all the year’s games and find numerous instances of errors, miscues, lapses in judgment, bad officiating calls, and just plain bad luck, any one of which could have changed the season’s final outcome had it turned out differently. Indeed, one such incident which took place near the end of 1908 season spawned its own urban legend. On 4 October 1908, the Pittsburgh Pirates played their final game of the season against the Cubs in Chicago. Going into that contest, the Pirates held a slim half-game lead over the Cubs, and a one-and-half-game lead over the New York Giants. Had Pittsburgh emerged victorious that day, they would have eliminated the Cubs from pennant contention and forced the Giants to win their final four games of the season just to finish in a first-place tie. (As things turned out, the Giants won the first three of their remaining contests and then lost the 8 October make-up game against the Cubs, so a Pittsburgh win on 4 October would have clinched the National League championship for the Pirates.) But alas, that also was not to be: the Pirates dropped the contest to the Cubs, 5-2, and finished the season in a second-place tie with the Giants. The Pirates’ final-game loss was not without its drama, however. Trailing by three runs in the top of the ninth inning, Pittsburgh had a runner on first when second baseman Ed Abbaticchio swatted a pitch into the crowd behind right field. The umpire (coincidentally the same one who had officiated at the infamous “Merkle game”) ruled the ball foul, while the Pirates protested that it was fair and should have counted for at least a double and possibly a home run, thereby bringing the tying run up to the plate. Pittsburgh lost the argument and shortly thereafter the game, and with both their shot at the pennant. Although a World Series appearance for the Pittsburgh Pirates did not follow the 1908 season, an urban legend did. According to rumor, a few months after that heartbreaking Pirates-Cubs game, a woman who attended the contest sued the Chicago Cubs ball club, claiming she had been struck by the ball hit by Ed Abbaticchio in the ninth inning and had been so seriously injured that she required hospital treatment. The kicker to the rumor was that the ticket stub the plaintiff produced to demonstrate her presence at the game showed her to have been sitting (or standing) in fair territory at the time, and thus her claim definitively proved that the umpire had blown the call by ruling the ball foul, thereby costing the Pirates a fair shot at the championship: In late September [1908] the third team in the National League race, the Pirates, was playing the Cubs. In the ninth inning, with Chicago ahead 2-0 and the visiting Pirates at bat with the bases loaded, second baseman Ed Abbaticchio hit a rocket down the right-field line. [Umpire Hank] O’Day ruled it foul, the Cubs won the game, and went on to win the pennant by one game over the Pirates as well as taking the playoff from the Giants. Several months later, though, a woman fan brought a lawsuit to court, alleging injury suffered when she was struck by Abbaticchio’s smash, an occurrence attested to in sworn statements by various witnesses. But the court ending up ruling against her — not because her story wasn’t believed, but because it was conclusively established that she had been sitting in fair territory at the time. More than fifty years later, this rumor (in multiple variations) remained so prevalent that in 1965 the staff of Baseball Digest undertook the challenge of determining whether any element of truth might lie behind it: [N]obody apparently ever has been able to ascertain the name of the woman fan, the name of the judge who made the intriguing decision, or the date of the hearing. Absence of any definite details about the lawsuit made the story smack of an old wives’ tail [sic]. So the Baseball Digest staff took out its Sherlock Holmes cap and pipe and went to work. A thorough, tedious search of all official records of all state and county courts in Chicago for two years following the game (after which the statute of limitations would preclude such a suit) failed to reveal any such lawsuit filed against the Cubs (in fact, no lawsuit against the Cubs by any fan). A day-by-day search of the Chicago newspapers from the morning after the game until well into 1911 failed to disclose any mention of any such legal action. While 1908 legal records of both Chicago and Pittsburgh clubs have been lost in antiquity, no official of either club could recall ever having heard any mention of any such suit. William E. Benswanger, officially associated with the Pirates from 1913 to 1946, their owner and president the last 14 of those years, and a rabid fan long before his formal association with the club, had never even heard of the story! Lee Allen, historian of the Hall of Fame and undoubtedly today’s outstanding authority on the game’s history, has been unable to find any evidence of any such legal action. The Chicago Tribune‘s Harvey Woodruff, one of the most respected and thorough reporters of all time, never even mentioned any fan’s being hurt at the game — though he wrote dozens of notes as well as the long lead story on the contest [and even recorded that a woman had gone into labor and given birth in the stands during the game]. It is reasonable to assume that Woodruff, alert and thorough enough to record the intimate details of an accouchement in the grandstand, certainly would have reported any excitement in the crowd occasioned by a woman’s being hit by a line drive — especially on a key play of the game. The Digest also noted that it would have been particularly silly for the Chicago ball club to have taken such a minor case to court rather than settling it, especially since (whatever the verdict) it would have demonstrated their championship season to have been tainted and would have proved highly embarrassing to an umpire who would be officiating at their games for years to come.
|
9860
|
Fish Oil Linked to Lower Breast Cancer Risk
|
The story missed an opportunity to explain the inherent limitations in drawing conclusions from such an observational study. And its use of relative risk reduction figures is bothersome. Why not just give the absolute numbers from each group in the study? That would be far more meaningful and helpful. There could be boilerplate language that stories could use to start to educate readers about what observational studies CAN’T PROVE. In fact, we suggest some in a primer elsewhere on this site.
|
true
|
"Not applicable. Not discussed, but it should be general knowledge that they’re relatively inexpensive. Only relative risk reduction figures were used – ""32% reduced risk."" But readers should be told ""32% of what?"" What were the actual absolute numbers in the group that took the supplements versus the numbers in the group that didn’t take the supplements. Why is that so difficult to include? It would be far more meaningful than 32%. Not applicable. No harms were discussed but this is not a serious issue in this case. One good thing was the quote: ""There is some limited evidence from my study and others that fish oil may be good for preventing breast cancer, but there is not sufficient evidence to make a public health recommendation right now,"" cautions study researcher Emily White, PhD, an epidemiologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. However, the story missed an opportunity to ever explain WHY a study like this is insufficient evidence. It never explained the inherent limitations in drawing conclusions from an observational study – something this story’s HealthDay competition did a better job on. No overt disease mongering. Four different sources were quoted – a strength of the story. At the very least, the story included the fact that ""Other supplements were not linked to breast cancer risk in the new study, including black cohosh, dong quai, soy, and St. John’s wort, which are often taken to relieve some of the symptoms of menopause."" The availability of fish oil supplements is not in question. We were given some context by the following quotes: and It’s clear that the story did not rely solely on a news release."
|
|
4689
|
Colorado state Sen. Court to resign, cites health issues.
|
Colorado Democratic state Sen. Lois Court announced Monday she is resigning effective Jan. 16 due to health issues.
|
true
|
Health, Fiscal policy, Colorado, Denver
|
A statement released by majority Senate Democrats said Court has been diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a rare autoimmune disorder. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, GBS symptoms include muscle weakness and sometimes paralysis. In the most serious cases, muscle weakness can affect breathing. Most people recover fully, but some have permanent nerve damage, according to the CDC. Court was hospitalized Dec. 31 after experiencing muscle weakness and partial paralysis, Monday’s statement said. Court represents parts of Denver and Arapahoe counties. She was elected to the state House in 2008 and to the Senate in 2016. She has advocated for gun control and changes in state fiscal policy and was a leading proponent of the Colorado End of Life Options Act. “No one has a clearer compass on the issues she cares about,” Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement wishing Court a speedy recovery. A Democratic party district committee will choose a replacement for Court.
|
15446
|
We have at least 200,000 to 300,000 hate crimes in a given year.
|
"Brooks said, ""We have at least 200,000 to 300,000 hate crimes in a given year."" Looking at the National Crime Victimization Survey does confirm his claim, with a 2012 report finding nearly 300,000 estimated victims of hate crime. And while the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program, an alternative method of data collection on hate crime, only found around 6,000 reported hate crimes in 2012, experts said it’s widely accepted that crimes are underreported with this method, mainly because of police non-participation and miscategorization. Admittedly, the survey does carry its own flaws related to possible overcounting, but experts tend to agree that it comes closer to accurately estimating the total number of hate crimes."
|
true
|
National, Criminal Justice, Crime, Race and Ethnicity, Cornell William Brooks,
|
"After the Charleston church shooting, residents of the South Carolina city came together to rally behind the families of the nine victims. One notable moment came during suspect Dylann Roof’s arraignment, when a relative of one of the dead told him, ""You hurt me. You hurt a lot of people. But God forgives you. I forgive you."" Some pundits see the response as proof that race relations in the United States are improving; others are more skeptical, with many pointing out that the number of hate crimes committed has remained stubbornly steady and worryingly high. NAACP President Cornell William Brooks falls firmly into the latter category. ""The level of hate crimes in this country has remained constant over years,"" he said on Face the Nation. ""We have to allocate resources to address these hate groups and these hate crimes. The fact of the matter is, the Justice Department underestimates the degree of hate crimes in this country because they have to rely on self-reporting. That is a challenge. And the fact that we have at least 200,000 to 300,000 hate crimes in a given year is unconscionable and inconsistent with our values as Americans."" Brooks’ claim about the number of hate crimes surprised us, so we decided to see if we could confirm the number. Conflicting collections Written for the purpose of collecting statistics on the phenomenon, the Hate Crime Statistics Act defines hate crimes as ""crimes that manifest evidence of prejudice based on race, gender and gender identity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity."" There are two main programs for data collection on hate crimes in the United States. The first is the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program, known as UCR, which aggregates voluntary data from law enforcement agencies around the country. The agencies reported 5,796 hate crime incidents for 2012, much lower than the amount Brooks claimed. But the UCR program relies solely on crimes that are reported to the police. In an attempt to account for crimes not reported to the police, the federal government instituted the National Crime Victimization Survey in 1973. This household survey, currently conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, asks nearly 160,000 people annually whether or not they have been the victims of crime. In 2012, the survey estimated that 293,800 hate crime victimizations occurred, well in line with Brooks’ statement. So, what accounts for this surprising discrepancy? For one, the two methods simply approach the problem differently. The FBI program asks the police to report the number of hate crimes they have logged in a year, while the survey asks possible victims if they have experienced a hate crime. Beyond that, however, there are serious questions about how the methodology of each study affects its results. To begin with, the UCR program is generally considered highly susceptible to underreporting as a result of agency non-participation. ""There is a structural and institutional problem, which is that a lot of agencies aren’t participating,"" said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University. ""For instance, states with the highest percentage of African-Americans are participating least in the program, but 31.3 percent of victims are African-American. They’re the single largest group victimized."" Levin also cited the unbelievably low numbers of reported hate crimes in states such as Alabama (six) and Mississippi (four) as proof that agencies frequently fail to aggregate and report the number of hate crime incidents they process. The FBI’s participation rates further corroborate Levin’s assertion. The Anti-Defamation League compiled a table from the FBI data showing that in 2013 there were 85 cities with populations greater than 100,000 that either reported no hate crimes, or failed to report at all: notable cities on the list include Miami, Tulsa, Tampa, and Honolulu. (Hawaii’s police agencies have not reported a single incident in the past two years.) Furthermore, local police officers may be incapable of properly identifying hate crimes when they are reported to them. A study on crime classification errors by James Nolan of West Virginia University found that officers undercounted hate crimes by 67 percent. Finally, experts told us some victims are reluctant to report incidents to the police. Immigrants, for example, can oftentimes perceive the language barrier as insurmountable, while other victims have grown up in an environment where reporting a crime to the police is not socially acceptable. For its part, the National Crime Victimization Survey avoids many of these issues, since it simply asks victims of a crime whether or not they think they were targeted because of bias related to their membership in a protected category (those listed in the law). On the other hand, that means the survey may overcount the incidence of hate crimes; Levin suggests that respondents ""might be reporting biased incidents that aren’t crimes, or crimes that they think are prejudice-related but aren’t."" Nevertheless, the general consensus among experts is that the survey numbers come much closer to telling the truth than the FBI reports. Our ruling Brooks said, ""We have at least 200,000 to 300,000 hate crimes in a given year."" Looking at the National Crime Victimization Survey does confirm his claim, with a 2012 report finding nearly 300,000 estimated victims of hate crime. And while the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program, an alternative method of data collection on hate crime, only found around 6,000 reported hate crimes in 2012, experts said it’s widely accepted that crimes are underreported with this method, mainly because of police non-participation and miscategorization. Admittedly, the survey does carry its own flaws related to possible overcounting, but experts tend to agree that it comes closer to accurately estimating the total number of hate crimes."
|
35095
|
A map from Johns Hopkins University that shows the spread of COVID-19 contains malware.
|
What's true: Generally speaking, malicious actors have tried to spread malware via various online maps by disguising it as information from credible sources about the global spread of COVID-19. What's false: However, the real-time map from Johns Hopkins University showing the spread of COVID-19 is itself safe and does not contain malware.
|
mixture
|
Technology, COVID-19
|
In March 2020, as the outbreak of the novel coronavirus grew into a global pandemic, worried citizens of the world took to the internet in search of information about the disease caused by the virus, COVID-19. They turned to organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to get an accurate picture of how fast the disease was spreading, where cases were being reported, and what they should do to keep themselves (and their communities) safe. Johns Hopkins University also provided a valuable resource in the form of a real-time map that showed how the disease was spreading around the globe. At the time of this writing, the map from Hopkins’ Coronavirus Research Center shows 137,445 total confirmed cases that have resulted in just over 5,000 deaths. This is a genuine map from Johns Hopkins that is safe to access here. Unfortunately, malicious actors saw the heightened concerns about COVID-19 as an opportunity to start spreading misinformation and malware. On March 9, 2020, Reason Security released a report stating that maps similar to the one above were being used to trick people into downloading malware: As global awareness of a Coronavirus pandemic gradually gives way to full out panic, and as governments begin ramping up their efforts to combat the virus and protect its citizens, global news agencies find themselves racing to answer the public’s demand for accurate information about new Corona related infections, deaths, transmissions, etc. This demand creates a vulnerability that malicious actors have quickly taken advantage of by spreading malware disguised as a “Coronavirus map”. Reason Labs’ cybersecurity researcher, Shai Alfasi, found and analyzed this malware that had weaponized coronavirus map applications in order to steal credentials such as user names, passwords, credit card numbers and other sensitive information that is stored in the users’ browser. Attackers can use this information for many other operations as well, such as selling it on the deep web or for gaining access to bank accounts or social media. Hacker News explained that this malware attack targets people who are searching for any maps about COVID-19 and tricks them into downloading a map with a file that runs a malicious application on the user’s computer. Once downloaded, the map appears similar to the legitimate map from Johns Hopkins shown above, but the software will actually compromise the computer and attempt to steal personal information, such as passwords and credit card information. The malware attack specifically aims to target those who are looking for cartographic presentations of the spread of COVID-19 on the Internet, and tricks them to download and run a malicious application that, on its front-end, shows a map loaded from a legit online source but in the background compromises the computer. The real map from Johns Hopkins is viewable online and does not require you to download any software to use it. You can access the real-time tracking map by visiting this website. This is the official URL from Johns Hopkins, and no indication exists that this site is unsafe or infected with malware. ESRI, the company that provided the geographic information system (GIS) software to create Johns Hopkins’ real-time coronavirus tracking map, attempted to clear up some of the confusion in a blog post. The company explained that the real online map found on Johns Hopkins’ site “does NOT contain any malware (and NEVER contained malware).” The reports from Hacker News and the like are referring to a scam that uses an impostor version of the Hopkins map to trick users into downloading malware. ESRI writes (emphasis ours): An increasing number of articles have been published on the Internet with unclear and sometimes misleading information concerning one of the primary dashboards for awareness concerning the spread of the Coronavirus. To be clear, the online map posted by Johns Hopkins University at https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html does NOT contain any malware (and NEVER contained malware). This popular dashboard web application is hosted by Esri as part of our ArcGIS Online offering.
|
9792
|
Experimental Drug Shows Promise Against Type 2 Diabetes
|
This story explains that the results are preliminary and gives readers the right basic information about the study, but the study’s findings and its limitations warranted more explanation. As the story notes, we have been down this road before with diabetes drugs. Avandia was promoted as a breakthrough for people with diabetes until 2010 when it was found to cause heart attacks. Because diabetes affects so many people worldwide, it is especially important to take a hard look at the evidence for any new drug being touted. The story went part of the way but could have asked a few more tough questions in the same amount of space. This early, drugmaker-funded study only examined outcomes for three months, and additional studies that follow patients over a longer period of time examining harms and benefits will be needed before this drug hits the market.
|
true
|
Diabetes,HealthDay
|
It’s too early to discuss costs for this specific drug, although some mention of the costs of competing drugs would have been helpful. The story only gives percentage differences when talking about the hypoglycemia risk. The actual benefit in lowering blood sugar levels is vague. It says, “After 12 weeks, all the patients taking the different doses of TAK-875 had significant drops in their blood sugar levels, the researchers said. A similar reduction occurred in patients taking glimepiride. However, the incidence of episodes of hypoglycemia was much lower among patients taking TAK-875 (2 percent) than among those taking glimepiride (19 percent) and the same as those taking the placebo (2 percent).” There are numbers attached to the potential harms, but there is so little context that it would be hard for readers to make any sense of the numbers. It says, “The incidence of treatment-related side effects was 49 percent among patients taking TAK-875, 48 percent among those in the placebo group, and 61 percent among those in the glimepiride group, according to the researchers.” What does this mean, exactly? What specific types of side effects were experienced, and were some of them severe? The story provides a concise explanation of the way the trial was conducted. It mentioned that this was a Phase II clinical trial, but it never explained that this a phase of investigation in which the researchers are trying to figure out the most effective dose of the medication that has the least amount of side effects. It is not designed primarily to show anything about how well the drug works. Yet the story emphasized “shows promise” in the headline. It is essential to convey to readers the preliminary nature of this research news – especially given the track record of past diabetes drug developments – mentioned in the story. A little more information about the limitations of drawing conclusions from Phase II study findings could have been easily and concisely added to the article. The story does not engage in disease mongering and instead offers a brief and accurate description of the disease. It says, “Type 2 diabetes is the more prevalent form of the disease, accounting for about 90 percent of cases. Often tied to obesity, type 2 diabetes involves a gradual decline in how insulin responds to changes in blood sugar (glucose).” The story says clearly that the study was funded by the company making the drug being studied: “The study was funded by Takeda Pharmaceutical (which is developing the drug), and appears online Feb. 26 in The Lancet.” The story also includes two valuable comments from independent researchers. Dr. Loren Wissner Green says that, “until more is known about short-term and long-term cardiovascular effects, we need to proceed with moderated enthusiasm for each new drug and drug mechanism.” And Dr. Minisha Sood, says that “further investigation is warranted, especially including [heart disease] patients.” The story does not directly compare alternatives, but it puts the experimental drug in the right context through comments from Dr. Loren Wissner Greene. “She noted that glitazones — a separate class of newer drugs such as Rezulin, Avandia and Actos that also target insulin resistance — have all shown initial promise in clinical trials before worrisome side effects began to surface in users (Avandia was recently withdrawn from the U.S. market due to heart risks).” Right in the headline, the story shows that the drug is not widely available, calling it “experimental.” Also, the lead of the story says that the findings are “according to the results of a phase 2 clinical trial.” However, the story did not specifically clarify that this drug has years to go before it ever reaches the market. The story includes this appropriate caveat in the context of “novelty”: In a journal commentary, Clifford Bailey of Aston University in Birmingham, England, cautioned that, “on the journey to approval of a new class of treatment for type 2 diabetes, many questions will be asked of [drugs such as TAK-875],” including questions of how long they might remain effective, as well as safety issues. The story does not rely on this press release from the University of Michigan.
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.