#maybe ill conduct a peer review

[if-mirrormine]

hello, it is I, Loca anon. I too think of that ask a lot! I can’t believe it’s been a little over a year already 😭

how the hell have you been, loca?

[manunliving]

Thoughts on "Independent Research"

As an educator who teaches rhetorical argument, the seemingly exponential rise of misinformation and disinformation practices over this past year is disheartening. It could be argued that these issues were always there, and certainly there is merit to this argument. However, they were not nearly as pervasive until social media made it easier to simply remain misinformed than to actually critically approach an issue.

My main concern is with the concept of research being lobbed about. This is largely because part of critical thinking and rhetoric is in fact learning to research information, and so the rise of the "conduct your own research" mentality feels very much like a personal attack. And that is, perhaps, quick to the core of the problem: feelings. Research has no true emotional core. Actual research and professional researchers know to separate their personal feelings from the work. After all, in scientific research, the goal is rarely ever to validate one's beliefs or theorem, but to attempt to disprove what is believed or thought. If this attempt to disprove cannot be done, then ultimately what is left has a stronger grain of truth.

But whenever I see the phrase "independent research," it is almost always connected to an article that was just shared from another social media poster and glanced at by the sharer, or a video of a compelling but ultimately unsubstantiated speaker speaking buzz words and jargon that sound official. Research goes beyond the content of the document or video and digs into context, the true home of critical thought and meaning. I could tell you right now that I am a scientist who has studied respiratory problems for years, then immediately follow it up with scary sounding words like "cancer" or "hyper-transmissible" or tell you that breathing in smoke is a harmless way to burn out infected tissue. But the real problem here is that this claim would be a lie. Without taking the time to look into who I am as a writer, who I represent, how I may benefit from the written words of my content, and who may be supporting my work financially, all you have to go off of is how my words make you feel, and that is dangerous.

In rhetoric, there are three primary paths to reaching one's audience. The one that is most pervasive, and sadly the most effective in the short-term, is the appeal to emotion. Get them laughing, crying, fearing, angry, and you can get them to react. And this is the current state. Parties interested in perpetuating misinformation have worked diligently to ensure that this reactionary response is where most viewers stop. The common thread in most of these misinforming posts is "You cannot listen to X person, because the system itself is designed to corrupt." And this brings us to the second audience appeal: an appeal to authority and credibility, which misinformation attacks, very successfully. The truth is, I have read many studies surrounding medical issues & treatments. Some have been fantastic and enlightening into how to combat potentially deadly illness. Others are designed to simply engender an "us versus them" fallacy within the reader by pulling at the distrust and fear already present. Unfortunately, verifying credibility is a far slower process than simply reacting to a feeling, and so cunning liars can spread misinformation at a rate that is significantly higher than those interested in the truth can fact check.

And this brings me to the third appeal: an appeal to logic and fact. Two words that have become twisted in recent years by malicious demagogues. A fact must be empirically proven, but the meaning of the word in the vernacular lexicon has eroded until most recognize it as an alternative for any data point. Like with the appeal to authority, a good faith appeal to logic takes time and work. One cannot arrive at empirical truth immediately, and humans do not deal well with uncertainty. It is understandable why an article posted online that validates a believed thing would be comforting when the alternative is to accept a sort of powerlessness. But as an outsider to research, this powerlessness in the initial moments is an uncomfortable reality that needs to exist. To counter those with malicious intent, studies and articles need to be peer reviewed by experts in the field to disprove or confirm the findings of the initial study. And these peers have studied for years. Study in science is not a passive, laid-back approach. It is a process of curiosity and discovery, constantly evolving in ways that challenges the human understanding of reality.

And let me reiterate: this part is important. If a human does not regularly engage in critical self review, critical thought, and acts of curiosity guided by experts then engaging with research can be dangerous. It is easy to misinterpret results. I warn students quite often that when they present statistics in essays they need to be extra careful about how they frame the sentences around it. After all, complex considerations must be made about a study's population size, methods in the evaluation process, and how the researchers dealt with outliers and anomalies. I may be an expert in rhetorical reasoning and the written word, and an academician who values the scientific process, but I concede that when it comes down to the evaluation of scientific findings even I have to rely on those who are experts in the given field to help me understand what I am encountering.

Maybe that is really what is going on here: a sort of arrogance has taken root. A sense of rampant independence that to rely on another is to be weak. Asking for help, regardless of task, is difficult. Thanks to decades of propaganda, it feels almost anti-American to admit what seems like a weakness. It is easier to google a question or statement that is loaded in a way to bring back results that are ready to whisper in your ear, "Yes, you are right, it is the world that is wrong." But research is not easy. It takes time, and effort, and frustration quite often. It cannot be completed in most cases within a single day, and it certainly cannot be completed while sitting alone on a couch, or in a coffee shop, or on the toilet. If all your research returns to you are a string of articles that say you are right while so many others have it wrong, then I say instead to try and prove yourself wrong and remember to find out who it is that are writing these articles. Not everyone is an expert, and not everyone has good intentions.

[crispipaper]

A polite letter to J.K. Rowling By a transgender fan of Harry Potter (TW. Suicide and trauma)

Dear JKR, 

My name is Alex Hernandez, and I have identified as a Harry Potter fan since I was six years old, and a non-binary/ transgender individual since I was sixteen. I recently read your essay concerning your opinions about transgender individuals, and your claim that by providing information you were ‘protecting natal girls and women.’ I was extremely disappointed when I read your piece, both as a queer person and as a Harry Potter fan. The factual information you provided was ill-informed and often taken out of context. The opinions you shared were harmful to many members of the trans community, and perpetuated stereotypes that we have been trying to dismantle for years. 

What stood out to me most in your essay was the insinuation that the only way a person could truly be considered transgender is if they underwent hormone replacement therapy and/or gender confirmation surgery. This is simply incorrect, as there are many people (myself included) who happily identify as trans that have chosen to or cannot undergo those types of treatments. It also completely leaves out the identity of non-binary, a-gender and gender fluid individuals, who do not subscribe to the binary gender identities that accompany these types of treatment. It is also not as simple to gain access to these procedures as you seem suggest, even within your home country of the United Kingdom.

In your writing, you state that “a man who intends to have no surgery and take no hormones may now secure himself a Gender Recognition Certificate and be a woman in the sight of the law.” According to the official website for the government of the United Kingdom, a person who wishes to obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate must be over the age of 18, have documented proof of a diagnoses of gender dysphoria, have lived as their intended gender for at least two years, and intend to live as this gender for the rest of their life (https://www.gov.uk/apply-gender-recognition-certificate). This clearly shows that a person must provide more than just their word in order to gain legal recognition of their gender by the British government. You are correct that surgery and hormones are not prerequisites for obtaining a GRC, however, medically transitioning is not a prerequisite for being a trans person. 

You also cited a very controversial study performed by Doctor Lisa Littman the supports the theory of Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria. According to this study, children and young adults are more likely to come out to their parents as transgender after engaging online with other trans individuals. Dr. Littman claims that according to the survey she conducted (which was directed at parents of children who had recently come out as trans), gender dysphoria can just appears out of nowhere during puberty, and that internet forums and peer pressure is a large contributing factor to this. However, there are several things wrong with her writing. To start, the survey she conducted in order to obtain her data was targeted at parents of children who had recently come out as trans and only posted to websites that were about parents questioning their teen’s recent coming out. She asked irrelevant questions about the child’s mental health, including whether or not they had been diagnosed with a mental illness prior to coming out, or if they had experienced trauma at some past point in their life. Although I understand that the article was taken down and re-reviewed, the author did not rescind her findings, and simply used the republication as a way to clarify what she had previously stated.  

The other aspect of your writing that stood out to me as particularly harmful to the trans community and those questioning their gender identity was the supposition that one could just “choose” to be trans because they have experienced trauma. Your experience as a survivor of domestic and sexual assault are real and valid, and your trauma regarding these situations is real and valid. However, this does not give you the right to suggest that you might have chosen to transition during these times in order to escape abuse. Transitioning (in your case) from an Assigned-Female-At-Birth (AFAB) individual to a male identifying individual does not automatically exempt you from abuse and violence typically experienced by cis-gendered women. It is not a choice people make because they have experienced a trauma. It is a recognition of what has always been true to them, that they were previously unable to freely express. 

Here’s where you seem to be missing the point. People who choose to transition from a female to a male are not trying to “escape womanhood.” What they are doing is finding ways to freely express themselves in the most authentic and truest way. For example, say you were born with red hair. But for years and years your family was dying your hair brown because it was more “socially acceptable” to have brown hair. You knew that you had red hair, and that wasn’t something that anyone could take away from you, even if they were trying to cover it up or pretend like it was brown. And one day, you meet a group of people who have naturally red hair, who are flaunting their red hair and making a point of not dying it to fit societal standards. And maybe you don’t agree with what these people are doing, and you continue to dye your hair. Or maybe, you realize that you’ve always preferred having red hair, and now you’ve come across a space where it’s ok to be a red head. These people understand what it’s like to have their hair dyed for years and years, and want to embrace their naturally red hair. That’s how it is for trans people. A trans man was always a man, he was just born into a woman’s body, and socialized as a woman. But once they encounter other trans people, and realize that these people will accept and love him for his true self, then he will “come out” because he realizes that he was always a man and now finally feels comfortable expressing that. 

I also want to take this opportunity to share with you my own personal journey of gender exploration, since the stories of non-binary trans people are often overlooked and rarely heard. I was assigned female at birth. I was given a traditionally female first name, and socialized as a girl for the first sixteen years of my life. However, even as a little kid I had a sense that something wasn’t quite right. When I was younger, I really didn’t like my name, and always wished I could have been called Amber or Ashley. I knew that I was not the person I wanted to be, but I didn’t have the language or understanding to really figure out how I was feeling. As I grew up, I came to embrace my feminine name, and to enjoy traditionally feminine things such as princesses and makeup.

Fast forward to high school, when I was beginning to learn more about the LGBTQ+ community. Before I got to high school, I didn’t know a single queer person my own age. Existing on the internet at the time, I encountered many stories of trans people, but the only ones I ever saw were of binary trans individuals. I knew that I didn’t want to be a man, but I also knew that I didn’t really want to be a woman either. So I cut my hair short and started wearing clothes that showed off less of my figure and that attempted to obscure my female form. When I was fifteen, I was doing a presentation on LGBTQ+ identities for school, and came across the term “non-binary individual.” At the same time, I was taking a class where we were learning about the history of feminism, and how many ancient cultures saw femininity and masculinity less as physical forms and appearances, but rather as energies that a person could embrace. Both of these streams of information collided, and I suddenly realized I had words to describe how I’d been feeling this whole time. I didn’t want to identify as a binary woman, and I didn’t want to identify as a binary male. Instead, I wanted the language that would allow me to feel comfortable traveling between these two energies. 

My personal definition of what it means to be a non-binary individual is a person who embraces both masculine and feminine energies, and can express themselves as one, neither or both. I keep my hair long and have chosen not to go on hormones or have reconstructive surgery partially due to trauma I experienced as a child, but also because I want to keep these aspects of feminine energy close to me. There are days where I feel more masculine, where I wear “mens” clothes and attempt to present as a more masculine individual. There are days where I want to feel more feminine, and I choose to wear skirts and makeup because that is what helps me to embrace my feminine energy. And there are days when I want to combine energies, so I will present myself as some combination of masculine and feminine presentations. 

All of this is just to say that when you, a person who has considerable influence especially on younger children, make these inflammatory statements and harmful claims, you are effectively telling children that this is not a world where they can be as authentic to themselves as possible. You are creating a hostile environment that encourages other people who share your ideas to be more vocal, which honestly does more harm than good. Many of those statistics that you quote about rising rates in teen and transgender suicide are often because people who feel forced to conceal their true identity would rather not exist in a world that won’t allow them to be who they really are. So if you are truly interested in changing public perception of transgender individuals, while continuing to support the education of children and the protection of women, I would suggest reading literature that directly opposes your view points, and having conversations with people (particularly trans people) who have real experiences and are willing to share them with you. 

Sincerely, 

Alex Hernandez (they/them)

[ducktracy]

92. buddy’s adventures (1934)

release date: november 17th, 1934

series: looney tunes

director: ben hardaway

starring: jack carr (buddy), bernice hansen (cookie), billy bletcher (king/cop)

ahhh, a promising start, right? anything telling you that buddy is on an adventure means it is just going to be CHOCK FULL of action packed fun! actually, the buddy cartoons WOULD take more of an adventurer turn, a trend adopted by some of the porky cartoons (most notably porky in wackyland). in an ill-fated hot air balloon ride, buddy and cookie end up in “sourtown”, where the residents aren’t nearly as open to accepting buddy’s optimism.

a good start to the cartoon: buddy dumping sand bags off an ascending hot air balloon, accompanied by an anxious cookie. buddy has gotten his final redesign—i like it a lot! i think it looks much better than his earl duvall version. he appears much more likable and cute. cookie’s also gotten another redesign, both reverting to their tom palmer roots in a way.

buddy exercises his genius by remarking “look, cookie! in a few minutes we’ll be on mars!” cookie laments “you and your dirty inventions, i wish i hadn’t come along! i’m afraid!” initially, i didn’t think much of the opening. i laughed at the ridiculousness of buddy suggesting they’ll go to mars—but now that i think about it, it’s a good opening. opening right in the middle of some “action”, establishing some personality. buddy makes inventions and has dreams of exploring, unflappable optimism benefitting him and him only. i think that’s cute! maybe i’m just desperate for any shred of personality in these darn characters.

buddy laughs in dismissal, saying “what’s there to be afraid of?” a lightning crack and boom of thunder put him in his place as he sinks in the basket, laughing sheepishly “must’ve been something i ate.” i think this is the most we’ve ever heard buddy talk in a cartoon. well, maybe not, but some cartoons he only says one word! it’s refreshing.

anthropomorphic storm clouds further put an end to buddy’s optimism, a cloud blowing the balloon around and another boxing it like a punching bag. there’s a strange scene as the surroundings around buddy and cookie melt, like a dream sequence. i was REALLY thrown off—is this the wizard of oz? another porky’s romance? wholly smoke? or the great piggy bank robbery? is it a cartoon surrounded by a demented dream? evidently it was just a jab at some cinematography, as everything focuses back to normal. i applaud them for trying something different, but it doesn’t deliver and comes off as vague and confused, motive muddled in time.

some snake storm clouds spit lightning at the balloon, snapping the lines to the balloon. buddy and cookie tumble in the air, the falling basket thankfully scooping them to relative safety. the basket slide across a few cliffs like a sled, and the couple skids past a sign that reads “TO LEMONIA — THE SOUR DOMAIN”. they narrowly skid under a bird (a dodo? buddy in wackyland?) who laughs as they whiz by... quickly eating his guffaws as an anchor hooks on the bird’s foot and drags it along.

an anthropomorphic castle swallows up buddy and cookie as they slide into their new domain, the sled breaking against a sign. buddy’s optimism is endearingly amusing as he announces “...well, here we are!”, refuted with a “alright, buddy, where are we??” from cookie. a sign welcoming them to SOURTOWN answers cookie’s inquiry. perhaps a neighboring town to the one in the rankin bass santa claus is coming to town special. rules include: NO LAUGHING, NO SINGING, NO DANCING, and NO JAZZ MUSIC. the past 92 cartoons broke down to their bare essentials!

of course, buddy laughs off the arbitrary rules, already setting himself up for danger. cookie scowls at him and points offscreen—a great gag of laurel and hardy in stocks, imprisoned for smiling and laughing respectively, laurel sniveling incomprehensibly.

nevertheless, buddy is undeterred as he leads cookie through the town, the two of them pausing to watch a trio of men saunter through the streets, accompanied by furtive music. the men gather in front of “YE PESSIMISTS CLUB” (relevant today, huh? and drink some vinegar, just to show us how really sour they are. it’s certainly coy but amusing. they sing about how they never laugh or smile, life just a bowl of lemons. i thought one of the laws was no singing, and yet they’re singing about how they hate singing?

good hearted buddy interrupts their groveling, correcting in a sing song voice “pardon me, but you’re all wrong. life is much more cheerful! that’s no way to sing a song, listen and get an earful!” he grabs the spare mandolin one of the curmudgeons had been using and sings a song of his own (haven’t found any indication as to what it is he’s singing). buddy is still pretty bland, but this is the most personality we’ve seen yet, and i enjoy it! i love my optimistic characters, so maybe that’s it. various animals and plants scat along with buddy, an angry woman closing her shutters and silencing any form of singing from the wildlife.

an amusing gag as a police officer takes off his hat and peers inside, a note reminding him that the laws include no dancing and no singing. hard to remember, ain’t it? he approaches buddy and cookie, the pessimists scramming at the sight of the cop. he tells him that they’re headed for the “sour pen”... that’s a new one! he rides away on his scooter, buddy and cookie shanghaied in a little box behind him.

we finally meet the king of sourtown, a man who sequences lemons on his head and drinks the juice. a beverage fit for a crabby king! i love how asinine this entire cartoon is. it reminds me not even of disney, but like a pseudo willy wonka setting. it’s nice that we actually have some story structure and plot, and that buddy and cookie converse with each other as have a sliver of personality to them.

the king spots buddy and cookie, insisting they’ll “be sentenced to the spanking hand.” sure enough, YE OLDE SPANKING MACHINE awaits. absurdly strange, but good! i suppose. this isn’t phenomenal, or great, even, but it’s a refreshing change from the monotony we’ve been seeing as of late. cookie asks “what do we do?”, to which buddy whispers back “leave it to me!” and whips out a harmonica from his pocket.

highly amusing to watch buddy blare the harmonica in the king’s face, running around to all sides of him and making sure to get up in his business. it reminds me of the droopy cartoons by tex at mgm, a little pest you can’t get rid of. tex’s the blow out would also serve as a precursor to those cartoons, porky in droopy’s place, and tortoise beats hare would be an expansion of the blow out. fascinating! anyway, buddy’s is delightfully annoying, on purpose this time. cookie dances to the harmonica music as a line of knights observe, the king exerting every effort not to succumb.

gradually, various knights themselves become inflicted with the jitterbug, one of the knights using a leg from a suit of armor as a saxophone. the king’s beard dances, as do his legs snapping together... finally, he admits defeat, declaring “it’s got me, pal! it’s got me!”

cookie conducts the knights, who join in on a chorus, and the whole town becomes enthralled with the power of music! the king shows off his slick moves, animation jaunty and appealing. he even slips off the rug and lands straight into YE OLDE SPANKING MACHINE (i love the YE OLDE), breaking into a fit of hysterics. back to buddy and cookie, who are sitting on the king’s throne, cookie sporting buddy’s hat. iris out as the two of them embrace.

with every review, i watch the cartoons twice. once for the initial reaction, and once when i’m going back and typing the whole shebang. first watch, i didn’t like it very much at all. i thought it was boring and coy, the ending where they all dance being the true highlight. but thank god for the second watch—this is now one of my favorite buddy cartoons, if not favorite. it’s not a fantastic cartoon by any means, it still leaves a lot to be desired, but it also fills SOME holes. buddy’s design is much more tolerable, boyish and cute. his optimism, albeit pretty one-dimensional, is very uplifting and endearing. the absurdity of the whole cartoon was very refreshing, and i’m glad we actually had some plot this time. it felt like a very subtle, subdued, distant relative to porky in wackyland. maybe because of the dodo bird in the beginning? it was an enjoyable cartoon, and i recommend it! it still isn’t perfect, the first half dragged on for quite awhile, but it actually stands out as a cartoon i can recognize and look back on in future reviews. the 1934 season has seldom been memorable.

link!

[susancook61-blog]

Electric Online games And Kids -- An alternative Mindset

Your "Wikipedia problem" which suggests children turning to internet with regard to ready made advice is definitely the new age happening perplexing lecturers in addition to advisors around the world. There are actually almost equal degrees of lecturers whom consider technological innovation as a answer as much as a difficulty. Although a frequent idea is technologies are blocking the actual kids' chance to consider along with investigate, gleam robust thoughts and opinions in support of video game titles along with a digital gadgets' capability to participate college students in addition to enrich understanding by employing many nerve organs stimulators. Despite the rising concern about the actual kids' extracting consideration covers, associations usually are including these in the process of school room finding out. Youngsters are basically questioning pets. There is a desire to find new stuff and discover via getting and experiments and before these are suffering from strategies for formal education and learning for instance looking through or even composing. Scientific discipline can be a self-control involving studies plus developments. The nation's Science Training Benchmarks stress which "science training ought to allow students a few styles of controlled skills as well as understandings. Learners need to read the foundations and concepts regarding science, choose the common sense as well as procedural expertise involving researchers, plus view the mother nature connected with technology to be a distinct form of man project. Learners for that reason must be able to invent as well as conduct investigations that check their ideas, and so they need to understand precisely why these investigations usually are uniquely potent. Studies show that will students less complicated quite likely going to understand as well as retain the ideas they've acquired using this method Inch. That's why, it becomes imperative to engage little ones inside scientific disciplines schooling within an early on. Digital camera games will be more qualified to attain kids' interests and a focus when compared with various other traditional methods of providing knowledge in the class room. On the other hand, many educationists additionally reverence these people because contributors with great loss of the attention span in children. The following parts on this page focus on the actual contribution of children around video games within the tech era, forms of video games you can buy and also the impression of digital camera game playing as mastering assists in schools. Gambling as well as the New Age Children Technology features expanded the actual creative outlets associated with game playing in the modern world. Students are put through much more intricate and complicated technical natural environment than his or her counterparts ended up being via about five decades backside. Effort of babies throughout electric gambling can be due to a lot of important modifications in the along with traditions on the community. Availability regarding technological know-how, dispensable cash flow because of dual income families in addition to absence of system regarding outdoor activities in several towns are a couple of big donors for making display online games a fundamental part of the actual children's' existence. A work by simply Centers for disease control plus Prevention (This year) found simply 20 % of your age prevents will be inside 50 % one mile of any prohibit edge. Also, the effects of pressure from peers should not be compromised these days regarding social networks. The digital video games market is among the list of swiftest expanding pieces on the world-wide fun field. People is usually watching unprecedented puncture involving a digital activities among young people. In the US, 97% of your adolescents enjoy some kind of online game regularly. Around The indian subcontinent, a game playing marketplace has grown manifold in the past three years. That's why, it can be very important of which educationists usually are continually contemplating the usage of electronic games as being a understanding tool within lecture rooms. Establishments are making use of modern strategies to power digital gain intended for raising the learning experience during schools. Precisely what are Electronic Game titles? There isn't any tangible purpose of games as it might range having an persons choice and also industry. Online games serves as a some sort of "system wherein people participate in synthetic discord, based on regulations, which result in a quantifiable outcome". slope unblocked and digitization create brand-new size for you to games the place models, communication, increased simple fact, different simple fact, group brains along with physical stimulators for example noise as well as vision effects. Digital camera video games are also seen his or her transportability plus infinite supply. Role-playing video game titles, simulator online games in addition to puzzles are some of the most favored a digital activities. Inside role-playing video games, the ball player enacts the role of any particular persona inside a online earth relocating from a single place to another according to the outcomes the old level. RPGs can be simple battler for example the dungeons and also mythical beasts coming from before occasions of gaming or maybe multi-player online games like Diablo Three, Xenoblade, Very last Illusion XIII-2 as well as Muscle size Impact Three or more. Online game or the Substantial Multiple On the net Role-Playing Video game titles are an extension cord from the RPGs wherever multitude of participants reacts in the on line electronic earth. Simulation online games develop practical predicaments around exclusive sides. The end result is dependent upon the performer's decision-making and responsiveness and will be intently just like just what could happen in a very actual inside the very same circumstances. Widely used within instruction along with evaluation, simulators video game titles also are preferred because of their unpredictable and personalized consequences. Flight Simulation Y, Live for Pace (LFS) and require with regard to Quickness happen to be extremely popular simulation activities for a long time. Questions genre connected with digital camera video game titles involves problem-solving and also investigation by using various examples of problems with respect to the mother nature of your online game. Crosswords as well as treasure hunts video game titles will be standard sorts of challenge games in real as well as electric form. Various electronic digital games include the social contribution of avid gamers. Some require collaborative attempts to play while others could possibly be outlined or perhaps reviewed culturally. Even with several activities remaining charged with outright crazy aesthetic results, a new well-designed video game can easily hasten the actual attitude by means of pushing, engaging, relating to creativeness along with developing a meta-game i.ourite., sociable relationships influenced that has been enhanced in or outside the adventure. Incorporating electronic digital gaming within the basic education and learning composition can lead to enhanced competition and also multi-dimensional rise in small children. A digital Video games with Scientific disciplines Knowledge - The reason why why not? The actual 21st century needs the gurus plus the pupils to integrate technology in to the curriculum. However the ultimate aim is to profit the students when it comes to understanding in addition to expertise, not being watched, disorganized or perhaps inconsequential use may lead to full inability and have adverse reactions. A lot of the detrimental influences with electronic video game titles generally as well as in circumstance together with the training are highlighted below: Digital video game titles are actually experiencing continuous rebuke regarding purportedly boosting hostility among kids and also developing a chaotic streak in an early on. In the study by way of Anderson and also Bushman (Mid 2001), Children involved in severe video gaming will probably have gone up aggressive thoughts, emotions, in addition to actions, along with lessened prosocial aiding. Use of tools plus getting compensated internet marketing crazy is really a cause of common dilemma. Digital video games is often enslaving for youngsters and produce these folks bodily less active. Digital game titles, apart from social networking, are believed to be pertaining to diminished physical exercise ultimately causing being overweight with boys and girls along with posture along with bone issues. Addiction so that you can video games has proven to produce boys and girls socially quiet. Spontaneous behavior, despression symptoms plus enhanced stress amounts are generally generally attributed to abnormal video games in youngsters. A number of research furthermore propose that the family playing games are unable to emphasis for a long span and have absolutely lowered attention period. Children are given to diffusing culturally unwanted tendencies as a result of many electric online games such as using profanities plus ill-treating the lighter sexual intercourse. Deficiency of ample information about screening process the material available on the internet can be a increasing issue amongst the dad and mom. Digital games are considered a hindrance to higher operation within teachers. Learners will often be discovered in order to omit research to play video game titles resulting in worsened efficiency in class. Even so, inspite of its track record while supplements connected with hatred and also disorder, electronic digital activities currently have in reality been shown to help you kids study knowledge, information, and also critical "21st-century" capabilities. Through a digital activities young children can easily master: written content (from rich vocab for you to scientific disciplines to help history), skills (from literacy so that you can math to be able to complex problem-solving), development of artifacts (through videos for you to software rule) and also programs thinking (how changing one ingredient has effects on relationships as one). Strong quarrels simply working with electronic digital video game titles while studying supports in additional education and learning are usually abbreviated below: Digital activities require excessive hand-eye dexterity in addition to greatly enhance generator and also nerve organs capabilities. Physical pleasure theory proposed by means of academician Laird (1985) validates of which powerful understanding happens when the feelings tend to be activated. Even though some study shows of which digital gambling lowers consideration amount, you'll find powerful facts involving much better awareness in brief time intervals of your energy. Electronic video games entail maintaining a tally of the information, continue with the regulations along with react actively on the presented situation. Complex electric video game titles guidance is acquiring problem-solving and decision-making expertise. Several online games as well require reasonable investigation predicament along with style identification as well as develop trying to remember as a result assisting within the mental procedure. Taking part in by way of the rules teaches youngsters to accept along with admire a clear degree of self-discipline. Multi-player digital games create a sensation of beneficial competing perspective. Collaborative game titles in addition enhance team-building mind-set. They will produce personal time management inside of a team and also coach the members so that you can directly with regard to along needed aim. They coach members of the squad to accept beat along with focus on better effects. Digital camera activities produce an road intended for overactive kids for you to strong the power inside of a optimistic procedure primarily based activity. In addition they present an wall socket release a out and out aggression plus aggravation, therefore assisting around diffusing worry. A few activities in addition call for physical exercise for instance Psp 3000 kickboxing aiding kids to have interaction physically and mentally with all the young children. Elaborate a digital video games involve dangerous with multitasking hence increasing brain's natural understanding course of action. 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Online games have to have the form of feeling that we start to use today since they apply real learning because foundation for diagnosis. That they exam but not only present-day skills and knowledge, but additionally preparing to get long run discovering. Many people determine Twenty-first century abilities similar to effort, development, output, and style through following many kinds of real information in regards to a college student, after some time.

[winterdeepelegy]

RP Log: Trials and Revelations - Part 2

Frost continued on with his explanation, "In our ongoing idleness, he sought to use my Brothers and Sisters to further his own experiments, in the development of a more powerful living weapon, and to do so, this meant their lives would be sacrificed, their bodies repurposed, or at least parts of them which were to be combined with others.  This also included drastic physical mutations inflicted upon them by chemical means.  If any of us were ever 'beasts', it was solely due to this.  If any of us have been 'abused', it was due such a drastic level of suffering being inflicted upon them, with or without anyone else's consent.  One of my Sisters returned to us missing most of her skin... this was months ago, now, and she is still in recovery." He took a breath and added, "We are opposed to Theius' experiments for these reasons.  You want to see us as beasts?  It was solely because a Pureblood intended for us to be seen that way.  I will also add that there are Purebloods among us now, too, as mentioned in my recent letter.  Are they any less for what they've received from Pyr Sylvanius?"

“You realize then if we approve of pyr Sylvanius’ request, you will likely go back to being idle and obsolete”, he said merely playing devil’s advocate at this point, and really pissing Lillium off below her hard shell. The door opened again to have another militia official step inside. Moka could pick up the weight and clatter of the highly complex, decorated armor. Each footfall fell heel first, then slowly rolled. Clack, thump. Clack, thump.

Ember jumped in her chair, the sound standing out for the weight of it. Where people came in fancy shoes for the most part, they made a distinct rubber sound. This...was not that. She didn't just twist in her chair; she turned her legs to the side, in the direction Glace had sat, thankfully, so she didn't bang knees with anybody.

Moka would be passed by a giant of an individual that rivaled Terra in size. The mountain of armor and twisting designs signified the presence of a tribune. With a guiding cane, that likely doubled as a gun if the military was to be known, the man stopped in the isle and rested both hands on this black, glossy stick. He spoke, loud and low, “Your honor.”  The voice was Lysander, the size was wrong, the weight was impossible for a man. He had no signal of any subject. “My apologies for this tardiness.” The helm adjusted its angle to stare a hole through the back of Frost’s head. “I was met with a highly inconvenient set of circumstances.”

Frost's jaw tightened.  Behind the shades, he was probably BlueScreened.  Son of a bitch…

So much for uncoiled muscles. Everything about her went high tension from the tip of her ears to the end of her tail, which fluffed and went perfectly still. Her eyes tracked the figure intently, torn between so many feelings she wasn't sure WHAT to do with herself...from the impulse to run all the way to attack for the...wrongness. Her hand moved slightly across her lap...but there wasn't anything to reach -for-, leaving her fingers flexing in blank, empty air.

At length, 178 slowly turned his head to regard the armored figure for a moment before turning his eyes back to the council.  It afforded him a moment long enough to regain his ability to breathe, "Lord Theius.  How very good of you to join us."  Flat tone, no more or less emotion than he's displayed thus far.  This whole thing boded ill... he wondered how long the council knew, and how much they'd been paid.

When the man approached, the stark difference in his own height set him well above Frost and Lillium, but perhaps it was the helmet. His shoulders were so broad, and he stepped so carefully it was as if he was walking along each support beam through the floor. “No thanks to a set of Imperial Shadows who saw fit to crash my ship ride home”, he immediately accused, bringing the entire council to a bit of a stand still. “E-excuse me?” One of the men stammered. “We are most thrilled to see you return well, but the media must be notified of your return. What do you mean you were attacked by Shadows?” Theius lifted his head and spoke calmly, “Perhaps it is something we can discuss before you transfer my hard work back into obsoletion.”

174 dropped her jaw. Shit. Her eyes went to Glace - remember what he had told her, everything he had mentioned. And then to Mother. She had to do something...step in, remind them of a hearing? She was on the edge of her chair again, wondering wildly if she could reach Frost in time if she had to, if an attempt to restrain him was going to be made...if the accusations were going to get worse. The why's and how's seemed kinda paltry by comparison... ...not to mention she needed to let someone else know too. And why was he alone?

“Certainly”, Lysander began, “Such discussions can be completed here given you have a witness to the attack present right now. Let the media suspect whomever it wants. This discussion may prove or disprove the viability of this transfer.” The center judge, still a bit shocked, gestured a hand to the helmed man. “Lord Theius, I mean no disrespect, but given the accusations and your disappearance, and the convenience of your arrival, I am going to ask you to remove your helm in the presence of my court. Then we can continue.” The giant didn’t hesitate. He set the cane against a nearby desk so he could reach up and draw his helmet off his head. The visage was definitely, without  doubt, Theius. He looked up at the council, two blue eyes, a central third eye glossy and bright, and the only thing showing was a bit of scruff on his jaw and an ashy tone to his skin. With his identity revealed, the elder judge nodded his head with some disbelief. “Let the court continue the hearing.”

Witnesses were different than evidence, he mused in silence.  All the while, he felt Sheol grinning at the back of his mind, taunting 'You really should have gone to Azys Lla first... but we can work with this if we must... it will be messy.' Frost barely inclined his head to the council to continue.  He had no reason to think they were done questioning him just from what they had written on the docket.

Theius spoke to explain himself, “Before the crash occurred, I was happened upon by a group of rogue shadows who knew full well the transportation ship was Imperial owned. The group was large, but I likely can pick them out in a line up if given the chance. They are the reason for my absence, but my health is restored, and I request that this transfer be canceled and the power of the courts be moved to smoking out the treasonous Shadows that made the attempt on my life, and killed innocent medical personnel. ‘ “Lord Theius, can you testify if any of the subjects under pyr Sylvanius’ guide interfered with this incident, were present, or had any hand resulting in the absence that could keep you from this hearing today?”

Frost's eyes closed behind his shades and remained that way, waiting…

Scooted to the end of her chair, right foot forward, looking ready to move at a seconds notice...and she was.

Theius looked towards Frost to study him fully, and maybe let time drag on just a bit more so the burrs pulled at his flesh as seconds crawled by. He would turn back and answer, “None, your honor. I believe pyr Sylvanius is taking advantage of a convenience made by the traitors. I stand before you now to request that the transfer be canceled. Units still listed under my name are to be left to finish their advancement.” “A number of accusations have been made against your methods saying you inflict harm, or torture, on your subjects. How do you reply?” “I have worked under pyr Sylvanius for the duration of my career before I was promoted. I assure you the methods I use are all detailed in my reports as evidence, and are available at Solus for review. All of which are designed under pyr Sylvanius’ design, and each subject is provided ample support during and after surgeries. If there is any suffering to be had, it is the removal of my subjects from this support before they are completed.’

Under the back of his shirt was a frozen line running the entire length of his spine where his own sweat had turned to ice.  Frost remained still and visibly calm, but inside, he was screaming and confused, and Sheol was having a laugh riot over it all.  There was nothing he could do to silence the beast. His eyes opened, but narrowed.  "And Mother can also furnish copies of duplicate reports if the court would like to compare the ones in the Solus files."  He hated putting the woman on the spot, but if anything could disprove Theius' argument, it would be testing the freshness of the ink it was written with.  "Frumentarium, as well, maintains records of -all- experiments conducted."

He lifted his head a few degrees to peer directly up at Theius-bot over the top edge of his shades, "That is still correct isn't it, my Lord?"

“Correct. If it will please the court, I have a request of my own”, Theius answered then nodding to the central judge. “As a show of my advancements and proof that the subjects are to be used well under my directive, and not left idle, and given a chance at life, I would like to request a transfer from pyr Sylvanius to my own team, to which the courts, Frumentarium and Academy can observe.” Lillium was ready to burst, her eyes so icy cold and stone hard with rage. If he took her Frost, there would be hells to raise. There wasn’t a damn thing she could do in her position either. “That is an extensive audience. We will grant your request for a temporary transfer. Shall you negotiate a subject exchange with the Optio here, or do you have a specific unit in mind?” “I do, your honor.”

Frost smirked, the first visible sign of emotion since he was called forward.  Another inward 'son of a bitch...'

“I specialize in taking the forgotten subjects of the Colossii and repurposing them with viable bodies. I have the perfect refurbishment idea in mind, and I request that unit 76 be transferred to Solus.” “I object”, Lillium nearly interrupted him. “76 is not fit for transfer.” “Precisely why she would benefit from an improvement.”Ember jerked so hard in her chair that it actually dislodged back from under her, skittering backwards after almost falling over. She didn't look at Frost - she knew his reaction would be along the same as her own, if not a bit more contained...or even more outward. She was staring at Lillium. She couldn't...she -wouldn't- let that happen, would she? The Elezen uttered the first sound of protest - the start of a growl - but caught himself. "With respect to the courts, 76 is delicate.  The procedures inflicted upon the others by Theius were of an extreme, stressful, and incredibly painful nature.  She would not survive the process." “Methods that are reserved for units within the second and third tiers. Unit 76 is a tier one, the most basic. She will get a long awaited upgrade to classify her before undergoing any additional advancement. Basic units are easily upgraded to accessory units with the injection of a sterile, benign hive of nanobots. Once her resilience is proven to the courts, I can also show that my support systems are appropriate.” “Your support systems are sedatives and painkillers”, Lillium argued coldly. “As are the protocols within any medical facility, Optio.”"At least he admitted to his brutality, finally. I would," raised a hand to interject over the debating around him, "ask for the council to review the results of the experiments conducted on my Brothers and Sisters up to this point, including the visible images of mutations and deformities sustained as a result before making such a decision.  An upgrade of this nature could just as easily be conducted by Pyr Sylvanius in more comfortable and familiar surroundings." “The point of this transfer isn’t to show the methods of the past”, Theius argued gently. “Allow me to work on 76, and I will transfer three of my works back to Pyr Sylvanius for her to observe and test for herself the new nature of her familiar units with my handiwork. Let the appropriate personnel follow the works.” Lillium was furious, but she could reclaim three right there, in a way she didn’t prefer. She still didn’t approve. “76 is not fit for transfer”, she remained firm."We have no guarantee that your present methods are any better than your past ones," he grumbled, yet still kept his tone in check.  Lillium gave him a card to play and he was determined to play it to the fullest extent, and for as long as possible.  "I would request to have proof of the current methods before anyone else is subject to it." “Given I have just walked myself to this hearing, I will transfer the appropriate documentation once I can get proper transfer back to Solus, under military guard”, Theius demanded. “Granted. Deliver the necessary documentation and we will gather again to discuss a temporary transfer of multiple units for experimental purposes. Pyr Sylvanius, unfortunately, I must deny your request for transfer of the whole sect. However, if the tribune is unable to prove his methods, then we will reconsider.” Lillium shut her eyes so the fire didn’t shoot out of them. She bowed her head and growled, “Of course, your honor.” "Wait!" She was the rest of the way up before she even realized it. Though amongst all the larger Garleans, she still very much looked like a bright pink midget. She hesitated, then set her face. "Uh..I'd like to..propose something.", with a complete lack of social etiquette for such a thing. Hands down at her sides, she spoke anyway. "Brother Frost and Mother weren't lying...76 is...special. She's capable but she's...", she bit her lips. They didn't care about that. "...I'd request to go with her. She knows me. If she's calmer, feels safer, the results should be...more accurate right?", her ears pinned themselves back. "Sister!"  he barked.  Not only had she spoken out of turn, but she outright -volunteered- to go.  Right when they had this under control for the moment… “Optio, keep your units in order”, the judge called out gesturing to have Moka sit back down. “Request denied,  unit 174. Sit.” Theius practically purred his response, “Now, now, let’s not keep these men and women silenced. 174, Ember, is showing a love for her companion subject. It will prove all the more how well my methods are, especially if one of the optio’s own is willing to jump so willingly to observe.” “Present the documents, Lord Theius, and we will consider the double transfer with the verbal consent of unit 174 to accompany unit 76 for this. Unit 174 is to report to Pyr Sylvanius and the courts frequently throughout the process if approved.” She didn't dare look at Frost - it didn't matter if she had the mask for a shield or not. She kept herself standing, even though her knees did give a little jolt to bent when she was told to sit. When Theius spoke in favor, she felt an odd rush that echoed in her ears, as if she were suddenly under water...relief or...something else? Maybe both. At least this way...she could be with 76. And report to Mother...that was good. It had to be good. Frost's eyes flicked up at Theius again with his mocking tone.  He knew he didn't see any of them as people, and the snideness was evidence of that.  He took a slow breath and exhaled it, steeling his calm once more and looking back to the council.  He wasn't sure if they were about to adjourn, or if there was more.Lillium requested a final time before the gavel fell, “I would like a word with my unit before this transaction is completed. Surely the tribune will require time to get his things in order, and I can properly counsel my subject.” “Granted”, the elder nodded. “You both have your orders. This meeting will recess until further notice. Dismissed.” He picked up the gavel and gave a single hammer down to end the meeting. "Thank you, Your Honors."  With the council departing, he snapped a sharp salute and waited until they were out of the room to let his shoulders sag. He looked to Lillium with concern. Lillium, sorely battered by all this, kept her firm glare forward at that damned chair where that damned man called the order of this court. Her jade eyes slid to the man who arrived, one she surely wished would drop dead right there. Theius would be soon joined by the few militia and a lone medicus that arrived earlier. “ The media will be thrilled to hear of your survival story”, she said half spitting. “I owe it to my technological advancements”, he said proudly. ”I knew you may bring a few of your own with you, so I made sure to silence myself before my arrival. No need to cause more of a commotion than it did.” "Hmph... how thoughtful,” Frost drawled.So that was why.... Her ears went back even further. Still right where she was, waiting. Even if she saw a bright side to it, she was still fairly certain she was in a deep amount of trouble. Frost shook his head and stepped off to Lillium's side, "We can depart when you're ready, Mother."  He wanted very much to not stay any longer than they already had because he wasn't sure which orifice was going to let go first once they were 'safe'. Theius waved them off  and Lillium sought to collect both Frost and Ember before anything could intercept them. “Let’s go, you two”, she ordered. “We are leaving.” “I look forward to the next hearing, Sylvanius”, he spoke out lifting a hand up to tap a small device on his breastplate. The setting in that stopped the hammer that dampened his subject signal, allowing it to pour over the court in an echoing frequency that was unlike any of the three tiers. It rang low, but powerful as a tier 3 would be, but with the implication that it was beyond that. Other units hearing this frequency, even for the first time, would be instantly alerted to an excessively powerful being nearby. Even the MT code warning signal just barely equaled the feeling this signal carried. The Miqo’te waited until Mother was close before she started to turn...but when the code unleashed she froze. Pinned back ears couldn't save her now as goosebumps went up and down the length of her arms. She whipped around, unwilling to leave her back to someone - something - like that, fists not brandished, but fingers curled as if she still wore the metal fitted over claws over each digit. Glued focus on Father, slow breath through parted lips. Frost scowled and stepped up behind Embersong and dropped both hands onto her shoulders.  He'd steer her toward the door if he had to, he didn't care if he had his back turned to Theius since he'd had his backside to him most of the time he was present.  And as far as he was concerned, it was the only side the old man was entitled to see.  "Come along, Sister. The sooner we put some space between ourselves and this place the better." “Move on, 174. I’m sure I will see each other soon enough”, Theius answered her hesitance back. He waved his hand, and the signal seemed to shift in a frequency that subjugated those who could hear it with the pressure it exerted. Even if Moka wanted to engage, the feeling she would get would be that of a challenge she could not win. Her programming would tell her to back down immediately. She flared her nose, pressing her lips together so hard that they blanched completely white beneath the lipstick. No teeth...don't... Frost's guidance helped; turning her away and directing her towards the door, feeling her feet shuffle but thankfully not tangle up in one another. "...Right. Right.", she wasn't even sure to what she was answering anymore. Frost followed wherever Lillium led them, whether it was to somewhere providing accommodations, or to a waiting transport.  He almost hoped for the former... just in case. Lillium would lead them back to the transport ship that would swiftly lead them back to the castrum. She was bothered. Highly bothered, by so many things. So many questions she didn’t want answers for. “Get in the ship. We will talk on the way home.” She furiously slammed the lift gate button to lower it down on the transport ship. Ember felt...better-ish, at least, for being further away and outside. Less closed I'm trapped and stifled. The anger pouring off of Lilium in practically tangible waves however was hard to miss. As soon as the lift was down, she started up the ramp..then paused. "Mother...I...", she wasn't sure what to say, the rest of anything and everything else wedging like a hard lump in her throat. He boarded the ship and immediately sank into a seat with all the bonelessness of a bag of popotos.  He patted for one pocket with a visibly shaking hand, but failed to find what he sought.  With alarm, he started patting and searching for other pockets until he had the one thing he wanted, a single, tightly wrapped, fragrant cigar.  This, he pinched between his teeth and resumed searching for something to light it with and grumbled when he found nothing.  Instead, he simply gnawed pointlessly at it and slouched forward with his elbows on his knees and stared at his shaking hands.  All the frozen sweat under his hair and clothes liquefied at once, leaving the Survivalist to look like he'd just walked through a downpour in his dress uniform. Lillium manned the ship to get them home, but she was sorely defeated by all this. Everything just seemed to shatter and fall around her. She didn’t know what to say to Ember, still debating it as they flew into the air. How could she prove Theius was a monster when she had her own jumping to offer themselves up? She cursed 271. Cursed him silently every minute of the flight for whatever he had done to 174. 174 sat quietly before the ship took off, fingers nimbly fitting the belt in to place. All her of her nervous habits took a back seat to just staring down at her hands without really seeing them, thoughts all turned inwards and ears down low...how she was going to tell some. What else this would mean. How angry Mother and Frost had been. The scolding of the court...they had turned over everything and now 76 would be with her… "This... this isn't a defeat," he muttered hoarsely, "Not entirely.  No matter how it looks, we still have a fighting chance..." He had to believe that, no matter if anyone else did or not.  He knew there was a finite possibility that Theius could have survived when all the searching turned up with no remains, but just looking at the old man now, he was more monster than Pureblood, himself.  More machine than Spoken. The documents would reveal the conflict in Theius' words, they had to, Lillium's and Frumentarium's documentation, against his which were undoubtedly doctored.  He absolutely loathed the possibility of 76 falling into his hands, but he knew why.  The old man knew how well-loved she was by all of them and that seeing her harmed would destroy them.  He knew Frost was part of the team of Shadows who crashed the airship, and this was his revenge. "I failed... forgive me, Mother.  But I daresay this has now given us more of a fighting chance than we had before. " “I don’t like how he is setting this up. I don’t like that he is alive at all. I don’t even believe that was him. How the hell did he return a fulm taller? He had both of his eyes. He knew you were there and he lied to the court. Why would he risk perjury if only to blackmail you later!?”" Because he's a Pureblood and he's banking on that granting more credibility than a savage with no rank or clout whatsoever... typical.  He probably lied because he knows of other ways to drag out his revenge rather than let the courts call for an immediate execution."  Fingers curled and uncurled, fidgeting and wanting something to stave off the trembling. "His signal was screaming, like none I'd ever heard from another subject.  Close to an MT code warning, but not an MT code.  He's a threat... but assassination won't cut it. He needs to be exposed." Lillium frowned a bit. “I heard it, too” , she said in a defeated hush. “I’m not sure what this means. I felt as though just hearing that tone, there was no point resisting.” "Even trying to fight him there would have made our case worse.  If you heard it, then everyone else must have too, surely they would have made note of it."  He scowled, taking the cigar into hand and staring down at it since chewing on it wasn't helping to settle him any.  "271 will try to go back to him as soon as he finds out, which also means he'll know I was responsible for what happened.  I'm expecting a fight." “No one else but us heard it”, she concluded quietly. Frost slowly turned his eyes toward Lillium. Ember pinned her ears back. She heard that, much as she didnt want to. Now her hands turned towards each other, fingers intertwining. Instead she asked. "How do you know, Mother...?" "When were you augmented, Mother?" he asked plainly. “When Terra became a tier 3”, she said without hesitance in her answer. "Ah, so that's what he meant."  Frost nodded, but got up from his seat to try and find something he could use as a light.  Finally, amidst utility cabinets, he found a small butain torch.  The aroma of creamy spices soon softly flavored the cabin air.  He took several long draws from the cigar, practically inhaling half of it straight away. “He said he told you, but you didn’t understand at the time. I didn’t want to press the issue with this, but I am technically 296b. It was necessary when they were giving L... Terra his second surgery. I trusted no one else with his life, so I became his Other.” "I didn't, because he made it sounds like more of a romance thing - soulmates and all that - rather than an actual -Other- Other.  Like for those of us who have Others, they're no longer living beings who are bound to us but fragments of history, or a scrap of memory."  He sagged back in his seat until his head touched the head  rest.  "He's lucky.  Mine's an arsehole." Ember opened her mouth...then stopped. She thought it sounded...well it didnt matter. She lapsed back to quiet. But rather than swell in darker thoughts, she opened her ears back up to fully listening to the two of them. “It is, and it isn’t. Before we joined the Empire, and even now, we are husband and wife. I couldn’t risk him failing his upgrade when he was the first executioner made. I had no idea what to expect, but I couldn’t lose him. The only Other that could understand him as well as could be was me, so I volunteered. The resonance of Host and Other is a type of bond. The more I see 168 speak to himself, the more I’m inclined to believe him the longer I’m bonded to Terra.” "There's no reason to disbelieve it... I've spoken to his Other, Raiden.  Mine is aware... and has been trying to get me to secure a better bond with it," which almost had a note of dread the way he described it.  "When can you fix that loose wire, by the way?" “If your Other is reaching out to you, reach back, Frost”, she said resigning to the idea. “As you are now, you will not lose yourself, or the Other in your core. You need to find ways to resonate with one another, and you will then be able to be more powerful. Obviously, the Empire frowns highly on this explanation of ideas, so keep this between us three. When we get back to the castrum, I can see about your wire.” His brow furrowed as he stumped out the end bit of the cigar in an ice-filled palm.  He didn't fully trust his Other or its desires to commit on that level, even though he agreed to accept it.  A trip to Azys Lla would soon be in order, once his core housing was fully repaired.

[algeog2260]

Concluding the Semester!

As the semester comes to an end, we are all reflecting on what we learned and how it went through the past couple of months. Since I am majoring in Geography, this class was mandatory for me to take, but I am so grateful that I did! I usually enjoy the more physical environmental type classes more and dread taking the human geography classes, but I found this to be very valuable to my education and any future career paths I may take.

 Three things I know for certain about human geography research:

Throughout this course, I have come to understand the importance of ethics. Before this semester, I have done research for many projects, although I have never involved other people personally for collecting information. For my group’s video storytelling we created a survey. We had to think about other people’s privacy while making sure to also get enough adequate information and keeping it unbiased. This is why we must try to keep surveys anonymous and held up to high standards in order for work to be approved.

Secondly, I now always think about unpacking the invisible backpack. This is when we come to understand our privilege when talking to people or about a certain topic. For example, we should not be asking someone why they are lazy if they are poor. They could have a mental illness that we do not see that do not allow they to work or any other situation that could prevent them from working full time. Aside from research, we should all be doing this regardless of the situation in order to keep people comfortable and respected.

In addition, developing a research question is something I have found to be very important. This not only starts a research project, but it is also the backbone of how the research is to be carried out. I find that the question should be as detailed and in depth as possible. The research question should be concentrated to exactly what the project is about, in order for the information to not be all over the place in the final stages.

 Three things I am still confused by:

The first thing I am still very confused by is coding. I found this unit to be quite hard to understand and would need to possibly go through the topic with people in real life rather than online to get a grasp on this.

Secondly, I found triangulation to be harder to understand. I hope while I go through more geography courses and add to my education, I can process the topic better.

Thirdly, creating interviews is not a strong suit of mine. I would have liked to create one for out digital storytelling project, although it was hard to tell if it would be approved by ethics or not. In addition, I would need to be fully prepared to conduct an interview and I do not think I would have the confidence to add any extra questions into it on the spot if need be. I hope in the future I am able to practice with this skill.

 Three things I know for certain about me as a human geographic researcher:

Firstly, I know for certain that I enjoy conducting quantitative data over qualitative data. I keep thinking back to one of my blog posts talking about a future research project. I am genially excited to go out and do field research for a possible job. During another class this semester I got to participate in taking snow samples to see how the melting process throughout the winter season affects the conditions of snow and I loved it.

Like I mentioned above, I have also learned that I would love to do research as a future career. Before this course, I had no idea what kind of job I would’ve liked to get into and am so glad this course was required to take.

Thirdly, I have found that I enjoy working with a group more than I thought I would. The last time I had worked in a group was probably in grade 9. I am usually shy and do not take too much leadership on projects, but I think the digital storytelling project helped me get out of my comfort zone a lot more. It was also nice to have an excuse to get to know some people in this class.

 Three areas I need to spend time developing/learning in order to feel more confident in my skills:

Firstly, I would actually like to work in groups for future projects more often. I have been working on collaborating with others and getting out of my comfort zone by talking to more people for the past couple years, although the pandemic has dramatically depleted my social skills throughout this year of isolation. I would like more practice with this, both online and in person when we can once again.

Secondly, I would like to practice conducting interviews. I think the more people I interview, the better I could get at bringing up interesting question on the spot if need be. This could be a valuable skill for both qualitative research and possible job opportunities.

In addition, I would also like to spend more time on developing all my research techniques for other future classes, especially by finding reliable sources. This includes using peer review journals, using articles the library provides, as well as using recent information published within the past few years.

 I wish everyone good luck in the future and maybe I will see you in person on campus next year! Have a great summer break!

 ~Amalia

References:

 Hay, I. (2016). Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography, Toronto. Oxford University Press.

 Hooykaas, A. (2021). Lecture Notes from GEOG2260 - Applied Human Geography

[stephenmccull]

The Hype Has Faded, but Don’t Count Out Convalescent Plasma in Covid Battle

Six months after it was controversially hailed by Trump administration officials as a “breakthrough” therapy to fight the worst effects of covid-19, convalescent plasma appears to be on the ropes.

This story also ran on NBC News. It can be republished for free.

The treatment that infuses blood plasma from recovered covid patients into people newly infected in hopes of boosting their immune response has not lived up to early hype. Some high-profile clinical trials have shown disappointing results. Demand from hospitals for the antibody-rich plasma has plunged. After a year of large-scale national efforts to recruit recovered covid patients as donors and the collection of more than 500,000 units of covid convalescent plasma, known as CCP, some longtime advocates of the therapy say they’re now pessimistic about its future.

“I fear the CCP train has left the station,” said Dr. Michael Busch, director of the Vitalant Research Institute, one of the largest blood-center based transfusion medicine research programs in the U.S. “We created all this enthusiasm, and then these studies came out and they say this stuff didn’t work in the first place.”

But that sentiment is by no means universal. Other respected proponents say we are watching the science progress in real time, and it’s simply too soon to count out convalescent plasma. They note that larger studies employing more calibrated doses of convalescent plasma and more targeted groups of patients, during a set window in their illness, have met the standards for moving forward and may show promise.

“It’s just been a really interesting story to see it unfold,” said Dr. Julie Katz Karp, director of transfusion medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals in Philadelphia. “People are doing a good job of reading the literature, but one week the answer is ‘yes,’ the next week, ‘maybe not.’”

Convalescent plasma was thrust into the national conversation last August, when the Food and Drug Administration, under political pressure, made the decision to authorize the treatment for emergency use despite objections from federal government scientists cautioning that the therapy was unproven. In the months since, tens of thousands of Americans have been infused with plasma.

Enthusiasm faded in recent weeks following two serious setbacks: A large federal clinical trial, dubbed C3PO, testing the use of convalescent plasma in high-risk patients who came to an emergency room with mild to moderate covid symptoms was halted late last month after researchers concluded that, while the infusions caused no harm, they were unlikely to benefit patients. That same week, a pooled analysis of 10 convalescent plasma studies, published in JAMA, found no clear benefit.

In January, the FDA scaled back the emergency authorization of convalescent plasma, limiting its use to hospitalized covid patients early in the course of the disease and those with medical conditions that impair immune function. The agency also said that only plasma with high concentrations of virus-fighting antibodies could be used after May 31.

At the same time, the covid surge that engulfed the U.S. through much of the winter eased, sending demand for convalescent plasma plummeting. Hospital infusions fell from a high of about 30,000 units a week at the start of the year to about 7,000 per week in early March.

Further complicating matters, federal contracts worth $646 million that paid U.S. blood centers to collect covid convalescent plasma are about to expire, prompting centers nationwide to reconsider whether the complicated process of collecting the plasma is still worth the work. Given the added complexity, blood centers have been reimbursed $600 to $800 a unit for the covid product, compared with the $100 price for a regular unit of fresh, frozen plasma.

“We’re not getting orders,” said Dr. Louis Katz, chief medical officer at the Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center in Davenport, Iowa. “I don’t want to collect a product that is not going to get used and will cost me more money.”

Officials with the American Red Cross have paused direct collection of convalescent plasma, citing changes required by the FDA’s revised emergency use authorization and an “evolving” market. People previously infected with covid may still donate whole blood, and those units that test positive for high levels of antibodies could be used as CCP.

Even as they acknowledge the setbacks, plasma proponents say declaring its death just a few months into the research would be a foolish overreach. The idea of using plasma from recovered patients to treat the newly ill is a century-old concept that has been employed on an experimental basis during a host of plagues, including the devastating 1918 flu, the 1930s measles outbreak and, more recently, Ebola.

Rather than abandon efforts, scientists need to refine the way convalescent plasma is used and temper their expectations, said Dr. Michael Joyner, principal investigator of the Mayo Clinic-led program that supplied convalescent plasma for more than 100,000 U.S. patients last year.

“This is an unstandardized dose of an unstandardized product being given to all comer patients for a disease with variable progression,” Joyner said in an email. “So it is unrealistic to expect cookie-cutter results like you get for statin/heart attack trials.”

Joyner and others pointed to research that continues to show promise. In mid-February, scientists in Argentina reported that giving convalescent plasma with very high concentrations of antibodies within three days of onset of mild covid symptoms helped slow the progression of disease in older patients. In mid-March, researchers in the U.S. and Brazil reported in a study that has not yet been peer-reviewed that plasma therapy didn’t improve symptoms during hospitalization for patients with severe cases of covid. But it was associated with a 50% reduction in death after 28 days that “may warrant further evaluation,” the authors wrote.

Oversight committees this month gave the nod to two federally funded clinical trials of convalescent plasma to continue enrolling hundreds of patients. One, led by researchers at Johns Hopkins University, is testing convalescent plasma in people who were infected and developed symptoms of covid but were not hospitalized. The other, led by scientists at Vanderbilt University, is testing high-potency plasma in hospitalized patients.

There’s no question “antibodies work against the virus,” said Dr. David Sullivan, a professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at Johns Hopkins University and a principal investigator for the institution’s plasma trials.

“It’s all dose and time,” Sullivan said, adding that giving convalescent plasma with high concentrations of antibodies within the first few days of infection is crucial.

The most promising use of convalescent plasma might come from “super donors,” people who were infected with covid and then vaccinated, said Dr. Michael Knudson, co-medical director of the DeGowin Blood Center at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine.

Knudson said his early research shows plasma from recovered then vaccinated people can provide five to 20 times more neutralizing antibody than the plasma from those who have not been vaccinated. “This would be almost a completely different product compared to what is used to date,” he wrote in a presentation to colleagues.

Joyner and others believe “boosted” plasma could be used as a potent antiviral treatment early in infection, similar to how monoclonal antibodies — laboratory-made proteins that act like human antibodies in the immune system — are used. It could be a cheaper option for low-resource countries unable to afford the monoclonal treatments at more than $1,200 per dose.

Even the National Institutes of Health scientists conducting the halted C3PO trial, Dr. Simone Glynn and Dr. Nahed El Kasser, agreed that more data about the usefulness of convalescent plasma is needed. “The answer is no, it is not the final word,” they said in an emailed statement.

But overcoming skepticism about the use of any type of convalescent plasma, let alone “super” plasma, won’t be easy, given the roller coaster of recent results. And broad use of convalescent plasma will depend on continued funding. If the federal contracts with blood collectors are not renewed, covid convalescent plasma likely will be paid for by hospitals or private insurers, depending on where patients receive the treatment.

In the meantime, the federal government, along with academic centers and private donors, has continued to fund the Hopkins and Vanderbilt trials. And the federal Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority has allocated at least $27 million to for-profit companies that collect covid convalescent plasma from paid donors to create hyperimmune globulin, a purified and concentrated form of plasma that may halt disease. Results from late-stage clinical trials of that therapy are expected later this spring.

“I think that it would be a mistake to stop now,” said Dr. Claudia Cohn, chief medical officer of the AABB, an international nonprofit focused on transfusion medicine and cellular therapies. “We have some evidence that it works and evidence that we can produce high-titer plasma. Let’s see what we can do to keep people out of the hospital.”

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

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The Hype Has Faded, but Don’t Count Out Convalescent Plasma in Covid Battle published first on https://smartdrinkingweb.weebly.com/

[dailynewswebsite]

What’s not being said about why African Americans need to take the COVID-19 vaccine

Latrice Davis, a nurse at Roseland Group Hospital in Chicago, receives the COVID-19 vaccine on Dec. 18, 2020. Scott Olson through Getty Photographs

Dr. Anthony Fauci and different nationwide well being leaders have mentioned that African People must take the COVID-19 vaccine to guard their well being. What Fauci and others haven’t acknowledged is that if African People don’t take the vaccine, the nation as complete won’t ever get to herd immunity.

The idea of herd immunity, additionally known as neighborhood immunity, is pretty easy. When a big proportion of the inhabitants, or the herd, turns into immune from the virus, your complete inhabitants could have some acceptable diploma of safety. Immunity can happen by way of pure immunity from private an infection and restoration, or by way of vaccination. As soon as a inhabitants reaches herd immunity, the probability of person-to-person unfold turns into very low.

The large lie is one among omission. Sure, it’s true that African People will profit from the COVID vaccine, however the full fact is that the nation wants African People and different inhabitants subgroups with decrease reported COVID-19 vaccine acceptability charges to take the vaccine. With out elevated vaccine acceptability, we stand little to no probability of communitywide safety.

I’m an epidemiologist and well being fairness scholar who has been conducting analysis within the African American neighborhood for 20 years. A lot of my work focuses on methods to extend neighborhood engagement in analysis. I see a big alternative to enhance COVID vaccine acceptance within the African American neighborhood.

If as much as 60% of African People don’t take the vaccine, reaching herd immunity can be troublesome. Noam Galai through Getty Photographs

Doing the coronavirus math

About 70% of individuals within the U.S. must take the vaccine for the inhabitants to achieve herd immunity. Whites make up about 60% of the U.S. inhabitants. So, if each white individual obtained the vaccine, the U.S. would nonetheless fall wanting herd immunity. A latest examine steered that 68% of white folks could be prepared to get the COVID-19 vaccine. If these estimates maintain up, that may get us to 42%.

African People make up greater than 13% of the American inhabitants. But when as much as 60% of African People refuse to take the vaccine, as a latest examine suggests, will probably be troublesome to achieve that 70% threshold seemingly wanted to achieve herd immunity.

Latinos make up simply over 18% p.c of the inhabitants. A examine means that 32% p.c of Latinos might reject a COVID vaccine. Add the 40% to 50% rejection charges amongst different inhabitants subgroups and herd immunity turns into mathematically unattainable.

Additional exacerbating the issue is that mass vaccination alone received’t obtain herd immunity, because the impact of COVID vaccines on stopping virus transmission stays unclear. Ongoing preventive measures will seemingly nonetheless be wanted to cease neighborhood unfold. Because the resistance to details and science continues to develop, the necessity for credible data dissemination and trust-building associated to vaccines turns into extra essential.

My analysis presents some attainable explanations for decrease vaccination charges amongst Blacks. Historic wrongs, just like the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiments, which resulted in 1972, have performed a serious position in contributing to Black distrust of the well being care system. In one other case, the “immortal” cells of Henrietta Lacks had been shared with out her consent and have been utilized in medical analysis for greater than 70 years. The newest utility contains COVID vaccine analysis, but her household has obtained no monetary profit.

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A examine led by Dr. Giselle Corbie-Smith on the College of North Carolina recognized mistrust of the medical neighborhood as a outstanding barrier to African American participation in scientific analysis. One other of Corbie-Smith’s peer-reviewed research discovered that mistrust in medical analysis is considerably greater amongst African People than whites.

African People additionally disproportionately expertise unequal remedy within the modern-day well being care system. These experiences of bias and discrimination gas the issue of vaccine hesitancy and distrust. Decrease prioritization for hospital admissions and lifesaving look after COVID-19-related sickness amongst African People was reported in Massachusetts in April 2020. Massachusetts subsequently modified its tips, but throughout the U.S. there’s a lack of information and clear reporting on this phenomenon.

The present messaging of vaccine significance could seem tone-deaf to these in a neighborhood who surprise why their well being is so essential now, on the vaccine stage. Black well being didn’t look like a precedence in the course of the pandemic’s first wave, when race disparities in COVID emerged.

Questioning the scientific course of

Maybe even Operation Warp Pace has had the unintended consequence of lowering vaccine acceptance within the African American neighborhood. Some ask why wasn’t such pace utilized to vaccine growth for HIV, which nonetheless has no FDA-approved vaccine? As of 2018, AIDS-related sickness has killed an estimated 35 million folks globally. It continues to disproportionately have an effect on folks of coloration and different socially susceptible populations.

If African People had been honored and acknowledged in these COVID vaccine conversations and instructed “we’d like you” as a substitute of “you want us,” maybe extra Blacks would belief the vaccine. I encourage our nation’s leaders to contemplate a radical shift of their method. They have to do greater than pointing to the few Black scientists concerned in COVID vaccine growth, or making a spectacle of outstanding African People receiving the vaccine.

These acts alone will seemingly be inadequate to garner the belief wanted to extend vaccine acceptance. As a substitute, I consider our leaders ought to undertake the core values of fairness and reconciliation. I’d argue that truth-telling will must be on the forefront of this new narrative.

There are additionally a number of leverage factors alongside the availability and distribution chains, in addition to in vaccine administration, that would enhance variety, fairness and inclusion. I’d suggest giving minority- and women-owned companies truthful, mandated entry to contracts to get the vaccine to communities. This contains procurement and buying contracts for freezers wanted to retailer the vaccine.

Minority well being care staff needs to be equitably known as again to work to assist vaccine administration. These points, not publicly mentioned, may very well be transformative for constructing belief and growing vaccine acceptance.

With no radical shift within the dialog of true COVID fairness, African People and plenty of others who may gain advantage from the vaccine will as a substitute get sick. Some will die. The remaining will stay marginalized by a system and a society that hasn’t equally valued, protected, or prioritized their lives. I consider it’s time to inform the reality, the entire fact, and nothing however the fact.

Debra Furr-Holden receives funding from The Nationwide Institute of Minority Well being and Well being Disparities, the Nationwide Most cancers Institute, the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, The Nationwide Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse, and The Substance Abuse Psychological Well being Providers Administration.

from Growth News https://growthnews.in/whats-not-being-said-about-why-african-americans-need-to-take-the-covid-19-vaccine/ via https://growthnews.in

[diaspora9ja]

How a torrent of COVID science changed research publishing — in seven charts

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted science in 2020 — and remodeled analysis publishing, present information collated and analysed by Nature.

Round 4% of the world’s analysis output was dedicated to the coronavirus in 2020, based on one database. However 2020 additionally noticed a pointy enhance in articles on all topics being submitted to scientific journals — maybe as a result of many researchers needed to keep at house and deal with writing up papers reasonably than conducting science.

Submissions to writer Elsevier’s journals alone had been up by round 270,000 — or 58% — between February and Could compared with the identical interval in 2019, one evaluation discovered1. The rise was even greater for well being and medication titles, at a whopping 92%.

The pandemic additionally fuelled a pointy rise in sharing by way of preprints (articles posted on-line earlier than peer assessment), superior the output of male authors over feminine authors and affected assessment instances — rushing them up in some subjects however slowing them down in others.

COVID torrent

Scientists revealed properly over 100,000 articles concerning the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. By one rely, from the Dimensions database, they may even have handed 200,000 by early December (see ‘Coronavirus cascade’). (Estimates differ relying on search phrases, database protection and definitions of a scientific article.) Greater than 4% of articles listed within the Dimensions database this yr are COVID-related, and round 6% of these listed in PubMed, which largely covers life sciences, had been devoted to the subject.

From illness unfold to psychological well being

At first, COVID-19 papers (and preprints) targeted on the unfold of illness, the outcomes for folks hospitalized, and diagnostics and testing, based on an evaluation of the subjects of PubMed-indexed articles by Primer, an organization in San Francisco, California, that develops artificial-intelligence (AI) applied sciences. However these sorts of paper largely plateaued after Could (see ‘Coronavirus paper subjects’), and there was rising curiosity in mental-health analysis, notes Zein Tawil, a researcher on the firm.

Supply: Primer

Preprint rush

Greater than 30,000 of the COVID-19 articles revealed in 2020 had been preprints — between 17% and 30% of complete COVID-19 analysis papers (relying on database searched). And, based on Dimensions, one-tenth of all preprints this yr had been about COVID-19.

Greater than half of the preprints appeared on one in all three websites — medRxiv, SSRN and Analysis Sq. (see ‘Coronavirus preprints’).

Supply: Dimensions

And greater than two-thirds of all of the preprints posted on medRxiv, which solely launched in June final yr, had been about COVID-19 (see ‘MedRxiv development’). By early December, nearly one-quarter of medRxiv’s COVID-related preprints had gone on to be revealed in journals, says John Inglis, co-founder of medRxiv and bioRxiv and govt director of Chilly Spring Harbor Laboratory Press in New York.

“This has been a pivotal yr for preprints,” Inglis says, particularly as clinicians have change into conscious of medRxiv. “We anticipate extra momentum for preprints throughout the board in 2021 as enthusiasm for early sharing gathers tempo,” he says.

Supply: J. Inglis, medRxiv.

Speedy assessment

Journals rushed to get COVID-19 articles by way of peer assessment. MedRxiv COVID-19 preprints appeared in peer-reviewed journals after a median assessment time of 72 days, twice as quick as preprints from the server on different subjects, says Inglis. He offers credit score to journal editors and publishers for pushing their peer-review programs to work quicker, and scientists for agreeing to assessment many extra papers than regular.

A research of 11 medical journals within the first half of the yr discovered that they revealed coronavirus papers a lot quicker than regular, however on the expense of publishing different analysis extra slowly2 (see ‘Quicker assessment at medical journals’).

Supply: ref. 2

“The necessity for pace has put appreciable strain on typical peer-review programs that might be arduous to maintain,” Inglis says. He provides that pandemic-related preprints revealed within the first quarter of 2020 appeared in journals extra quickly than these revealed later, which could be proof of pressure within the system. It’s attainable, he says, that the occasions of this yr will add momentum to new methods of conducting peer assessment after outcomes have been disseminated as preprints.

China surge

The contributions that scientists made to the analysis effort appeared to hint the virus’s path all over the world, based on one evaluation of revealed papers3. Articles about COVID-19 with authors in China peaked early within the yr (see ���Coronavirus papers by nation’). And because the virus moved to ravage Italy, the variety of papers from scientists there swelled.

Supply: ref. 3

Most-cited analysis

One of many first papers about COVID-19 to seem within the literature — a 24 January publication in The Lancet about 41 folks hospitalized in Wuhan, China4 — is essentially the most cited. And the most-cited preprint5 — a 16 March report from pandemic modellers at Imperial School London that estimated how lockdown and different distancing measures may avert tens of millions of deaths — had a significant effect on UK policy and made worldwide headlines.

That preprint can also be the article that attracted essentially the most buzz on social media, based on Altmetric, a London-based agency that screens metrics apart from citations. (Second was a 2005 paper that recommended that the anti-malaria drug chloroquine inhibited the coronavirus that prompted extreme acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in laboratory samples6, and a paper that argued that the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 didn’t emerge from a laboratory was third7.)

Unequal burden

The pandemic publishing frenzy had winners and losers. Though researchers submitted extra papers to journals than final yr, on common, development in submissions from feminine authors trailed behind development from male authors throughout all topic areas, and senior girls noticed the biggest paper penalty (see ‘Decrease charges’), based on the evaluation of a whole lot of 1000’s of articles despatched to Elsevier journals between February and Could1.

Supply: ref. 1

That is in all probability as a result of girls shouldered the burden of childcare and home-schooling throughout lockdowns, says Flaminio Squazzoni, a social scientist on the College of Milan, Italy, who co-authored the preprint evaluation. The identical impact was not seen in peer assessment, the place women and men obtained and accepted invites to guage papers at across the identical price.

“The pandemic has given unbelievable alternatives for researchers however it has additionally been a shock to the tutorial system, with an explosion of publications and citations for COVID-19 papers. That is distorting the rewards of science. We want to verify these items are taken under consideration when selling and hiring within the years forward,” says Squazzoni.

COVID retractions

There have been additionally research-publishing scandals. Some high-profile articles on COVID-19 had been retracted, together with studies that relied on electronic health records from Surgisphere in Chicago, Illinois — which had been thrown into doubt after the corporate stated it wouldn’t let anybody else see the well being information for auditing. In complete, 15 preprints and 24 journal papers on COVID-19 had been withdrawn or retracted by December, according to the site Retraction Watch. (5 different papers have been ‘quickly retracted’; 5 extra have expressions of concern.) Given the amount of coronavirus analysis, that proportion is about the identical as for analysis generally.

It’s too quickly to inform whether or not COVID-19 papers are any extra doubtless than others to be retracted, says Ivan Oransky, a journalist in New York Metropolis who co-founded Retraction Watch. Sometimes, it takes three years for editors to retract a paper, however through the pandemic it has taken simply months — partially as a result of these papers are going through a lot scrutiny. “Retractions are a proxy for consideration maybe greater than anything,” says Oransky.

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[darkshrimpemotions]

Oh this is great. So great! I don't know where to start. With the idea that I'm so privileged that I get to base my life around studying fiction, based off the fact that I wrote a paper in college?

Omg can you believe I wrote a paper in college? No one who ever went to college and wrote a paper there could possibly know anything about how the real world works, amirite? Clearly I can't tell fiction from reality! Because I wrote a paper! In college!

I mean don't get me wrong, I do have privilege, I'm aware of that. White privilege, relative economic privilege in that I'm not struggling financially right this second. Relative able-bodied privilege, in that while I am chronically ill my illness is more or less controlled and I can still do most things most of the time. The dubious "privilege" of passing as things I am not, some might argue.

But this clown Very Astute Observer of the Human Condition makes it sound like I was born and grew up in the ivory tower and have never left, which is so funny I don't know where to begin. My dude, the trailer I spent my childhood in wasn't even clean enough to be called ivory.

And I dunno if you know this, but they let poor people into college these days, sometimes. There are these things called scholarships. You should look them up! Fascinating stuff.

But even with these wonderful scholarship things, when you finish college they make you leave. They don't actually let you stay in the dorms and keep writing about movies for a food stipend. Well...some schools do, but you have to apply for that shit and if you think acceptance rates and funding for undergrad are low, let me welcome you to the hell that is competing for a spot in a PhD program.

Or let's talk about the adorable notion that my thesis was disproven by anything written above. That would be...a neat trick, considering no one has heard shit about it except that it was on women in horror films and my readers were all men.

What you think you have "debunked" are some casual observations I made to myself while I was doing research for my thesis, writing it, and defending it...coupled with more recent observations about not one isolated trolling incident, but several separate instances, across multiple years, in which men lost their minds on the internet because a fictional woman was mean to a fictional man.

See the thing about casual observations is...you can't debunk them with conflicting casual observations based on different samples! Even if you're working from the exact same observed sample, observations are by nature subjective data! You can't just throw one set out, you have to compare both to other data to get a more complete picture of something approaching truth. So I can't prove my observations to you, but you also cannot debunk them.

And frankly, I don't have or need to prove them to you either way, because I wasn't actually conducting a study or writing you an honors thesis.

But since you want to raise things to that level, maybe you should back up your own claims with some well-sourced facts (remember, you need 3 separate sources that don't link back to each other!) or quality, peer-reviewed academic research. You know, instead of presuming to talk about evidence and "debunking" academic work you haven't read while failing to actually present any more research or academic rigor in your reblog than I did in mine.

(Aside to the OP: I am so sorry for the absolute fuckclowning nonsense I have brought into your notifications!)

so women are supposed to grin and bear the books, the comics, the movies, the plays, the tv shows, the stories, the sci-fi, the translated ancient poems, the fucking millennia of men writing about their self inserts torturing women and it being declared as High Art by other men, we’re supposed to read it in our free time, study it in classrooms, include their styles in our own writing, accept their cultural influence as natural, watch it in the cinema, write about it, talk about it, accept it, aspire it, but men can’t tolerate three seconds of female wish fulfilment of a woman snapping the wrist of a creep without feeling personally kicked in the balls.

[wsmith215]

What COVID-19 Antibody Tests Can and Cannot Tell Us

Dozens of antibody tests for the novel coronavirus have become available in recent weeks. And early results from studies of such serological assays in the U.S. and around the world have swept headlines. Despite optimism about these tests possibly becoming the key to a return to normal life, experts say the reality is complicated and depends on how results are used.

Antibody tests could help scientists understand the extent of COVID-19’s spread in populations. Because of limitations in testing accuracy and a plethora of unknowns about immunity itself, however, they are less informative about an individual’s past exposure or protection against future infection.

“The focus right now is primarily epidemiological,” says Tara Smith, a professor of epidemiology at the Kent State University College of Public Health. That approach means trying to figure out the percentage of the population that has already been infected even if some individuals never showed symptoms. “This will allow us to better calculate the fatality rate and to determine how far we still have to go to reach [infection] levels that would place us in the range of herd immunity,” or when a large proportion of a population has become immune to a disease because of vaccination or past infection, she says. “It will also allow us to start looking at duration of immunity.”

Serological surveys have already been conducted in communities across the U.S., and their findings vary widely. Estimates of positive antibody prevalence range from almost 25 percent in New York City and 32 percent in Chelsea, Mass., to between 2.8 and 5.6 percent in Los Angeles County and 2.8 percent in Santa Clara County in California.

These results support what experts already suspected based on case studies of asymptomatic transmission: COVID-19 is much more widespread than hospital data would suggest. But several of the studies have been criticized by scientists, who have raised red flags about sampling methods, potentially flawed statistics and results that are first announced as press releases rather than as peer-reviewed or even preprint studies.

These methodological problems and perceived lack of transparency are exacerbated by the ubiquity of subpar assays. Many of the tests currently flooding the market have not been verified by third parties. And even those that have received emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration might not be accurate enough to assess disease prevalence levels outside of hotspots.

The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security maintains and regularly updates a Web site that lists key characteristics of many of the serological tests for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, on the market and in development. Experts recommend that tests be validated in studies that include at least 100 positive and negative patients whose infection status is confirmed against a reference standard such as diagnostic test results and symptoms. Antibody tests currently on the market have been validated in samples ranging from only a few dozen individuals to more than 1,000. As of this writing, the Center for Health Security lists tests approved for research or individual use in the U.S. that accurately detect antibodies in people who have them—a statistic known as sensitivity—between 82 and 100 percent of the time. Their ability to correctly identify antibodies only in those who actually have them—known as specificity—ranges from 91 to 100 percent.

On the surface, those numbers seem pretty good. But “threshold is set by context,” says Sarah Cobey, an associate professor of ecology and evolution at the University of Chicago. “So if the seroprevalence,” or the proportion of the community that has antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, “is 3 percent versus 5 percent, you have to have an exceedingly good test” to distinguish that, she says. “If you’re [only] trying to identify if the prevalence is above 50 percent or below 50 percent, you can get away with a test that’s maybe less good. But nobody is in that category [with COVID-19].”

This variability in what constitutes an acceptable test arises from the fact that in populations with a higher prevalence of a disease or past exposure to it, true positives (individuals who test positive and have antibodies to the illness from a prior infection) and false negatives (those who test negative but actually have antibodies) are more common. Meanwhile in populations with a lower prevalence, tests are more likely to give false positives.

Credit: Amanda Montañez

The preprint study on an antibody test in Santa Clara County claimed that it had a specificity of 99.5 percent. But University of Washington epidemiologist Trevor Bedford argued in a Twitter thread that if that test instead had a 98.5 percent specificity—well within the possible range of uncertainty defined by the researchers—all of the study’s “positive results” could have been false positives.

Some of these concerns can be managed by building models that account for uncertainty. But overestimates of COVID-19’s spread could lead to underestimates of fatality and hospitalization rates—or excessive confidence about herd immunity. Such immunity is currently thought to require about 70 percent of the population to have been exposed—a rate even hotspots such as New York are likely nowhere near. Any of these errors could, in turn, lead to policies that are bad for public health.

Furthermore, overestimating the prevalence of people with SARS-CoV-2 antibodies could create an unwarranted sense of security about the diagnostic role tests can play. Because false positives are more common in places with low disease prevalence, Smith notes, “there is the potential for individuals to be misled regarding their [antibody] status. If they are false positive, they may believe they are immune when they are not and may relax protective measures.”

At this stage, experts warn that even the best SARS-CoV-2 antibody tests have little use at the individual level. More than four months after doctors in Wuhan, China, first identified the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, scientists are still scrambling to understand how our immune system responds to it. Although research increasingly shows that most people who have been infected probably produce antibodies to the virus, it is not yet clear whether those antibodies prevent reinfection or how long any immunity will last.

“We don’t know the natural [course] of the disease. All we can do is [say] that if you have a good [antibody] test, and you trust the result, and you’re positive, you did have exposure,” says May Chu, a clinical professor of epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health. “We do not know if [those antibodies are] protective. And we won’t know for months to come—until somebody else who’s been infected before gets exposed to the virus again, and we see whether they get sick or not,” says Chu, who is also a member of a World Health Organization expert group focused on infection control and prevention for the COVID-19 epidemic. In fact, on April 24 the WHO released a scientific brief explicitly cautioning against the use of so-called “immunity passports” or “risk-free certificates.” There have been a few reports of individuals testing positive for the virus after recovering and testing negative. But they have not been shown to have been reinfected. Some experts think antibody tests might be able to help determine whether such cases are the result of reinfection or “redetection” caused by a clinical relapse.

While scientists work to get a handle on how the pandemic is playing out in different populations around the world, testing for antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 remains largely in the research domain. Nationwide surveys that are now underway aim to collect samples from tens of thousands of people throughout the U.S. over the next two years.

Testing capacity for active infections remains uneven around the country. And antibody tests offer an opportunity to shine a light on the situation in places that have not had the resources to confirm active cases. “It is going to be extremely important for different regions to do their own [serological] surveys to identify exactly how much transmission has occurred,” Cobey says. “This is how you adapt interventions for the local situation.”

Read more about the coronavirus outbreak here.

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The post What COVID-19 Antibody Tests Can and Cannot Tell Us appeared first on The Bleak Report.

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[lauramalchowblog]

Lessons from Zika in the Era of COVID-19

By CHADI NABHAN, MD, MBA, FACP

If you are a soccer fan, watching the FIFA World Cup is a ritual that you don’t ever violate. Brazilians, arguably more than any other fans in the world, live and breathe soccer—and they are always expected to be a legitimate contender to win it all. Their expectations are magnified when they are the host country, which was the case in 2014. Not only did the Germans destroy Brazilian World Cup dreams, but less than a year after a humiliating loss on their turf, Brazilians began dealing with another devastating blow: a viral epidemic. Zika left the country scrambling to understand how to manage the devastation caused by the virus and grappling with conspiracies theories of whether the virus was linked to the tourism brought by hosting the FIFA World Cup.

How did I become so interested in what happened in Brazil five years ago? Well, social distancing and being mostly at home in the era of COVID-19 seems to energize reflection. Watching politicians on TV networks blaming each other and struggling to appear more knowledgeable than scientists makes me marvel at the hubris. My mind took me back to several prior epidemics that we encountered from Swine Flu to Ebola, and I couldn’t help but think about the lessons lost. What did we miss in these previous crises to land us in this current state where Zoom is your best friend and you are more interested in commenting on tweets than doing a peer-review? One cannot help but wonder what is so different about this coronavirus that it has paralyzed the globe.

I decided to take a deep dive into the Zika epidemic in a hopeful effort to better understand the present public health crisis. I started by reading Zika: The Emerging Epidemic, by Donald G. McNeil Jr, who also covers global epidemics for the New York Times. The book is a fascinating read and offers illuminating parallels to the current failings we are seeing with national and global health protection agencies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In May 2015 when Brazil was facing the Zika epidemic, the rest of the world was watching as Brazilian mothers grieved, holding babies who had chubby cheeks and big eyes with tiny heads. Something was clearly wrong. It turns out that mothers who conceived these babies in various cities of northeast Brazil had a mysterious disease nine months prior to delivery. They suffered from headaches, rash, and fever, but the symptoms abated on their own. The disease had vague symptoms which reminded Brazilians of Dengue fever. However, many did not consider those symptoms to be serious until the babies arrived with birth defects called microcephaly. Only then did physicians recognize that this “mysterious illness” was harmful. It turns out the mothers were exposed to Zika, a virus transmitted via a mosquito named Aedes Aegypti; it crosses the placenta and affects babies.

How did Zika arrive in Brazil? Theories around the previous year’s World Cup abounded.In March 2016, epidemiologists were able to estimate that the virus was in Brazil in mid to late 2013; this was accomplished using genetic sequencing and a “molecular backward clock” to determine how fast the virus had mutated. With this timeline, the 2014 FIFA World Cup was ruled out as the event leading to Zika’s presence in Brazil. The new suspect was the Federation Cup that took place in June 2013 when Tahiti participated in the tournament. The virus was first discovered in Uganda in 1947 and surfaced outside of Africa for the first time in 2007 in the Caroline Islands. It then appeared in Tahiti in 2013 before arriving in Brazil in 2015. Brazilians were trying to explain how the virus was transmitted to their country given the geographic distance from Africa and the Caroline Islands. Uncertainty about the disease grew, which led to concerns around whether the 2016 Rio Olympics were at risk. Sound familiar? Whoever said history repeats itself was correct: the Tokyo 2020 Olympics have been postponed for a year due to COVID-19.

McNeil describes receiving an unsolicited call from Dr. Scott Weaver in October 2015; he the scientific director of the University of Texas Medical Branch and wanted to discuss the Zika virus epidemic. Dr. Weaver shared his worries, especially since the illness was preceded by a neurologic syndrome called Guillain-Barré. He was also concerned that Zika would come to the US, although he did not think it would be a major health crisis. Two months after this phone call, Brazil declared a state of emergency with more than 2,400 babies suffering from microcephalic heads.

As I read the book, I couldn’t help but make comparisons between then and now. COVID-19 and Zika both emerged from outside the US—from China and Brazil respectively. I wondered how the CDC reacted to the Zika threat in 2015-2016 and how it differed from the reaction to COVID-19. Maybe the CDC’s approach would explain how little the US suffered when it came to Zika.

The author claims that the CDC had little information, if any, on Zika despite the emergency declaration by Brazil. He took it upon himself to contact an Italian doctor he knew who happened to reside in Brazil. The doctor confirmed that it was a “big mess and a tragedy”. The affirmation from a trusted source was the impetus the author needed to contact Tom Skinner, Chief Spokesman of Dr. Thomas Frieden, the CDC director at that time. The author was hoping to get answers to questions Americans may have on this virus. The CDC website indicated that some Americans could bring the virus back home, resulting in stateside outbreaks; however, there was no additional information or answers to burning questions that Americans needed. McNeil inquired how Americans should deal with travel, pregnancy, which countries to avoid, how to handle the upcoming Olympics, and other practical questions. Tom Skinner referred him to Dr. Erin Staples, who was vague in her answers.

Essentially, the CDC had no special advice to pregnant women nor guidance regarding the Olympics. If recommendations were provided, they were changing constantly and very confusing. The CDC’s response to the Zika epidemic feels like a mirror image of their response to our current COVID-19 pandemic: an abject lack of coordinated and purposeful communication.

By January 2016, 12 cases in the US were confirmed. Still, nothing from the CDC. By mid-January, reports of autopsies on 4 Brazilian babies surfaced on the web and caught McNeil’s attention. Mothers of the 4 babies all had Zika. When McNeil inquired about a travel warning, he was given the cold shoulder and told the CDC was still “discussing recommendations”! In his own words, the author described January 15th, 2016 as a “circus” as the CDC announced a press conference at noon, then cancelled it, and then kept changing the hour the meeting would be held. The press conference started at 7pm that evening and the agency announced an interim travel guidance. One of the CDC physicians described Zika as a “fairly serious problem”.

What about the World Health Organization (WHO)? It turns out the WHO despises using the word “emergency” and reverts to using “Public Health Emergency of International Concern,” or PHEIC for brevity. On February 1st, 2016, the WHO convened a committee in Geneva, which was held in privacy given that unpublished data were going to be shared and discussed. The WHO Director General, Dr. Margaret Chan, declared a PHEIC after the meeting—but she worded the recommendations carefully, stating that the emergency was not over the spread of Zika itself, but over the possibility that Zika caused microcephaly; the WHO did not recommend any travel restrictions. The WHO declared Zika an epidemic rather than a pandemic, based on how the two are defined. The definition appears to have little to do with the gravity of the illness, but more so with the novelty of the virus and whether it is spread worldwide. Since Zika was discovered in 1947 and it was mainly in Brazil, it can’t be a pandemic. In fact, even on March 1st, 2020, the WHO still did not call COVID-19 a pandemic. We all know how that has changed since.

The book provides copious examples of CDC and WHO ineptitude in handling the Zika epidemic; examples that I can’t summarize in one article.  I encourage you to read McNeil’s book to understand the damage done to the general public with delayed action and scant understanding of disease.

Fast forward to 2020. Every reader of this article can relate to how vague the CDC recommendations have been, the anemic response by the WHO, and all the missed opportunities to intervene. We’ve been plagued by indecision and mixed messaging on everything from who should wear masks and which masks to use, to who should be tested and when and whether we continue shelter in place or open up the country. Many questions why we didn’t have a travel ban early on. Why didn’t we close airports sooner? Why are we not ramping up testing? Why did it take weeks before recommending masks for all when in public? Why are some beaches in Florida still open? Need I go on???

Reading McNeil’s account of Zika confirmed to me that relying on agencies such as the CDC and the WHO is not reassuring. The weak response to Zika was a harbinger of the present crisis. Both agencies failed us before, and they are failing us now. Frankly, it’s ironic to watch the former CDC director, who poorly handled Zika, opine on the right way to deal with COVID-19. I don’t have a clear explanation as to why Zika did not have much of an impact on the US public, but Frieden deserves no credit for that stroke of luck.

The WHO and CDC reaction to the Zika epidemic should have been a lesson. Unfortunately, we failed to learn from the mistakes of the past in handling today’s pandemic. Unless there is a fundamental change in how the WHO and CDC conduct their roles in the public health response, history will repeat itself. My hope is that future pandemics won’t be as hard and painful as COVID-19 has been, but we can all agree that there will be a future pandemic. Next time let’s learn from our mistakes.

Chadi Nabhan (@chadinabhan) is a hematologist and oncologist in Chicago whose interests include lymphomas, healthcare delivery, strategy, and business of healthcare.

The post Lessons from Zika in the Era of COVID-19 appeared first on The Health Care Blog.

Lessons from Zika in the Era of COVID-19 published first on https://venabeahan.tumblr.com

[kristinsimmons]

Lessons from Zika in the Era of COVID-19

By CHADI NABHAN, MD, MBA, FACP

If you are a soccer fan, watching the FIFA World Cup is a ritual that you don’t ever violate. Brazilians, arguably more than any other fans in the world, live and breathe soccer—and they are always expected to be a legitimate contender to win it all. Their expectations are magnified when they are the host country, which was the case in 2014. Not only did the Germans destroy Brazilian World Cup dreams, but less than a year after a humiliating loss on their turf, Brazilians began dealing with another devastating blow: a viral epidemic. Zika left the country scrambling to understand how to manage the devastation caused by the virus and grappling with conspiracies theories of whether the virus was linked to the tourism brought by hosting the FIFA World Cup.

How did I become so interested in what happened in Brazil five years ago? Well, social distancing and being mostly at home in the era of COVID-19 seems to energize reflection. Watching politicians on TV networks blaming each other and struggling to appear more knowledgeable than scientists makes me marvel at the hubris. My mind took me back to several prior epidemics that we encountered from Swine Flu to Ebola, and I couldn’t help but think about the lessons lost. What did we miss in these previous crises to land us in this current state where Zoom is your best friend and you are more interested in commenting on tweets than doing a peer-review? One cannot help but wonder what is so different about this coronavirus that it has paralyzed the globe.

I decided to take a deep dive into the Zika epidemic in a hopeful effort to better understand the present public health crisis. I started by reading Zika: The Emerging Epidemic, by Donald G. McNeil Jr, who also covers global epidemics for the New York Times. The book is a fascinating read and offers illuminating parallels to the current failings we are seeing with national and global health protection agencies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In May 2015 when Brazil was facing the Zika epidemic, the rest of the world was watching as Brazilian mothers grieved, holding babies who had chubby cheeks and big eyes with tiny heads. Something was clearly wrong. It turns out that mothers who conceived these babies in various cities of northeast Brazil had a mysterious disease nine months prior to delivery. They suffered from headaches, rash, and fever, but the symptoms abated on their own. The disease had vague symptoms which reminded Brazilians of Dengue fever. However, many did not consider those symptoms to be serious until the babies arrived with birth defects called microcephaly. Only then did physicians recognize that this “mysterious illness” was harmful. It turns out the mothers were exposed to Zika, a virus transmitted via a mosquito named Aedes Aegypti; it crosses the placenta and affects babies.

How did Zika arrive in Brazil? Theories around the previous year’s World Cup abounded.In March 2016, epidemiologists were able to estimate that the virus was in Brazil in mid to late 2013; this was accomplished using genetic sequencing and a “molecular backward clock” to determine how fast the virus had mutated. With this timeline, the 2014 FIFA World Cup was ruled out as the event leading to Zika’s presence in Brazil. The new suspect was the Federation Cup that took place in June 2013 when Tahiti participated in the tournament. The virus was first discovered in Uganda in 1947 and surfaced outside of Africa for the first time in 2007 in the Caroline Islands. It then appeared in Tahiti in 2013 before arriving in Brazil in 2015. Brazilians were trying to explain how the virus was transmitted to their country given the geographic distance from Africa and the Caroline Islands. Uncertainty about the disease grew, which led to concerns around whether the 2016 Rio Olympics were at risk. Sound familiar? Whoever said history repeats itself was correct: the Tokyo 2020 Olympics have been postponed for a year due to COVID-19.

McNeil describes receiving an unsolicited call from Dr. Scott Weaver in October 2015; he the scientific director of the University of Texas Medical Branch and wanted to discuss the Zika virus epidemic. Dr. Weaver shared his worries, especially since the illness was preceded by a neurologic syndrome called Guillain-Barré. He was also concerned that Zika would come to the US, although he did not think it would be a major health crisis. Two months after this phone call, Brazil declared a state of emergency with more than 2,400 babies suffering from microcephalic heads.

As I read the book, I couldn’t help but make comparisons between then and now. COVID-19 and Zika both emerged from outside the US—from China and Brazil respectively. I wondered how the CDC reacted to the Zika threat in 2015-2016 and how it differed from the reaction to COVID-19. Maybe the CDC’s approach would explain how little the US suffered when it came to Zika.

The author claims that the CDC had little information, if any, on Zika despite the emergency declaration by Brazil. He took it upon himself to contact an Italian doctor he knew who happened to reside in Brazil. The doctor confirmed that it was a “big mess and a tragedy”. The affirmation from a trusted source was the impetus the author needed to contact Tom Skinner, Chief Spokesman of Dr. Thomas Frieden, the CDC director at that time. The author was hoping to get answers to questions Americans may have on this virus. The CDC website indicated that some Americans could bring the virus back home, resulting in stateside outbreaks; however, there was no additional information or answers to burning questions that Americans needed. McNeil inquired how Americans should deal with travel, pregnancy, which countries to avoid, how to handle the upcoming Olympics, and other practical questions. Tom Skinner referred him to Dr. Erin Staples, who was vague in her answers.

Essentially, the CDC had no special advice to pregnant women nor guidance regarding the Olympics. If recommendations were provided, they were changing constantly and very confusing. The CDC’s response to the Zika epidemic feels like a mirror image of their response to our current COVID-19 pandemic: an abject lack of coordinated and purposeful communication.

By January 2016, 12 cases in the US were confirmed. Still, nothing from the CDC. By mid-January, reports of autopsies on 4 Brazilian babies surfaced on the web and caught McNeil’s attention. Mothers of the 4 babies all had Zika. When McNeil inquired about a travel warning, he was given the cold shoulder and told the CDC was still “discussing recommendations”! In his own words, the author described January 15th, 2016 as a “circus” as the CDC announced a press conference at noon, then cancelled it, and then kept changing the hour the meeting would be held. The press conference started at 7pm that evening and the agency announced an interim travel guidance. One of the CDC physicians described Zika as a “fairly serious problem”.

What about the World Health Organization (WHO)? It turns out the WHO despises using the word “emergency” and reverts to using “Public Health Emergency of International Concern,” or PHEIC for brevity. On February 1st, 2016, the WHO convened a committee in Geneva, which was held in privacy given that unpublished data were going to be shared and discussed. The WHO Director General, Dr. Margaret Chan, declared a PHEIC after the meeting—but she worded the recommendations carefully, stating that the emergency was not over the spread of Zika itself, but over the possibility that Zika caused microcephaly; the WHO did not recommend any travel restrictions. The WHO declared Zika an epidemic rather than a pandemic, based on how the two are defined. The definition appears to have little to do with the gravity of the illness, but more so with the novelty of the virus and whether it is spread worldwide. Since Zika was discovered in 1947 and it was mainly in Brazil, it can’t be a pandemic. In fact, even on March 1st, 2020, the WHO still did not call COVID-19 a pandemic. We all know how that has changed since.

The book provides copious examples of CDC and WHO ineptitude in handling the Zika epidemic; examples that I can’t summarize in one article.  I encourage you to read McNeil’s book to understand the damage done to the general public with delayed action and scant understanding of disease.

Fast forward to 2020. Every reader of this article can relate to how vague the CDC recommendations have been, the anemic response by the WHO, and all the missed opportunities to intervene. We’ve been plagued by indecision and mixed messaging on everything from who should wear masks and which masks to use, to who should be tested and when and whether we continue shelter in place or open up the country. Many questions why we didn’t have a travel ban early on. Why didn’t we close airports sooner? Why are we not ramping up testing? Why did it take weeks before recommending masks for all when in public? Why are some beaches in Florida still open? Need I go on???

Reading McNeil’s account of Zika confirmed to me that relying on agencies such as the CDC and the WHO is not reassuring. The weak response to Zika was a harbinger of the present crisis. Both agencies failed us before, and they are failing us now. Frankly, it’s ironic to watch the former CDC director, who poorly handled Zika, opine on the right way to deal with COVID-19. I don’t have a clear explanation as to why Zika did not have much of an impact on the US public, but Frieden deserves no credit for that stroke of luck.

The WHO and CDC reaction to the Zika epidemic should have been a lesson. Unfortunately, we failed to learn from the mistakes of the past in handling today’s pandemic. Unless there is a fundamental change in how the WHO and CDC conduct their roles in the public health response, history will repeat itself. My hope is that future pandemics won’t be as hard and painful as COVID-19 has been, but we can all agree that there will be a future pandemic. Next time let’s learn from our mistakes.

Chadi Nabhan (@chadinabhan) is a hematologist and oncologist in Chicago whose interests include lymphomas, healthcare delivery, strategy, and business of healthcare.

The post Lessons from Zika in the Era of COVID-19 appeared first on The Health Care Blog.

Lessons from Zika in the Era of COVID-19 published first on https://wittooth.tumblr.com/

[baileywhite]

Watch: If everyone agrees he isn't a criminal, why is he in jail?

While covering the trial of a young man accused of killing his mother’s partner, this was the question I kept asking. Graham Veitch admitted to the killing and desperately needed help. But for the better part of two years, he was in jail, instead of a mental health care facility. 

Find the web version of this story on the CBC N.L. website or keep reading here.

Tomorrow is the day everything changes for Graham Veitch. Tomorrow he learns his fate.

Two years and six months after what was almost certainly the worst day of his own life and of many other lives around him, Veitch, 21, will learn if he will be held criminally responsible for the brutal killing of his mother's partner, David Collins.

Veitch is charged with second-degree murder, and a handful of other offences stemming from his flight from police after his attack on Collins.

He is being tried by judge alone, and his lawyers are arguing that he is not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.

"Arguing" might actually be too strong a word. There's very little debate about anything in this trial, as the Crown and defence agree on just about everything.

Yes, Veitch killed Collins. Yes, he fled from police. Yes, he struck an officer with a stolen car.

And yes, Veitch has schizophrenia. Yes, it was undiagnosed when he slipped into a deep and dangerous psychosis.

No, he could not appreciate the consequences of his actions when he brought that hammer down on David Collins's head.

No, he should not be held criminally responsible.

However, for most of the last 30 months, the man who all sides agree is not a criminal has been living at Her Majesty's Penitentiary.

By many estimations, it is a jail fit for no man, let alone one grappling with the most serious of mental illnesses.

Jail before justice

"When a person is held in jail before trial, that's called remand custody," said Rosemary Ricciardelli, a sociologist at Memorial University who studies crime and corrections.

"That individual is considered either a flight risk or a risk to themselves or others, and thus they get held."

The provincial justice department said in an emailed statement that the "placement of inmates is done on a case-by-case basis" and inmates may be transferred to hospitals if they experience a mental health crisis.

Such arrangements are to deal with immediate problems, not long-term care.

"Unfortunately, they can't be held at the Waterford unless they're found guilty or [not] criminally responsible," Ricciardelli said.

Brutal attack

The gruesome nature of Veitch's actions is not in contention at this trial.

The first piece of evidence entered by the Crown was a lengthy agreed statement of facts, outlining the manner in which Veitch killed Collins, just moments after the two ate dinner together in their shared Logy Bay home on Dec. 18, 2016.  

The younger man came up behind the elder and bludgeoned him with a hammer, over and over, until he believed Collins was dead.

To friends and family, the attack seemed to be a bolt from the blue. Though the teenager expressed to friends and family some misgivings about his mother's partner, witnesses said Collins was an upstanding person and the two got along fine. Veitch had never been violent.

Psychiatrist Nizar Ladha testified that Veitch was suffering intense delusions when he killed Collins. He believed Collins to be a danger to the Veitch family, and that killing him was the right thing to do.

What seemed to everyone else like a sudden explosion was actually a slow-burning fire.

An escalation toward a breaking point is typical for people with undiagnosed schizophrenia, said Dave Banko, executive director of the Schizophrenia Society of Newfoundland and Labrador.

"People aren't going to go and tell their friends and their family members that they're seeing things, hearing things," he said.

"They bottle that up, and oftentimes they will get worse until they have a psychotic episode," though such episodes aren't usually violent, Banko stressed.

The long wait

Scores of jurists, journalists and other advocates for free and open societies have argued that justice must be seen to be done.

If the most brazen of thieves and liars can skulk through the system without their peers knowing their crimes, it is reasoned, justice has not truly been meted out.

Similarly, if the public cannot see a defendant's mental health tested, how can we trust that the test has been conducted strenuously?

Veitch's mental health was tested by several psychiatrists who all came to the same conclusion.

Experts told the court it is impossible that Veitch faked his symptoms. The details of his behaviour after his arrest are disturbing. Less extreme incidents included eating paint chips, drinking toilet water and walking around naked.

For justice to be seen and done takes time in this country, and Veitch, like many others who have been deemed threats to society, has spent that time held in jail awaiting trial.

"It's interesting because prison in itself, depending on the conditions of confinement and how a person is treated, can really impact how a person fares," Ricciardelli said.

Some people do well in jail, the professor said. People who struggle to take their medications regularly, for instance, may find the regimented nature of prison life beneficial.

She believes the health department should take on a bigger role in corrections, something the province says is already in the works. A justice spokesperson said the two departments are working together and that the health department should have "responsibility for the provision of health services in prisons and the associated funding" by next year.

Ricciardelli says it is possible to treat people more like patients and less like criminals even before their trials conclude.

"Maybe it shouldn't have to wait until after trial," she said.

"Maybe if we can speed that up and do that sooner, we might be able to have a more effective experience."

An excruciating diagnosis

Schizophrenia is a cruel disorder, not only because of its severity, but because of the cascade of misery it can unleash. It manifests most often in teenagers and young adults on the cusp of maturity with their futures ahead. It is often misdiagnosed or misunderstood.

"Usually people will get diagnosed after everything else has been eliminated," Banko said.

"You don't really know if someone is hallucinating or seeing anything because they're the ones experiencing it. So oftentimes when people go and seek help, if they're not sharing that aspect … then they may only get treated for depression."

It's not until later, as the disorder progresses, that a true diagnosis is typically made, Banko said.

By then, a person living with it may have slipped into psychosis and away from reality, enveloped in a delusion and surrounded most often by auditory hallucinations that may command any number of actions, including suicide.

Only a small fraction of people with schizophrenia are violent, Banko said, but those are the cases that usually make the news.

"We don't hear the positive stories, we only hear the stuff in the news where someone commits a horrible act," he said.  

The cost of this, he said, is tremendous stigma that discourages people who are suffering from seeking help and can even lead families to ignore important signs.

No one wants to believe they have a disorder that others are afraid of.

It's a disorder that, even when well managed, will require careful moderation and frequent changes to medications, many of which have taxing side effects including weight gain, loss of libido and organ damage.

"There is no one-size-fits-all," Banko said. "Sometimes the medication might work, and then for whatever reason, it might stop."

Banko wants everyone to know that it is doable for people with schizophrenia to lead perfectly normal lives. But is it doable in jail?

"Recovery is possible with pretty well everyone with a mental illness, but they need the support of family, caregivers, community supports, medical professionals," he said.

"But they don't have that in the correctional system. Especially in this province."

Decision day

At the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador, no one is arguing that Graham Veitch is guilty of second degree murder, but the decision is Justice Sandra Chaytor's to make.

During closing submissions, Chaytor described the evidence as "not contentious" and thanked the two sides for their collaborative, sensitive approach.

If Graham Veitch is found not criminally responsible by reason of mental disorder, it does not mean he will walk free. He will almost certainly be transferred to the Waterford Hospital to be held indefinitely, until a review board deems him fit to be released.

Whatever happens, Ricciardelli said, it is unlikely that Veitch will be the last person with schizophrenia to be held in jail before a trial.

"In order to change our system," she began, "we have to start by changing the attitudes individuals have towards the people who are incarcerated and be willing to invest in all persons in our society."

[theramblingonesie]

Facing Our Making Part 4: Makeup and Performance

Misty Copeland as “Firebird”

Welcome to the grand finale of the makeup blog series! It’s been a great experience writing about all of this because it’s given me an incredible opportunity to really dig into myself to discover my own biases, blind spots, preferences, and ways I can learn and grow. I dunno about you, but I rather enjoy that shit. I hope that maybe you learned something, too, or at least had a chance to tease out and reflect on how the subject has affected you in your own life.

Getting into social customs and how we each feel about them is an interesting sport. For me, I liken it to when you get your blood pressure measured at the doctor’s office.

You put the arm cuff on,

“Okay, here’s this social topic”

and they put the stethoscope on you to hear your pulse,

“Hello, world. Here’s what I think…”

and then they start pumping and tightening the cuff.

“This is wrong! Here are some arbitrary rules! Less of those people! Restrict! Cancel! Humiliate! Isolate! Deprive! No! Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong!”

They go until they can’t tighten anymore, and pause.

“Yes, I’ve arrived. This is the TRUTH.”

And then release.

“Actually, fuck it, let people live their lives”

Whooooooosh!

Leaving you with the sound and feel of your own beating heart, the pulsing of the blood as it rushes back in.

“Hello, life.”

(Sorry, I think the sexy blood pressure pout is goddamn hilarious. )

We can do a review of previous blogs in this series, but ultimately what I hope you’ll walk away with is this:

Let’s stop arbitrarily restricting people, whether directly or through complicity, and let them live their best lives.

Yes, we need to examine social and structural cancers. But no, a boy with a purse and an 80 year old woman in sequins snake-print pants are most certainly not that.

I want to write about makeup and ageism. I want to write about makeup and classism. I want to write about makeup and racism. I want to talk about makeup lineage in families and cultures. I want to write about intimacy and faces, and a million other topics that makeup touches, holds and carries. But I am not a makeup artist or enthusiast, nor any kind of image specialist (fun fact: I’ve never been to Sephora), and I must move on to other things. At most, I am a shapeshifter who delights in the moods and adventures that dabbling in makeup and fashion can provide to the human experience.  Who knows, maybe I’ll tackle another piece randomly in the future. But regardless, I strongly encourage anyone who feels called to pick this up and run with it. Nothing I’m writing is original-- it’s just a collection of thoughts and opinions gained from experience and conversations had over the course of my life. I want these conversations to be had. They’re already being had, and we need to add voices to it. So please-- let’s hear yours <3

Here’s an oversimplified review of the rest of the blog series:

Beauty standards are impossibly harsh and cause a lot of unnecessary pain. Let womxn decide what they want to do with their own damn bodies and stay out of it. Unless they hire you for a consultation. Wearing makeup is awesome, and so is not wearing makeup. Your gender presentation and basically any presentation of your body and behavior do not determine who you are and aren’t attracted to sexually. And fuck gatekeeper behavior. If someone tells you that you aren’t the gender or sexual orientation you know yourself to be, then that’s a reflection of some internal shit they’re fighting with, boo-boo. Not you. But I know that doesn’t make it hurt less, and I love you. How toxic masculinity ruins the day in relationship to makeup or not makeup needs to die, and YES women and cis-women** also support and host this behavior (internalized misogyny).

How you choose to adorn yourself does not make your human experience any more or less “real”. Qualification for living a real life in a real body: having a pulse. Just because it is not your experience does not make someone else’s experience a myth. Womxn who wear makeup are not whores unless they are, in fact, professional whores. Professional whores keep the world turning, and bless em for it. The problem isn’t sex work. It’s violence against sex workers. Consider your complicity.  

If you want sexual attention because you enjoy sex, then that’s your business and FUCK YEAH GIT IT!!!

Christianity was largely instrumental in informing men that they are not allowed to wear makeup, lest they lose their “manhood”. I have so much to say about that, but I’ll leave it to a recent quote I heard from poet Regie Gibson: “We must learn to fear churches that fear drums.” That will resonate deeply with some and confuse others. Think about it.

The art of drag is centuries old. Makeup has been used by all genders and sexes for decades as a form of protest, revolution, equality, and visibility.

Whatever body you are in, whatever gender you are, you deserve to wear makeup if that is part of your desired expression. It is up to the rest of us around you to do the work to create a world that accepts and allows you to safely do so. Your level of perceived attractiveness does not determine the size and capability of your brain. What does need to be examined is how we sexually and emotionally abuse “attractive” girls and women, both in person and through media, in a way that forces them to believe that they cannot achieve a full life without using sex as currency, or that none of their accomplishments or thoughts matter because their only purpose is being a sexual accessory. As we’ve seen time and again, sexually “attractive” women are punished for straying beyond the purpose of being unintelligent sex objects. Or, there’s a lot of “woke” folks out there who are all “yay! Hot women are also smart, give them opportunities!” and will ONLY respect and listen to women they deem worthy of sleeping with. I will also challenge society by saying that it is sexual abuse to strip a person of their sexuality simply because they don’t fit what you’ve been conditioned to believe are your “standards”. No, one is not required to be sexually active with anybody. But denying another human’s right to love and affection due to superficial beliefs IS abuse, in my opinion. Forcing a person who does not fall into conventional beauty standards to intellectually perform beyond their abilities is abuse, and based in the illness of consumer culture.

What is your purpose?

WHAT is YOUR purpose?

What is your PURPOSE…

THING?

Are you picking up what I’m putting down?

A person’s decision to wear makeup, not wear makeup, or augment their body is their business, because those are decisions they make for their own personal survival. Do not blame them for wanting to survive. Consider the bombardment of messages we hear daily about “worth”. What our bodies look like determine too much to be listed here, but for many, it’s the difference between life and death, even if that’s not an immediately conscious motivation.

Marinate in that.

So let’s get down to the series conclusion. This is an exciting, though brief, one for me:

Performance and Makeup

When my friend Aepril (from blog #1) messaged me about her dilemma of being asked to show her “real” face, we both connected over the uniqueness of the application of makeup as performers. For a performer, makeup goes beyond wearing a nice face out in the world while we conduct our business. Makeup becomes a ritual act, and a space of channeling energy required to suspend disbelief and transport an audience to other times, realms and worlds.

Makeup for performers is also practical: don’t get drowned out by bright stage lights, and accentuate features so that the audience can follow your expressions while you’re telling a story.

One of my favorite parts of performing is, honestly, the pre-show ritual. I love the act of transformation. I go from my blank little pasty potato face and limp baby hair to creatures and characters from my dreams. I can be:

Super femme

Super butch

Superhero

Child

Old man/woman

Dragon

Cat

Spy

Femme fatale

Ballerina

Goddess

Bird

Elemental

Victorian socialite

Bum

Cartoon character

Someone’s dad

Heartthrob

Potted plant

And the list goes on…

Important note: I recognize that my age, whiteness, and stature grant me certain privileges of transformation that not all are afforded. I think this is important to acknowledge, as well as participate in conversations around greater equity in the entertainment industry. Except in cases such as blackface or cultural appropriation, it’s important to challenge type casting and beliefs around the limitations of who can play certain roles.

Makeup allows me to embody the energy I want to convey. If I can look like it, I can believe it. Sit backstage and watch performers after they’ve put on their makeup and costumes. Often, it’s as if their “normal” personality has left the building, and they begin taking on traits and mannerisms of the character they’re playing. It’s a wild experimentation in the realm of the human psyche- peering into our layers and depths of possibilities and dormant desires and aspects of ourselves. Some performers will reference a character they play and say, “yeah, that’s not who I am. But understanding that character gave me greater compassion for people like that”, while others will tell you that their character is a portrayal of their truest selves.

Because of the perceived separation from reality (though art imitates life), the stage is often the safest place for artists to fully show themselves. There is always the option to retreat afterwards and say “oh no, that wasn’t me. It was all pretend.” Or conversely, moments on stage can empower the artist to be supported in their moment of authenticity, because the audience understands that their role is to respectfully hold space and witness. I find that audiences are far better at allowing for differences when the context of being confronted by them is in an environment separate from their daily lives.

Plainly said-- everyone loves a loose cannon or bold personna on stage or in the movies. They feel far more threatened by it in the workplace or in their beds.

I’m neither advocating for, nor dismissing acceptance of all personality types. But I also sometimes find myself in a producer/manager stress space of saying, “yes, I get that this is wicked cute on stage or in the movies, BUT THIS IS REAL LIFE AND COULD YOU PLEASE ANSWER YOUR EMAILS AND NOT STORE THE KNIVES WITH THE HAIR BRUSHES, THANKS.”

The stage is a place where your desire to give everyone the finger and store the knives with the hair brushes is totally okay. And I think it’s great to have that outlet.

Pro tip: it’s smart to carry bandaids on a film set or backstage at a show.

Makeup gives us the courage to let those pieces out. Sam, looking like Sam, won’t do a lot of stuff. Sam looking like a person, animal or entity she admires (or loathes), will do almost anything. Yes, you can have a field day digging into that psychology, but the fact remains nonetheless.

A couple weeks back, beloved Boston burlesque Monster Queen and icon, Devilicia, recommended that I watch “Susanne Bartsch: On Top”, a documentary on Netflix. If you don’t know who this is (I didn’t), here’s an excerpt from her biography on her site:

Susanne Bartsch is New York City’s patron saint of transformation and inclusion. The parties she’s thrown for three decades—from Paris to Tokyo—have provided a venue for countless creative souls and “creatures” to express themselves, come together and forget the hum-drum of the everyday. As Michael Schulman wrote in his 2013 New York Times profile, Susanne’s “empire” continues to flourish “particularly among scene seekers too green to know her history. Wherever Ms. Bartsch goes, the demimonde seems to follow, as if summoned by the bat of her curlicued fake eyelashes.” Fashion mogul John Badum once referred to Susanne as “Mother Teresa in a glitter G-string.”

I can’t recommend this film highly enough. One of the most important parts was when Susanne tells the interviewers that she never had any artistic talent for painting or any other such creative mediums. She instead decided to use her body as her canvas for expression, exploring what makeup, color, texture, and so on could create, and that relation to the world around her. She refers back to the restriction of her upbringing, and how that influences her openness and dedication to personal expression. Susanne influenced countless careers and communities, especially for LGBTQA+ folx and those who consider themselves to be “outsiders”. When people who attend Susanne’s legendary parties were interviewed, many of them speak of these communities as life saving. It was a place where they could just be themselves, and finally be around others who either understood them, or allowed them to be exactly who they are. All of this through the power and creativity of makeup and fashion.

Makeup serves infinite purposes-- safety, transformation, personal exploration, etc. But one thing I love about this craft is its ability to amplify visibility as a sort of flag for finding your people. Often when I’m in a new city, I find myself dressing in a way that will signal to others who might share similar lifestyles that I’m out and available for connection. When I’m at my incognito cafe job and a womxn with black stiletto nails comes up to the register, I’ll give her a certain acknowledging smile and say “I love your nails”, which really means “I see you, friend.” The same way a lonely gay man will show up to one of Susanne’s events with mirror glitter on his eyelids and a tutu made of eyeballs thinking, “hello, do you see me? I’d love to be a part of this family”, so many of us will walk around the world looking for signs of matching lipstick, hairstyle, eyeliner, and tattoos in hopes that we will find other aliens who might accept and understand us.

Photo by Cheryl Gorski

Some people find community through the act of not wearing makeup. Yes, I use the word “act” intentionally, because in today’s society, I believe it is a conscious decision to not wear makeup, just as much as it’s a conscious decision to apply makeup. But from personal experience, the people I most often attract when I’m not wearing makeup are not usually “my people”. I give off a very different impression when I wear muted tones, a floppy messy pixie cut, and display my thin, pale, generically-European facial features. When I outwardly express myself through makeup and fashion, it’s like throwing a direct line to the crowds and conversations I want to be having. It’s not a flawless system, of course. Sometimes the same people who love and adore me while I’m dolled up have absolutely no use for me in muggle form, not always realizing that I’m the same person. Sometimes that makes me laugh, sometimes it makes me cry. Depends on the day.

I stand by the belief that your decision to wear or not wear makeup is revolutionary. It is a decision made that acts as agency in how you want your life to be played out. That’s powerful, whether for better or for worse. So many people say “ehhh wearing makeup is conforming” or vice versa. But I’d like to present the challenge that what we do to our own bodies is not the conformity, but rather the conformity lies in the pressure we put on others to think, feel, and present as we do, or in a way that’s convenient and pleasurable to us.

If you did the exercise from the first blog in this series and kept your list of all the reasons why you do and don’t wear makeup, go ahead and look at it now. Reflect on each of those responses, and remember that it’s your fucking life. Our bodies dictate almost all of the experiences we will have in the world. It is your right to try and have as much say in that as possible.

Thank you so much for reading, and best of luck on your journeys of exploration, expression, and finding a home with your people, whoever they may be.

** “women and cis-women” is a term my friend Alexis recently said to me, and I’m playing around with it.