#rosalind: end transmission
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isha-feinberg · 3 years ago
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end transmission | isha & rosa
@rosastein​​:
isha-feinberg​:
when: wednesday 12th april 2163 where: a corridor, by a supply cupboard who: open!
[So many black clothes. Isha doesn’t like cleaning them as much; white clothes are easy because you can bleach them. Dark clothes show every little hair and bit of fluff, and she’s spent the better part of the last hour with a lint scraper trying to clean up everyone’s funeral clothes. When she gets send off to get some more laundry detergent, she suspects it’s because she keeps sighing so fretfully while everyone else is chatting and trying to establish some sort of normality after Kaiser’s death.
Isha is fine with that, gliding down the corridor and slipping into the nearest supply cupboard. She has to stand on the lowest shelf to reach the detergent, which is far back on the highest shelf, and while she does so the door swings shut behind her.
It’s very dark, all of a sudden. Isha always needs to know where the nearest exit is, and she fares poorly when she’s trapped somewhere like this. Her PDD does nothing to open the door, but it won’t bend to brute force either; why doesn’t she know how the bloody doors work? Is it a mechanical error? A computer thing? Someone in the tech department is playing a joke on her? The light of her PDD is painfully bright as she types out an indignant message to the first IT person she can think of, that Paxton person, to say that she’s stuck.
In the meantime, she’ll try slow deep breaths like they always tout in therapy. It’s only when she hears someone coming along the corridor outside that she slams her palm against the door.]
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Excuse me? Hello? [She manages to sound rather annoyed for a woman hoping to get some help. She doesn’t want to admit to the pounding in her chest or the strangling feeling in her throat. She just wants to get out of this stupid damn cupboard.] 
[ The week had gotten off to an unusual start, which isn’t so much a complaint as an observation: she’d moved house, more or less, and a man died. Or was murdered. From what Rose can sus out, there doesn’t seem to be a general consensus among the masses. Just a thick air of mixed sadness and apprehension, with a dash of suspicion to taste. She doesn’t know what to think about it all herself, doesn’t know enough about the place to discern whether murder is something anyone here is capable of. Unfortunately, that doesn’t make it any less terrifying to be shaken from ones thought by a loud noise. Nor does it make it any less likely to scream at the aforementioned loud noise. ]
…What the sh-!  [ She shoots a fist out and raps on the nearest wall, all strength and not even a pretense of technique. Some might call it an offensive reflex. Rose would call it an offended reflex. (The trainers back in Sixteen would call it a stupid reflex.) Regardless, her heart is pounding, and now her hand hurts. ] Fuck! [ Tight-lipped and high pitched. As she clutches throbbing thing to her stomach, Rose looks around belatedly in search of the source of what spooked her. The rattling of a nearby supply closet seems to be the most likely offender. Frowning, she approaches. Slowly presses her ear against the frigid surface of the door. ]
God, what… are you trying to kill someone else? Hello?! [ Only once she’s yelled at what looks like no one does it occur to her how unhinged this must look. The subsequent tapping of her PDD a bid to feel less embarrassed about the whole thing  – she’s certain some security camera caught her physically and verbally assaulting colony infrastructure. Admirable second day behavior. But once the door opens, and whoever is inside can explain themselves, it’ll be fine.
Naturally, nothing happens.
Typical. ]
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…Yeah, mkay. Sure. 
[Isha is not easily startled, but the sudden heavy thwack that resonates through the wall makes her jump. Thank goodness nobody can see her. As it is, she startles and takes a step back, hand jumping to her sternum and pressing against it as if to coax her heart into a slower pace. She wouldn’t be so damn jumpy if she wasn’t stuck in this absurd little cupboard.
She knows she’ll get out sooner or later, particularly now somebody knows she’s in here, but she’d just really rather it was sooner and not later. It’s dark and cramped and the smell of cleaning products is pressing against Isha’s head. The person outside seems to be just as upset as Isha, and that makes her feel a little better. It’s probably not precisely what they mean when they say a trouble shared is a trouble halved, but Isha likes not being the only on in distress.
Perhaps, Isha thinks with a private sense of amusement, this person had thought she was a ghost. Isha doesn’t believe in such things, but if she were the sort of person to hold those beliefs then this draughty old school building on this breezy little island would be a likely candidate for a haunting.
It’s difficult to hear through the door but she thinks she can make out the sound of whoever is out there trying to open it, unsuccessfully. Of course. The tip of Isha’s thumb makes its way unconsciously between her lips so that she can chew on the nail, which is a habit she trained herself out of long ago.]
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...Did you just hit the wall? [There are better questions to ask, but it’s the one Isha wants to know the answer to. She thinks it’s a bit funny, the idea of having startled someone so well that they lash out blindly against a wall. It doesn’t make her feel any more in control, but it makes her feel at least a little less alone in her stress.] 
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butterfleyequeen · 3 years ago
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Little Nightmares OC - Florence (a.k.a. Plague Girl)
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“A strange young girl born with feathered wings. She was driven away from her home after a great tragedy, costing her everything she had.”
Backstory: Florence once lived happily with her parents in a little town in the countryside, where life was sweet and simple. But then, a sudden outbreak of an unknown plague began to ravage the population, leaving hundreds dead--including Florence’s own mother. With growing paranoia that the plague would spread further, the town was bombed by neighboring militia in an attempt to “purge” it of the sickness that festered within. During the bombing, Florence’s father sent her to fly away to safety--and so she did. Their house was decimated into rubble soon after.
After a series of perilous adventures, Florence found herself in the Wilderness, where she survived off of wild berries and nuts. Eventually, she found the Hunter’s cabin while seeking a more substantial shelter. Not wanting to get caught, she pulled an Anne Frank and hid inside his attic. She dared not to appear in his presence, until he became badly wounded one day after being attacked by an unidentified creature, passing out from blood loss as he tried to give himself stitches. But even knowing what kind of person the Hunter was, Florence decided to help him, making the stitches herself while he was unconscious. She continued to hide out in his attic for a little while longer, until he became suspicious of her presence after discovering food missing from his cupboards. Deciding that she was no longer safe there, she tried to sneak around the property through the trees, until she accidentally caught his attention by falling out and breaking a branch. Naturally, the Hunter began to shoot at her, forcing her to abscond.
After a long game of cat-and-mouse, the Hunter eventually managed to shoot Florence in the wing while she flew away thinking she was free of him, causing her to plummet back down to earth. But upon finding her and recognizing the blood that stained her pinafore (which she wiped from her hands after finishing his emergency stitches), he realized that she was the one who saved his life. Deciding to show lenience for once, he took her back to his home and fixed her injured wing, even allowing her to sleep in the basement as she recovered. During this time, he would feed her once a day and change her dressings after checking how her wing was doing. But despite his efforts, the wound somehow became infected, leading to him taking Florence to the hospital in the Pale City, where she was left in the Doctor’s care. She ended up staying with the Doctor even after her wing healed, learning many of his practices as she watched him treat his patients.
Personality: Florence is very kind, polite, and helpful towards others (even those deemed to be the enemy), wanting to become a nurse when she grows up. She is also very clever and knowledgeable, being an avid book reader.
Powers/Abilities: - Avian physiology: Possesses physical traits associated with birds (feathered wings and hollow bones) - Flight: Capable of flying with the use of her wings, allowing her to reach high places and avoid most enemies - Disease immunity: Unaffected by diseases, viruses, pathogens, etc. - Biokinesis: Allows her to manipulate organic matter
Misc. Facts: - Named after Florence Nightingale - Is 11 years old (around Mono’s age) - Has a British accent 🇬🇧 - Her parents were named Henry and Rosalind - Crows are drawn to her for some reason - Her most common nicknames are "Flo" and "little birdie" - Is friends with Spoon Girl - Can often be found clinging to the Doctor like a baby sloth - The Patients and Living Hands don't attack her, thinking she's just a junior member of staff - Her biokinetic powers didn't surface until after her arrival in the Pale City (implying that their awakening was stirred by the Transmission)
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aion-rsa · 3 years ago
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Friday Night Dinner: the Best Episodes
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Friday Night Dinner is ten.
That’s ten years of crimble-crumble, humble bumbling, manic misunderstandings, and more lovely bits of squirrel than you could shake a dead fox at. For thirty-seven Friday nights across six glorious seasons the Goodman family – shirtless dad, Martin (Paul Ritter); long-suffering but ever hopeful mum, Jackie (Tamsin Greig), and their visiting prank-wanker sons Adam (Simon Bird) and Jonny (Tom Rosenthal) – served up a banquet of laughs to a hungry nation, ably assisted by chronically persistent, reality-adjacent next-door-neighbour, Jim (Mark Heap) and his faithful dog, Wilson, and a host of other regulars and monstrously memorable one-offs besides. 
In celebration, then, of one of the most smartly-observed, perfectly-cast comedies of recent years, in chronological order, we count down ten of the show’s best.
The Sofabed
Series 1, Episode 1
Most first episodes – nay entire first series – of new comedies can be scattergun. Maybe the characters haven’t quite coalesced, or their fictional universe doesn’t feel ‘lived in’ yet. Not so with Friday Night Dinner. The show arrived fully-formed, with the Goodmans seeming as real as any family in your street; perhaps even your own family.
All of the gags, rituals and dynamics destined to run and grow and fold back in upon themselves throughout the series’ run are here: Martin’s secrets, conspiracies and hearing difficulties; Jim’s constant interruptions; Adam and Johnny’s brutal one-upmanship; the salt-in-the-water prank; Martin’s fondness for shouting ‘shit on it’.
The first episode revolves around the selling of a sofabed (with a brief sojourn into conspiracy when Martin inveigles his children into helping him hide the old magazines Jackie has ordered him to destroy), a simple enough transaction that turns to tragedy when death comes (quite literally) calling. Martin’s mis-hearing and misunderstanding of a crucial piece of information whilst standing at the bottom of a stair-and-couch-based conga line brings the series first proper belly-laugh, and with it the realisation that Friday Night Dinner is going to be something special.          
Mr Morris
Series 2, Episode 2
Mr Morris, played by Harry Landis, is a marvellous comic creation. With his predilection for getting topless and dressing people down at the dinner table, he’s like a malignant, mirror-universe version of Martin. With the eyes of Mr Magoo and the moustache of Adolf Hitler – and something of the bearing of both – Mr Morris, Granny’s new and very married boyfriend, quickly establishes himself as the dinner guest from Hell.
After crashing into their house and blaming them for the damage, the pugilistic, preening, proud, petty, and pretty much certifiably insane pensioner goes on to engage in horrendously public displays of affection with Granny; shout angrily over the phone at his 95-year-old wife; make Adam and Johnny pay for the, well, johnnies he later planned to use on their grandma; accuse Adam of sexual assault, and then challenge the whole household to a half-naked fist fight. Just another Friday night at the Goodman’s. 
The Mouse
Series 2, Episode 6
‘Mouse’ marks the first time that Jim manages to get his feet under the dinner table of the Goodman home, and it’s everything you could have hoped for. And more.
Normally the family manufactures its own chaos during the weekly meal – with extra helpings of misunderstandings, feuds, schadenfreude, embarrassment and horror – but here the Goodmans are cast as the straight men to Jim’s one-man reality-wrecking crew. While interpersonal connections and rituals are alien to Jim, the Goodmans’ set of mannerisms and catchphrases are his greatest challenge yet. His interpretation of their Jewish faith is equal parts sweet to absolutely bonkers, and only Jim’s anxiety, eagerness to please, incomprehension, and molten naivety keeps things from becoming insulting.
All of the Goodman rituals to which the viewer has become accustomed rain down on Jim in a hail of friendly fire, leading him to gargle on ‘Jewish water’ and scrutinise his dinner plate for hints of squirrel. The moment where Jim briefly considers whether he should eat the episode’s eponymous mouse as it scurries onto his dinner plate is pure comedy gold. 
Christmas
Series 2, Episode 7
This episode features the first appearance of Rosalind Knight as Martin’s mother, or ‘Horrible Grandma’ as she’s known to the family. Christmas is supposed to be a time of peace and celebration, but that’s not an easy ask when your guest of dishonour is a terrifying little lady who’s equal parts Livia Soprano to the Shushing Library Spook from Ghostbusters. Very few Christmases contain the line, ‘Thanks for raping our grandma’s dog on Christmas day’, fewer still see a grandson sharing his grandma’s dog’s oxygen mask, but then nobody does Christmas like the Goodmans. And they’re not even supposed to be doing it.
There’s a surprisingly beautiful moment at the end of this episode, courtesy of resident oddball, Jim, that – like all of the other rare occasions on which the show veers towards sentimentality – is quickly undercut by a well-timed, and very welcome, gag. 
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The Girlfriend
Series 3, Episode 1
Adam finally meets his match: an eight-year-old girl who blackmails him into a chaste but never-the-less irritating and inappropriate ‘relationship’ following the discovery of a racy, unsolicited picture of his girlfriend’s sister on his phone, while his girlfriend is there at the Goodman house for dinner. Thus unfolds an evening of unusual foot-washing, forced transvestism, secrets, lies, panic, and a stunning coup de grace from Jonny, who helps put the final nail into the coffin of his brother’s fledgling relationship.  
The Fox
Series 3, Episode 2
Martin likes to squirrel away a great many things, many of them ridiculous, most of them out of sight of his wife. But Johnny and Adam probably weren’t expecting to discover a dead fox in their father’s chest freezer, much less find themselves enlisted to help move it around town like a hitman’s hairy bounty until the heat died down long enough for their father to have it stuffed. The funniest thing about Martin’s many hare-brained (or, in this case, fox-brained) schemes is the energy he throws at them, the sort of logistical chicanery seldom seen this side of the CIA. Watching the men of the family toddle around hither and thither with a dead fox, hiding it in the dining room, hurling it in cupboards, wedging it through windows, is exactly as funny as it sounds, and – as always – just when you think Martin’s got away with it… he hasn’t.  
The Two Tonys
Series 4, Episode 1
Martin is an exceptionally quick-thinker. Unfortunately, his speed of thought is seldom married with precision, and he usually finds himself blurting something out at the start of an evening and spending the rest of that evening teetering on the edge of oblivion, with his long-suffering wife ready to push him off. His blurt-out in ‘The Two Tonys’, though, is perhaps his most desperate and ill-considered. In a bid to encourage Jason Watkins’ Tony – a loathed associate from years ago Martin had invited to dinner believing him to be another, better Tony – to leave the Goodman home, he forces Jackie to go along with the ruse that her mother has just died. This gambit, like all Goodman gambits, backfires spectacularly, and what follows is a farce worthy of Frasier, everything culminating in a desperate chase and the furious weaponisation of a pineapple. 
The Funeral
Series 4, Episode 5
Friday Night Dinner deals with death incredibly often, and incredibly well, wringing joyous laughter from that most terrifying and inevitable of our shared fates. Here we have another delicious dose of Horrible Grandma, who’s in town to lay to rest her dear departed brother, Saul. Martin is pressured into giving Saul’s eulogy, even though he never really knew or liked his uncle all that much. Cue a day of stress, arrests, tense stand-offs and tantrums, ending with an uninvited Jim appearing at Saul’s graveside clutching four black balloons, while Martin proceeds to recite Saul’s death certificate in lieu of a proper farewell. Immediately following a Grand Prix-inspired coffin malfunction, Jim’s dog Wilson enters stage-left to put a necro-quasi-cannibalistic spin on the ending of Todd Solondz‘s Happiness.      
Dad’s Birthday
Series 6, Episode 4
Horrible Grandma might make for a terrible dinner guest, but she makes for a perfect guest star. This time, we bid her goodbye for good, but not before a great deal of caustic put-downs, cathartic showdowns and perhaps the funniest, most macabre magic trick of all time, courtesy of resident ‘magician’ Jim.
Females
Series 6, Episode 6  
‘Females’ wasn’t intended to be the final episode of the series, at least according to comments made by series’ creator Robert Popper immediately following its transmission. And it still might not be the end. But it’s hard to imagine a better, funnier or more touching swan-song for the show, with or without the tragic death of Paul Ritter.
Adam and Jonny finally have ‘females’ (as their progressive dad has always called their prospective girlfriends) in their lives at the same time, and Jackie is overjoyed to be welcoming them into her home. She thinks the evening is going to be perfect, which is rather naïve of her considering that she’s married to Martin.
Sure enough, Martin manages to contaminate every course of the meal with shards of broken glass, a calamity he’s forced to reveal to everyone but Jackie, going on to enlist their help in somehow preventing the matriarch from choking to death, while simultaneously preventing her from discovering the depths of his dangerous ineptitude. Martin is, of course, thoroughly rumbled, but before Jackie can strike him down with great anger and furious vengeance, two pregnancies are announced in quick and joyous succession.
‘Females’ is solidly, classically funny, but it’s the episode’s smaller, more intimate moments that will linger longest in the imagination: the brothers’ new-found, prank-less affection for each other; the subdued but sincere affection between Jackie and Martin as they discuss their new roles and the future; and the now suddenly larger Goodman family dancing as one in the living room. As codas go, it’s a damn near perfect one.
If Friday Night Dinner comes back, let it be in twenty years when Adam and Jonny are middle-aged. For now, I hope Martin gets to enjoy many long years as a granddad.
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Friday Night Dinner series 1-6 are available to stream in the UK on All4 and Netflix.           
The post Friday Night Dinner: the Best Episodes appeared first on Den of Geek.
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hethak-blog · 6 years ago
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Theories on Amelia Earhart (Article)
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Explore theories about Amelia Earhart’s final days—some more plausible than others.
Theory #1: Earhart ran out of fuel, crashed and perished in the Pacific Ocean.
This is one of the most generally accepted versions of the famous aviator’s disappearance. Many experts believe Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan got slightly off course en route to a refueling stop at Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean. Earhart radioed U.S. Coast Guard ships stationed in the area, reporting that neither she nor Noonan could spot the tiny island where they were supposed to land. According to the so-called “crash-and-sink” theory, the plane eventually ran out of gas and plunged into the ocean, killing both Earhart and Noonan. It then sank, leaving no sign of their whereabouts.
Theory #2: Earhart’s flight was an elaborate scheme to spy on the Japanese, who captured her after she crashed.
Did President Franklin D. Roosevelt enlist Earhart to spy on Japan? If so, the aviator did it in a very roundabout fashion. Earhart’s east-to-west route took her from California to South America, across Africa to India and across the northern tip of Australia en route to a refueling stop at Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean. According to the official account, at least, Earhart never got anywhere close to Japan. Besides, her flight was hardly a secret mission: Newspapers around the world tracked her progress on their front pages. The Earhart-as-spy theory emerged from a 1943 film about Earhart called “Flight for Freedom” and starring Rosalind Russell, but no evidence supports its veracity.
Theory #3: Earhart crash-landed, was captured by the Japanese military and died while being held prisoner on the island of Saipan.
In 2017, investigators announced the discovery of a photo, buried in the National Archives for nearly 80 years, that may depict Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan days after their disappearance. According to the team, led by former Executive Assistant Director of the FBI Shawn Henry, Earhart crash-landed in the Marshall Islands, was captured by the Japanese military and died while being held prisoner on the island of Saipan. Retired federal agent Les Kinney scoured the archives for records related to the Earhart case, uncovering a photo from the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) that shows a ship towing a barge with an airplane on the back; on a nearby dock are several people. Kinney believes the plane on the barge is the Electra, and that two of the people on the dock are Earhart and Noonan. The Marshall Islands/Saipan theory of Earhart’s fate isn’t a new one; it first surfaced back in the 1960s, and relies on accounts of Marshall Islanders who supposedly saw the Electra aircraft land and witnessed Earhart and Noonan in Japanese custody. In 2015, Kinney and another amateur Earhart sleuth, Dick Spink, found two metal fragments on Mili atoll in the Marshalls, which they believed came from Earhart’s plane.
Theory #4: Earhart survived a Pacific Ocean plane crash, was secretly repatriated to New Jersey and lived out her life under an assumed name.
A 1970 book put forth a creative solution to the Earhart mystery. The author claimed the famous pilot survived a Pacific Ocean plane crash and was taken prisoner by the Japanese. At the end of World War II, U.S. forces purportedly found her in Japan and secretly repatriated her to New Jersey. There, Earhart took the name Irene Bolam and became a banker. When the real Bolam got wind of the book’s claims, she vigorously denied being Earhart and sued the author and publisher for $1.5 million. (The lawsuit was later withdrawn, though Bolam may have settled out of court.) Numerous experts who investigated Bolam’s life and compared her photos to Earhart’s agree that Bolam, who died in 1982, was not the missing aviator.
Theory #5: Earhart was captured by the Japanese and became “Tokyo Rose.”
Related to other World War II-era myths that place Earhart in various Pacific Theater locales, including Saipan and Guadalcanal, this story originated immediately after the end of the war. A rumor circulated that Earhart had spread Japanese propaganda over the radio as one of many women collectively referred to as “Tokyo Rose.” Her husband, George Putnam, actively investigated this lead at the time, listening to hours of recorded broadcasts, but he did not recognize his wife’s voice.
Theory #6: Earhart was captured by the Japanese and traveled to Emirau Island.
Emirau Island, off Papua New Guinea, seems an unlikely place to find Earhart because it’s far from the spot where her last radio transmissions occurred. Still, a U.S. Navy crew member in World War II told of being sent to the island and spotting a photo of Earhart tacked up in the hut of a local man. The photo showed Earhart standing with a Japanese military officer, a missionary and a young boy. The sailor alerted naval intelligence officers, who allegedly took the photo from the hut against the owner’s wishes. The photo has never been found. Since Emirau Island had been a haven for Europeans stranded after a shipwreck in 1940, it’s likely the photo contained a lookalike and not the real Amelia.
Written By: Elizabeth Hanes
Sources:
https://www.history.com/news/what-happened-to-amelia-9-tantalizing-theories-about-the-earhart-disappearance
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diana-justice · 4 years ago
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New Post has been published on http://www.homeandheavens.com/why-covid-19-infections-in-kids-are-less-than-adults-scientists-answer/
Why Covid-19 Infections In Kids Are Less Than Adults? Scientists Answer
Why Covid-19 Infections In Kids Are Less Than Adults?
A few months ago, we all started to ask “why there aren’t too many covid-19 infections in kids?”. And as covid-19 is a big concern for us all, I decided to publish everything I could find about this matter, based on scientific research and mathematical analysis. I hope you find patience to read my article, and if you like it, please share it and spread the word. Before solving the ‘covid-19 infections in kids’ riddle, I would like to mention how kids and adults bodies are different. So, be patient and read till the end.
We certainly know that kids bodies are more pure than those of adults. I hear you asking “what do you mean?”. A kid’s body is like something new… something that has just come out of the factory. The cells, internal organs and immunity system are all in good condition. That condition normally changes with the food they eat and the environment they live in. For example when they inhale chemical odors from home cleaning products, cars exhaust or any other form of polluted air, these toxins enter their body through the lungs. And when they eat junk foods, fast foods, too much chips, cola, sweets and candy; many toxins and chemical compounds are found in these foods, and that harms the kid’s body.
As people age, the long run exposure to environmental pollution and consumption of bad foods cause chemical compounds to build up in the body cells, causing malfunction for the internal organs as they get tired and weak. And that’s when you start developing diseases and catching infections. Your immunity system tries to solve these problems through the white blood cells that fight diseases and infections, but as chemical compounds build up in your body, the cells will change and won’t be in normal state. So, the immune system might take longer time to fight, if it doesn’t fail. That’s why you experience symptoms, and the mild symptoms indicate strong immune system and normal cells, while severe ones indicate weakness.
But does this apply for all children and adults?
Of course NO! As I said above, it all depends on the environment you are living in and the way you eat. Take an example… a kid whose mother is offering them junk food like fried fast food, processed meats, canned food, chips and sweets. Will they be healthy and strong? Or they will keep catching infections and take even longer to recover?
View also: Coronavirus Symptoms In Kids & How To Treat Your Child How To Protect Yourself From Coronavirus Another kid whose mother is keen on cooking nutritious meals, introducing more vegetables/fruits, and offering healthy home-made desserts instead of candy… Are both similar? The same theory applies to adults who eat healthy and exercise regularly, and those who smoke, drink alcohol, and eat unhealthy foods. And that’s why some people stay healthy and strong in their 70’s, while others get many diseases before they reach 40’s.
Solving the riddle of covid-19 infections in kids
Scientists answer to that question is related somewhat to what I explained above. Meghan Freeman, a virologist in the University Of Pittsburgh School of medicine, said that kids are more prone to other corona viruses that circulate during winter. And they are considered the basic transmission method for many respiratory diseases as they don’t have enough knowledge ‘due to age’ and are not polite with their coughs/sneezes. Freeman mentioned that some research showed that covid-19 doesn’t attack the human cells in general, but it latches on to certain receptors that are less developed in young aged people.
A new research on covid-19 infections in London School Of Hygiene And Tropical Medicine, by Rosalind Eggo ‘assistant professor of mathematical modeling’, showed the following results:
1- Coronavirus has different behavior in children and teens; mostly those under the age of 20. 2- People under the age of 20 are half as susceptible to infection as adults over 20. 3- Some kids don’t experience any symptoms at all. 4- 20% of the reported cases were in kids and teens under 19 yrs old, while 70% of cases happened in people over the age of 70. 5- Eggo’s mathematical modeling for the virus behavior included covid-19 infections from six countries, and showed similar results to those of CDC which stated that while kids and teens make 22% of the U.S population, they represented only 2% of the infections.
If kids and teens are less susceptible to covid-19, then countries with most population of younger citizens will record less number of infections?
That’s true! Scientists noticed that countries in Africa didn’t show as many covid-19 infections as those in Europe and United states. And that makes sense because the median age of citizens in African countries is around 20’s, while in Europe and U.S it is 43, and Italy has the highest number of elderly. Professor Eggo and her colleagues started comparing Covid-19 to flu as kids are the most susceptible ones to flu infections. She said that covid-19 showed different behavior, because if it was like flu, we would expect kids to be hit harder by the disease and the number of infections would arise. But speaking of kids, we noticed that all countries started closing schools at the beginning of the pandemic, so logically the number of covid-19 infections among kids should decrease. Definitely wrong, because kids are living with their families and, like other infected people, they could get the virus by direct contact.
Reference: Online National Public Radio
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bountyofbeads · 6 years ago
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Mueller seeks Roger Stone’s testimony to House intelligence panel, suggesting special counsel is near end of probe of Trump adviser
https://wapo.st/2EzNBiq
EXCLUSIVE: Signs are building Mueller may be moving to charge Roger Stone .... Mueller sought Trump adviser's official testimony to the House Intel Committee on Friday. Me w @nakashimae @PostRoz @RoigFranzia @CarolLeonnig
Notably, Mueller's letter asking for Stone's testimony is the first time the special counsel has asked for anything from the House Intelligence Committee. The committee is likely to consider the request at a closed door meeting Thursday.
🚨��BREAKING MUELLER ALERT 🚨 🚨
Mueller seeks Roger Stone’s testimony to House intelligence panel, suggesting special counsel is near end of probe of Trump adviser
By Carol D. Leonnig, Ellen Nakashima, Rosalind S. Helderman and Manuel Roig-Franzia |December 19 at 5:48 PM EST |Washington Post | Posted December 19, 2018 |
Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III asked the House Intelligence Committee on Friday for an official transcript of Trump adviser Roger Stone’s testimony, according to people familiar with the request, a sign that prosecutors could be moving to charge him with a crime.
It is the first time Mueller has formally asked the committee to turn over material the panel has gathered in its investigation of Russian interference of the 2016 campaign, according to the people.
The move suggests that the special counsel is moving to finalize his months-long investigation of Stone — a key part of Mueller’s inquiry into whether anyone in President Trump’s orbit coordinated with the Russians.
Stone, who has advised Trump on and off for decades and was in contact with the candidate during the 2016 campaign, has been a focus of the special counsel as Mueller probes whether the Trump campaign had advance knowledge of WikiLeaks’s release of Democratic emails allegedly hacked by Russian operatives.
Securing an official transcript from the committee would be a necessary step before pursuing an indictment that Stone allegedly lied to lawmakers, legal experts said.
The special counsel could use the threat of a false-statement charge to seek cooperation from Stone, as Mueller has done with other Trump advisers, such as former national security adviser Michael Flynn and longtime Trump lawyer Michael Cohen.
It is unclear what aspect of Stone’s testimony Mueller is scrutinizing. But Stone has given conflicting accounts about what prompted him to accurately predict during the 2016 race that WikiLeaks was going to unleash material that would hurt Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
In an interview Wednesday, Stone said he had not been notified of Mueller’s request. But he said he is confident that the transcript of his testimony will not provide the special counsel with grounds to charge him.
“I don’t think any reasonable attorney who looks at it would conclude that I committed perjury, which requires intent and materiality,” Stone said.
For weeks, the special counsel’s office has had access to an unofficial copy of Stone’s closed-door September 2017 interview, according to people with knowledge of the process. Mueller’s request of the official copy signals the special counsel could now be pursuing an indictment, several legal experts said.
“That suggests prosecutors are getting ready to bring a charge,” said former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner. “Prosecutors can’t bring a charge without an original certified copy of the transcript that shows the witness lied.”
The House Intelligence Committee, which has provided testimony of its witnesses to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for a declassification review, has not yet turned over the official Stone transcript to Mueller, according to the people with knowledge of the situation.
The committee is expected to discuss the topic at a closed-door business session scheduled for Thursday, according to one person familiar with committee plans. An agenda for the meeting posted online shows the panel’s first item to consider is the “Transmission of Certain Executive Session Materials to the Executive Branch.”
The committee’s incoming chairman, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), who takes over from Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) next month, has made it clear that he believes the committee should provide the special counsel with the Stone document.
“I believe that there’s ample reason to be concerned about his truthfulness, “ Schiff said Sunday on NBC News’s “Meet the Press.” “And I do think that with respect to Mr. Stone, and perhaps others, the special counsel is in a better position to determine the truth or falsity of that testimony, and that we ought to provide it to the special counsel.”
A spokesman for Mueller declined to comment. Schiff declined to comment. A spokesman for Nunes did not respond to requests for comment.
Stone accused House Democrats of “attempting to play frivolous word games, and hairsplitting about semantics over nonmaterial matters.”
“This has devolved into gotcha word games, perjury traps and trumped process crimes,” he said Wednesday. “I think people can see through the political motivations behind this.”
Stone added: “Where is the evidence of Russian collusion or WikiLeaks collaboration?”
Mueller has spent months investigating whether Stone knew of WikiLeaks’s plan to release hacked Democratic emails in advance of the November 2016 election and whether he lied to Congress about his knowledge and his contacts with the group. In July, the special counsel charged a group of Russian intelligence officers with hacking the emails and providing them to WikiLeaks.
Stone, who boasted during the race that he was in touch with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, has said since that his past comments were exaggerated or misunderstood. Both he and WikiLeaks have adamantly denied they were in contact.
Several weeks ago, the House Intelligence Committee provided transcripts of its interviews with Stone and more than 50 other individuals to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which is conducting a declassification review before they are released publicly, according to congressional officials.
As part of that review, ODNI shares copies of the transcripts with other agencies, including the special counsel’s office, that might have an interest in protecting information in the interviews, officials said.
However, because the Stone interview was conducted in executive session, the transcript officially belongs to the committee and may not be released unless authorized by the committee, according to its rules.
In general, if prosecutors want to bring a charge of lying to investigators, they must obtain a certified “clean” copy from the transcriber or clerk who took the statement to present as an exhibit to a grand jury, legal experts said.
Charges of lying to Congress are relatively rare. But last month, Cohen pleaded guilty to such a charge as part of the special counsel probe.
Stone released written testimony he provided the House Intelligence Committee before his September 2017 interview, in which he wrote that he had no “advanced knowledge of the source or actual content of the WikiLeaks disclosures regarding Hillary Clinton.”
He told the panel that he based some his predictions on public information and tips from associates. He also said that he had an intermediary who provided him with information about WikiLeaks — but refused to name the person, indicating the person was a journalist with whom he had spoken off the record.
Shortly after his closed-door appearance, Stone wrote a letter to the committee saying he learned about WikiLeaks’s planned release from Randy Credico, a New York comedian who had interviewed Assange and is a longtime friend of New York attorney Margaret Ratner Kunstler, who has represented the group.
Credico has repeatedly denied passing any information from WikiLeaks to Stone. He said he may have speculated about the group’s tactics with Stone.
In recent weeks, Mueller’s prosecutors have been focused on another Stone associate who alerted him to an upcoming WikiLeaks release in 2016: conservative writer Jerome Corsi.
In an Aug. 2, 2016, email, Corsi wrote to Stone that the group planned to disclose emails that October that would embarrass Clinton, according to charging documents drafted by Mueller’s team and provided to The Washington Post.
“Word is friend in embassy plans 2 more dumps,” Corsi wrote in the email quoted in the draft document, referring to Assange, who has been living in the Ecuadoran Embassy in London since 2012. “One shortly after I’m back. 2nd in Oct. Impact planned to be very damaging.”
Corsi, who rejected a plea offer from the special counsel, said the email was based on his speculation of what WikiLeaks might be planning, not any inside knowledge.
The day after receiving the message from Corsi, Stone has said, he spoke with Trump by phone.
Stone has said he never discussed WikiLeaks or hacked emails with Trump. “Unless Mueller has tape recordings of the phone calls, what would that prove?” he told The Post last month.
“The emails prove nothing,” Stone added, “other than like every other politico and political reporter in America, I was curious to know what it was that WikiLeaks had.”
Both Trump and Stone have decried the Mueller investigation as a “political witch hunt,” and Stone has said Mueller is applying intense pressure on his associates as a way of punishing him for supporting the president.
Over the past several months, Mueller’s investigators have interviewed a dozen Stone friends and associates, focusing on individuals who discussed WikiLeaks with Stone before to the election. Some have provided testimony and records that contradict Stone’s claims.
Charles Ortel, a Wall Street analyst and conservative writer, told The Post that he was interviewed in New York last week by two FBI agents who asked about his 2016 contacts with Stone, Corsi and Credico.
Ortel said the agents were interested in an email from then-Fox News reporter James Rosen that Ortel forwarded to Stone on July 25, 2016. In it, Rosen wrote, “Am told WikiLeaks will be doing a massive dump of HRC emails relating to the CF in September,” referring to Clinton and her family foundation.
Ortel declined to disclose the full details of his FBI interview but told The Post that he did not know where Rosen had gotten his information about WikiLeaks’s plans.
Rosen, who no longer works at Fox News, has repeatedly declined to comment.
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trendingnewsb · 7 years ago
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Roger Smith dead: ’77 Sunset Strip’ star dies at age 84
LOS ANGELES –  Actor Roger Smith, who brought glamour to the TV detective genre as a hip private eye on “77 Sunset Strip,” has died. He was 84.
Jack Gilardi, who is the agent of Smith’s widow, actress Ann-Margret, said the actor died Sunday morning at a Los Angeles hospital after battling a terminal illness. Smith had battled the nerve disease myasthenia gravis for many years.
The actor launched his career in the 1950s when James Cagney spotted him and recommended him for films. He survived two serious illnesses to have a second career after “77 Sunset Strip” as manager of his second wife, entertainer Ann-Margret.
From 1958 to 1963, he co-starred with Efrem Zimbalist Jr. on the glossy ABC series. It made stars of both men and a teen heartthrob out of Edd Byrnes, who played a colorful parking lot attendant named Kookie.
“77 Sunset Strip” had been created by producer-writer Roy Huggins, who also created “Maverick,” and it spawned a host of spinoffs and knockoffs, including “Hawaiian Eye,” ”Surfside 6″ and “Bourbon Street Beat.”
Smith told the Los Angeles Times that the series aimed to show that private investigators were well-trained, serious men, and not the movie and TV stereotype with “dangling cigarettes and large chips on their shoulders.” He was chosen for the part because “I don’t look like a detective.”
But the show had its glamorous side, too. In its Encyclopedia of Television, the Museum of Broadcast Communications said the show revived the crime drama and became “the epicenter of hipness on television, a sun-drenched world of cocktails, cool jazz and convertibles.”
Then Smith was hospitalized after falling down at home and losing consciousness. He was diagnosed two days later with a blood clot on the brain. In a March 1960 story on the incident, Look magazine blamed medical mistakes for the delay in diagnosis and quoted a doctor as saying, “This boy came too close to being buried needlessly.”
He rejoined “77 Sunset Strip” after recovering and continued in his role as Jeff Spencer until 1963 when the entire cast except Zimbalist was dropped in attempt to revitalize it. The show lingered for only one more year.
Meanwhile, Smith got the title role in the NBC series based on “Mister Roberts,” based on the 1955 comedy-drama about Navy life. It lasted from 1965-66.
When he first gained fame, he had been married to a glamorous Australian actress, Victoria Shaw, with whom he had three children. They divorced in 1965.
Meanwhile he was dating Ann-Margret, the dynamic singer, dancer and actress of “Bye Bye Birdie,” ”Viva Las Vegas” and other films. They were married quietly in Las Vegas in 1967. Smith later quit to manage her career.
“Now in Roger I’ve found all the men I need rolled into one a father, a friend, a lover, a manager, a businessman,” she told writer Rex Reed in 1972. “It’s perfect for me. I couldn’t exist without a strong man.”
For decades Smith guided Ann-Margret’s career with great care. She broke her sex kitten stereotype in dramatic fashion in 1971 when she appeared in Mike Nichols’ “Carnal Knowledge” as the abused mistress of Jack Nicholson. Critics praised her performance and she was nominated for an Oscar for supporting actress.
She was nominated again in 1975 for her portrayal of Roger Daltrey’s mother in the film version of the Who’s rock opera “Tommy.”
While appearing at the Sahara Hotel at Lake Tahoe in 1972, she fell 22 feet from a scaffold and suffered severe injuries.
“She could quit working tomorrow and we’d have enough money to live on for the rest of our lives,” Smith told Reed in late 1972 as she recovered from her injuries. “… But when the time comes, she gets interested in another act or a new film or something that delays it. The fact is, the girl just loves to work.”
In 1965, Smith was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, a disorder that disrupts the transmission of nerve signals to the muscles, causing severe muscle weakness. Despite the disease, Smith continued working when he was able as the effects of the disease varied over time.
“I have this great dream that when Ann-Margret gets out of movies, she and I will co-star in a Broadway play,” he told New York magazine in 1976. “But right now I still think it’s impossible to be married to a successful actress and have your own career and have the marriage work.”
Roger LaVerne Smith was born in 1932, in South Gate, near Los Angeles. When he was 6, his parents enrolled him in a professional school in Hollywood where he learned singing and dancing. When he was 12 the family moved to Nogales, Ariz., where he excelled in the high school acting club and football team.
Smith served 2½ years in the Navy Reserve, and in Hawaii he sang at social events. Cagney, who was there making a film, suggested that Smith might try for a film career. When Smith’s Navy service ended, he signed a contract with Columbia Pictures.
Cagney recommended Smith for a role in “Man of a Thousand Faces,” the 1957 film biography of silent star Lon Chaney. Cagney was Chaney, while Smith played Chaney’s son as a young man. Smith then was cast in “Auntie Mame,” playing star Rosalind Russell’s nephew, Patrick, as a young man.
He and Ann-Margret had no children; in the 1980s, she told interviewers she had tried in vain to get pregnant for over a decade.
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yes-dal456 · 8 years ago
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Women’s History Month: Defending A Woman’s Right To Live HIV/AIDS-Free In America
By Susan J. Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.A.
This piece was adapted from an article first published on The Advocate for National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day on March 10, 2017.
The landmark Women’s March in January brought millions of people in America and around the world together in support of women’s rights, equality, expanding access to healthcare, and protecting the environment. As I witnessed legions of women, men, and children take to the street to make an indelible mark during Women’s History Month, I was reminded of the remarkable progress we have made over the past two decades in advancing women’s health because we raised our voices and fought for changes in the way research was conducted, services were delivered, and public policies were constructed. There are important lessons for HIV/AIDS.
In the early days of the AIDS epidemic, the scientific and medical communities failed to recognize women as a target population for research. As a consequence, women were excluded from clinical trials of HIV/AIDS medications and preventive interventions. The omission proved to be a major public health oversight, and led to a rapid rise in the number of HIV cases among women, who contracted the disease primarily through heterosexual sex. As a result, today women represent 50 percent of the 37 million people living with HIV worldwide, and one in four of the 1.2 million living with HIV in the U.S.
The AIDS crisis in the 80s gave rise to a civil rights movement where defiant, powerful voices were heard in marches around the country, calling for a national response to fight this devastating disease. Ultimately, increased investments were made in scientific research, leading to the discovery of lifesaving medications as well as the implementation of programs and other interventions to treat and prevent HIV/AIDS.
Today, guided by the National HIV/AIDS Strategy established in 2010 and aided by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) – which significantly expanded access to treatment and care for millions – we are armed, now more than ever, with an effective arsenal of tools and resources to prevent HIV and reduce its transmission to others. As a result, new HIV infection rates are significantly declining.
Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that overall annual HIV infection rates in the U.S. fell 18 percent from 2008 to 2014, from an estimated 45,700 to 37,600. Among women, HIV rates declined 40 percent between 2005 and 2014, with the largest drop – 42 percent – seen in black women.
While black women continue to be disproportionately affected by the disease (accounting for 61 percent of HIV diagnoses among women in 2015), another CDC analysis suggests that racial disparities among women in the U.S. may be shrinking. The report found that the difference in HIV diagnosis rates between black women and white women (the group with the lowest rates) decreased by almost 25 percent from 2010 to 2014.
This progress is no small feat, considering the fact that women had not been the focus of HIV treatment and prevention efforts at the emergence of the epidemic.
High-impact HIV prevention strategies targeting women and other key populations have been implemented since to help reduce HIV prevalence in America. These interventions include routine, free HIV screening and testing under the ACA; access to lifesaving antiretroviral treatment and medical care under the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program and through health insurance; syringe exchange programs for injecting drug users; and for women at increased risk of HIV, increased access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a daily pill, which has been shown to reduce the risk of acquiring HIV by 90 percent if taken as prescribed. Additionally, mother-to-child transmission of HIV has been virtually eliminated in the United States. Our national strategy is working, and we are truly at a tipping point in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
But as we continue efforts to reverse the epidemic’s course, a new Administration and Congress debating U.S. healthcare policy endangers the progress made thus far.
Most women with HIV rely on federal and state health programs, like Medicaid and Ryan White, for their care and coverage. Evidence shows that Medicaid expansion under the ACA played a significant role in increasing insurance coverage for people with HIV. In states that expanded Medicaid under the health reform legislation, the proportion of people receiving HIV drugs rose from 39 percent in 2012 to 51 percent in 2014, and the proportion of uninsured women with HIV dropped to 6 percent from 11 percent during this same time frame.
Nationwide, the number of people with HIV in care relying on the Ryan White program rose from 42 percent in 2012 to 48 percent in 2014. What’s more, a new study found that the number of Ryan White program participants who achieved viral suppression rose 12 percent from 2010 to 2014. When people with HIV are virally suppressed as the result of effective, consistent therapy, transmission of HIV to others can be reduced by as much as 96 percent.
Given this significant progress, it’s of great concern that the current debate about repealing the ACA and limiting access to health care could result in a potential resurgence of HIV infection in our country. It would have a devastating impact on the health of women, jeopardize the lives of people with HIV, and reverse the strides that have been made to effectively prevent and treat the disease.
When the National HIV/AIDS Strategy was released, it articulated a clear vision: “The United States will become a place where new HIV infections are rare and when they do occur, every person, regardless of age, gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or socio-economic circumstance, will have unfettered access to high quality, life-extending care, free from stigma and discrimination.”
Women play a critical role in fighting the HIV epidemic in our country, and our collective voices are vital in the battle to end AIDS in the United States. Let’s remember the history lessons for HIV/AIDS in our country including the vital importance of fighting for women’s – and men’s – right to health care. Let’s make sure that research data is analyzed for sex, racial and age differences so that critical population groups are not left behind. Let’s work together to ensure that all people living with HIV/AIDS have access to quality care and lifesaving medications, stigma and discrimination are eliminated, and research investments are increased to discover a cure and a vaccine. Let’s take these steps now so that we can accelerate the march forward towards an HIV/AIDS free America in the years ahead.
Rear Admiral Susan J. Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.A. (ret.), is the Public Health Editor of the Huffington Post. She is also Senior Policy and Medical Advisor for amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research and a Clinical Professor at Tufts and Georgetown Schools of Medicine. Admiral Blumenthal served for more than 20 years in senior health leadership positions in the Federal government in the Administrations of four U.S. Presidents including as Assistant Surgeon General of the United States, the first Deputy Assistant Secretary of Women’s Health, and as Senior Global Health Advisor in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She also served as a White House Advisor on health. She convened the first NIH conference on Women and AIDS and established and chaired an HHS Women and AIDS Task Force with membership of more than 60 organizations. Prior to these positions, Dr. Blumenthal was Chief of the Behavioral Medicine and Basic Prevention Research Branch and Chair of the Health and Behavior Coordinating Committee at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She has chaired numerous national and global commissions and conferences and is the author of many scientific publications. Admiral Blumenthal has received numerous awards including honorary doctorates and has been decorated with the highest medals of the U.S. Public Health Service for her pioneering leadership and significant contributions to advancing health in the United States and worldwide. Named by the New York Times, the National Library of Medicine and the Medical Herald as one of the most influential women in medicine, Dr. Blumenthal was named the 2009 Health Leader of the Year by the Commissioned Officers Association and as a Rock Star of Science by the Geoffrey Beene Foundation. She is the recipient of the Rosalind Franklin Centennial Life in Discovery Award. Her work has included a focus on HIV/AIDS since the beginning of the epidemic in the United States in the early 1980’s.
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imreviewblog · 8 years ago
Text
Women’s History Month: Defending A Woman’s Right To Live HIV/AIDS-Free In America
By Susan J. Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.A.
This piece was adapted from an article first published on The Advocate for National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day on March 10, 2017.
The landmark Women’s March in January brought millions of people in America and around the world together in support of women’s rights, equality, expanding access to healthcare, and protecting the environment. As I witnessed legions of women, men, and children take to the street to make an indelible mark during Women’s History Month, I was reminded of the remarkable progress we have made over the past two decades in advancing women’s health because we raised our voices and fought for changes in the way research was conducted, services were delivered, and public policies were constructed. There are important lessons for HIV/AIDS.
In the early days of the AIDS epidemic, the scientific and medical communities failed to recognize women as a target population for research. As a consequence, women were excluded from clinical trials of HIV/AIDS medications and preventive interventions. The omission proved to be a major public health oversight, and led to a rapid rise in the number of HIV cases among women, who contracted the disease primarily through heterosexual sex. As a result, today women represent 50 percent of the 37 million people living with HIV worldwide, and one in four of the 1.2 million living with HIV in the U.S.
The AIDS crisis in the 80s gave rise to a civil rights movement where defiant, powerful voices were heard in marches around the country, calling for a national response to fight this devastating disease. Ultimately, increased investments were made in scientific research, leading to the discovery of lifesaving medications as well as the implementation of programs and other interventions to treat and prevent HIV/AIDS.
Today, guided by the National HIV/AIDS Strategy established in 2010 and aided by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) – which significantly expanded access to treatment and care for millions – we are armed, now more than ever, with an effective arsenal of tools and resources to prevent HIV and reduce its transmission to others. As a result, new HIV infection rates are significantly declining.
Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that overall annual HIV infection rates in the U.S. fell 18 percent from 2008 to 2014, from an estimated 45,700 to 37,600. Among women, HIV rates declined 40 percent between 2005 and 2014, with the largest drop – 42 percent – seen in black women.
While black women continue to be disproportionately affected by the disease (accounting for 61 percent of HIV diagnoses among women in 2015), another CDC analysis suggests that racial disparities among women in the U.S. may be shrinking. The report found that the difference in HIV diagnosis rates between black women and white women (the group with the lowest rates) decreased by almost 25 percent from 2010 to 2014.
This progress is no small feat, considering the fact that women had not been the focus of HIV treatment and prevention efforts at the emergence of the epidemic.
High-impact HIV prevention strategies targeting women and other key populations have been implemented since to help reduce HIV prevalence in America. These interventions include routine, free HIV screening and testing under the ACA; access to lifesaving antiretroviral treatment and medical care under the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program and through health insurance; syringe exchange programs for injecting drug users; and for women at increased risk of HIV, increased access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a daily pill, which has been shown to reduce the risk of acquiring HIV by 90 percent if taken as prescribed. Additionally, mother-to-child transmission of HIV has been virtually eliminated in the United States. Our national strategy is working, and we are truly at a tipping point in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
But as we continue efforts to reverse the epidemic’s course, a new Administration and Congress debating U.S. healthcare policy endangers the progress made thus far.
Most women with HIV rely on federal and state health programs, like Medicaid and Ryan White, for their care and coverage. Evidence shows that Medicaid expansion under the ACA played a significant role in increasing insurance coverage for people with HIV. In states that expanded Medicaid under the health reform legislation, the proportion of people receiving HIV drugs rose from 39 percent in 2012 to 51 percent in 2014, and the proportion of uninsured women with HIV dropped to 6 percent from 11 percent during this same time frame.
Nationwide, the number of people with HIV in care relying on the Ryan White program rose from 42 percent in 2012 to 48 percent in 2014. What’s more, a new study found that the number of Ryan White program participants who achieved viral suppression rose 12 percent from 2010 to 2014. When people with HIV are virally suppressed as the result of effective, consistent therapy, transmission of HIV to others can be reduced by as much as 96 percent.
Given this significant progress, it’s of great concern that the current debate about repealing the ACA and limiting access to health care could result in a potential resurgence of HIV infection in our country. It would have a devastating impact on the health of women, jeopardize the lives of people with HIV, and reverse the strides that have been made to effectively prevent and treat the disease.
When the National HIV/AIDS Strategy was released, it articulated a clear vision: “The United States will become a place where new HIV infections are rare and when they do occur, every person, regardless of age, gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or socio-economic circumstance, will have unfettered access to high quality, life-extending care, free from stigma and discrimination.”
Women play a critical role in fighting the HIV epidemic in our country, and our collective voices are vital in the battle to end AIDS in the United States. Let’s remember the history lessons for HIV/AIDS in our country including the vital importance of fighting for women’s – and men’s – right to health care. Let’s make sure that research data is analyzed for sex, racial and age differences so that critical population groups are not left behind. Let’s work together to ensure that all people living with HIV/AIDS have access to quality care and lifesaving medications, stigma and discrimination are eliminated, and research investments are increased to discover a cure and a vaccine. Let’s take these steps now so that we can accelerate the march forward towards an HIV/AIDS free America in the years ahead.
Rear Admiral Susan J. Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.A. (ret.), is the Public Health Editor of the Huffington Post. She is also Senior Policy and Medical Advisor for amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research and a Clinical Professor at Tufts and Georgetown Schools of Medicine. Admiral Blumenthal served for more than 20 years in senior health leadership positions in the Federal government in the Administrations of four U.S. Presidents including as Assistant Surgeon General of the United States, the first Deputy Assistant Secretary of Women’s Health, and as Senior Global Health Advisor in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She also served as a White House Advisor on health. She convened the first NIH conference on Women and AIDS and established and chaired an HHS Women and AIDS Task Force with membership of more than 60 organizations. Prior to these positions, Dr. Blumenthal was Chief of the Behavioral Medicine and Basic Prevention Research Branch and Chair of the Health and Behavior Coordinating Committee at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She has chaired numerous national and global commissions and conferences and is the author of many scientific publications. Admiral Blumenthal has received numerous awards including honorary doctorates and has been decorated with the highest medals of the U.S. Public Health Service for her pioneering leadership and significant contributions to advancing health in the United States and worldwide. Named by the New York Times, the National Library of Medicine and the Medical Herald as one of the most influential women in medicine, Dr. Blumenthal was named the 2009 Health Leader of the Year by the Commissioned Officers Association and as a Rock Star of Science by the Geoffrey Beene Foundation. She is the recipient of the Rosalind Franklin Centennial Life in Discovery Award. Her work has included a focus on HIV/AIDS since the beginning of the epidemic in the United States in the early 1980’s.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
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trendingnewsb · 7 years ago
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Roger Smith dead: ’77 Sunset Strip’ star dies at age 84
LOS ANGELES –  Actor Roger Smith, who brought glamour to the TV detective genre as a hip private eye on “77 Sunset Strip,” has died. He was 84.
Jack Gilardi, who is the agent of Smith’s widow, actress Ann-Margret, said the actor died Sunday morning at a Los Angeles hospital after battling a terminal illness. Smith had battled the nerve disease myasthenia gravis for many years.
The actor launched his career in the 1950s when James Cagney spotted him and recommended him for films. He survived two serious illnesses to have a second career after “77 Sunset Strip” as manager of his second wife, entertainer Ann-Margret.
From 1958 to 1963, he co-starred with Efrem Zimbalist Jr. on the glossy ABC series. It made stars of both men and a teen heartthrob out of Edd Byrnes, who played a colorful parking lot attendant named Kookie.
“77 Sunset Strip” had been created by producer-writer Roy Huggins, who also created “Maverick,” and it spawned a host of spinoffs and knockoffs, including “Hawaiian Eye,” ”Surfside 6″ and “Bourbon Street Beat.”
Smith told the Los Angeles Times that the series aimed to show that private investigators were well-trained, serious men, and not the movie and TV stereotype with “dangling cigarettes and large chips on their shoulders.” He was chosen for the part because “I don’t look like a detective.”
But the show had its glamorous side, too. In its Encyclopedia of Television, the Museum of Broadcast Communications said the show revived the crime drama and became “the epicenter of hipness on television, a sun-drenched world of cocktails, cool jazz and convertibles.”
Then Smith was hospitalized after falling down at home and losing consciousness. He was diagnosed two days later with a blood clot on the brain. In a March 1960 story on the incident, Look magazine blamed medical mistakes for the delay in diagnosis and quoted a doctor as saying, “This boy came too close to being buried needlessly.”
He rejoined “77 Sunset Strip” after recovering and continued in his role as Jeff Spencer until 1963 when the entire cast except Zimbalist was dropped in attempt to revitalize it. The show lingered for only one more year.
Meanwhile, Smith got the title role in the NBC series based on “Mister Roberts,” based on the 1955 comedy-drama about Navy life. It lasted from 1965-66.
When he first gained fame, he had been married to a glamorous Australian actress, Victoria Shaw, with whom he had three children. They divorced in 1965.
Meanwhile he was dating Ann-Margret, the dynamic singer, dancer and actress of “Bye Bye Birdie,” ”Viva Las Vegas” and other films. They were married quietly in Las Vegas in 1967. Smith later quit to manage her career.
“Now in Roger I’ve found all the men I need rolled into one a father, a friend, a lover, a manager, a businessman,” she told writer Rex Reed in 1972. “It’s perfect for me. I couldn’t exist without a strong man.”
For decades Smith guided Ann-Margret’s career with great care. She broke her sex kitten stereotype in dramatic fashion in 1971 when she appeared in Mike Nichols’ “Carnal Knowledge” as the abused mistress of Jack Nicholson. Critics praised her performance and she was nominated for an Oscar for supporting actress.
She was nominated again in 1975 for her portrayal of Roger Daltrey’s mother in the film version of the Who’s rock opera “Tommy.”
While appearing at the Sahara Hotel at Lake Tahoe in 1972, she fell 22 feet from a scaffold and suffered severe injuries.
“She could quit working tomorrow and we’d have enough money to live on for the rest of our lives,” Smith told Reed in late 1972 as she recovered from her injuries. “… But when the time comes, she gets interested in another act or a new film or something that delays it. The fact is, the girl just loves to work.”
In 1965, Smith was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, a disorder that disrupts the transmission of nerve signals to the muscles, causing severe muscle weakness. Despite the disease, Smith continued working when he was able as the effects of the disease varied over time.
“I have this great dream that when Ann-Margret gets out of movies, she and I will co-star in a Broadway play,” he told New York magazine in 1976. “But right now I still think it’s impossible to be married to a successful actress and have your own career and have the marriage work.”
Roger LaVerne Smith was born in 1932, in South Gate, near Los Angeles. When he was 6, his parents enrolled him in a professional school in Hollywood where he learned singing and dancing. When he was 12 the family moved to Nogales, Ariz., where he excelled in the high school acting club and football team.
Smith served 2½ years in the Navy Reserve, and in Hawaii he sang at social events. Cagney, who was there making a film, suggested that Smith might try for a film career. When Smith’s Navy service ended, he signed a contract with Columbia Pictures.
Cagney recommended Smith for a role in “Man of a Thousand Faces,” the 1957 film biography of silent star Lon Chaney. Cagney was Chaney, while Smith played Chaney’s son as a young man. Smith then was cast in “Auntie Mame,” playing star Rosalind Russell’s nephew, Patrick, as a young man.
He and Ann-Margret had no children; in the 1980s, she told interviewers she had tried in vain to get pregnant for over a decade.
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