Skip to main content

Home/ TOK Friends/ Contents contributed and discussions participated by ilanaprincilus06

Contents contributed and discussions participated by ilanaprincilus06

Simple Middle Filter: All | Bookmarks | Topics
ilanaprincilus06

New Zealand Approves Paid Leave After A Miscarriage : NPR - 1 views

www.npr.org/...paid-leave-after-a-miscarriage

New Zealand miscarriage

shared by ilanaprincilus06 on 26 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • New Zealand's Parliament has approved legislation that will provide three days of paid leave after a miscarriage or stillbirth, without needing to use sick leave.
  • "Because their grief is not a sickness, it is a loss. And loss takes time."
  • one in four women in New Zealand have had a miscarriage.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • "The passing of this bill shows that once again New Zealand is leading the way for progressive and compassionate legislation, becoming only the second country in the world to provide leave for miscarriage and stillbirth,"
  • The other country that provides such leave is India, which allows women to take six weeks of leave after a miscarriage,
  • Washington, D.C., recently expanded its bereavement leave for public employees who lose a child, including those mourning a stillborn baby,
  • D.C.'s new policy offers two weeks of paid leave to city employees who lose a child under the age of 21, including stillbirths.
  • "You get three days' paid leave, maybe you bury your baby or you have a service, and then you go back to work, and you carry on — and then what? That's my concern,"
  • "I'm celebrating it," she said, "but I want to see us keeping this compassion going, and looking further into the needs of these parents."
ilanaprincilus06

In Canary Islands, Tensions Are High Over African Migration : NPR - 1 views

www.npr.org/...re-high-over-african-migration

Canary Islands migration

shared by ilanaprincilus06 on 26 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • "Until December, a maximum of 50 people would come here," she says. "Now, we're serving 75. Most of the new ones are Senegalese and Moroccan."
  • Last year, 23,025 people arrived on boats — 8 1/2 times more than in 2019, according to United Nations refugee agency data.
  • Nearly all who reach the islands want to end up in mainland Spain, to find jobs or join relatives, which is more than 1,000 miles away.
  • ...12 more annotations...
  • Citing COVID-19 restrictions, Spanish police are stopping migrants from leaving the Canaries for the mainland — even those with valid documents.
  • The bottleneck has angered some locals, while for migrants it's causing misery.
  • Moroccans make up one of the largest immigrant groups in Spain.
  • 70% of young citizens consider emigrating due to frustrations over a lack of economic opportunities.
  • Now it is opening six new migrant camps for 7,000 people on the islands.
  • "We're all afraid!" he says. "Every day there's police around here, every day there are fights and robberies.""It's awful. One day this is going to explode because there's no solution at all. The government promises and promises and nobody helps."
  • "They eat in the camp, breakfast lunch and dinner. And us? We're hungry. Hungry and ashamed, because it can't go on like this," he says.Pockets of xenophobia have bubbled here since the crisis began. There have been anti-migrant marches and reports of organized groups attacking Moroccans.
  • "The main problem is not the migrants arriving but the local authorities and the government," Carlsen adds, "the image they are giving in front of the Canarian people — they feel like they are abandoned."
  • Somos Red was formed after one member found Diop and others sleeping on the streets. The solidarity group fundraised and rented this hostel for the men to live in.
  • "This country is not only for us, they are people!" she says. "They have the right to live well in good conditions. And if other people come, let them come."
  • The center-left government's junior coalition partner, the leftist United We Can party, demanded migrants urgently be allowed to travel, condemning what it considers the "repeated infringement of human rights" in the Canaries.
  • If he gets deported, Rida says he'll try again to come to Spain.
ilanaprincilus06

Suez Canal: A Long Shutdown Might Roil The Global Economy : NPR - 0 views

www.npr.org/...-might-roil-the-global-economy

Suez Canal economy

shared by ilanaprincilus06 on 26 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • Before the grounding of the massive Ever Given container ship in the Suez Canal, some 50 vessels a day, or about 10% of global trade, sailed through the waterway each day
  • It's either waiting to transit the canal or stuck in port while owners and shippers decide what to do.
  • Lloyd's List estimates that the waiting game is costing $9.6 billion per day.
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • "For vessels already up the Suez, it will take several days just to sail south on the Red Sea and get on a shipping lane around Africa,"
  • "If they start sailing (prematurely) around Africa, they are guaranteed a two- to four-week delay and several million [dollars] extra costs in fuel,"
  • for a vessel averaging 12 knots (14 mph), Suez to Amsterdam, takes 13 days via the canal. Around the Cape of Good Hope, it takes 41 days.
  • Another possible option is to go through the Panama Canal by way of the Pacific. But many of the largest commercial vessels today, such as the 1,300-foot Ever Given, are too big to fit through the Panama Canal.
  • Global supply chains, already significantly disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, could be further stressed by a prolonged shutdown of the Suez Canal,
  • "[We are] already seeing congestion and other things impacting the supply chain. This is one more thing that adds to that."
  • The greatest impact would be felt in the European market, which relies most on transfers through the canal, but given the interconnected nature of global manufacturing and commerce, there's likely also to be a knock-on effect for the United States.
  • A weeklong delay for a few hundred ships at the Suez might have only a negligible impact for consumers, but a prolonged delay could increase the cost of shipping, complicate manufacturing and ultimately drive up prices.
  • she's "relatively sanguine" about the impact on trade. But she doesn't rule out "an inflationary shock that could come right to the consumer."
  • "At worst, if the issue continues, if oil prices do see a sustained rally, the blockage could have a small and limited impact on gas prices, likely no more than a few cents per gallon on average."
ilanaprincilus06

Mexicans Travel To U.S. For COVID Vaccines As Mexico's Rollout Stumbles : NPR - 1 views

www.npr.org/...their-countrys-rollout-stumble

Mexico Covid-19 vaccine

shared by ilanaprincilus06 on 26 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • less than 5% of the population has received a COVID-19 vaccine dose, the rich and well-connected have found a faster way to get their hands on one: travel north.
  • Some Mexicans with family ties or dual citizenship in the United States, or who just can afford the airfare, are heading to the U.S. to get vaccinated faster than the many months of waiting for one back home.
  • The phenomenon has sparked intense debate: between officials who believe U.S. residents should have priority and those who feel that, in a general sense, the more people vaccinated the better
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • He said only those who have had the disease understand how he feels. He had to get his hand on a vaccine quickly. But most of Tijuana's limited supply was going to front-line hospital workers.
  • He insists that no one at the vaccination site checked whether he worked or resided in the county, the two requirements necessary to get a shot there.
  • But vaccine tourism has become a bit of a phenomenon in Mexico. It's easy to find testimonies and tips on social media and in chat groups about getting a vaccine in the U.S.
  • The Biden administration has said the United States will send Mexico more than 2 million COVID-19 vaccine doses.
  • Earlier this month, President Biden said, "We're going to start off making sure Americans are taken care of first and then we're going to help the rest of the world."
  • "In this particular case, amid a worldwide pandemic, life and health of everyone should be priority No. 1,"
ilanaprincilus06

New York Launches First COVID-19 Vaccination, Test Result App For Event Attendance : Co... - 0 views

www.npr.org/...result-app-for-event-attendanc

New York Covid-19

shared by ilanaprincilus06 on 26 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • Cuomo announced Friday that the state's health status certification, called the Excelsior Pass, will help New Yorkers voluntarily share vaccination and COVID-19 negative statuses with entertainment venues and other businesses to put the state state's economy back on track.
  • New Yorkers can always show alternate proof of vaccination or testing, like another mobile application or paper form, directly at a business or venue.
  • The pass could see New York's Broadway theaters, concert venues and sports arenas fill seats again after closures that started in March of 2020.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • Airlines and technology companies have been working on developing technology to do so, but New York's is the first pass being made widely available to residents.
  • The idea is similar to mobile airline boarding passes: they can be printed or stored on smartphones, and participating businesses and venues can use a companion app to confirm patrons' health status.
  • rather than boost the economy and encourage vaccination, efforts like the Excelsior Pass could wind up further spread of variants. It's also still not clear that vaccinated people cannot spread the virus to people who have not been vaccinated.
  • Some worry that the passes might encourage fraud and increase the spread of the virus by people who claim to be vaccinated or COVID-19 negative but aren't.
ilanaprincilus06

Towns Reel As Banks Close Branches In Record Numbers : NPR - 0 views

www.npr.org/...-close-branches-at-record-pace

Banks Covid-19

shared by ilanaprincilus06 on 26 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • Banks have been permanently shuttering branches for years, but the number of closures hit a record in 2020 as the pandemic accelerated the move by many customers to online banking.
  • Banks closed 3,324 branches last year, according to a tally by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
  • And bank branch closures are especially affecting isolated neighborhoods in big cities or towns like Moorhead — a largely African American community in the heart of the Mississippi Delta.
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • "The reality is, the vast majority of the activity that happens in a branch is not revenue generating,"
  • poor communities, rural communities and areas with a high concentration of Black and brown residents have been hardest hit.
  • "It's a good thing that banks are moving away from charging those kinds of fees, but it's a bad thing that they're moving away from serving those neighborhoods,"
  • It can also push people to more expensive options such as check-cashing stores or payday lenders.
  • It's a trend that's unlikely to reverse now that the pandemic has pushed more customers to bank on smartphones and computers.
  • Williams understands that for small towns a bank can be more than a place to cash a check. It can also be the place to catch up or gossip about what's going on around town.
  • People want to come to that bank branch because it's social."
  • Even though a lot of banking can now be done online, an FDIC survey found that 83% of people still met with a teller or other bank employee at least once during 2019.
  • "A lot of banks have utilized the pandemic to justify downsizing even more,"
  • "When you have young boys and girls riding by and seeing empty buildings, or that building which was once a bank is turned over to a payday lender, what message are we sending?" he asks. "Is my neighborhood not a priority?"
ilanaprincilus06

Cost Of Her Usual Pain Shot Rose From $30 To $300 Thanks To 'Facility Fee' : Shots - He... - 0 views

www.npr.org/...r-treatment-cost-10-times-more

Hospital Facility Fee

shared by ilanaprincilus06 on 26 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • $1,394, including a $1,262 facility fee listed as "operating room services." The balance included a clinic charge and a pharmacy charge. Lee's portion of the bill was $354.68.
  • Lee owed more than 10 times what she had paid for the same procedure done before by the same physician, Dr. Elisabeth Roter.
  • Lee says it was the "same talking, same injection — same time."
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • "This is a senior citizen for whom English is not her first language. She doesn't have the resources to fight this,"
  • Nonetheless, that slight location change allowed the hospital system to bill what's called a "facility fee," laid out on Lee's bill as "operating room services."
  • comes without warning, as hospitals are not required to inform patients of it ahead of time.
  • But she's worried her mom will delay getting the shots now, putting up with the pain longer, as she knows they are more expensive.
  • as more private practices have been bought by hospitals and facility fees are tacked on to their charges.
  • Ohio, where Lee lives, is considering legislation that would prohibit facility fees for telehealth services.
  • it's difficult to fight powerful hospital lobbyists in a pandemic political climate, where hospitals are considered heroic.
  • "Even if it was a lot of money for services properly rendered, then of course she would pay it. But that's not the case here."
  • "Facility fees are designed by hospitals in particular to grab more revenue from the weakest party in health care: namely, the individual patient,"
  • Ask outright if there will be a facility fee — and how much — even if there has not been one before.
ilanaprincilus06

Dominion Voting Systems Files $1.6 Billion Defamation Lawsuit Against Fox News : NPR - 0 views

www.npr.org/...ation-lawsuit-against-fox-news

Fox News Dominion Voting Systems

shared by ilanaprincilus06 on 26 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • the network spread false claims that the voting machine company was involved in voter fraud during the 2020 presidential election.
  • "Fox endorsed, repeated, and broadcast a series of verifiably false yet devastating lies about Dominion,"
  • Fox News issued a statement Friday morning stating that it "is proud of our 2020 election coverage, which stands in the highest tradition of American journalism, and will vigorously defend against this baseless lawsuit in court."
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Dominion is not the only election technology company to say it was targeted by Fox News. Smartmatic filed a $2.7 billion lawsuit against the network,
  • Dominion's court filing alleges that Fox "recklessly disregarded the truth"
  • "The lies did not simply harm Dominion," the company's lawsuit says. "They harmed democracy. They harmed the idea of credible elections. They harmed a once-unshakeable faith in democratic and peaceful transfers of power."
ilanaprincilus06

Attacks Blaming Asians For Pandemic Reflect Racist History Of Global Health : Goats and... - 1 views

www.npr.org/...e-from-black-death-to-covid-19

AAPI Covid-19

shared by ilanaprincilus06 on 26 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • The pandemic has been responsible for an outbreak of violence and hate directed against Asians around the world, blaming them for the spread of COVID-19.
  • As NPR has reported, nearly 3,800 instances of discrimination against Asians have been reported just in the past year
  • This narrative – that "others," often from far-flung places, are to blame for epidemics – is a dramatic example of a long tradition of hatred.
  • ...12 more annotations...
  • Some of the aggressive measures China took to control the epidemic – confining people to their homes, for example — have been described as "draconian" and a violation of civil rights, even if they ultimately proved effective.
  • According to Abraar Karan, a doctor at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, the notion persists in global health that "the West is the best."
  • Some public health practitioners say the global health system is partially responsible for perpetuating these ideas.
  • According to a separate report by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, anti-Asian hate crimes in 16 U.S. cities increased 149 percent in 2020, from 49 to 122.
  • "What you're seeing in the U.S. is this pre-existing, deep-seated bias [against Asians and Asian Americans] – or rather, racism – that is now surfacing," says D'Silva. "COVID-19 is just an excuse."
  • there's a sense among Western health workers that epidemics occur in impoverished contexts because the people there engage in primitive behaviors and just don't care as much about health.
  • "[Western health workers] come in with a bias that in San Francisco or Boston, we would never let [these crises] happen,"
  • doctors initially only considered a possible COVID-19 diagnosis among people who had recently flown back from China. That narrow focus caused the U.S. to misdiagnose patients who presented with what we now call classic COVID symptoms simply because they hadn't traveled from China.
  • In the case of COVID-19 and other outbreaks, Western countries often think of them as a national security issue, closing borders and blaming the countries where the disease was first reported. This approach encourages stigmatization, he says.
  • reframing the discussion to focus on global solidarity, which promotes the idea that we are all in this together.
  • the global health community – and Western society as a whole – has to discard its deep-rooted mindset of coloniality and tendency to scapegoat others
  • Instead of blaming Asians for the virus, blame the systems that weren't adequately prepared to respond to a pandemic.
ilanaprincilus06

Georgia Lawmaker Arrested As Governor Approves New Elections Law : NPR - 0 views

www.npr.org/...igns-law-overhauling-elections

Georgia voting

shared by ilanaprincilus06 on 26 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • Repeatedly knocking on the office door of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp got one state lawmaker arrested at the Capitol on Thursday.
  • A law signed by Kemp on Thursday includes new limitations on mail-in voting, expands most voters' access to in-person early voting and caps a months-long battle over voting in a battleground state.
  • Cannon is facing a charge of obstructing law enforcement officers by use of threats or violence and she faces a second charge of disrupting general assembly sessions or other meetings of members.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • "was advised that she was disturbing what was going on inside and if she did not stop, she would be placed under arrest."
  • She is seen yelling in one video: "There is no reason for me to be arrested. I am a legislator!"
  • And her arrest prompted comparisons to civil rights and police brutality protests from this summer as well as those of the 1960s.
  • Georgia's Constitution says lawmakers "shall be free from arrest during sessions of the General Assembly" except for treason, felony or breach of the peace.
  • questioned what made Cannon's actions "so dangerous" that warranted her arrest.
  • Cannon tweeted early Friday thanking her supporters and said: "I am not the first Georgian to be arrested for fighting voter suppression. I'd love to say I'm the last, but we know that isn't true."
ilanaprincilus06

US cities are losing 36 million trees a year. Here's why it matters and how you can sto... - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

trees climate change USA

shared by ilanaprincilus06 on 16 Jan 21 - No Cached
  • Trees can lower summer daytime temperatures by as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit, according to a recent study.
  • A study published last year by the US Forest Service found that we lost 36 million trees annually from urban and rural communities over a five-year period. That’s a 1% drop from 2009 to 2014.
  • “cities will become warmer, more polluted and generally more unhealthy for inhabitants,”
  • ...17 more annotations...
  • there are many reasons our tree canopy is declining, including hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, insects and disease.
  • But the one reason for tree loss that humans can control is sensible development.
  • “Every time we put a road down, we put a building and we cut a tree or add a tree, it not only affects that site, it affects the region.”
  • The study placed a value on tree loss based on trees’ role in air pollution removal and energy conservation. The lost value amounted to $96 million a year.
  • Trees provide shade for homes, office buildings, parks and roadways, cooling surface temperatures.
  • Trees absorb carbon and remove pollutants from the atmosphere.
  • Trees reduce energy costs by $4 billion a year, according to Nowak’s study.
  • Trees act as water filters, taking in dirty surface water and absorbing nitrogen and phosphorus into the soil.
  • Trees reduce flooding by absorbing water and reducing runoff into streams.
  • Trees can deflect sound
  • Trees absorb 96% of ultraviolet radiation, Nowak says.
  • Many studies have found connections between exposure to nature and better mental and physical health.
  • And studies have associated living near green areas with lower death rates.
  • Worldwide, forests provide for a huge diversity of animal life.
  • there’s a downside to trees too, such as pollen allergies or large falling branches in storms, “and people don’t like raking leaves.”
  • Urban forests especially need our help to replace fallen trees. Unlike rural areas, it is very difficult for trees to repopulate themselves in a city environment with so much pavement and asphalt.
  • Don’t remove old trees if it’s not necessary: Instead, try taking smaller actions like removing branches.
ilanaprincilus06

Powerful earthquake in Indonesia's Sulawesi kills dozens, injures hundreds - CNN - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

earthquake Indonesia

shared by ilanaprincilus06 on 16 Jan 21 - No Cached
  • At least 42 people have died with hundreds more injured after a 6.2-magnitude earthquake hit Indonesia's Sulawesi island
  • In Majene, at least 637 were injured and 15,000 residents have been displaced
  • Thousands of residents fled their homes to seek safety following the quake, which could be felt strongly for five to seven seconds and damaged at least 300 houses in Majene
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • The communications chief also said the quake had damaged four of Mamuju's largest hospitals.
  • Another difficulty was the lack of communication among rescue teams, as local telephone networks were down following the quake, he said, adding that there were eight locations where people were in urgent need of rescue.
  • The earthquake also triggered a power outage and caused three landslides along the main road connecting Majene and Mamuju.
ilanaprincilus06

Trump has trashed America's most important alliance. The rift with Europe could take de... - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

USA Trump Biden Europe

shared by ilanaprincilus06 on 16 Jan 21 - No Cached
  • The presidency of Donald Trump has left such a wretched stench in Europe that it's hard to see how, even in four years, Joe Biden could possibly get America's most important alliance back on track.
  • Throughout Trump's term, Europeans have been walking a tightrope, trying to balance outright condemnation of the President's most destructive behavior with not alienating the leader of the Western world.
  • Trump went out of his way to "gradually undo a lot of what the EU was working towards on the world stage," pointing specifically to the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate accord.
  • ...13 more annotations...
  • "The European relationship has changed and will now be shrouded in skepticism,"
  • Trump's outward aggression affected all aspects of European life, be it trade, defense or even the emotional shared ideas and cultural ties.
  • All those things suddenly seem debased and of less value."
  • "When they did take big stances on things like China or Iran, they chose not to involve anyone, leaving Europeans scrambling for a response,"
  • But he might have to accept that America's role in these relationships has changed."
  • This has led to lots of countries having to think more seriously about their future with a less assertive US,"
  • "In some respects, it was a good thing Trump forced us to think more about diplomatic initiatives, NATO and withdrawal of US troops,"
  • A view many European officials share is that no matter how friendly Biden is, Trump happened once -- and could happen again.
  • In 2024, Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Mike Pompeo, or any other of his allies could conceivably pick up the torch and win an election.
  • "We cannot afford to be naive. If you look at the number of votes that Trump got, he wields an influence on American voters.
  • This anti-global, 'America First' undercurrent in American politics is still very much alive and we have to hedge our bets,"
  • For the US, it's unclear whether being downgraded as a diplomatic force is something that its citizens, who've lived through four introspective years of "America First," will even care about.
  • Regardless, the Trump era has left Europeans with little choice but to wait and see how much of a priority Biden places on reclaiming America's place on the world stage.
ilanaprincilus06

Retail Sales Fall For 3rd Straight Month : NPR - 0 views

www.npr.org/...ight-month-as-infections-surge

economy Covid-19

shared by ilanaprincilus06 on 16 Jan 21 - No Cached
  • Restaurants and bars are reeling from persistent spikes of coronavirus cases and related restrictions in their communities, driving retail spending in December down for the third month in a row.
  • Even as people continue to splurge on shopping, they cut back on going out to eat and shop.
  • Gas stations saw the biggest jump in spending last month, up 6.6%, as people traveled for holiday visits despite health warnings.
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • People spent almost $790 billion on gifts and other purchases in the last two months of 2020
  • This growth, up 8.3% compared with 2019, was nearly double that seen in previous years.
  • Spending at restaurants and bars, meanwhile, was still down 21.2% in December compared to a year earlier,
  • This was a reflection of an unusual economic downturn. Even as millions lost jobs, Americans have continued to buy and renovate homes, splurging online on devices, workout gear and pricey purchases such as appliances and furniture that drove a lot of 2020 spending.
  • money that was no longer being spent on services freed up budgets to spend on goods
  • "We don't expect economic activity to return to pre-pandemic levels until late 2021 and employment at those levels won't return until well into 2022 and possibly 2023."
  • In December, leisure and hospitality businesses lost almost half a million jobs, most of them in eating and drinking establishments.
  • the U.S. has so far recovered less than 56% of the jobs that were lost last spring.
ilanaprincilus06

New York State Sues NYPD Over Its Handling Of 2020 Racial Justice Protests : NPR - 0 views

www.npr.org/...f-2020-racial-justice-protests

protest New York race

shared by ilanaprincilus06 on 16 Jan 21 - No Cached
  • New York Attorney General Letitia James has filed a lawsuit against the New York City Police Department, citing "a pattern of using excessive force and making false arrests against New Yorkers during peaceful protests" that sought racial justice and other changes.
  • It's now seeking a court order "declaring that the policies and practices that the NYPD used during these protests were unlawful."
  • Along with the court order, the attorney general is asking for policy reforms and a monitor to oversee the NYPD's tactics and handling of future protests.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • A video last May apparently showed police SUVs surging into a crowd that had surrounded them during a protest in Brooklyn.
  • n July, plainclothes officers were seen on video as they "aggressively detained a woman at a protest and hauled her away in an unmarked vehicle,"
  • inflicting significant physical and psychological harm and leading to great distrust in law enforcement."
  • "this longstanding pattern of brutal and illegal force ends. No one is above the law — not even the individuals charged with enforcing it."
  • "failed to prevent and address the pattern or practice of excessive force and false arrests by officers against peaceful protesters in violation of the First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution"
  • says the NYPD made a practice out of "kettling" — corralling people by using physical force and obstructions — to arrest protesters rather than allowing crowds to disperse.
ilanaprincilus06

A Medication-Assisted Treatment For Meth Addiction Shows Promise : Shots - Health News ... - 0 views

www.npr.org/...-proves-effective-in-new-trial

drugs addiction medical community

shared by ilanaprincilus06 on 16 Jan 21 - No Cached
  • For the first time, a medication regime has been found effective for some patients with meth addiction in a large, placebo-controlled trial.
  • Unlike opioid addiction, for which medication-assisted treatment is the standard of care, no medication has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use with meth.
  • patients in clinics around the U.S. suffering from methamphetamine use disorder were treated for 12 weeks with a combination of medications — naltrexone and bupropion — or placebo.
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • The treatment helped 13.4% of patients with their addiction, compared with 2.5% of the placebo group.
  • This medication therapy provides another tool for doctors to try with patients.
  • "As we understand the complexity of the human brain, it becomes very much of a magical thinking that one pill will solve the problem of addiction,"
  • The treatment regimen in the trial combined two medications that have been studied separately for treating methamphetamine addiction with limited success.
  • This clinical trial was successful enough that the National Institute on Drug Addiction's Volkow says she expects to move forward toward securing FDA approval.
  • lack of medical treatments for those addicted to meth has complicated efforts to curb demand for the drug.
  • The human cost has been catastrophic. Researchers say overdose deaths linked to meth increased fourfold over the last decade.
  • Even users who don't overdose often experience damage to the heart and other tissues, and can see their lives spiral out of control.
  • "For heroin users, there's methadone, there's suboxone. I just wonder why we haven't researched [treatments for] this drug yet,"
  • "It's about evidence-based care, it's about empathy and it's about survivability,"
ilanaprincilus06

Pandemic Fuels Record Overdose Deaths : Coronavirus Updates : NPR - 0 views

www.npr.org/...c-fuels-record-overdose-deaths

addiction drugs Covid-19

shared by ilanaprincilus06 on 16 Jan 21 - No Cached
  • the nation faces a grim milestone of having a record number of overdose deaths in 2020.
  • for many people, the pandemic has amplified mental health and financial issues.
  • social isolation has also increased the risk of dying from an overdose.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • addiction is a disease of despair.
  • staying in contact with someone who has a substance use disorder is so important during this time, even if you're angry, or you think they're in remission.
  • "Now is not the time for what we used to call tough love,"
  • "A lot of times people going through substance use disorders can feel like they are being treated paternalistically."
  • The American Society of Addiction Medicine and Shatterproof have developed a tool to recommend a treatment type to begin access to professional resources for people struggling with addiction.
ilanaprincilus06

Life Expectancy In U.S. Shortened By Pandemic, Study Concludes : Coronavirus Updates : NPR - 0 views

www.npr.org/...ife-expectancy-study-concludes

US pandemic death

shared by ilanaprincilus06 on 16 Jan 21 - No Cached
  • The deaths caused by COVID-19 have reduced overall life expectancy by 1.13 years,
  • That would be the largest single-year decline in life expectancy in the past 40 years and cut U.S. life expectancy to 77.48 years — the lowest it's been since 2003
  • "This impact is about 10 times as large as the worrisome annual decreases several years ago that were attributed largely to drug overdoses, other external causes, and respiratory and cardiovascular diseases,"
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • That would widen the gap in life expectancy between black and white populations from 3.6 years to more than five years,
  • "The huge decline in life expectancy for Latinos is especially shocking given that Latinos have lower rates than the white and Black populations of most chronic conditions that are risk factors for COVID-19,"
  • and could kill more than 566,000 by May, according to the latest estimate from researchers at the University of Washington's Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation
  • will see its life expectancy fall even farther behind its peers," the researchers write.
ilanaprincilus06

Pandemic Update: Vaccine Rollouts, U.K. Variant Fears, Extreme Lockdowns : Goats and So... - 0 views

www.npr.org/...ost-extreme-pandemic-lockdowns

Covid-19 USA UK

shared by ilanaprincilus06 on 16 Jan 21 - No Cached
  • The last Sunday of 2020 was ushered in with both promise and apprehension on the global pandemic front.
  • At the same time, some of the year's most severe lockdowns and travel restrictions are being implemented around the world, prompted by concerns that new variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, could lead to more rapid spread.
  • The U.K. variant, which is now the dominant strain in Britain, "may be more transmissible than previously circulating variants, with an estimated potential to increase the transmissibility of the virus by up to 70%,"
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • On the domestic front, travelers arriving in the U.S. from the U.K. are now required to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test under new rules issued by CDC on Christmas day.
  • Despite such measures, the new strain has already been detected in mainland Europe, Israel, Canada and Japan, among other places.
  • compared to Hong Kong, which has put in place a "prohibition of group gatherings of more than two persons."
  • While some other places are shortening COVID quarantines from 14 days down to 10 or 7, Hong Kong is now requiring a mandatory 21 days.
  • Thailand, which had kept its daily tally of reported COVID-19 cases in the single digits for much of the pandemic, is grappling with its worst surge to date.
  • South Korea, which successfully contained two earlier waves of COVID-19, is facing record numbers of new cases and a spike in fatalities.
  • Given the high levels of transmission already occurring in the U.S., a more transmissible form of the virus could mean more even more dire numbers just as massive vaccine campaigns are starting.
ilanaprincilus06

Uganda Election: President Yoweri Museveni Declared Winner As Bobi Wine Alleges Fraud :... - 1 views

www.npr.org/...-winner-as-bobi-wine-alleges-f

Uganda Fruaud Museveni Wine

shared by ilanaprincilus06 on 16 Jan 21 - No Cached
  • Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has won a sixth term in office, fighting off a challenge by former singer Bobi Wine
  • Wine's run drew many young Ugandans to pay attention to politics.
  • Museveni received 58% of the vote to 34% for Wine
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • Wine is alleging that votes were rigged
  • Ahead of the vote, Museveni's government shut down social media outlets in Uganda
  • Wine said that security forces were not allowing anyone in or out of his home, and he urged Ugandans to reject the results.
  • called Uganda's electoral process "fundamentally flawed," citing "authorities' denial of accreditation to election observers, violence and harassment of opposition figures" and the arrest of civil service organization workers.
  • The election has been closely watched because of Wine's appeal to younger voters — a crucial strength in a country with one of the youngest populations in the world, where more than two-thirds of the population is under age 30.
  • Wine sought to replace one of Africa's longest-tenured leaders with one of its youngest, hoping to make a generational shift that would be felt across the continent.
  • "Uganda has never witnessed a peaceful transfer of power since gaining its independence in 1962."
  • Wine himself was arrested in November, sparking large protests during which dozens of people died.
  • A recent Gallup poll found that only around a third of respondents in Uganda said they're confident in the honesty of their country's elections.
  • This week, Wine said the military had killed his driver and that his home was raided.
‹ Previous 21 - 40 of 99 Next › Last »
Showing 20▼ items per page