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Glaucoma is a vision condition that results from damage to your optic nerve, often due to elevated pressure in the eye. Its one of the most common causes of vision loss in adults and can lead to blindness without treatment.

Eye drops and other treatments can cause dry eyes in many people with glaucoma. People who have glaucoma might already be at heightened risk for developing dry eyes because the conditions share some risk factors.

Dry eyes can be chronic and uncomfortable, interfering with daily life. Its possible to treat both glaucoma and dry eyes with a combination approach. Well overview the link between these conditions, symptoms, and available treatment options.

Its common for dry eye and glaucoma to occur together. Dry eye is a type of ocular surface disease (OSD), which also includes blepharitis (eyelid inflammation).

2020 research states the global prevalence of OSD in people with glaucoma is around 40 to 59 percent, substantially higher than the general population.

There are a few reasons for this, including:

Dry eye and glaucoma can be difficult to treat. Although dry eye is often more painful and irritating for the patient, glaucoma is a more serious condition as it can lead to blindness. Because of this, eye doctors will focus on treating glaucoma first, even if that makes relief of dry eyes more difficult.

However, your doctor will do their best to ensure both dry eye and glaucoma are treated for the best quality of life outcome.

Glaucoma is the name for a group of conditions that cause damage to the nerves in your eyes. Glaucoma results in vision loss and can lead to blindness without treatment. It can occur in one or both eyes.

Medical researchers have long thought that glaucoma only occurred when the pressure built up inside the eyes. Newer research indicates that glaucoma can develop even when the pressure inside the eyes is normal.

Glaucoma doesnt always cause symptoms early on, so people are often unaware they have it in the early stages. This is especially true if you have a type of glaucoma called open-angle glaucoma. About 90 percent of people with glaucoma have this type, and its the second leading cause of legal blindness in the U.S.

When symptoms of any type of glaucoma develop, they may include:

While its possible to slow or stop the progression of glaucoma, any vision loss caused by glaucoma is irreversible. Detecting glaucoma early and getting treatment quickly can prevent blindness. Its important to see an eye doctor as soon as possible if you have any glaucoma symptoms.

Glaucoma can be screened for and detected by a routine eye exam with your ophthalmologist. The American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) advises adults have a comprehensive medical eye examination at age 40 if they havent had one yet.

Dry eye is a common eye condition. It happens when your eyes cant make enough tears, or when the tears your eyes make dont keep your eyes moist enough. When your eyes arent well moisturized, they can become uncomfortable and inflamed.

In some cases, dry eye is temporary. For example, you might get a flare of dry eye from being outside on a very windy day, or from a long shift of computer work. In other cases, dry eye can be a chronic condition.

Dry eye can be very irritating and can make it difficult to complete everyday tasks. Especially when chronic, dry eye can have far-reaching impacts on your quality of life.

Symptoms of dry eye can include:

Some people with dry eyes may experience discharge from their eyes or eyelids. Discharge can also be a sign of eye infection.

Some cases of night vision can be treated with over-the-counter eye drops. However, prescription-strength treatment and lifestyle changes can help many people.

Youll likely need a combination of treatments to help both dry eye and glaucoma. You might go through several treatment options until you find the combination that is most helpful for your eyes.

According to NIH and AAO, treatment approaches include:

Your doctor might also recommend lifestyle changes, such as:

Factors that are unrelated to glaucoma can also cause dry eye. Sometimes these factors can occur alongside glaucoma and can make treating it more challenging.

Dry eye and glaucoma commonly occur together. They share risk factors such as age and having diabetes, and some glaucoma treatments can cause dry eye.

Treating both conditions together can be challenging. While dry eye may be more painful and difficult to deal with in the short term, glaucoma is more dangerous to your vision in the long term. This means glaucoma treatment will be prioritized.

However, doctors will always attempt to treat both conditions. In most cases, youll receive a combination of treatment approaches that can help preserve your vision and restore your eye comfort.

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What's the Link Between Glaucoma and Dry Eyes? - Healthline

Monday night, two neighbors and I enjoyed each others company and conversation around a backyard fire to celebrate the summer solstice.

Politics came up. One neighbor said she didnt think Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 presidential election. The other said he didnt think too many people were paying much attention to the House select committees historic hearings about the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

I did not argue with my neighbors or try to persuade them to change their minds. I asked what they thought of Rep. Adam Kinzinger and Vice President Mike Pence, Republicans who refused to go along with President Donald Trumps plot to overturn results of a free and fair election.

RINOs, the one neighbor said, meaning Republicans In Name Only. Many share her view that loyalty to the GOP matters more than oaths sworn to uphold the U.S. Constitution.

The House committee is building its case to the American people. Through witness testimony, documents, emails, text messages, video and other evidence, the committee is showing how Trump tried to stay in office despite losing the popular vote to Biden by about 7 million votes.

Trumps lust for the power drove him to convince millions of his followers that the 2020 election was fraudulent. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Fox News hosts and other influential people publicly went along with the scheme. The committee has heard from former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr and others, who testified they repeatedly told Trump his ploy was illegal.

If fraud had occurred, Trumps proper recourse was to plead his case in court. His supporters filed more than 60 lawsuits in state and federal courts, but no one could present any evidence of fraud, only lies and hearsay. Judges, including some appointed by Trump, dismissed the cases.

Trumps unwillingness to accept the reality of his loss may involve a concept known as willful blindness, legal analysts have written. Trump himself might have believed there was fraud, but testimony shows he refused to listen to anyone who told him the evidence said Bidens win was legitimate.

To this day, many Republican voters and elected officials refuse to publicly admit Biden won the presidency. Many believe fictional stories about mules harvesting illegal votes cast by purported dead people or immigrants. Theyve been told to believe electronic voting equipment was somehow manipulated to favor Biden.

The false narratives collectively known as Trumps big lie cast doubt on the integrity of our voting systems and democracy.

Not only is Trump willfully blind, the hearings show that millions of fellow Americans deliberately refuse to acknowledge mounting evidence that violence at the Capitol that day was no accident. Rather, it was the culmination of an illegal ploy to halt the certification of Electoral College results.

Insurrectionists loyal to President Donald Trump breach the Capitol in Washington, D.C. Jan. 6, 2021. (AP Photo/John Minchillo/AP)

Trump embraced the plan to violently overturn the outcome, but Pence refused to go along with the scheme. There was no legal basis to a cockamamie theory that the vice president could reject the will of voters by legitimizing slates of phony electors in several swing states that Trump lost.

The plan was to kick Electoral College slates back to certain states where Republicans held legislative majorities. The scheme never made it that far. Our institutions held, but barely. You may recall 121 House Republicans and six GOP senators voted to reject results from Arizona.

Americans who ignore the truth of Jan. 6 use mental gymnastics to create an alternate reality. They deny evidence. They deflect by talking about gas prices or other concerns. They try to discredit those presenting evidence by calling the effort to seek accountability a partisan witch hunt.

The select committees important task is to show Americans that the threat to democracy is ongoing. Last week, a Republican-led county commission in New Mexico relented and voted to certify election results after initially refusing to do so. The states supreme court ordered the panel to certify results that the commission initially rejected due to unfounded conspiracy theories, Reuters reported.

Our institutions held in late 2020 and early 2021 because enough people of integrity were in positions to refuse to go along with illegal schemes to overturn election results. Now there are fewer people of integrity left in gatekeeper positions. Some left amid threats and intimidation.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., listens Tuesday as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol continues to reveal its findings of a year-long investigation. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

Twice-weekly

News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday

Kinzinger on Sunday shared a letter he received at his home in Channahon. The writer threatened to execute the congressman, his wife and their 5-month-old child because of the Republicans efforts to uphold democracy.

The Darkness is spreading courtesy of cowardly leaders fearful of truth, Kinzinger wrote on Twitter. The threats Ive gotten dont scare me. They make me more determined.

Many are concerned insurrectionists will try again in 2024 to overturn election results if they disagree with the outcome. Evidence of the ongoing plot to destroy our democracy ought to strengthen the resolve of every American to vote and exercise their rights.

The battle for American democracy reminds me of The Skin of Our Teeth, a 1942 play by Thornton Wilder. We have always faced existential threats, and have barely survived many of them. Fascism, nuclear war and economic collapse, to name a few.

Somehow weve pulled through, sometimes by razor-thin margins. Whatever the future holds, I expect it will be close. A few votes here and there could make a world of difference.

Ted Slowik is a columnist for the Daily Southtown.

tslowik@tribpub.com

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Trump election lies may fit legal concept of willful blindness - Chicago Tribune

From Charity Nwakaudu, Abuja

In its global fight against poverty and avoidable blindness, an international organization, Sightsavers, has relaunced its thematic strategy to ensure that it reaches out to those affected and support their overall health system.

Speaking in Abuja, NIgeria, Country Director Sightsavers , Dr Sunday Ishiyaku stated that as part of strategies towards achieving its goals, the organization has developed capacities by making investments in growth and learning to ensure that there are adequate resources to tackling a wide range of complex diseases more innovatively and strategically premised on system strengthening to drive sustainability.

Ishiyaku noted that the strategy was conceived as a five- year framework with four major change theme such as Health, Education, Social inclusion, Community participation and development as well as eye health programmed.

He said that as an organization, it was working hard to prevent unavoidable blindness whilst also ensuring that those with disabilities participate equally in the Society.

We are a global organization working in more than 30 countries in African and Asian continents to prevent avoidable blindness whilst ensuring that those with disabilities participate equally in the society.

Sightsavers started out as an international service delivery- oriented charity and this was the case until 2009 when it transited into an international development organization requiring that it looked at tackling a wide range of complex diseases.

In the years covering the strategy (2009-2019), Sightsavers was committed to implementing its ambitious strategy that includes four major themes i.e eye health, education, social inclusion and community development and participation.

The Country Director explained that in the renewed global efforts to leave no one behind, Sightsavers also initiated the Sustainable Development Goals ( Agenda 2023), with the specific inclusion of an Neglected Tropical Diseases, NTD, target in SDG3.

Launching the Sightsavers thematic strategy virtually, Vice President, Board of Trustees, Sightsavers, Professor Uche Amazigo pointed out that its essence was to achieve the vision of a world where no one is blind from avoidable causes and where people with disabilities could participate equally in the society.

She that research has shown that there were almost 2 billion people suffering from blindness or partial impairment and Nigeria was with the highest number in this group hence the need for this alliance, adding that we should imagine a Nigeria with positive change in education, champions of Child Rights.

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Sightsavers relaunches its thematic strategy The Sun Nigeria - Daily Sun

The World Health Organization (WHO) today welcomed the announcement by Pfizer Inc. that it will extend its donation of the antibiotic Zithromax (azithromycin) for trachoma elimination until 2030, building on the companys 23-year commitment to fight the worlds leading infectious cause of blindness.

Caused by repeated bacterial infection of the eyes, trachoma blinds the poorest people in the world. WHO recommends a four-part strategy to eliminate trachoma as a public health problem. This strategy takes the acronym SAFE, representing: surgery for advanced disease, antibiotics to clear infection, and facial cleanliness and environmental improvement (particularly increased access to water and sanitation) to reduce transmission. Pfizers Zithromax donation is a critical part of SAFE, and is managed by the International Trachoma Initiative at the Task Force for Global Health, Decatur (GA), USA, an organization in official relations with WHO.

Continuing the donation programme will bring relief to millions of people around the world who are affected by this preventable neglected tropical disease, said Dr Ren Minghui, WHOs Assistant Director-General for Universal Health Coverage/Communicable and Noncommunicable Diseases. WHO is very grateful for Pfizers ongoing commitment to helping prevent trachomatous blindness.

Caroline Roan, Senior Vice-President Global Health & Patient Impact, Pfizer Inc., commented, Trachoma is a debilitating disease that should no longer wreak havoc on peoples lives and livelihoods. We are proud to support our longstanding trachoma partners working tirelessly towards elimination and improving lives worldwide.

Between 2002 and 2021, due to a combination of SAFE strategy implementation, improved living conditions and better data, the estimated number of people living in trachoma-endemic areas worldwide fell 91% from 1517 million to 136 million. But over the past 2 years, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has limited the activity of programmes against neglected tropical diseases in many countries. Community-based work, such as antibiotic mass drug administration for trachoma, has been particularly adversely affected.

In the road map for neglected tropical diseases 20212030, endorsed by the World Health Assembly in November 2020, trachoma is targeted for global elimination as a public health problem by 2030. To date, 13 countries (Cambodia, China, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, the Gambia, Ghana, Mexico, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Togo) have been validated as having achieved this milestone.

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Trachoma elimination: millions more to benefit from donated azithromycin - World Health Organization

A new strain of super gonorrhoea has been reported after an Austrian man had unprotected sex with a Cambodian sex worker.

What makes this strain so worrying is that it is resistant to most antibiotics commonly used to treat the infection, scientists have warned.

Adding to this risk, experts have cited that if multidrug-resistant strains of gonorrhoea keep spreading, many cases of the STD might become untreatable.

This was highlighted in a study published recently in the medical journal Eurosurveillance, part of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

The disease is caused by the bacterium called Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

The infection is spread by unprotected vaginal, oral and anal sex.

Lead author of the report, Dr Sonja Pleininger of the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety, said such a strain poses a major global public health threat.

If such strains manage to establish a sustained transmission, many gonorrhoea cases might become untreatable, she added.

The unidentified Austrian man in his 50s complained of unusual symptoms five days after his sexual encounter.

His symptoms reported included pain while peeing and a discharge coming out of his penis.

The man was initially treated with azithromycin and ceftriaxone.

Two weeks later, his symptoms resolved, but a penile swab showed he still had gonorrhoea.

Tests showed his "super" bug was still immune to treatment.

Typical symptoms of gonorrhoea include a thick green or yellow discharge from the vagina or penis, pain when peeing and, in women, bleeding between periods, warns the NHS.

The national health body added: But around one in 10 infected men and almost half of infected women do not experience any symptoms.

The bacteria that cause gonorrhoea are mainly found in discharge from the penis and in vaginal fluid.

In women, it can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, which could cause problems with fertility and future pregnancy.

It may also increase the risk of ectopic pregnancy, a medical emergency.

Gonorrhoea can also increase the risk of transmitting or acquiring HIV.

According to Dr Teodara Wi, World Health Organisations (WHO) medical officer specialising in STIs, other serious risks of super gonorrhoea include:

See the rest here:
Dangers of super gonorrhoea from infertility to blindness as global warning issued - Daily Star

How the illusion of a post-queer society let actor Rebel Wilson down.

Its been nearly two weeks since we heard the Sydney Morning Herald had a hand in making the actor Rebel Wilson reveal she was dating another woman.But as the news cycle swiftly barrels on, there are questions that continue to linger.

Namely, how could reporter Andrew Hornery and editor Bevan Shields who are both gay not understand that threatening to reveal a celebritys first same-sex relationship is an inherently harmful idea? How could they have been so blind?

Thats the theme that kept sticking out to me: sustained, wilful blindness. Blindness to the fact that we continue to inhabit a culture where queer people are marginalised, regardless of how many legal gains may have been made.

As both Hornery and Shields pushed out their articles over the weekend, at first furiously agreeing with each other before conceding that some harm may have been done, there was a common through-line: Both went out of their way to use non-gendered language. Rebel was simply in a new relationship; Ramona Agruma was her new partner, they were simply trying to break the news of this celebrity romance.

Both men seemed desperate to ignore the elephant in the room Rebel Wilson, an actress who most people know as straight, was in a same-sex relationship. And Hornerys email, regardless of what he intended, threatened to out her.

I couldnt help but be reminded of the problem of colour-blindness; the people who insist they dont see race, a narrative captured in the platitude, theres only one race, the human race. Its this same spirit that permeated the Sydney Morning Heralds recent festival of cluelessness, but this time, it wasnt colour blindness, but its LGBTIQ analogue: queer blindfolding.

In the way that colour-blindness perpetuates racism by denying the existence of white privilege, queer blindfolding is the process of perpetuating homophobia by not acknowledging it exists. The concept was coined by US researchers Richard Shin and Lance Smith, who define it as well-intentioned heterosexual identifying individuals that results in the disappearing of queer identities. And while straight people probably thinks that theyre doing a good thing by ignoring a persons sexuality were all just people, are we not? the narrative comes with pernicious consequences.

Namely, adopting the ideology of queer blindfolding can result in minimising or even denying the marginalisation that is experienced by those who identify as queer. And in my opinion, it is this wilfully blind way of looking at the world that has contributed to the Sydney Morning Heraldunknowingly threatening Wilson with an ultimatum.

Both Andrew Hornery and Bevan Shields used language that indicated that they were fans of this school of thought. Consider the following turns of phrase: [We] asked Wilson if she wished to comment about her new partner, wrote Bevan Shields in his initial supportive response to Andrew Hornerys first article. We would have asked the same questions had Wilsons new partner been a man.

Similarly, in Hornerys (now deleted) initial article, he was at a loss as to why a woman who previously used to brag about her handsome ex-boyfriend wouldnt do the same with her same girlfriend. Of course, who anyone dates is their business, but Wilson happily fed such prurient interest when she had a hunky boyfriend on her arm, he adds.

Here, both Shields and Hornery are taking the bizarre stance that when youre a woman, having a girlfriend is equally as socially acceptable as having a boyfriend.

And that, in a nutshell, is clear blindfolding: wilfully ignoring the heterosexism that we swim in every day.

While Shin and Smith point out that heterosexual attitudes toward LGBTIQ folks are generally improving, were not exactly in some post-gay utopia. Heterosexuality is obviously the dominant sexual orientation in our culture. Take, for example, the fact that most love stories in our culture involve cis-gendered men and cis-gendered women; the fact that we assume people are straight by default; and that a fear of abuse still means that many queer people hide their sexuality at work.

Or the teacher who was sacked because of their sexuality in 2021, or the constant targeting of trans peopleduring the lead-up to the federal election. Or the current horrendous discourse around trans participation in elite swimming. Just the simple fact that straight people dont need to come out tells you that straight people and queer people are obviously not on a level playing field.

And yet, we get Hornery coming out with the astonishing take that thanks to decades of battling for equality sexual orientation is no longer something to be hidden, even in Hollywood, adding that same-sex marriage is legal in many parts of the world, as though Wilson, by not publicly coming out to the entire world right away, is being overly dramatic or creating a problem that isnt there.

They are. Both reporter Andrew Hornery and editor Bevan Shields identify as gay men. But while Shin and Smith say that its heterosexual identifying people who are prone to queer blindfolding, queer folks arent immune to taking on the same.

In particular, studies have found its not uncommon for gay men who are white, cis-gendered, and affluent to use queer blindfolding as a narrative strategy. Those who inhabit other marginalised identities, though queer women of colour, for example tend to consider their queerness within the context of a matrix of domination. As such, people like Shields and Hornery may not realise that queerness in other bodies unlike theirs has different implications.

Thats where the importance ofintersectionality comes in a concept that describes the way that systems of inequality based on gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, class and other forms of discrimination intersect to create unique dynamics and effects. While Rebel is white, she deals with the added marginalisation of being a woman plus, shes dealt with fatphobia in the past.

The reason that Hornery and Shields went so wrong with Rebel Wilson is simple: they assumed that homophobia was an artefact of the past. In doing so, they ended up causing harm to a person who, like everyone, has a right to come out on her own terms.

Weve heard little from Rebel Wilson herself about the situation, but she wrote on Twitter that it was a very hard situation and she was trying to handle it with grace. But she never should have had to deal with this in the first place, with grace or otherwise.

Perhaps the current trend of epistemic deference has something to do with this: the idea that people who inhabit the same marginalised identities have each others back. But like white supremacy, which no longer needs white people for it to function, weve seen that homophobia, too it no longer requires straight folks to thrive.

Reena Gupta is Junkees culture writer. Follow her on Twitter.

Photo Credit: Future Publishing, Getty Images

Original post:
How The SMH Got That Rebel Wilson Story So Wrong - Junkee

On June 23, 1972, President Richard Nixon signed the Education Amendments of 1972 into law. Title IX of those amendments, which spanned sections 1681-1688, covered key protections for students in education programs: discrimination based on sex or blindness.

Fifty years later, that protection has become popularly known as Title IX: No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.

Its a law that youve certainly heard referenced most often when talking about womens college sports but how did it come to be? What does it actually cover? And what does its future look like? Heres what you need to know about Title IX.

Title IX was a follow-up to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which was enacted to end discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin in regard to employment and public accommodation. But when it came to the college classroom, significant gaps remained.

Eight years after that landmark 1964 Act, the Title IX portion of the 1972 amendments sought to expand those protections by focusing on educational funding.

Today, I am signing into law the Education Amendments of 1972, President Nixon said. This legislation includes comprehensive higher education provisions, authority for a new effort to revitalize our educational research effort and authority to provide financial assistance to school districts to meet special problems incident to desegregation.

Before Nixon signed the 1972 amendments, the college sports landscape was dominated by men. The NCAA was founded in 1906 to govern college football before gradually growing as a discussion group and rules committee for a plethora of sports.

By 1972, 200,000 athletes were competing in college sports. Just 30,000 of them were women.

Athletic scholarships were virtually nonexistent for women and no national championships were held for womens teams. According to the History Channel, just 2 percent of college athletic budgets went toward women athletes.

Off the field, women were discriminated against in the classroom as well. Many universities barred women from attending while many others offered male-only classes, which ranged from criminal justice to wood shop.

NCAA data from 2016 shows the gender disparity in college athletes has shrunk dramatically in the 50 years since Title IXs inception. Of the 486,859 athletes who participated in college sports, 211,886 were women. Additionally, women received 45 percent of the total athletic scholarship dollars at DI schools in 2016.

The law has also done far more than increase the size of the scholarship slice. The historic 1980 Alexander v. Yale case was the first to use Title IX in charges of sexual harassment against an educational institution. Title IX has also been credited with helping increase the number of women who pursue higher education.

And from 2010 to 2016, the Obama administration expanded the protection of Title IX to protect transgender students from gender discrimination.

However, Title IX advocates argue there is still significant progress to be made. While the participation gap has narrowed, data shows the opportunity gap remains. Despite Title IXs intention for women to receive opportunities proportionate to the schools enrollment, a report from the Womens Sports Foundation found that 86 percent of colleges are offering a disproportionate number of athletic opportunities to men compared to their enrollment. They argue that this resulted in 60,000 missed opportunities for women athletes.

We should absolutely celebrate the fact that girls participation in high school sports is nearly 12 times higher than it was when Title IX was passed, but we cannot rest on it, WSF founder Billie Jean King said. The mere existence of Title IX does not ensure equal opportunities unless it is enforced for everyone, particularly among girls and women of color, those with disabilities and the LGBTQ+ community where the gap is consistently the widest.

While the answer may be clear that Title IX was effective for most of its initial intentions, many have debated in recent years if our structure of collegiate athletics has outgrown the now-50-year-old law. Some have proposed that the future of college sports may need a revamped Title IX to scale with the ever-changing landscape of the industry.

One such change has been the recent opportunity for college athletes to profit off their name, image and likeness (NIL). Some have argued that NIL legislation and Title IX protections are on a collision course that the 1972 law never could have imagined.

The stakes are high; the potential for making money is huge. Here is the issue: As soon as a university, its employees, or its booster clubs play any role in helping athletes earn money or make deals, the school is necessarily providing a benefit to them, attorneys Arthur Bryant and Cary Joshi wrote for Sportico. And Title IX requires that male and female athletes be treated equally. If the university arranges or offers deals for men and not women, or vice versa, it has trouble under the law.

However, while changes like NIL will continue to shift the college sports world every few years, the now-50-year-old law has proven to provide much-needed protections for who will be impacted by those changes. Regardless of what the next 50 years bring, no one can deny that Title IX has left an undeniable imprint on the college sports landscape, for the betterment of millions of women athletes.

(Top photo: Andrew Wevers / USA TODAY Sports)

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Fifty years of Title IX: What is it, what does it cover and do we still need it? - The Athletic

Jen Patja Howell shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast in which Benjamin Wittes Wittes sat down on Twitter Spaces with Roger Parloff, Quinta Jurecic, and Molly Reynolds to discuss day four of the Jan. 6 committee hearings:

She alsoshared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast in which Wittes talked with Jurecic, Parloff, and Katie Benner of the New York Times about day five of the Jan. 6 select committee hearings:

Pollard shared a livestream of day four of the Jan. 6 select committee hearings. He also shared a livestream of day five of the Jan. 6 select committee hearings.

Elena Kagan shared an episode of Lawfare No Bull which features audio from the fourth public hearing held by the Jan. 6 select committee:

Bob Bauer argued that presidents seeking reelection can pose unique challenges to democratic elections in situations in which their desire to win can lead to disastrous results.

Daniel Richman discussed the role that the doctrine of willful blindness might have in proving Trumps criminal liability if a case were brought against the former president for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

David Priess shared an episode of Chatter in which Shane Harris sat down with Tim Naftali to discuss the legacy of Watergate in light of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack:

Howell shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast from the November 2020 archives in which Evelyn Douek and Jurecic sat down with Alex Stamos to discuss the state of election security and the difficulty of countering false election claims:

Robert Chesney and Steve Vladeck shared an episode of the National Security Law Podcast in which they discussed the latest Jan. 6 conspiracy indictment, the Navarro contempt of Congress charge, the lawsuits challenging the Texas and Florida social media content-moderation laws, and more:

Stewart Baker shared an episode of the Cyberlaw Podcast in which he sat down with Amy Gajda to discuss her book, Seek and Hide: The Tangled History of the Right to Privacy:

Baker shared another episode of the Cyberlaw Podcast in which he sat down with Matthew Heiman, Scott Shapiro, and Nick Weaver to discuss the bipartisan effort to transform the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, cryptocurrency firms on the verge of collapse, TikTok, and more:

Herb Lin discussed the functional trade-offs in baked-in cybersecurity in product management.

Susan Landau argued that the EU proposal on combating child sexual abuse material online could present national security problems and relies on technology that does not exist yet.

Steve Bunnell reviewed James E. Bakers The Centaurs Dilemma: National Security Law for the Coming AI Revolution (Brookings Institution, 2020).

Howell shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast in which Wittes sat down with Asfandyar Mir and Daniel Byman to discuss the current position of al-Qaeda in the world:

Howell also shared an episode of Rational Security in which Alan Rozenshtein, Jurecic, and Scott R. Anderson sat down to discuss the extradition of Julian Assange, Chinese access to TikTok customer data, and Googles potentially sentient LaMDA artificial intelligence program:

Jordan Schneider shared an episode of ChinaTalk in which he sat down with Weijian Shan to discuss Shans personal story of exile during the Cultural Revolution and his view on Chinas economic transformation:

Anoush Baghdassarian analyzed recent cases from the International Court of Justice that Armenia and Azerbaijan each brought against one other for alleged violations of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

Max Johnston and Bryce Klehm shared the final episode of Allies, which they discuss the uncertain long-term legal status of Mahnaz, a former member of the Afghan militarys Female Tactical Platoon, and other Afghans who are on parole after coming to the U.S. during the U.S.s withdrawal from Afghanistan:

Matthew Tokson discussed what a recent ruling from the First Circuit means for Fourth Amendment cases concerning the use of telephone pole cameras for surveillance purposes.

Kyleanne Hunter discussed the potential impacts that overturning Roe v. Wade would have on women in uniform.

And Hyemin Han and Katherine Pompilio shared an application for the fall 2022 Lawfare internship.

And that was the week that was.

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The Week That Was: All of Lawfare in One Post - Lawfare - Lawfare

It's Brad Pitts world and were all just living in it!

The superstar actor and producer, 58, recently opened up about life, art and everything in between in a new interview with GQ, during which he explained how hes been pretty much hiding out in his Los Angeles home for much of the pandemic and how hes used that time to quit smoking and drinking altogether.

While chewing a nicotine mint, Pitt explained that he quit smoking cigarettes during the pandemic after realizing he didn't have it in him to simply "cut back."

I dont have that ability to do just one or two a day, he explained. Its not in my makeup. Im all in. And Im going to drive into the ground. Ive lost my privileges.

The actor went on to explain that after his ex, Angelina Jolie, filed for divorce in 2016, he got sober and spent a year and a half attending Alcoholics Anonymous though, given his star status, has had to make adjustments for the sake of maintaining his privacy.

I had a really cool mens group here that was really private and selective, so it was safe, he said. Because Id seen things of other people who had been recorded while they were spilling their guts, and thats just atrocious to me.

Pitt shares six kids with Jolie: Maddox, 20; Pax, 18; Zahara, 17; Shiloh, 16; and twins Vivienne, and Knox, 13. Jolie had adopted Maddox and Zahara before her relationship with Pitt (he later adopted them both as well).

Still, while he cherishes old memories of smoking a cigarette in the morning, with the coffee just delicious," he also knows his body cant handle it the same way others can, like, say, the British painter David Hockney. Hes still chaining, the hard-core English way. It looks great, Pitt says of Hockney. I dont think I have that. Im just at that age when nothing good comes from it.

The actor also spoke candidly about his struggle to remember new people and to recognize their faces, which has been a hindrance his entire adult life especially at parties.

Pitt believes he may suffer from prosopagnosia, an inability to recognize peoples faces (otherwise known as face blindness). Though he wants to remember the people he meets and hes ashamed he cant above all, he fears the condition has led people to assume hes remote or aloof or self-absorbed.

Nobody believes me! he said.

As for finding solace, the actor says he always finds it in art and music. "Im one of those creatures that speaks through art. I just want to always make. If Im not making, Im dying in some way."

Music fills me with so much joy," he continued. "I think joys been a newer discovery, later in life. I was always moving with the currents, drifting in a way, and onto the next. I think I spent years with a low-grade depression, and its not until coming to terms with that, trying to embrace all sides of self the beauty and the ugly that Ive been able to catch those moments of joy.

Continued here:
Why Brad Pitt quit smoking and drinking altogether during the pandemic - BusinessGhana

Express News Service

HYDERABAD: The recent spell of rain has brought respite after months of scorching heat. But these rains bring about a rise in humidity, meaning, higher chances of eye infection.Our eyes are one of the most sensitive yet ignored parts of our body. And unfortunately, the rainy season can make us susceptible to eye infections. Explaining why, Dr Deepthi, consultant ophthalmologist and retina specialist at Care Hospitals, HITEC City, says, The moisture content in the air creates a favourable condition for bacteria, viruses and other germs to grow and multiply, especially in your eyes.

The doctor names conjunctivitis as one of the most common eye infections during the monsoon. Some of the common symptoms of conjunctivitis include redness of the eye, swelling, yellow sticky discharge from the eyes, and itching, associated with pain. Fortunately, it is an easily treatable eye problem. Proper eye care should become a priority during monsoons to help protect from infections like conjunctivitis, dry eyes and corneal ulcers which can lead to blindness. Commonly known as pink eye, the infection can be easily spread from one person to another by touch, she informs.

Other common eye infections during the monsoon include keratitis and trachoma. This infection of the cornea caused by injury to the eyes, due to routine of contact lenses. If left unattended, the infection can even lead to blindness, the Dr Deepthi warns.

Trachoma is a bacterial infection responsible for blindness in almost 1.9 million people across the globe! This irreversible blindness can be caused through direct touch or towels and flies that have come in contact with the eyes or nose of an infected person. So it calls for more care than one might think, the doctor shares.

Dr Aparna Saripalli, general physician, Ankura Hospital, Boduppal, says, Kids should avoid touching or rubbing the eyes. Infections spread faster commonly touched items.

Keep infectionsat bay:

Dr Swapna, ophthalmologist, Care Hospitals, Nampally

Read more from the original source:
Watch your eye - The New Indian Express

A Hamilton artist wants you to forget about the no touching rule. The Scales That Fall From Our Eyes at Centre [3] goes against the formalities of an art gallery and invites visitors to experience it through touch and sound.

Olivia Brouwer, 27, is a partially blind artist aiming to bring accessible art to the visually impaired community. With abstract visuals and Braille language exhibits, Brouwer addresses her disability with tactile paintings and challenges the idea that art does not need to be touched in order to be felt.

I am partially blind in one eye and so I wanted to discuss that in my work and become more confident in myself by doing that, said Brouwer.

The exhibit brings a series of conversations with Brouwers friends Tim Peters, Eric Bourgeois and Jesse Hannigan about the meaning of blindness and colour blindness in their lives while raising awareness of the inclusivity and accessibility needed for the visually impaired.

I interviewed each of them individually, questioning how they would describe their perception of the world through the lens of their experience of blindness in a positive light, but also allowing them to express challenges associated with their form of blindness, said Brouwer.

Each conversation is translated into Braille and painted on a tactile canvas with acrylic paint. Visitors can also listen to the interviews with headphones activated by touching a conduit paint on the wall.

This is the first time Im showing work that is tactile. It will be interesting to see how people respond to it just as we come out of the pandemic. People can grab some gloves available to touch the pieces if theyre not comfortable, said Brouwer.

Inspired and influenced by Christianity, The Scales That Fall From Our Eyes visuals portray Brouwers interpretation of the Biblical story of Saul. He was a Jewish leader who persecuted Christians, and became blind for three days because of that. When he realized what he was doing wrong, the blindness spell fell like scales from his eyes.

According to Brouwer, the story of Saul represents the change that takes place when prejudiced barriers are removed, contributing to justice and inclusivity for minorities.

I like this kind of metaphor for realizing whats wrong in the world and releasing those scales and bringing clarity to what we need to change. Justice needs to happen, accessibility needs to be implemented not just to art galleries, she said.

Even though she brought her Christian faith to the exhibits title and concept, there was a moment of hesitancy throughout the creation process due to fear of negative feedback.

It was a bit confusing for me, so I stepped away from it for a while. I have a hard time bringing it into my art because I didnt want it to be evangelical, Brouwer said. I think the story of Saul will come into my work in the future. Theres a lot of stories in the Bible that talk about blindness and healing, but I think its more about how everybody sees what needs to change, what accessibility there is.

In March 2020, Brouwer was selected to participate in a three month long Emerging Artist Residency at Centre [3] which has extended until this year because of the pandemic. During the residency, Brouwer started a CONTACT kit which introduces Braille decoding to sighted viewers with the goal of bringing awareness to visually impaired folks.

The kit contains a tactile painting, an embossed booklet, interactive Braille pieces to read and decode, and a Braille translation of the English text describing the instructions and meaning of the project. The idea of the kit kind of kick started the work that Im doing now. How can we give voices to these minority groups? With the pandemic, blind people are very limited to touching things.

Brouwer, a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Toronto and Sheridan College grew up in a creative family filled with illustrators and woodworkers who gave her space and incentive to follow a career in the arts. However, the artist struggled to understand who she was as an artist and accept her disability.

In high school, I was always self-conscious about it. In university, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to say and who I was as an artist. I think being partially blind is part of who I am. Its important for me to put that into my artwork, especially because art is mostly visual, said Brouwer.

The Scales That Fall From Our Eyes will run until July 2 at Centre [3], a not-for-profit, charitable artist-run centre on 173 James St N.

More:
Olivia Brouwer's art is for everyone to see and touch - Hamilton Spectator

The recent outbreak of monkeypox virus has called into question the capabilities of these kinds large DNA viruses to evolve, adapt and change their biology.

Compared with small RNA viruses such as coronavirus, monkeypox virus and other large DNA viruses are thought to evolve slowly. Yet theres clear evidence that this really isnt a hindrance to these viruses. In fact, they can adapt to new environments like us.

Although most infections remain mild, monkeypox can be a serious life-threatening disease, resulting in sepsis, encephalitis (brain inflammation) and blindness. The most common symptoms are rash and skin lesions, alongside flu-like symptoms and swollen lymph nodes.

Cumulative monkeypox cases in current outbreak

Monkeypox virus naturally infects wild rodents, such as squirrels and rats, in west and central Africa but it can jump species into humans and other animals. However, once it has jumped to humans, it cannot keep transmission going and eventually outbreaks die out. This is probably because monkeypox has not adapted itself to its new environment of humans, as spillback into wild rodents from infected humans is unlikely.

Monkeypox is closely related to the viruses that caused smallpox (variola viruses) and the virus that we use to vaccinate and eradicate smallpox (vaccinia virus). This group of viruses, referred to as poxviruses, are a kind of large DNA virus, meaning that their genome is composed of a chemical known as DNA, like our genome. (Coronavirus and related viruses use a cousin molecule called RNA.)

Other DNA viruses are the large DNA viruses adenoviruses and herpesviruses, but also small ones like papillomaviruses and parvoviruses. The viral genomes composed of either DNA or RNA essentially are the instructions to make new viruses, infect us and cause disease. Changes to the instructions can change virus biology.

As we have seen with SARS-CoV-2 and its variants, viruses can change how they behave with regards to spreading, disease severity and vaccine sensitivity. This is because of changes accumulating in the virus genome. Virus replication generates diversity in its genome, which can be acted on by evolutionary forces such as natural selection, to increase in frequency and maybe even out-compete older versions.

Evolutionary changes can occur when the virus encounters a new environment that it is not fully adapted to. Although all viruses can evolve rapidly due to their vast population sizes and rapid generation times, RNA viruses are thought to be masters of evolution because they have high mutation rates due to their small size, and many often lack error-correcting ability meaning more mutations occur every time they replicate.

Poxviruses have some characteristics that make them more generalist, including stable infectious particles, giving them more chances to infect. They use very common molecules on your cells to gain entry and infect, unlike SARS-CoV-2 which needs the specific ACE2 protein to gain entry to our cells.

Large DNA viruses such as monkeypox also contain lots of genes that target and manipulate different parts of the immune system.

However, theres clear evidence that improvements can be made, because, in humans, monkeypox transmission is relatively inefficient, with long incubation periods.

In general, large DNA viruses such as monkeypox are no different from other viruses, and their mutability is the basis for our ability to track and trace monkeypox outbreaks. They make mistakes and errors accumulate, which can be used as fuel for evolution and biological changes. Theres even evidence from the recent monkeypox outbreak that the host cell is directly mutating the virus genome.

Studies focusing on related poxviruses like the vaccinia virus have even uncovered new tricks they can use, which include rapidly amplifying the number of genes they use to attack our immune system. They could even borrow some of our own genes to help them infect us.

We cant predict the trajectory that monkeypox evolution will take, so we must take the threat of this virus adapting to its new hosts (humans) seriously. And we need to use all the public health tools at our disposal to halt the current outbreak in all countries including those where it is endemic.

Read the original here:
Monkeypox may not mutate as fast as coronaviruses, but that doesn't mean it can't adapt to its new hosts - The Conversation

Signature Theatre

Timothy McClimon, interim executive director for the past six months, will continue in the role permanently.

Before joining the Off-Broadway nonprofit theater, he was president of the American Express Foundation and senior vice president of corporate social responsibility at the American Express Company from 2006 until 2021.

Jason Menzo has been promoted from president and chief operating officer to CEO of the $181 million foundation. He succeeds Ben Yerxa, who has led the foundation since 2017 and will now become CEO of Opus Genetics.

In addition, Russell Kelley has been promoted to managing director of the Retinal Degeneration Fund, the foundations venture arm. Most recently he was the funds senior vice president of investments and alliances.

Gary Ginstling, executive director of the National Symphony Orchestra, will start as its executive director on November 1. He will then become president and CEO of the New York performing-arts group on June 30, 2023.

Ginstling will replace Deborah Borda, who will remain with the orchestra as executive adviser to the president and Board of Directors, beginning next summer.

Tom Cotter, director of emergency response and preparedness at Project HOPE, has been appointed executive director of Healthcare Ready.

Marisa Rohn will be the next president of the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Canton. Most recently she was vice president of advancement, human resources, and partnerships at Stark State College and executive director of the Stark State College Foundation.

Renee Archawski is now managing director of development at Caring for Friends. Most recently she was managing director of development and interim executive director of Teach for America Metro Atlanta, and a development coach for the education organizations national team.

Selena Deckelmann will become chief product and technology officer at the Wikimedia Foundation on August 1. She is currently senior vice president at Mozilla, where she oversees its Firefox web browser.

Paul Dien, head of strategic partnerships for Good and Upworthy, has joined the Grammy Museum as vice president of advancement and partnerships.

Anupa Fabian, evaluation manager at Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens, is joining the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation as its first chief evaluation and learning officer. She succeeds Daniel Frascella, who was promoted from managing director for programs and grants to chief programs and grants officer.

Anedra Kerr, a senior consulting associate at the Morten Group, will now serve as vice president of development at the Jeremiah Program.

Otis Kollie has joined the Global Fund for Children as a program specialist for Africa and Asia. Previously he was assistant project coordinator at Lifewater Liberia.

Judy Nagai has joined the University of Hawaii Foundation as senior executive director of campaign planning. She most recently worked at the University of the Pacific as associate vice president for development.

Brian Siegel, senior vice president of global arts and culture at Bank of America, has been promoted to global arts and heritage executive.

Oren Etzioni, founding CEO of the Allen Institute for AI, will step down on September 30 after leading the artificial-intelligence group for nine years. He will become technical director of the AI2 Incubator.

Send an email to people@philanthropy.com.

See original here:
Former American Express Foundation President Takes Helm of Signature Theatre - The Chronicle of Philanthropy

Breadcrumb Trail Links

Faltering or falling energy consumption, particularly electricity, is not an indication of a healthy economy

Since 2007, something historically unprecedented has been happening in most Western economies energy consumption is in a nosedive.

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U.K. energy use has fallen by 30 per cent to quantities not seen since the 1950s, while the rest of Europe has regressed 30 years to 1990s levels. The U.S. is following suit. Whereas total energy consumption had been flatlining, it then fell 13 per cent by 2020, approaching levels not seen since the mid-1990s. A subsequent post-covid increase gives one hope but may not reverse the trend.. This downward spiral also holds for electricity usage, the very index of a modern society, with the U.K. dropping over the past decade to levels last seen in the 1970s. The Canadian case is less dramatic but still concerning: both total energy and electricity consumption have flatlined over this period, and since 2018 have begun to decline.

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Faltering or falling energy consumption, particularly electricity, is not an indication of a healthy economy. You might think otherwise its evidence of increased efficiency, right? For some individual consumers, in the short run, potentially, yes. For society as a whole, in the longer run, emphatically not. As a rule, gains in efficiency will increase demand for the now cheaper goods or services, or save energy for another purpose, so total consumption rises. Savings from LEDs, for example, will first be translated into more lighting. (Who knew a lit driveway looked so pretty?) And when that demand becomes satisfied it will be spent on vacations, better health care, and education, and further out in the economic system on roads or defence. Like cash, energy is never left on the table, and given its availability, there is no limit to possible improvements in human well-being. Put simply, efficiency fuels welfare-enhancing consumption.

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Energy demand is falling because of environmental policies, including subsidies to modern renewables such as wind and solar. As distasteful as this might sound, it is nonetheless true. So far, both the U.S. and Canada are relatively minor players, the U.S. having spent a mere US$125 billion between 2008-2018, and while Canadian national totals are lower, the province of Ontario alone is reported to have spent about US$30 billion in the period 2006 to 2014. But the EU, where the biggest energy collapse is observed, has spent a staggering US$800 billion since 2008, a total that has been increasing at $US70 billion a year. And the U.K., a country of 65 million people, is shelling out well over US$10 billion every year.

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The intention of these subsidies was to reduce costs, but the gamble has not paid off nor will it so long as Mother Nature and her laws of physics are at the table. Wind and solar remain stubbornly expensive for consumers in spite of a blizzard of misinformation and propaganda claiming otherwise.

How did we get here? The answer lies in our intuitive understanding of energy itself. The human mind contains programs enabling us to reason about survival-dependent concepts mating, food, co-operation. The physics of energy is not such a concept. Without science we lack the lens to focus effectively on energy, leaving us more or less energy-blind. Energy is a strange concept in the strict scientific sense it isnt a substance, such as coal or oil, but instead an abstract property of all substances, namely the capacity to cause change in the world, to do work.

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Moreover, energy varies in quality, not just quantity. To support complex society a fuel must be of high quality, that is, structured so that it has the potential to do a lot of work. In thermodynamics, this is referred to as a fuels degree of disorder or entropy. Greater disorder equals greater entropy equals less work. But our energy-blindness, the inability to easily grasp thermodynamic principles, means that we must rely on physics to see and what it reveals is that fossil fuels and uranium are highly ordered and rich in their potential to do work, making them cheap, while wind and solar are the reverse.

In fact, to render wind and solar functional requires much additional work and resources, both often supplied by fossils. Transforming renewables into useable grid electricity relies on turbines and photovoltaic panels, themselves complex and expensive states of matter, to say nothing of the management costs of buffering the electricity system against their variability.

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The sunshine and wind might be free, but their extraction, conversion, and delivery to market are not. If you are concerned about carbon dioxide emissions, as we are, then it is critical to acknowledge our energy-blindness and follow the physics: fossil fuels are the necessary bridge to a nuclear-based, low-carbon future. The optics of wind and solar are superficially attractive but their promise of a green, low-carbon nirvana is empty. But dont blame us, blame Mother Nature.

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At stake are the creation and maintenance of wealth. The availability of high-quality energy created the tools and technologies that make human lives healthier, longer, and more fulfilling. Mortality rates, particularly for children, are extraordinarily low by historical standards. Many people in the world today, not just the richest, have temperature control in their homes, low levels of pathogens in their food supplies, transport essentially at will, phones, and access to vast information-storage systems. These highly improbable states exist only by virtue of the work done by energy-dense fuels such as fossils and nuclear.

By spending heavily on wind and solar, world leaders are degrading the quality and productivity of national energy supplies, causing rising costs and falling consumption. The causal linkage is on display across the West. This will damage not just the ability to create new wealth, but also to maintain a complex, pleasant and secure environment in which to live and raise our families, and this damage is already happening.

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Before you dismiss us as Chicken Littles screaming that the sky is falling (though we are and it is), we grant that the world currently looks far from dystopian. Countries where energy consumption is plummeting dont feel much pain yet. And there is a good reason for that. One country is increasing its energy use, propping up Western consumption with exports and giving us a false sense of well-being. That country is, of course, China.

Since the West began its energy starvation diet, Chinese energy consumption has increased by over 50 per cent and its electricity consumption has increased by 200 per cent, overtaking the U.S. by a large margin. China, unlike the EU, U.K. and U.S., is still 90 per cent reliant on fossil fuels and nuclear. Whats more, only some of the immense wealth these fuels are generating is being exported. What is China doing with the rest? Time will tell.

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But right now, as a matter of urgency, we must reverse the decline in Western energy quality and consumption by ending impoverishing renewable subsidies and clearing the path for fossil fuels and nuclear. Toying with low-density, thermodynamically incompetent renewables is an indulgence we cannot afford. With the Chinese economy on an energetically sound footing and those in the West not, the world has turned upside down. The economic consequences of this reversal are serious, the security implications terrifying. Our energy blindness is both costly and dangerous.

JohnConstable is energy director of the Global Warming Policy Foundation in London and author of its forthcomingstudyEuropesGreen Experiment: A costly failure in unilateral climate policy.Debra Lieberman is a professor of psychology at the University of Miami and author ofObjection: Disgust, Morality, and the Law(OUP, 2018).

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Junk Science Week: Net-Zero Edition John Constable & Debra Lieberman: The energy of nations and the creation of wealth - Financial Post

Columbus, OH (June 1, 2022) More than half of all Americans age 80 or older either have cataracts or have had surgery to remove cataracts, according to the National Eye Institute (NEI). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that cataract is the leading cause of vision loss in the United States, and the leading cause of blindness worldwide. Prevent Blindness, Ohio Affiliate has declared June as Cataract Awareness Month to educate the public on risk factors, symptoms, types of cataract, and cataract surgery.

A cataract is a clouding of the eyes lens which blocks or changes the passage of light into the eye. The lens of the eye is located behind the pupil and the colored iris and is normally transparent. The lens helps to focus images onto the retina which transmits the images to the brain.

There are several possible risk factors for cataracts, such as:

.Age

.Intense heat or long-term exposure to UV rays from the sun

.Certain diseases, such as diabetes

.Inflammation in the eye

.Hereditary influences

.Events before birth, such as German measles in the mother

.Long-term steroid use

.Eye injuries

.Eye diseases

.Smoking

Although rare, cataract may also occur in children, also known as pediatric cataract. Prevent Blindness, Ohio Affiliate has declared 2022 as the Year of Childrens Vision, to raise awareness and education of childrens vision and eye health issues. According to the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (AAPOS), approximately three out of 10,000 children have a cataract. Pediatric cataracts often occur because of abnormal lens development during pregnancy. Cataracts can result from genetic or eye structural problems, they can run in families, be caused by infections, or they can occur spontaneously without a known cause. Lens malformations that occur in conjunction with medical problems are often the result of a genetic or metabolic problem. These cataracts may be present at birth or may develop during childhood.

For some adults or children with cataract, surgery may be recommended by an eye doctor. The NEI states that cataract surgery is one of the most common operations in the United States. And, 9 out of 10 people who get cataract surgery can see better afterwards with most people being completely healed 8 weeks after their surgery.

For those in need of financial assistance, Mission Cataract USA, coordinated by the Volunteer Eye Surgeons Association, provides free cataract surgery to people of all ages who have no Medicare, Medicaid, third party insurance or any other means to pay for needed cataract surgery.

Cataract is very common and affects more people than any other eye disease, said Amy Pulles, President & CEO of the Ohio Affiliate of Prevent Blindness. The good news is that vision loss from cataract can be restored with treatment. We encourage everyone to learn the facts about cataract and the steps that can be taken to see clearly.

For free information on cataract or cataract surgery, please visit http://preventblindness.org/cataract/, or contact Prevent Blindness, Ohio Affiliate at 800-301-2020 or at: pbohio.org

For a listing of vision care financial assistance programs in English or Spanish, visit: https://preventblindness.org/vision-care-financial-assistance-information/

Read more from the original source:
Prevent Blindness Provides Educational Information and Resources on the Leading Cause of Vision Loss - WKTN Radio

Gas prices have hit a new record high in the Bay State at $4.84 per gallon.

The cost of butter, bacon, meat and poultry is heading in the same direction. Inflation is just hammering family budgets.

And the state Legislature is moving quickly to override Gov. Charlie Bakers veto of a bill allowing illegal immigrants to obtain drivers licenses. That vote is set for Wednesday in the House.

The lawmakers are not, however, doing anything to lessen the hurt at the pump. Connecticut, Georgia, Florida, Maryland, New York, California and Michigan have all moved to help by dropping the gas tax or are discussing how to bail residents out.

Alaska, Illinois, Minnesota and Virginia have all discussed it with no action taken yet.

In Massachusetts? Its not that important, it seems, but racing to override the Republican governor at every turn seems to be the go-to move of the day. Its not lost on anyone that this weekends Democratic state party convention was the next step in Maura Healeys front-runner march to the Corner Office.

But, could Democrats be headed for a big surprise come November here? Nationwide theres no doubt voters are fed up with Nancy Pelosis failed leadership of the House with President Biden seemingly tripping over his own dismal poll numbers and looking for excuses.

Bay State Republican gubernatorial candidates Geoff Diehl and Chris Doughty have an opening if the state Legislature continues to ignore just how difficult life has become for taxpayers. A year ago a gallon of regular gas was $2.92 in the state.

With the pandemic easing and more workers being pulled back to the office, the demand for gas is only increasing.

The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance announced Friday they intend to hold lawmakers accountable for the override votes on the drivers license bill for illegal immigrants. Recording a vote always makes Democrats sweat.

In his veto, Baker said the RMV cant easily verify identification documents from other countries and that the bill specifically prevents the RMV from sharing citizenship and immigration status with the state entities tasked with ensuring only citizens register to vote, MassFiscal added.

The Governors letter stated, this bill significantly increases the risk that noncitizens will be registered to vote,' the advocacy group added.

Its just a mess. The RMV, an agency that has never earned the confidence of motorists, is now going to oversee this new program that is sure to help some but hurt others. But thats what is important to lawmakers these days.

Forget about the elderly living on fixed incomes or young parents trying to juggle bills.

Instead of thwarting Baker at every turn, the state Legislature needs to do what theyve been elected to do serve the people.

Instead of prioritizing a gas tax suspension, or any kind of broad tax relief aimed at the middle class, Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka have used their political capital to appease the special interest groups that dominate Democratic primaries, said MassFiscals spokesman Paul Diego Craney.

Martha Coakley made a similar mistake. She won her primary for the U.S. Senate in the 2010 special election to fill Ted Kennedys seat. She took a victory lap and put her feet up. That allowed Republican Scott Brown to fire up voters.

She was defeated 52% to 47%. Beacon Hill could be on that same track if enough people ultimately say enough this fall.

See the rest here:
Editorial: Blindness on Beacon Hill - Boston Herald

Reflecting on the ordeal, Bocelli has said in the past: As a child I was very lively and uncontrollable, I loved playing football and one day during a match, I was hit violently in the face with a ball on my right eye, the only one which I could see light and colour with.

"The doctors tried to cure me with various operations and they even used leeches but there was nothing that could be done."

With a continued passion for music, Bocelli refused to give up on his dreams and started to learn how to read music through braille. Giving a rare insight into his process, a few years ago Bocelli shared: You see, learning a part is easy but it is a different thing to have the part in your throat, as we say.

For the difficult sections I use a Braille score, otherwise when I have something to study I have my pianist Carlo come to the house every day.

Original post:
Andrea Bocelli health: 'Doctors tried to cure me' - singer's cause of blindness explained - Express

Published on June 3, 2022

Mumbai: The 80th Annual Conference of the All India Ophthalmological Society (AIOS), with nearly 24,000 member ophthalmologists, a society with a view to render service to the community through their profession, announced a landmark pledge to reduce preventable blindness in India to 50% by 2025. The cases of preventable blindness occur due to cataract, diabetic eye disease, vitamin A deficiency and trauma related blindness. India has the worlds largest population of the blind, it is estimated that the country has 12 million preventable blindness cases, who will become partially or fully blind, if not treated in time.

Dr. Lalit Verma, President (2022-23), AIOS, elaborated on the theme of the 80th Annual Conference of AIOS and said, Preventable blindness must be addressed with a strong commitment as it impacts individuals quality of life directly and dramatically. It also impacts individual economic activity and consequently impacts the productive output of the entire country. Cataract in the aging can be solved with relative ease and timely eye examinations can help cure diabetic eye disease. Eye diseases due to vitamin A deficiency are also quite simple to solve. Our pledge to reduce preventable blindness to 50% by 2025 is going to be a national initiative with the active involvement of our members.

Dr. Barun Kumar Nayak, President (2021-22), AIOS, added, India has about one ophthalmologist for every 60,000 of our population, which puts a very heavy onus on our profession to take care of the populations eye diseases. Ophthalmologists in India are among the best trained in the world and have been striving untiringly to put their profession to the best use of the citizens of India. We want government to encourage public-private partnerships in this endeavour to bring down preventable blindness. CSR funds of corporate must be allowed to be deployed for this very important social cause.

Padmashree Dr. T.P. Lahane, Organizing Chairman, AIOC 2022, explained the process and averred, The 80th Annual Conference of AIOS is a landmark occasion, undoubtedly the longest series of conferences by any medical association or society. In Maharashtra, we have successfully implemented programs for reducing preventable blindness by holding hundreds of eye camps held over the last three decades. We also create awareness on how to avoid injury to the eyes, each year we have been able to help over 7,00,000 people to come from darkness to light with the help of the government and NGOs. If we adopt the Maharashtra Model nationally, we will be able to bring down preventable blindness across the country significantly.

Dr. Namrata Sharma, Honorary Secretary, AIOS, spoke on further expectations from the government, Government must ban selling chuna to children, as its mishandling can cause eye injuries even leading to blindness. Another major cause of blindness is in factories, and a compulsory inspection of workplaces is needed to see that protective eye wear is made available to every worker in situations where eye injuries are possible and to ensure safety standards are fully followed. Government led advertisement campaigns are needed urging diabetics to seek eye check-ups so that there is mass public awareness.

See the rest here:
Over 5000 ophthalmologists to take pledge to reduce preventable blindness to 50% by 2025 at the 80th All India Ophthalmological Conference 2022 - APN...

Award-winning, colour blind childrens book author and illustrator Steve Antony has partnered with Colour Blind Awareness in a nationwide campaign, inviting schools to redesign the Queens hat.

Inspired by his bestselling childrens book The Queens Hat, schools across the country can download Steve Antonys activity sheet to create their own colourful hat and use a colour blindness simulation app (Chromatic Vision Simulator) to visualise how colour blind people see these creations. This fun activity in celebration of The Queens Platinum Jubilee aims to help schools support their colour blind learners.

IMAGES: A non coloured blind persons view (left). An example of a colour blind persons view (right).

There are a variety of types and severities of colour blindness and it is estimated that the condition affects 1 in 12 boys/men and 1 in 200 girls/women. According to Colour Blind Awareness ongoing studies, 80% of colour-blind children leave primary school undiagnosed despite the reality that, on average, one child in every class will be colour blind.

For further information on how colour blindness impacts childrens learning at school, Colour Blind Awareness has created an education animation below.

Steves red-green colour blindness, also known as deuteranopia, influences his artwork and is part of the reason why his distinguished illustration style often uses limited colour palettes. By encouraging children, teachers and educators to see their own royal hats through the lens of a colour blind person, he hopes that classrooms will become increasingly colour-blind-friendly.

80% of colour-blind children leave primary school undiagnosed despite the reality that, on average, one child in every class will be colour blind

Steve said, Being colour-blind can present all sorts of challenges, especially at school. Often people are surprised by how differently colour-blind people see things, so I really hope this fun Jubilee activity motivates schools to learn more about the condition.

As part of this initiative, Colour Blind Awareness are calling for schools, teachers and parents to do #JustOneThing label all drawing and colouring materials with the colour name, so that colour blind children can work independently.

BBC South Todays coverage of the launch event held at Mountford Manor School in Swindon can be viewed below.

About Steve Antony

Since his 2014 debut, multi-award-winning author-illustrator Steve Antony has written and illustrated 18 picture books, sold over one million copies worldwide, and has had seven of his titles nominated for the Kate Greenaway Medal.

HisMr Pandaseries has sold over 700,000 copies worldwide and was recently optioned for TV by Magic Light Pictures. His highly acclaimedThe Queens Hat(the first instalment of The Queen Collection) was adapted into a musical concert by the London Symphony Orchestra and won the Evening Standards Oscars Book Prize. HisQueens-Hat-inspired Shaun the Sheep statue raised 15,000 for the Wallace and Gromit Childrens Charity.

He plays an active role in his local community as Patron to Swindon Libraries Childrens Services and recently designed their library card. He is an Ambassador for The National Literacy Trust, an active supporter of Beanstalk and a vocal advocate for more incidental inclusiveness in childrens literature, having written several articles on the subject. Through his art, Steve has helped raise thousands for various UK charities including My AFK, BookTrust, Willow Foundation and Wallace and Gromit Childrens Charity.

Steve studied at Anglia Ruskin University after taking voluntary redundancy from a Swindon call centre. Steve was part-raised in New Mexico and now lives in Swindon UK with his husband and cat.

Originally posted here:
Children's author Steve Antony raises awareness of colour blindness for The Queen's Platinum Jubilee - Independent Education Today

This week, the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) announced that: Given that there is currently no credible evidence to support a therapeutic role for Ivermectin in Covid-19, SAHPRA has decided to terminate the controlled compassionate programme with immediate effect. SAHPRA enabled the programme in response to the demand for access to Ivermectin for human use, which was initiated at the beginning of 2021, after the country had been under lockdown for almost an entire year and was desperate for alternative therapies to treat Covid-19. Prior to the onset of Covid-19, Ivermectin had been used in humans for 35 years and over four billion doses had been administered. In 2015, the two individuals who developed Ivermectin were awarded a Nobel Prize for medicine. However, when Covid-19 came along, Ivermectin was a thorn in the side of the official narrative. Professor Colleen Aldous, a healthcare scientist at UKZNs College of Health Sciences, has valiantly challenged the establishments resistance to Ivermectin throughout the pandemic. After SAHPRAs decision this week, Aldous penned the following article dissecting Ivermectin trials, which credibly evidence the benefits of Ivermectin. Aldous asserts that SAHPRA is wilfully blinded to the totality of the evidence [and] follow only what is fed to them by other reputable national and international bodies. As always, each reader can decide for themselves. Nadya Swart

Pondering SAHPRAs Ivermectin decision

By Professor Colleen Aldous*

On 30 May 2022, SAHPRA shut down their Controlled Compassionate Use Programme for Ivermectin, which they put in place at the end of January 2021. It is not the fact that they have terminated the programme that worries me as much as their reasons for doing so. The compassionate use programme was never going to be permanent, and good housekeeping would require a formal termination. Had their reasons been because no new applications for importation of unregistered Ivermectin products have been received since August 2021. A marked decline in the number of health facilities applying for permission to hold bulk stock was noted after August 2021. No individual named patient applications have been approved since December 2021, and a lack of reporting by the treating healthcare providers of the outcomes achieved was also noted, I would not raise an eyebrow.

But they have said that the latest developments have led to their decision. Lets unpack these from their press release and ponder the scientific integrity of their rationale:

The studies that suggested potential efficacy of Ivermectin in the prevention and treatment of Covid-19 and which motivated the adoption of the programme have since been retracted.

On 25 May 2022, I did a snapshot search on PubMed for all papers published on Ivermectin and Covid-19 or SARS. PubMed is the go-to database for published literature in the medical sciences. My search rendered 317 articles. Of these, 41 studies were carried out in a clinical setting, and two were retracted with retraction notices published. Reading between the lines, I think SAHPRA was referring to the Elgazzar trial, which was included in initial reviews from several authors. Elgazzar has not been heard of again since his study, which was never published beyond preprint format, and had received enormous criticism through the press worldwide, so his work has to be rejected. Nevertheless, most of the meta-analyses that had already been carried out excluded this study, and the results still showed efficacy for various measures of morbidity and mortality.

Another paper that was retracted was Andrew Hills meta-analysis. In January last year, the world was waiting for the promises from Hills work. It was apparently also the Elgazzar study that SAHPRA suggests in their statement, This was due to serious ethical concerns regarding a study on which the meta-analysis heavily relied. At the same time, however, others were also carrying our meta-analyses. The Bryant et al. meta-analysis showed efficacy for Ivermectin even after removing the Elgazzar data but has been ignored. The science of review and meta-analysis has shown me the creeping subjectivism that has come into what is meant to be a very high standard in evidence-based medicine. Right now, I believe the only meta-analysis I can take as truth will be one I am involved in doing.

SAHPRA refers to two 2021 clinical trials that do not support the use of Ivermectin for patients with COVID-19. These are the Malaysian I-Tech study and the TOGETHER trial. Ironically, SAHPRA representatives criticised the literature available in January 2021 as not being credible, yet they base their decisions on these two trials which have been shown to be flawed.

The I-Tech trial was underpowered. Their primary outcome measure was progression to severe disease, a soft outcome that can be subjectively applied. In the study, 52 of 241 patients in the ivermectin arm and 43 of 249 patients (17.3%) in the control group progressed to severe disease. Nevertheless, for other outcomes, Ivermectin clearly showed a trend towards benefit with only four patients on Ivermectin requiring mechanical ventilation occurred vs 10 on placebo, six on Ivermectin requiring intensive care unit admission in vs eight, and three on Ivermectin vs 10 for 28-day in-hospital death.

Whilst their conclusion, the study findings do not support the use of Ivermectin for patients with Covid-19, is true only because a p value of 0.05 was not achieved for the primary outcome, it is misleading as it implies strong evidence against the use. Their Ivermectin arm has an advantage for mortality with a p = 0.09. This means that you can be 91% certain that Ivermectin was effective in preventing mortality in their study. The p value has not done medicine any favour when studies are judged only on this number and not on clinical context.

The TOGETHER trial was designed as a coup de gras to crush the Ivermectin debate. Weeks before its publication, there were press releases internationally stating that the trial found Ivermectin to be ineffective. Since its publication at the end of March, there have been scientists and medical professionals from across the globe who have challenged this trial on grounds of poor design, poor execution and poor reporting of results. Whilst I share the concerns of my colleagues, there is one particular statistic reported in this trial that worries me and that is of the mortality calculated in the placebo group.

Let me explain. There were 679 patients enrolled in the ivermectin and placebo arms respectively. The numbers dropped to 624 and 288 respectively. In the Ivermectin arm, 21 people died out of the 624 who completed the study, and 24 people died out of an unknown number of patients. The researchers clearly did not use the 288 placebo participants who completed the study in the control arm. It appears they may have borrowed placebo participants from other study arms in the broader TOGETHER trial. Why would they do this?

I wrote to the senior author asking the following question for clarity: The placebo group mortality is 24. When I work out the RRR I get the same answer as offered in the paper if I use the ITT (679) number. However, it is not clear to me where the 24 deaths actually come from. How many of the 24 reported deaths in the placebo group occurred among the 288 patients who stayed per-protocol? It is reported how many of the placebo groups hospitalisations occurred in the per-protocol group but not the mortality.

The response from Doctor Edward Mills: Im not interested in this question as its not the correct way to interpret the outcome.

Many scientists from across the globe are incorrectly interpreting the outcome then. In research as we know it, one would work out the mortality in the intervention and the placebo arm, i.e. the 624 and 288. If this was so, then there is a clear survival advantage in the Ivermectin arm with 21/624 and 24/288 deaths in each arm respectively. Clearly there is a new way of calculating mortality in this trial which Dr Mills feels he cannot explain.

On 4 April 2022, Mills wrote to a colleague: I dont understand the psychology of the Ivermectin advocates. They fail to see the positive in this study and just focus on it not being overwhelmingly positive. I actually think it is quite positive. I presented this a couple weeks ago at the NIH Collaboratory Rounds and, if they listened, I advocate that actually, there is a clear signal that IVM works in Covid-19 patients, just that our study didnt achieve significance. In particular, there was a 17% reduction in hospitalisations that would be significant if more patients were added. I really dont view our study as negative and, also in that talk, you will hear me retract previous statements where I had been previously negative. I think if we had continued randomising a few hundred more patients, it would have likely been significant.

There are calls for the TOGETHER trial to be retracted. However, it comes from the New England Journal of Medicine, which appears to be beyond reproach. Ignoring calls for retraction is within their authority. It was also stated that after publication, the data would be made available. Several colleagues have requested the data through the correct channels and have been stonewalled.

The TOGETHER trial has had some success as a coup de grace. SAHPRA refers to the NEMLC and the NICD not supporting Ivermectin. They usually follow what the USA NIH does. The NIH COVID-19 guidelines panel, misled by the TOGETHER trials claims, had no credible scientific basis for its 29 April 2022 changed recommendation on IVM from neutral to negative. Do we have to copycat the West? 47 African nations stood up together in the WHO on 30 May and firmly stated that they would not support WHO reforms. We should be standing up together more frequently against centralised control that may not necessarily have our interests as Africans as primary goals.

In my snapshot analysis of the literature last week, I found lots of data on the safety and efficacy of Ivermectin. Dosages have been worked out based on Mercks own research from the early 2000s. Drug interactions are well known, particularly with Warfarin, side-effects are well documented as being relatively mild and transient. VigiAccess shows 6,558 adverse reactions and 25 deaths for Ivermectin in its decades of use and Remdesiver has 8,763 adverse reactions and 652 deaths since it was introduced three years ago. I will leave the reader to decide how safe or dangerous Ivermectin is.

Yes, it is SAHPRAs obligation to consider all published data, but do they? They make reference only to the two trials and the one meta-analysis from 2021. They are not considering the totality of data. They have ignored all the laboratory and modelling studies that support the use of Ivermectin. They have ignored all the other published meta-analyses that do not fit their argument. And their guiding reputable authorities from the developed world do not always make decisions that are appropriate for us in Africa, so should not be followed without question and depth of thought. Again, I draw attention to our continent standing up against the WHO reforms on 30 May.

The vaccines are not a replacement for Ivermectin, nor vice versa. Ivermectins role is mainly in the early treatment of Covid-19 to prevent progression to severe illness. Colleagues from the USA, SA and Zimbabwe have just had a paper accepted for publication. We show that after Ivermectin is given to a sick patient, their oxygen saturations improve dramatically within 12 hours without oxygen being provided. Having been involved in this research has convinced me of the efficacy and safety of Ivermectin in certain patients at specific times under certain conditions. No large randomised control trial has yet been carried out with appropriate dosages, over the appropriate length of time, and with meals and zinc because Ivermectin is a zinc ionophore.

SAHPRA has a very narrow definition of credible evidence. They are wilfully blinded to the totality of the evidence. They follow only what is fed to them by other reputable national and international bodies. Do they do any research monitoring themselves? They say they will continue to monitor the peer-reviewed, scientific literature regarding the safety and efficacy of Ivermectin. As the public, we should ask them for the evidence that they have started!

Read Also:

The obfuscation of mortality results can be viewed as a crime against humanity Prof Aldous on recent Ivermectin trials

Best of 2021: South Africans have a constitutional right to take Ivermectin to treat Covid-19, says FMF health expert

Best of 2021: SA health regulator gives Ivermectin the red light again! Professor Aldous and Dr Mdladla interrogate

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SAHPRAs Ivermectin decision shows wilful blindness to totality of evidence Professor Aldous - BizNews