Dr. Jason Sonners, author of the book, Oxygen Under Pressure: Using Hyperbaric Oxygen to Restore Health, Reduce Inflammation, Reverse Aging and Revolutionize Health Care, started out as a chiropractor. His passion, however, is hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), which is the focus of his Ph.D. studies at the University of Miami.

While commonly used to speed up stubborn wounds and tissue infections, hyperbaric medicine can also be helpful in the treatment of infectious diseases such as COVID. Its also enormously useful for stroke patients. I cant think of a more effective intervention than to get the stroke patient into a series of hyperbaric treatments as quickly as possible.

Every cell in your body, with the exception of your red blood cells (which have no mitochondria that require oxygen), requires oxygen to create energy. Many chronic diseases of the modern world involve decreased mitochondrial function, increased systemic inflammation, and an inability of cells to generate the required amounts of energy for optimal function.

We use hyperbaric oxygen, traditionally, for these terrible and severe conditions, Sonners says. Unfortunately, its typically a last resort, literally right before an amputation surgery or as a life-saving mechanism for somebody with carbon monoxide poison or air gas embolism.

So, we only think about it, traditionally, to help save the life or limb of somebody in a really severe condition, but the mechanisms that are working for those folks are very similar to the reasons that you and I might consider using hyperbaric oxygen:

For upregulating the oxygen levels inside your body, which will help reduce inflammation, increase mitochondrial function and thereby increasing the energy that those cells are able to generate

Sonners goal is to expand the use of HBOT from the acutely life-threatening issues like gangrene to more chronic conditions, such as autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases.

My thought process is that the mechanisms of action of hyperbaric are the same whether were talking about gangrene, radiation burns and osteonecrosis, or TBI [traumatic brain injury], concussion, maybe MS [multiple sclerosis] and post-stroke.

If we really get a mastery of the mechanisms of action, we can start to apply those mechanisms across the board. Clinically, weve seen hyperbaric work for so many of these other chronic illnesses

So, if we could really home in on those mechanisms and understand them better, and then get a better feeling for what time and pressure settings we require in order to get those mechanisms to kick in, then we can really, with more confidence, apply this therapy to these other conditions and have more consistent results in doing so.

A lot of the work Im proposing to do is tagging onto some of this work in regenerative medicine, where they were looking at the collagen, fibroblast and stem cell response to hyperbaric. A study came out in 2020 on telomeres, and looking at this potential, upwards of 20% increase in telomere length, especially in certain immune system cells.

I want to build on that knowledge base, so what Im doing is Im creating a study thats going to have a lower-pressure group and a higher-pressure group, and were going to be looking at a whole cytokine panel, so we can understand the mechanisms of the anti-inflammatory side.

Were going to have a methylation panel so that we can start looking at the epigenetic effects of hyperbaric. Were going to have a telomere component, similar to the telomere study that was done a year and a half ago.

And were going to start comparing all of those metrics across roughly a three- to six-month timeframe of treatment, and over two separate pressure settings, to better understand which pressures are getting which effects, and again, what period of time should we be expecting before we get the results that were looking for?

On the low end, Sonners will be using 1.3 atmospheres (4.2 PSI) at 100% oxygen, and on the high end, hell use 2.0 atmospheres (14.7 PSI) at 100% oxygen. All patients will use hard chambers at two different pressures. The lower pressure group will be at 4.2 psi, which is the same as soft chamber pressures.

Theres nowhere near the amount of research in soft chambers as there are in hard chambers, Sonners says. The overwhelming majority of research is done at that 2-atmosphere range, which is why Im choosing that as the upper end of the research that Im doing in the soft chamber research.

There is definitely some [research] on sports recovery. Theres actually some ongoing studies right now on hyperbaric for stem cell use that were waiting for. In some cases, 1.3 [atmospheres] has been used as the sham group, opposed to a treatment arm in the research. Maybe the study team really thought that 1.3 wasnt going to have an effect and its a legitimate sham

Im not sure, but there are some great studies. Theres a study that was done on cerebral palsy (CP) and 1.3 was used as the sham group In this particular study, with 1.3 being the sham group, there was also a control group that got no hyperbaric at all.

Within the sham group, there was significant improvement on the metrics they were measuring. Then they had a 1.5 [atmospheres at] 100% oxygen, which also had a good improvement and then, a 1.75 [atmospheres at] 100% oxygen, which had even a greater improvement.

The issue in the study was that while all three of those groups improved, there was no statistical difference or enough of a statistical difference between the 1.3, the 1.5 and the 1.75. So, the conclusion of the study was therefore that hyperbaric does not work for CP, although all three of those groups had significant improvement.

So, because the sham group was not considered a treatment, that was the conclusion of that study. Now, the natural consequence of that should have been redoing the study and creating a different level of what the sham and the treatment arms ought to be, but that was never redone.

So, as a result, theres this study with results that say hyperbaric does not work for CP. Meanwhile, clearly, what it means is we need more studies. Its just that studies are expensive. Theyre very time consuming and you really have to have a large interest in trying to come up with the right answers to put forth the effort and time and money to get that kind of work done.

If you breathe 100% oxygen under pressure, its intuitively obvious that youre going to deliver more oxygen to your tissues. Thats one clear mechanism, but its not the only or even primary reason for most of the benefits of hyperbaric therapy.

Evidence suggests part of the benefit might be related to the degeneration of a molecule called hypoxia-inducible factor alpha (HIF-1 alpha), which is generated when you lower the pressure. The pressure is high inside the chamber, and is lowered when you exit the chamber and enter the normal atmosphere. That means some of the benefit might actually be occurring when you get out of the chamber. Sonners explains:

We dont have an exact number right now, but roughly half of the treatment is occurring while youre in the chamber, being exposed to the pressure, being exposed to the oxygen and literally accumulating a surplus of oxygen because of the therapy itself.

The other half of the therapy is when you get out of the chamber, as that oxygen can no longer stay in solution. It literally starts trying to bubble out of solution. As that happens, its not inert, its actually very active. So, as its coming out of solution, its interacting with all of our cells.

As a result, its triggering a massive cascade of events, cellular communication that seems to stimulate multiple series of regeneration and anti-inflammatory [events], even within the reactive oxygen species themselves.

When we look at the first part, which is the dosage of oxygen a person is getting, and thats measurable, you could say, Heres a person, they were in a chamber, they were at this pressure, breathing this percentage of oxygen for this amount of time, and you could literally calculate the theoretical dose of oxygen that person was exposed to and should have been able to absorb.

Weve kind of just stayed in that mindset for all these years. [However], there was a great paper out of Israel called The Hypoxia-Hyperoxia Paradox, and what theyre saying is we know that theres amazing benefits of hypoxia actually.

Some of these benefits include the stimulation of HIF-1 alpha, stem cell responses, collagen responses and the angiogenic responses. For these reasons, Sonners views hyperbaric as an anabolic therapy a therapy that stimulates vitally important growth and repair, as growth factors such as VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor), and BDNF (brain derived neurotropic factor) are both stimulated.

Again, these growth factors are not stimulated by the hyper-oxygenation. Theyre a result from the hypoxic component, the process your body goes through as the oxygen is leaving your body.

The important thing to note is that once youve accumulated all this extra oxygen, your hyper-oxygenation component, as that oxygen is leaving your body, youre never truly hypoxic, Sonners says, but the cell signaling factors that respond to traditional hypoxia are also seemingly responding to this relative hypoxia.

If you look at that paper [The Hypoxia-Hyperoxia Paradox] it seemed to delineate this. With hypoxia alone, you will still get VEGF, which means youll still get a lot of angiogenics, the rebuilding of the endothelial lining, the creation of a new micro-circulation bed, all this capillary regrowth will happen from hypoxia.

Youll get these stem cell releases, this potential for increase in the regenerative nature of cells. Youll get this increase in the HIF-1 alpha. But if youre chronically hypoxic, youre also going to get a downregulation of sirtuins [longevity proteins] and youre going to get a downregulation of mitochondrial function.

Sirtuins could play a great role in things like cell cycle life, getting cells out of cellular senescence kicking them back into active life or apoptosis, killing that cell so that we can replace it with a new stem cell, or even the genetic and epigenetic repair mechanisms. A lot of that has to do with sirtuins, so we dont want to downregulate those. We want to upregulate those.

So, to clarify, with HBOT, you get the benefits of hypoxia with none of the downsides. Rather than inhibiting sirtuins, which are important for health and longevity, you actually get an upregulation of sirtuin activity. It also upregulates mitochondrial function and boosts mitochondrial replication, which the complete opposite to what happens in true hypoxia.

Without any doubt, HBOT is a type of oxidative stress, but it doesnt have the adverse effects youd expect. Sonners explains:

There was a great paper done by Dominic DAgostino and Angela Poff, back in 2017 or 2018, specifically looking at the reactive oxygen species or the free radical component of hyperbaric oxygen. What are the benefits or consequences as we upregulate, as we increase the amount of oxygen into the body?

As the cells and the mitochondria start to uptake that oxygen, producing more energy, there is a natural consequence where this byproduct of free radicals are released as a part of normal cellular respiration. Excess free radicals is obviously consequential to cell membranes, lipid peroxidation and protein degradation.

It could destroy cell membranes, mitochondrial membranes, nuclear membranes, genetic material At the same time, its a normal response to cellular respiration and our bodies have their own intrinsic mechanisms for dealing with some of this excess free radical, things like the superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione pathways.

So, there seems to be a distinction that we should make. One is that some of the free radicals our bodies are exposed to come from the outside world in. Radiation, smoking, air pollution, the list goes on and on. So, we need to have a robust, intrinsic ability to tolerate these free radicals with our own antioxidant system.

But in excess, we could be getting too much free radicals and we could be depleting our own systems, in which case supplementation should certainly be considered and used. On the flip side, we look at hyperbaric oxygen as this tool that theoretically has all these great effects, but one of those consequences would also be this increase in free radical exposure.

There seems to be a very big delineation between a body thats exposed to free radicals from the outside world, versus a body that is exposed to free radicals that its creating on its own.

One of those distinctions is that through the use of hyperbaric oxygen, even without supplementation, and the increase in free radical production from mitochondrial ATB production, the body itself assuming it has the right raw materials will actually increase its own superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione pathways.

This would No. 1, help make you more resilient to hyperbaric oxygen, but No. 2, would also help make you more resilient to all the other free radicals that youre potentially exposed to in your environment.

So, I would say two things. One, especially with patients who are a little bit more fragile when it comes to oxidative stress, those people, I would tend to not over oxidize to begin with, so I might start at a gentler hyperbaric protocol with them, and Im likely to want to start quickly upregulating their own system, getting the right supplementation for improving their intrinsic antioxidant systems

Then, as their system improves their tolerance for reactive oxygen species, we may not need as much of that, or if were going to be using high dose hyperbaric oxygen for a period of time, we might use things like certain SOD precursors, or molecular hydrogen.

Through conversations with you, it has become one my favorite antioxidants that we use. Between 45 minutes to an hour before [hyperbaric treatment], well start loading people with the molecular hydrogen as a mechanism to reduce the consequences. There are benefits, in other words. Reactive oxygen species on its own also helps stimulate hormone balance and helps stimulate cell repair by themselves. So, there has to be this balance.

We dont want to quelch all the free radicals because free radicals are a very important signaling molecule for so much cellular activity and at the same time, we want to be aware of the fact that hyperbaric does increase that, and we want to make sure that were not over-exposing somebody.

Sonners also reviews the curriculum he developed for the International Board of Undersea Medicine. The IBUM has been certifying people in hyperbaric medicine for 25 years, and the curriculum Sonners created has been taught as a functional medicine hyperbaric course for clinicians for the past year.

A big push for me, and even for the research Im doing, is to help create awareness that gets more doctors excited about [HBOT], that want to actually use it in their practice, Sonners says. So, this has been an attempt to really improve the education so that people arent just going to hyperbaric courses to learn about wound care.

We needed courses to help practitioners like myself or other people interested in the regenerative side to be able to learn how to apply it that way. So, we now have a course that I teach a few times a year to get people on the same page.

The majority of this last year, other than getting through school and writing the thesis, has been developing and promoting that course. I think weve certified about 125 to 150 practitioners and technicians specifically on the functional medicine side of hyperbaric use

At this time, I still see a pretty big mix between soft chamber use and hard chamber use. A lot of those doctors are either Dos, MDs, chiropractors or naturopaths, getting into more of a functional medicine base, just looking for other natural approaches to the things they are treating.

Hyperbaric supplies the body with a fundamental ingredient and its so necessary for cellular performance. It just seems to make sense to start implementing a tool and a modality like that into a setting where youre trying to reduce inflammation, youre trying to improve energy production cellularly.

While the list of potential uses for HBOT is extremely long, in the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration has approved and most insurance will pay for HBOT for the following 14 conditions:1

Air or gas embolism

Carbon monoxide poisoning

Clostridial myositis and myonecrosis (gas gangrene)

Crush injuries, compartment syndrome and other acute traumatic ischemia

Decompression sickness

Arterial insufficiencies, such as central retinal artery occlusion

Severe anemia

Intracranial abscess

Necrotizing soft tissue infections

Osteomyelitis

Delayed radiation injury (soft tissue and bone necrosis)

Compromised grafts and flaps

Acute thermal burn injury

Idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss

In terms of conditions that can benefit from HBOT, I would certainly add stroke, TBI, heart attack, anytime theres post ischemic reperfusion injury, and most neurodegenerative conditions. Internationally, there are about 100 recognized indications. While that might make it sound like a magical cure-all, its important to remember that it doesnt cure anything directly.

The main effect of hyperbaric is really achieved through the cumulative effect and the increasing and decreasing the wave of hyper-oxygenation back to normal oxygen levels creating that hyperoxia-hypoxia type paradox. ~ Jason Sonners

What it does is provide your body with a foundational nutrient, oxygen, that virtually all cells require. HBOT supplies your body oxygen in a surplus, creating an excess reservoir of oxygen to improve that function. Thats why it can help improve such a wide variety of health conditions.

Even autoimmune diseases such as MS, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, just to name a few, may benefit, Sonners says. A whole other category of potential use would be wellness, longevity and regenerative-type therapies.

Were just applying the tools slightly differently to help match the intensity of the therapy to the severity of the condition. We can utilize the principles of gas exchange in various ways to help so many different types and various types of conditions, Sonners says.

One condition or subclass that we talked about it in the beginning is, from the immune system standpoint, upregulating your ability to fight infection by increasing white blood cell activation through the reactive oxygen species mechanisms. We use it for anaerobic infection, bacterial infections all the time.

One of the main reasons that hyperbaric works in those severe conditions is those bacteria are anaerobic. They dont live in high oxygen environments.

So, we know that putting a patient in a high oxygen environment massively decreases bacterias ability to function, potentially helps to kill that infection, helps to block the toxicity of that infection and helps to break down the biofilms around that infection. So, hyperbaric becomes an amazing tool in the capacity of immune system balancing and/or ability to help fight infection.

As a general guidance, Sonners recommends doing hyperbaric for about two hours a week on a regular basis. Thats his personal routine. In addition to that, three times a year he does a 30- to 40-hour protocol over the course of six to eight weeks. He explains why:

We know that in general three or four sessions is not going to ever cut it. The main effect of hyperbaric is really achieved through the cumulative effect and the increasing and decreasing the wave of hyper-oxygenation back to normal oxygen levels creating that hyperoxia-hypoxia type paradox

When you do a protocol similar to like what I would do for a patient, lets say four to six hours a week for eight weeks, the frequency of those the space in between them, really shrinks and you get far more signaling to occur

If all we cared about was the physical dose, we would stay at 100% oxygen as long as we possibly could, at the highest pressure we could tolerate to get the most oxygen absorption. I dont think that thats where the majority of benefit exists.

Every time your pressure changes or your percentage of oxygen changes, youre stimulating HIF-1 alpha, the reactive oxygen species load, sirtuins, youre signaling a hormetic effect. I picture them as switches. Youre flipping that switch on, off, on, off, on, off. I think its the amount of times that you stimulate that switch that will create the benefits were looking for, more than the physical dose of oxygen over time.

To learn more about HBOT in general, be sure to pick up Sonners book, Oxygen Under Pressure: Using Hyperbaric Oxygen to Restore Health, Reduce Inflammation, Reverse Aging and Revolutionize Health Care.

In the interview, we also discuss how you can incorporate HBOT in your fitness routine, along with fasting, to augment and upregulate cellular performance, recovery and regeneration. So, if thats of interest to you, be sure to listen to the interview in its entirety, or read through the transcript.

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Hyperbaric Therapy A Vastly Underused Treatment Modality - Verve Times

The Pediatric ICU at Doernbecher Childrens Hospital is loud. Alarms go off all the time, and residents and nurses rush to a room. Monitors shout their data. When the IV drip runs out, the machine beeps. When oxygen levels drop, the pulse oximeter screeches.

When my son was an infant, he was on ECMO, or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, an extreme form of life support that bypasses the heart and lungs. It was invented for open heart surgeries, but now is sometimes used for respiratory failure in babies.

ECMO meant that my son had a nurse in his room day and night. They had to monitor the lines that looped his blood out of the carotid artery in his neck, oxygenated it, and fed it back to his body. Clots were likely, so someone had to sit there and bang on the machine with a closed fist every once in a while to loosen the lines. In addition to his assigned nurse, there were X-ray techs coming to get photos of his lungs, surgeons checking his incisions, residents on pediatric rotation, respiratory therapists who specialized in ventilators, paramedicsthe only people skilled enough to get IVs into tiny infant veinsand a palliative care team who worked with my husband and me to determine what would happen if he didnt make it, and if he did, what quality of life he would have.

It was so busy, and I had never felt more alone. All my attention was focused on the little body that had been severed from me, that was nearly severed from itself. The beeps of the morphine dispensing, the antibiotics, the anticoagulants. Bubbles of oxygen seeping out the tube; the EKG showing the terribly dull brain waves; the bright ruby sheen of his blood; the smell of him so fresh and soft and enticing despite all the antiseptic. My own body, aching where they had cut him out of me. Aching with the absence of him.

But around the room was this strange arising energy, a centrifugal whirling. People were coming together to save a days-old infant, lending their expertise and kindness in whatever doses they could. I sat at the center of this benevolent hurricane. They let me sit and grieve and they whirled around me. It was a spontaneous, transient storm, formed not of old bonds but a common and urgent purpose. While that common energy didnt stop my loneliness, it held me together, like fingertips pressing a shattered china teacup back into shape.

The view from Doernbecher is beautiful: the Willamette snaking beneath Portlands bridges, all those cars streaming away in silver lines. Sometimes you can see Mount Hood, sharp-edged and white in the distance.

Its a lonely view. Anyone who has spent time receiving medical care in a hospital knows that the windows feel like escape hatches but also like taunts. The viewof trees, of rain, of people going about their daily livesfeels both comforting and grossly unfair.

Joshua Bells window looked down onto the parking lot. The sixteen-year-old was back for another treatment in the pediatric oncology ward. With COVID-19 restrictions in place, he could only have two visitors total, one at a time. That meant his parents, Mark and Sara, were his only contacts when he was undergoing chemotherapy. He missed his brother. He missed his friends.

One day, Joshuas classmates called him on FaceTime. They were grinning and holding signs, and something about where they were standing looked familiar. Joshua went to the window and looked down: there were four teenagers in the parking lot, backs to his window, waving into a tiny screen. He could see himself in the background of their video.

It made it a lot more manageable, says Joshua. Seeing them in person, even if were just communicating over FaceTime...its hard to describe, but its just so different for me.

Medical care like what Joshua is undergoing often requires isolation. To keep their bodies safe, patients step back from daily activities. Their loved ones find themselves in a parallel universe of appointments and medications, strange rooms and masked specialists. Receiving care requires near-total immersion in this new life. Old commitments are set aside and plans abandoned in favor of one goal: healing.

Being removed from daily life takes a strain on our mental and physical health. Those undergoing care can create community within the hospital setting, but care-based relationships are often transient and have some inherent boundaries. Maintaining connections to outside friends and family becomes essential. Through gifts, window visits, letters, and photographs, patients are reminded of the web of care that exists beyond the walls.

In 2022, we are all familiar with isolation. Everyone has, to some degree, learned what it feels like to detach from our normal lives.

Isolation during the pandemic has been both protective and damaging. Quarantining can be seen as an act of community care; to stop the spread of the virus, to defend elders and the immunocompromised, we have gone into our homes and stayed there. Some of us have taken pride in our commitment to protect others, but weve also suffered record rates of mental illness, loneliness, and substance abuse.

For some folks who have remained out in the world working, parenting, or doing other essential tasks, the isolation has manifested in a sort of cognitive dissonance. We are in crowds yet still hunched into masks, hurrying through the necessities to get back to the safety of being alone.

This tension manifests even more strongly for people with medical conditions. Even in non-pandemic times, receiving medical care is often a lonely, confusing process. Now, care often means severing our connections to the outside world. To heal, we cut ourselves off from those we love. But without them, how do we heal?

When she was twenty-five years old, Ericka Sullivans cancer came back. Shed beat it once, and the second diagnosis devastated her. My hope was kind of gone, she recalls. I felt super isolated, not in a physical sense but just lonely. Very alone. I knew my community was there, but I was struggling so hard.

She received a bone marrow transplant, which would kick-start her immune system. The caveat: she had to isolate in her home for one hundred days. For a few weeks, her mom stayed with her. After that, a rotating crew of friends and community members became her caregivers. They took regular shifts, two people per day, five days a week. When caregivers started coming in . . . I felt better. I think I was so grateful to not be physically alone, she says.

Sullivans story makes me think of a long rope, pulled taut from both ends. On one end of the rope are the people who sustain us: best friends, parents, kids, coworkers, the familiar server at our favorite diner. On the other end is the body, struggling to heal and thrive. In the center, like a red flag tied to the rope in a tug-of-war, is the self.

In good times, our loved ones often drag that flag close, for we need community to thrive. Research has shown that having social connections increases longevity, immune system functioning, and overall wellness. Saying that were social creatures is more than a platitude; human beings need each other.

But in times of medical care, the body tugs back. It needs our attention. Sometimes it needs physical isolation. Our community recedes in favor of the bodys immediate demands. And yet we cannot healnot really, not wellwithout them.

People really need the support of their network in order to do well in the hospital, says George Keepers, professor of psychiatry at the OHSU School of Medicine. Family can do practical things for patients, Keepers says, like explain a complex medical history or help patients keep up with appointments and medications. But they can also help prevent conditions that impede healing.

Lack of social support and isolation are a significant risk factor for depression, says Keepers. Depression is well known, actually, to produce poorer outcomes in a number of conditions. In other words, the physical body depends on good mental health, and mental health depends on community.

So what do you do if youre a sixteen-year-old cancer patient in a pandemic? How do you isolate for your physical safety but still stay close to the people you love?

At home, twelve-year-old Matthew Bell walks his dog, Packer. He goes for bike rides by himself. He makes small crafts. When his brother Joshua was home more, they crafted together and made short films for their YouTube channel. Now Matthew calls his brother a few times a day to check in, since he isnt allowed to visit.

I think for the two of them that has been one of the hardest things, says Sara Bell, Joshua and Matthews mom.

COVID-19 has exacerbated isolation not just for patients, but also for their families. Susan Sherwood is the child life specialist for the pediatric oncology ward at Doernbecher. She says many of the families want connection when they arrive for care.

They feel isolated from their normal lives, and they also are struggling to develop a new normal for themselves, she says.

To facilitate that new normal, Sherwood helps provide support for siblings and families, prepares patients for medical procedures, and tries to help young kids figure out whats happening to them in developmentally appropriate ways.

She also tries to make life in the hospital as fun as possible. She organizes bingo nights, art events, movies, music, and catered dinners for families. There is the costume cart with free dress-up clothes delivered by a nonprofit, Chelseas Closet. Kids can walk laps of the floor, adding up their miles to try and get a pair of Nikes. Sherwood says the hallways are usually a place where parents can briefly connect with each other. Its these liminal spacesthe break room, the hallsthat provide transient moments of community, where moms and dads can meet other parents going through the same difficult experience.

However, most of these activities have been restricted throughout the pandemic. Joshuas dad, Mark Bell, laments that the virus has made parents more leery of connecting in person. In general, its scurry on and get back to your kids room, he says.

Thats especially hard when your kid is seriously ill, because it can feel like no one shares your experience. Friends outside might be supportive, but its not the same if youre not talking with someone who knows what this is, says Mark.

Mark and Sara take shifts at the hospital, trying to time their arrivals and departures so that they have a few minutes in the parking lot together each day. Otherwise, they dont see each other for the four or five days of Joshuas hospital stay.

Its robbing families of that precious time, says Sara. When youre going through the most grueling thing that you can imagine, you need one another. Physical touch is huge.

Denied that touch, families have to find other ways to connect. Matthew does crafts at home and sends them with his parents to deliver to Joshua: felt wool dogs, a miniature Indiana Jones board game. Gifts bridge the isolation. Theyre a way to reach across the distance and hand something physical to the person on the other side.

Over the weeks my son was sick, I got to know the nurses well. We chatted about our lives outside. They watched me weep silently over his bed. They forced me to brush my teeth and eat. They helped take his footprints, gave him stuffed animals to prop up his limbs, and cried when he survived the surgery coming off ECMO.

When my son weaned off his last ventilator, we transferred to another ward. I never saw most of those people again, but if I met them in the street, I would get down on my knees and thank them. I would call them family.

Spontaneous care communities form under crisis, but they fade when you leave the hospital. And medical staff are not family. While nurses, doctors, and medical specialists feel deeply about their patients, they need boundaries to maintain both their mental health and the professionalism of the patient-caregiver relationship.

We as staff try to be very mindful of those good boundaries too, because we are there as caregivers, not to be their new friends and their new community outside the hospital, says Sherwood.

And yet. And yet. I had a text chain with many of my sons caregivers for years after his birth. It was probably against several HIPAA guidelines, but none of us cared. We needed each other to heal from what had happened to that little body under our care.

Ericka Sullivans caregivers were also her friends and family. For one hundred days, pre-pandemic, her community knocked on her door. Every time they did, she recalls thinking, Somebody showed up. Her hope returned, along with her sense of self.

Showing up for someone doesnt always mean walking through the door. In COVID times, you often cant. While she was in treatment, Sullivans friends wore special T-shirts and took photos of themselves, filling a blog for her with their travels and good wishes. She says several people who had never met before saw each other on the street wearing her T-shirts and realized they were part of the same care community, people whose lives were whirling around Sullivans recovery.

When we are physically distant from each other, objects become talismans. It could be the rough-knit purple hat that someone left in our PICU room, from a volunteer who made them for babies in critical care. It could be a paper letter from the woman the Bell family met on a ferry in Alaska, or the signs Joshuas classmates make for him. It could be a photo of friends at a Blazers game, grinning and repping your recovery T-shirts for the jumbotron.

Thoughts and prayers are not enough. Nothing is enough when you are very sick or someone you love is sick. Still, on the day that my son had surgery to come off ECMO, we asked friends and family to read a childrens book. People sent videos to my email. They were curled up with their kids reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Home for a Bunny and Llama Llama Red Pajama. The kids wore jammies and the parents tucked their small bodies close, in laps and nestled under arms.

I was preoccupied with the surgery and didnt watch the videos until much later. But I did see the names piling up in my inbox. I refreshed and refreshed. Each bold name felt like another hand holding my back, holding my hand, holding me up when I wanted to fall. I stayed upright because people were out there rooting for us, reading with their beloveds. It wasnt enough, and it was everything.

Caitlin Dwyer is a writer, storyteller, poet, and multimedia journalist. She studied journalism at the University of Hong Kong and creative writing at the Rainier Writing Workshop. She teaches at Portland Community College, where she is the 202122 writer-in-residence. When not teaching or writing, she is probably playing with her kids, wandering around in the forest, or lost in a book.

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Tug-of-War Oregon Humanities - oregonhumanities.org

Every two seconds, someone in the United States requires a blood transfusion, according to the American Red Cross.This year, however, the United States is facing its worst blood shortage in more than a decade, theRed Cross says.

Donating blood saves lives, says Robert DeSimone, MD, director of transfusion medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, who is encouraging people to do their part and make an appointment to donate.

For as long as medicine has been around, weve had to rely on the goodness of other people to give us blood when we need it, says Sarah Vossoughi, MD, the medical director of apheresis and associate director of transfusion medicine and cellular therapy at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center. We really need people who want to come and donate. The fact that we can store blood and use it when we need it in partswhether you need the red cells, the plasma, or the plateletshas been a huge medical advance.

While blood donors dont expect to be rewarded for the act of kindness, rolling up your sleeve comes with some surprising health benefits. Heres what you get when you give blood:

By going to donate blood, you are getting a mini-physical, says DeSimone.

Before you are allowed to donate, your vital signs will be checked to make sure you are fit enough for the procedure. This exam might turn up a condition that needs medical attention, such as high blood pressure or a heart arrhythmia like atrial fibrillation. In addition, youll be screened for infectious diseases you may be unaware of.

If we detect an issue with your vital signs or another health issue, we would direct you to go to a physician at that point to be checked, DeSimone says.

The health screening will also reveal if you have a rare blood type. This information can be useful if you ever face surgery or another medical situation in which a transfusion may be required. Plus, youll have the satisfaction of knowing your donation is particularly needed.

Regular blood donation is linked to lower blood pressure and a lower risk for heart attacks. It definitely helps to reduce cardiovascular risk factors, says DeSimone.

This article originally appeared in Health Matters, an online publication of NewYork-Presbyterian.

Whats the connection? If your hemoglobin is too high, blood donation helps to lower the viscosity of the blood, which has been associated with the formation of blood clots,heart attacks, andstroke, DeSimone says. Interestingly, these benefits are more significant in men compared to women. We think maybe its because women have menstrual cycles, so they do it naturally without donating blood.

People with a condition called hereditary hemochromatosis must have blood removed regularly to prevent the buildup of iron. Fortunately, this blood can benefit others.

These are essentially healthy patients who are otherwise normal, but they have a gene mutation where they make too much blood, and they make too much normal blood, Vossoughi says. So we can use that blood.

The New York Blood Center Hereditary Hemochromatosis Program allows people with hemochromatosis to donate blood rather than have it removed and thrown away. Instead of having to go to a clinic or one of our phlebotomy centers every few months to reduce their blood volume, they can go to any local blood drive, Vossoughi says. That blood will then be used for somebody who needs it.

One blood donation can save up to three lives, according to DeSimone. People usually donate because it feels good to help others, and altruism and volunteering have been linked to positive health outcomes, including a lower risk for depression and greater longevity.

Giving blood is a way to engage in the immediate community and help people around you, Vossoughi adds. People who do these types of things and engage in their community in this way tend to have better health and longer lives.

It is also a way to feel that you have positively helped during the COVID-19 crisis. Donating blood is safe if you have had theCOVID-19 vaccine. It is also safe if you have had COVID-19, though you must be symptom-free for two weeks and have not had a positivediagnostic testfor COVID-19 in the past 14 days, DeSimone says. If you have any COVID-19 symptoms like a fever or cough, do not give blood. Donating blood is safe as donors are socially distanced and required to wear a face mask covering their nose and mouth, regardless of vaccination status.

Creating moments of kindness during a time of need does wonders for your mental health andfeeling of well-being, DeSimone says.

For one blood donation, it takes your body about 500 calories to replace it, Vossoughi says. Thus, the juice and cookies youre offered after giving blood are a zero-calorie snack, she says. If you prefer, go for a fancy dessert instead!

If you plan to give blood, follow these steps:

Drink plenty of water. Staying hydrated makes it easier to find your veins and prevents you from becoming light-headed after donating, Vossoughi says.

Eat well beforehand. Dont skip breakfast, and be sure to eat snacks offered to you. These things will help you tolerate the donation well and feel like yourself the rest of the day, she says.

Exercise before donating blood, not afterward. Its OK to go to the gym before you donate blood but not so wise afterward. We dont want people getting dizzy, Vossoughi says. Youve basically done your workout for the day once youve donated blood.

Take iron tablets. The American Red Cross recommends that individuals who donate blood frequently take an iron supplement or a multivitamin with iron. More and more, were recommending that teenage donors in particular take iron, because its been shown that teenage donors may become iron deficient after blood donation, DeSimone says.

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The Surprising Benefits of Donating Blood - Columbia University Irving Medical Center

Nutritionist Adelle Davis popularized the mantra in the 1960s, Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper. This is because fueling up the body at the right time of the day provides it with sufficient calories for energy.

How, when and what goes into your body decides the health of your body. Body needs a constant supply of fuel in the form of food and this supply should be adequate and in a proper pattern so that the body doesn't have to wait or start its own way of dealing in case the pattern is broken. Therefore every individual should have a routine for meals.

Studies have shown that diet has an amazing benefit during growing age. A proper diet can also defeat genetics in terms of vitality and longevity, studies have said.

"Evidence is accumulating that eating in a 6-hour period and fasting for 18 hours can trigger a metabolic switch from glucose-based to ketone-based energy, with increased stress resistance, increased longevity, and a decreased incidence of diseases, including cancer and obesity," a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine says.

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Weight loss: The ideal gap between two meals to lose weight - Times of India

In a recent special edition, National Geographic did a deep-dive into the Blue Zones. The Blue Zones include five different communities across the globe that are known for having the highest concentration of residents living to be over 100. These zones, researched in-depth by author Dan Buettner, include Ikaria in Greece, Okinawa in Japan, Sardinia in Italy, Loma Linda in California, and the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica.

What's particularly interesting about Buettner's research is the breakdown of different diets consumed in each region. While there isn't one specific type of diet each Blue Zone follows(they eat a variety of fiber-rich foods, vegetables, fruits, dairy, and a small amount of meat, and fish), it was easy to determine a few general themes in the types of diets these people follow. Specifically, the more common foods that are consumed.

It was clear that a majority of Blue Zone residents commonly eat a combination of healthy starches. These starches include whole grains, legumes, and potatoes. Vegetables came in a close second for each zone, along with fruitall foods that are high in fiber and rich in plant-based nutrients.

First, it's important to note the types of carbs that are being consumed by these communities. Whole grains like oats, barley, and brown rice are commonly consumed. Bread products typically have whole grains and most of the time are made from scratch. This includes loaves of sourdough, tortillas, flatbreads, and even pasta.

Sweet potatoes are a staple for the community in Okinawa. Legumessuch as beans, chickpeas, and lentilsare also considered staples for many of the other communities. In Loma Linda, legumes and soy products are more commonly consumed, along with vegetables, while the percentage of grains in their diet is much smaller.

In a dieting world where eating ultra-low-carb is met with such high praise, these communities are welcoming healthy starches with open armsand living the longest.

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While the longevity of these communities is linked to all kinds of other factors (genetics, exercise, community outreach, and more), research continues to prove the link between eating a high-fiber diet and living a long life.

One study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found that diets rich in dietary fiber can reduce the risk of death from cardiovascular, respiratory, and infectious diseases.

Another meta-analysis of 17 studies from the American Journal of Epidemiology found that, for every 10 grams of fiber consumed, it cut the mortality risk for almost one million participants by 10%.

Lastly, a 2019 study in The Lancet concluded that diets high in fiber (consuming between 25 and 29 grams of fiber a day) reduced the risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, colorectal cancer, and also helped with significantly lowering total cholesterol, blood pressure, and even bodyweight.

The 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans says more than 90% of women and 97% of men do not get their recommended intake of fiber a day and should consume more whole grains, fruits, and vegetables to reach their goals. The USDA recommends adults up to the age of 50 to consume 25 grams of fiber for women and 38 grams for men. Adults over 50 should consume between 21 and 30 grams.

You can also get a boost of healthy fiber (and starches) in your diet by incorporating these 43 Best High-Fiber Foods For a Healthy Diet into your routine.

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The Most Common Food Eaten By The Healthiest People In The World Eat This Not That - Eat This, Not That

Cardiovascular disease is an umbrella term for a number of conditions affecting the heart or blood vessels.

There are four main types of cardiovascular disease. Coronary heart disease Strokes and TIAs (mini-stroke) Peripheral arterial disease Aortic disease

A study by the medical journal PLOS Medicine has looked into the effect of exercise on those with cardiovascular disease.

The study found that patients with cardiovascular disease can benefit significantly from exercise and physical activity.

Conducted in the Netherlands on 142,493 people, the personnel behind the study wanted to find out if someones cardiovascular health status impacted the benefit of exercise.

They found: Moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) is beneficial for reducing adverse outcomes CVD patients demonstrated a linear association, suggesting a constant reduction of risk with higher volumes of MVPA. Therefore, individuals with CVDs should be encouraged that more is better regarding MVPA.

What this means is that the study found that the more someone with cardiovascular disease exercised, the better it was for their health.

READ MORE: Dementia warning: The 60p ingredient shown to double the risk of memory decline study

Furthermore, Dr Bakker, one of the authors went on to say: With every increase in physical activity volume leading to a further risk reduction of mortality and cardiovascular events.

However, it wasnt just non-leisure exercise, such as running or cycling that helped, but non-leisure exercise (exercise accrued via work) was said to have some benefits.

On the flip side, the study did mention some caveats and limitations with regard to their research.

Dr Edo Paz said: First off, activity level is self-reported, which can be inaccurate. Another key limitation of this study is that it is an observational study and thus limited by confounding. That means that exercise may be highly correlated with another factor.

DONT MISS

What Dr Paz means by this, is that exercise is affected by other factors such as your weight and your diet, that can more accurately determine the probability of a cardiovascular event coming.

Lastly, the study admitted that whilst it had studied the impact of moderate to vigorous activity, that it had not looked at the impact of light intensity physical activity.

Light intensity physical activities are those which involve standing up and moving around, but not any great distance.

This includes working at your desk, ironing or walking from your bedroom to the kitchen in the morning.

Nevertheless, the study does still show that exercise can greatly benefit those with cardiovascular disease.

As mentioned, there are other factors at play, such as your diet and your overall fitness.

This includes how much you smoke as the harmful components of tobacco can damage your blood vessels and your lungs.

Whether or not you have diabetes is also a factor as high blood sugar levels can also damage your blood vessels.

Other risk factors of cardiovascular disease include your ethnicity.

In the UK at least, the condition is more common in people of south Asian, Caribbean or African descent.

Finally, whether you have a family history of cardiovascular disease will be a risk factor.

You are considered to have a family history if your mother or sister were diagnosed before they turned 65, or your father or brother were diagnosed before the age of 55.

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How to live longer: The lifestyle factor that could extend longevity - Toys Matrix

Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Even when over 21 cases of stealth omicron i.e. BA.2 sub lineage of Omicron variant is found in Indore, only two patients remain in the hospital as rest of them are recovered and discharged from the hospital.

All these patients were admitted to Shri Aurobindo Institute of Medical Sciences and out of the remaining two patients, one is in ICU.

According to respiratory medicine expert of Shri Aurobindo Institute of Medical Sciences (SAIMS) Dr Ravi Dosi, out of 21 patients, only two patients are remaining in the hospital including one in ICU.

Most of the patients are discharged and those remaining in the hospital are also stable. Patients didnt get any other symptoms than the previous strain of Omicron but the longevity of the disease increased and some patients required higher drugs as compared to others who were treated with basic treatment, Dr Dosi said.

He added that vaccines played an important role in creating an extra layer of protection against the disease and people must take the precaution dose if their date is due for the same.

As many as 21 cases of BA.2 sub lineage of Omicron were found at SAIMS on Monday. The patients were of age 2 months to 86 years and all eligible were vaccinated with both doses of vaccine.

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Indore: 21 cases of stealth omicron; Only two remained in hospital as all others recovered and discharged - Free Press Journal

Assistant Professor of Surgery David Aufhauser studies xenotransplantation, which is the transplantation of organs between species. We asked him to share his background and describe why he is excited to be part of the UWMadison community.

David Aufhauser: assistant professor in the School of Medicine & Public Healths Division of Transplantation

Hometown: Washington, D.C.

Educational/professional background: I majored in history and biological sciences at Stanford University. I then moved to Philadelphia for medical school and general surgery residency at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2019 I moved to Madison to complete my fellowship in Abdominal Transplant Surgery here at UW.

What is your field of research, and how did you get into it? I study xenotransplantation, which is the transplantation of organs between species. Transplant surgery captured my imagination back in medical school. Its an incredible therapy that can restore unbelievably sick patients to good health and result in enormous improvements in both longevity and quality of life. Unfortunately, there are more patients needing transplants than there are organs available. Xenotransplantation has the potential extend a transformative therapy to more people in need by solving this shortage, and I hope to be a part of the effort to make it a reality.

What attracted you to UWMadison? The people. When I interviewed here, I met a group of talented surgeons who share my passion for transplant surgery and who want to try to transplant everyone in need. The division has a strong history of delivering great clinical care and performing innovative research, and I wanted to help carry that tradition into the future

What was your first visit to campus like? I had a perfect spring day hereits impossible to beat this town when its 70 and sunny!

Favorite place on campus? The Terraceno other university can match it!

This is a unique point in time, as were returning after more than a year of pandemic. What do you most look forward to? Catching up with friends and family.

Do you feel your work relates in any way to the Wisconsin Idea? Absolutely! Clinical transplant surgery and xenotransplantion are both very much about taking the taking the cutting edge of medical and biologic knowledge and applying it to improve peoples lives.

Whats something interesting about your area of expertise you can share that will make us sound smarter at parties, now that we can attend them again? Some people who need liver transplants for metabolic diseases can donate their original liver to another person in something called a domino liver transplant!

Hobbies/other interests: Golf, running, biking, and spending time with my wife Hilary (who is also UW faculty in Pulmonology and Critical Care) and daughters Alice (age 3) and Sophie (age 1).

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New Faculty Focus: David Aufhauser - University of Wisconsin-Madison

In a major breakthrough, National Health Service (NHS) has approved the first drug for sickle cell disease in 20 years. The "revolutionary" treatment, called the Crizanlizumab, will help over 5,000 people with the condition in the next three years, NHS said in a statement. It will also slash the number of times a sickle cell disease patient needs to go to A&E by two-fifths.

"This is a historic moment for people with sickle disease who will be given their first new treatment in over two decades. This revolutionary treatment will help to save lives, allow patients to have a better quality of life and reduced trips to A and E by almost half," NHS Chief Executive Amanda Pritchard said in a statement.

The drug prepared by Novartis was tested over a limited number of patients, thus, leaving open ends for judging its longevity. Crizanlizumab treatment involves injecting the medicine into the vein alongside standard treatment and regular blood transfusions. According to the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE), clinical evidence suggests that people treated with Crizanlizumab had significantly fewer sickle cell crises in a year than those receiving other standard treatment options.

"Crizanlizumab is an innovative treatment that has shown the potential to improve hundreds of lives, and we are delighted to be able to recommend it as the first new treatment for sickle cell disease," Meindert Boysen, deputy chief executive and director of the Centre for Health Technology Evaluation at NICE said in a statement.

All patients above 16 years of age who suffer from sickle disease will be eligible for the Crizanlizumab treatment. Also, the drug will be available to the patients "at a price that is affordable to the taxpayers," Pritchard added. "A new treatment brings new hope for people living with sickle cell disorder, the world's most common genetic blood condition," Sickle Cell Society chair Kye Gbangbola told Evening Standard. She also explained how SCD is a medical emergency and causes excruciating pain. "(This) new treatment will reduce the number of agonising pain episodes we have to endure," she added.

Sickle cell disease is the name for a group of inherited health conditions that affect red blood cells. The most serious type is called sickle cell anaemia. As per NHS, it is particularly observed in people with African or Caribbean family backgrounds.

People affectedwith sickle cell disease produce unusually shaped red blood cells that can cause problems because they do not live as long as healthy blood cells and can block blood vessels. The most common symptoms of the disease are: painful episodes called sickle cell crises, which can be very severe and last up to a week; an increased risk of serious infections; anaemia (where red blood cells cannot carry enough oxygen around the body), which can cause tiredness and shortness of breath. Sickle cell disease is caused by a gene that affects how red blood cells develop.

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NHS approves revolutionary drug for sickle cell disease; first in 20 years - Republic World

While sperm count and quality is certainly a crucial piece of the male fertility equation, Nayot also points out that it's important to look beyond this sample. "If the semen analysis is normal, then there's usually no further attempts to optimize overall health, where in fact there is still a lot of room for improvements ranging from lifestyle changes to nutrient supplementation."

Swan couldn't agree more, based on her research. To improve reproductive health, she encourages following a Mediterranean-style diet, eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, keeping alcohol to a minimum, ditching smoking, exercising (without overdoing it), avoiding endocrine-disrupting chemicals, and managing stress.

In addition to these lifestyle best practices, Kamperveen encourages maintaining healthy blood sugar, cholesterol, and blood pressure levels. Plus, she advises aiming for seven-and-a-half to eight hours of sleep per night and meditating to help increase stress resilience. "The good news is that everything you do to contribute to your sperm health also contributes to your longevity," she says.

If you are actively trying to conceive, Kamperveen explains that all of these lifestyle choices become even more crucial in the 120 days leading up to conception (what she refers to as the "Primester"). "It is during this window when we can literally change the quality and expression of the genes that we will pass down to our children (and grandchildren), through a process called epigenetics."

As for supplementation, research suggests that antioxidants such as zinc, selenium, and CoQ10 may help limit sperm DNA fragmentation. Plus some studies suggest vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin C, and folate can have an impact on sperm health, as well.

What's more, if a man is facing fertility challenges, in addition to looking at overall health, Nayot encourages a scrotal ultrasound and hormonal panel blood test. "There are many sexual function considerations including libido, the ability to initiate and maintain an erection, and proper ejaculation," he says.

"If the sperm count is really low, then usually IVF (or ICSIintra-cytoplasmic sperm injection) should be able to overcome the main issue. Even if there is no sperm production, sometimes a surgery on the testicles can find a rare sperm that might just lead to a healthy pregnancy with ICSI. In short, there is a lot of hope, so it's best to look into your options."

As Swan and Kamperveen also note, it's important to take psychological factors into account, as well. "The psychological impact of sexual distress and male factor fertility can't be understated," says Nayot. "It's a hidden pain that doctors should ask about, and routinely offer counseling options."

As for destigmatizing the topic as a whole, Nayot feels "all of fertility is trending in the right direction," but we are only at the beginning of changing the male narrative. "Men still feel that their [fertility struggles] will be publicly judged as a marker of their masculinity, their sexual prowess, and their physical anatomy," he says. "The ongoing efforts of public campaigns to educate the masses, of public figures sharing their struggles, and safe forums for men to share and be supported will continue to make male [fertility challenges] less isolating."

This is just one of the trends mbg is predicting for 2022. Check out our full list of the latesthealth & wellness trends.

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Sperm Counts Have Declined Over 50% We Need To Start Talking About It - mindbodygreen.com

Moderna President Stephen Hoge said theres a real risk that existing Covid-19 vaccines will be less effective against omicron, while U.S. medical adviser Anthony Fauci said the variants severity may be limited.

U.S. health officials said yesterday its still unclear how transmissible the latest Covid-19 variant is, how well existing vaccines work and whether it will lead to more severe illnesses. Hoge stopped short of comments by Moderna Chief Executive Officer Stephane Bancel that spooked markets last week, saying its too early to tell by how much omicron will degrade vaccines.

I think that theres a real risk that were going to see a decrease in the effectiveness of the vaccines, Hoge said in an ABC interview. What I dont know is how substantial that is.

An updated formulation probably would be needed if effectiveness is shown to drop significantly, he said.

Are we going to see something more like a 50% decrease in efficacy, which would really mean wed probably need to reboot the vaccines and update them? Hoge said.

Data from South Africa, where omicron was first detected in November, suggest it may not cause more severe illness than the more widely circulating delta variant, Fauci said on CNNs State of the Union. He cautioned that his conclusion was preliminary.

Thus far, it does not look like theres a great degree of severity to it, Fauci said. We feel certain that there will be some degree, and maybe a considerable degree, of protection against the omicron variant with existing vaccines, he said. Read more from Tony Czuczka and Justin Sink.

Read more: South Africa Dodging Hospitalization Surge Fuels Omicron Hope

The U.S. is reevaluating the travel ban on eight southern African countries as more information about the omicron variant and its spread becomes available, Fauci said yesterday.

That ban was done at a time when we were really in the dark we had no idea what was going on, Fauci said in an interview with CNNs State of the Union. U.S. medical advisers are evaluating the new restrictions on a daily basis and Fauci said he was hopeful well be able to lift that ban in a quite reasonable period of time. Read more from Justin Sink and Aysha Diallo.

More on Omicron:

Contractor Shot Mandate Under Assault in Texas, Georgia Hearings: Bidens power to mandate Covid-19 vaccinations for federal contractors was under attack in two federal courtrooms Friday, with a pair of judges appointed by the Trump administration considering whether to up the tally of states where the measure is blocked. Attorneys for Texas and a seven-state coalition led by Georgia told the judges that Biden overstepped his authority with an intrusive policy for contractors thats actually just cover for his real agenda of getting Americans vaccinated. Biden administration lawyers defended the presidents power to set the terms for federal contracts as long as its related to economic efficiency, as it is with ensuring contractor workers can perform instead of being sick with Covid-19. Read more from Robert Iafolla.

Biden Shot-or-Test Litigation Denied Fast-Track Schedule: A federal appeals court in Cincinnati rejected the Biden administrations request to move up deadlines in the legal challenge to its emergency shot-or-test rule that would accelerate consideration of lifting an order that froze the rule. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit didnt explain why it turned aside the administrations petition to move up the briefing schedule on its motion to dissolve the Fifth Circuits stay. The Sixth Circuit said in its order issued late Friday that it reserves judgment to set deadlines for reviewing the merits of the emergency rule. Read more from Robert Iafolla.

Answers Wanted on OSHA Health-Care Covid-19 Rule: Time is running out for OSHAs original Covid-19 health-care emergency temporary standard. The standard is set to expire Dec. 21, six months after it was enacted June 21. While the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued the rule saying the mandate would be replaced with a permanent one within six months, as of Friday, OSHA hasnt said when that permanent standard will be issued or how the measure will differ from the temporary version. Asked for guidance regarding the release, a Department of Labor spokeswoman said Friday that OSHA does not have an update at this time. Read more from Bruce Rolfsen.

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Oversight Plans Drug Pricing Hearing: The House Oversight and Reform Committee scheduled a hearing Thursday to reveal findings in the panels three year investigation into pharmaceutical pricing and business practices. The hearing will also look at the need for structural reforms for the industry.

Senators Ready Bill to Overturn Biden Vaccine Mandate: The Occupational Safety and Health Administrations Nov. 5 rule requiring private sector employers to enforce Covid-19 vaccination or testing policies would be overturned by S. J. Res. 29. The resolution appears to have enough votes for Senate passage after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) stated his support on Thursday. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he expects a vote this week. If the Senate does pass the resolution, it would likely stall in the Democratic-controlled House, Bloomberg Government Analyst Adam M. Taylor writes.

Aging Research, Advocacy Group Launches with Gingrich Help: A group trying to elevate age-related conditions and promote research into making humans live longer is getting help from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a long-time advocate for expanding the governments research portfolio, Alex Ruoff reports.

The Alliance for Longevity Initiativesa nonprofit backed by several research organizations and companiesis hoping to make inroads in Congress to expand what the government spends on aging research and to make it easier for companies to gain approval for medicines meant to help people live longer lives, Dylan Livingston, the groups president and founder, said. This is about keeping in better health for a longer period of time, Livingston said. The group wants to work with the Food and Drug Administration to create a special pathway for therapies in the longevity medicine space and increase the budget for the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health, Livingston said.

The Alliance on Thursday will host a talk with Gingrich and former Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.). Gingrich is connected to the group by Joseph DeSantis, who is chief strategy office for Gingrich 360, a consultancy formed by Gingrich, and sits on the board of directors for the Alliance.

Telehealth Visits in Medicare Soar: Medicare telehealth visits increased 63-fold from roughly 840,000 in 2019 to 52.7 million in 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic caused beneficiaries to forgo in-person doctor visits in favor of virtual encounters, according to an HHS study. Ninety-two percent of telehealth visitswhich allow patients and providers to interact live via computer, tablet, or smartphonetook place from beneficiary homes, which was not allowed by Medicare before the pandemic. The massive increase in telehealth visits occurred while overall in-person visits to clinicians fell by 11% from 2019 to 2020. Read more from Tony Pugh.

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To contact the reporters on this story: Michaela Ross in Washington at mross@bgov.com; Alex Ruoff in Washington at aruoff@bgov.com

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Zachary Sherwood at zsherwood@bgov.com; Giuseppe Macri at gmacri@bgov.com

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HEALTH CARE BRIEFING: Vaccines May Struggle With Omicron Variant | Bloomberg Government - Bloomberg Government

Developed based on L-Nutra's Fasting Mimicking Diet (FMD) technology, Fast Bar is the first nutrition bar specifically designed for intermittent fasting, and clinically proven to keep the body in a continued fasting state. This breakthrough formulation allows consumers to stay nourished and fast with food, instead of water fasting. Fast Bar is formulated with plant-based proteins, healthy fats mainly from macadamia nuts, pecans and almonds, and fiber-rich carbs that fuel the body while keeping it in ketosis. It is non-GMO, gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, and made with no artificial sweeteners or preservatives.

"This research is the first of its kind to scientifically reveal that the body reacts to Fast Bar in a way that is comparable to a water-only fast," said Dr. Om Ganda, Associate Clinical Professor at Harvard Medical School. "This means that it can be effectively used to facilitate the practice of both time-restricted eating and intermittent fasting."

This randomized, controlled study monitored 105 adults who fasted for 15 hours overnight, then had glucose and ketone levels measured every hour for four hours after consuming either a Fast Bar, an average breakfast, or just water. The Fast Bar group had glucose levels comparable to that of the water-only group throughout the hours after the meal, and ketone levels that were similar to the water-only group 2 or more hours after the meal.

"Fasting is the #1 top-searched diet in America, yet many people struggle with the physical strain of going 14-18 hours on water alone to lose weight and enhance their metabolism. The long hours of no food stresses essential organs that need nourishment to perform," said L-Nutra Chief Executive Officer and Board Chairman Joseph Antoun. "Fast Bar ensures the best of both worlds, where one can maintain a state of ketosis similar to water fasting while still nourishing the body. This breakthrough finding cements L-Nutra as the leading nutri-tech company at the intersection of fasting, nutrition and longevity."

Throughout the four hours of monitoring glucose and ketone levels, those who only consumed water showed a much stronger desire to eat and had less sense of fullness than the Fast Bar group. This study also showed that the consumption of Fast Bar did not cause a spike in blood sugar levels and resulted in less desire to eat over time than only drinking water.

"Fasting provides a wide array of health benefits including cellular rejuvenation, weight loss, and support of metabolic balance," said Dr. Darria Long, TEDx speaker and specialist in emergency medicine. "More consumers are interested in fasting every year, and Fast Bar is the smarter way to fast longer while also staying satiated."

"The results of this study now categorically show that Fast Bar consumption can be used to effectively mimic the practice of a water-only fast," said Dr. William Hsu, Chief Medical Officer at L-Nutra. "As consumer interest in intermittent fasting for weight management and improved metabolic health continues to grow, these findings are especially impactful."

Fast Bar is made with plant-based protein and is available in three flavors nuts + dark cocoa, nuts + cacao chips, and nuts + honey. Two new flavors, lemon berry and blueberry acai, will launch this summer on FastBar.com and at Sprouts Market.

About L-Nutra L-Nutra is leading the discovery, design, and commercialization of novel, plant-based nutrition programs and therapeutics with the mission of enhancing human health-span up to 100 years. L-Nutra translates the science behind the Fasting Mimicking Diet technology and Nutrition For Longevity with discoveries in cellular-level nutrient signaling pathways to promote healthy aging technologies and to advance the development of therapeutic solutions for age-related diseases. For more info, visit http://www.l-nutra.com.

1An Intermittent Fasting Mimicking Nutrition Bar Extends Physiologic Ketosis in Time Restricted Eating: A Randomized, Controlled, Parallel-Arm Study. Nutrients. 2021; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13051523

CONTACT: Winnie Branton, [emailprotected]

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Fast Bar is the First Nutrition Bar to Keep the Body in Fasting State, New Study Concludes - PRNewswire

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Stair Lifts - Global Market Trajectory & Analytics" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

After Passing Over of the COVID-19 Storm What's Next in Healthcare Focus? An Aging World & Mobility for the Elderly & Disabled.

The global market for Stair Lifts is projected to reach US$1.3 billion by the year 2027, trailing a post COVID-19 CAGR of 5% over the analysis period 2020 through 2027.

World's population is rapidly aging supported by the increase in longevity as modern medicine becomes increasingly effective in preventing chronic disease, and reducing mortality. Also, easy access to age-friendly primary healthcare and growing sophistication of healthcare infrastructure play key roles in longevity.

For the first time in human the percentage of older people in the total population is continuing to increase. In addition to the aforementioned increase in life expectancy, falling fertility rates are accelerating the trend. The aging population creates massive challenges for the healthcare system.

By the year 2025, the need to care for an aging population will require a large and specialized healthcare workforce. Against this backdrop, there is a pressing need for communities to rethink issues such as housing, transportation, social services, health and wellness programs. Aging-in-Place is a powerful driver of assisted living technologies with over 9 in 10 seniors expressing willingness to live in their current homes over the next 6 to 12 years.

The trend is expected to gather even greater force, given the risk of virus transmission in nursing homes. Falling down the stairs is the leading cause of serious injury among the elderly aged over 65 years. Stair lifts help eliminate the risk, allowing seniors with mobility issues to remain in their homes longer & postpone premature shifting into a senior care facility.

Stair lifts or chairlifts or stair gliders are mechanical devices that enable individuals who suffer movement disabilities to go up and down the staircase without assistance. A stair lift comprises motorized seats that are electrically-powered and can be deployed on a straight or a curved staircase and also can be tailored as per the needs.

Stair lifts for residential use represents a large and growing segment given the growing desire of elderly people to lead independent lives. The market also stands to benefit from the growing trend towards smart homes. Defined as a process of automating the entire home environment by pre-programming various household chores and appliances and enabling combined in-built monitoring, home automation systems improve the user's lifestyle by offering real benefits such as comfort, security and power conservation.

Given the continued importance of accessibility in homes, there will be focus on technology advancements in stair lifts market. Stannah for instance is focusing efforts on incorporating innovative technology into stair lifts. Although the fundamental design of stair lift is unlikely to change dramatically in the near future, new types of stair lifts are being developed.

Key Topics Covered:

I. METHODOLOGY

II. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. MARKET OVERVIEW

2. FOCUS ON SELECT PLAYERS (Total 62 Featured):

3. MARKET TRENDS & DRIVERS

4. GLOBAL MARKET PERSPECTIVE

III. MARKET ANALYSIS

IV. COMPETITION

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/akulj3

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Global Stair Lifts Market Trajectory & Analytics Report 2021: An Aging World & Mobility for the Elderly & Disabled will Lift the Market to...

Theyre leaving. Theyre heading out the doors in record numbers.

In September alone, 4.4 million workers handed in resignations. Analysts believe millions more are planning, plotting and virtually lining up behind them.

Employers are hitting a crossroads. They often do in many industries, but this time its as much across the board as ever for this generation. The shift in power is going toward workers, and this without benefit of a union.

If employers are not smart enough to invest in their No. 1 asset people then they shall get what they deserve.

In the case of many, thats no business at all.

Competition is up for the best workers. Weve all seen the signs everywhere for one, that a company is hiring; and for two, that a company is hiring and offering a signing bonus.

Bladen County commissioners many times have advocated for their workers. They tried diligently in the summer of 2020 to find a balance between rewarding them and keeping a close eye on what might happen with finances because of the pandemic. It was the early months of coronavirus, and nobody knew.

Now there is a sample size.

Those workers got 5 percent raises this time around. In addition to that, nice incentive programs like achievable bonuses and longevity pay have stayed in place. The result is 405 checks for more than $67,000 in bonus money, and 191 checks for more than $211,000 in longevity.

Think about it: A rural county, which is among the poorest as Tier 1, had a 15.9 percent drop in population to 29,606 over its 874 square miles, and still struggles to have adequate high-speed internet coverage for its school children.

Yet, it invested. To the tune of more than a quarter-million dollars.

Take Bladen Community College. Yet another example of an entity, in this case educational, that has limited funds coming in and a lot of answering to do when it decides to spend a nickel. Every nickel, in fact.

The college did have some discretion with money in a fund, and opted to reward its workers. Yes, most of those working on the campus in Dublin were going to get a 2.5 percent raise from the state retroactive to July 1, and theyre due for another 2.5 percent come July 1 next summer. Plus bonuses from the state, pending which side of $75,000 annual salary they are on.

The college had $61,937. It spent $61,898.75. Thats called doing all you can for your workers, right on down to the last 39 bucks.

Employers, in many cases, are between a rock and a hard place. Theyll tell you about the significant increases in fixed costs, the rising inflation they face, and the troubles in the supply chain.

Workers can tell you about that, too. About making choices this fall and winter on heat, medicine and food when all of those things go up but their paycheck does not.

It leads to other choices.

Those 4.4 million workers turning in September notices were real. Trust us, the smart among the surviving employers have taken note and are investing wisely.

For the businesses, its life or death.

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Editorial: Life or death, and the wise are investing in employees - Elizabethtown Bladen Journal

Drinking a citrus-flavoured drink has been shown to have positive effects on blood sugar levels. In addition to preventing dehydration it can help the kidneys flush out extra sugar in the blood. Otherwise, mounting blood sugar levels an indicator of type 2 diabetes could increase stroke risk. Observational research, cited in the National Library of Medicine, stated that the intake of water (which can be flavoured with lemon) correlated with reduced risk of type 2 diabetes.

Experts at Medical News Today noted that lemon-flavoured water is one of the best drinks for diabetes.

Lemon water contains no sugar, meaning the risk of blood sugar spikes are considerably reduced.

The drink is also very hydrating, meaning you are less likely to mistake dehydration for hunger.

As such, the likelihood of inappropriate snacking is reduced, which may otherwise spike blood sugar levels.

READ MORE:How to live longer: 'Secrets' of extending longevity and slowing ageing at the cell level

By maintaining healthy blood sugar levels, you are effectively improving your chances of longevity.

This is because uncontrolled type 2 diabetes (and high blood sugar) can lead to heart disease and stroke, the NHS confirmed.

By drinking lemon water, the risks of blood sugar spikes are lowered, thereby reducing the risk of a deadly stroke.

However, good management of blood sugar levels requires more than just sipping on lemon water.

DON'T MISS

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) highlighted warning signs of high blood sugar. These are:

To help keep blood sugar levels under control, the CDC strongly recommend drinking water instead of juice or soda.

In terms of dietary actions, it's best to "eat at regular times, and don't skip meals".

The foods you eat need to be lower in calories, saturated fat, trans fat, sugar and salt.

The NHS expanded on what it takes to "eat healthily", which involves:

Good blood sugar control also requires regular exercise, for at least 150 minutes each week.

An annual visit to the doctor is also wise to keep on top of your health.

As well as helping to control blood sugar levels, registered nutritionist Jo Lewin outlined the other health benefits of consuming lemon water.

For example, one 150ml glass of lemon water provides approximately 18mg of vitamin C and 65mg of potassium.

The citric acid in lemon water may also help to prevent kidney stones, said Lewin, which are caused by a build-up of calcium oxalate.

In addition, remaining hydrated can also help flush out any potential kidney stones.

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How to live longer: The best citrus drink to lower blood sugar and boost longevity - Daily Express

Global Longevity and Anti-Senescence Therapy Market Size and Forecast 20212028

The Global Longevity and Anti-Senescence Therapy market is expected to reach around $800 million by 2026, with a projected CAGR of 13.9% during the forecast period.

The Longevity and Anti-Senescence Therapy report aims to analyze the market size, historic data, current data, and forecasts for various segments and countries for the forecast period. The study is performed using qualitative and quantitative analysis. The report is created by performing a deep analysis of micro and macro-economic factors that are influencing the market growth. The report includes key market trends, latest developments, product analysis, and contribution of end users to the market growth.

Download FREE Sample of this Report :https://www.esticastresearch.com/report/longevity-and-anti-senescence-therapy-market/#request-for-sample

The study includes detailed analysis of the key market drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges. It also includes information on the leading market players and strategies adopted by them in the recent years. The information includes in the report is supported by various analysis such as SWOT Analysis, Porters Analysis, Value Chain Analysis, and PESTEL Analysis. This provides a better understanding the current market size and competition on a regional and global level. The report also analyzes competitive market landscape for the Longevity and Anti-Senescence Therapy market.

The report includes information on different market segments, market structure, and future forecasts on regional basis including key information on key players in the Longevity and Anti-Senescence Therapy market. The regions studied are North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, and South America. The study includes information on the products offered by the key players, recent developments and strategies adopted by them to hold the position. The information provided in the Longevity and Anti-Senescence Therapy market report is analyzed and verified by industry experts.

The study will include the overall analysis of the Longevity and Anti-Senescence Therapy Market and is segmented

By Therapy

By Application

Some of the leading players profiled in the report are

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Impact of COVID-19 on Longevity and Anti-Senescence Therapy Market

Our analysts have studied the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the Longevity and Anti-Senescence Therapy market. The report includes information on the pre and post impact of the pandemic on the market and the strategies adopted by the key players to recover the losses.

Objectives of the Longevity and Anti-Senescence Therapy Market Report

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Longevity and Anti-Senescence Therapy Market Revolutionary Scope By 2028 EcoChunk - EcoChunk

If you have been watching any commercial television over the past few weeks you may notice the mix of advertisements has changed.

It has been hard to ignore the reminders that open enrollment for Medicare beneficiaries ends on December 7. These ads promise savings and additional services for individuals but fail to mention the complications and potential risks involved in making changes let alone the potential for fraud as scammers work to take advantage of older Americans.

This comes in an environment where Medicare beneficiaries have learned the cost of their standard monthly premiums will jump by $21.60 in 2022. Although this will be more than offset by a 5.9% Social Security cost-of-living increase, the premium hike may result in more people questioning their current Medicare coverage.

Medicare was created as a health insurance program for Americans over the age of 65, but those opposed to a government-sponsored insurance program for older Americans forced the architects of Medicare to design a system that only covers 80% of health care costs with each beneficiary responsible for the remaining 20%.

This opened the door for private insurance companies to get involved in Medicare. Initially they sold Medicare supplemental insurance policies to help beneficiaries cover their 20% of health care costs. But as Medicare improved the health and longevity of older Americans, the health care needs of this population changed.

Saving Social Security and Medicare means we need a fairer, more robust payroll tax | Ray E. Landis

Prescription drugs began to play a larger role in treating medical conditions. Congress added a prescription drug plan to Medicare but chose to have it offered by private insurers.

The bonanza for these insurers, however, came through adjustments to reimbursements for an overlooked provision of Medicare, commonly known as Medicare Advantage, which allowed them to assume responsibility for covering beneficiaries health care costs, a situation I discussed in more detail earlier this year.

The end result is not only the danger to the future financial health of Medicare, but the creation of a very confusing and pressure-filled environment for Medicare beneficiaries.

The television commercials are the first line of attack. These advertisements come in all shapes and sizes and are often featured during local news coverage. The larger health care systems in Pennsylvania think UPMC, Penn Medicine, Geisinger, Penn State Health, Highmark fill the airwaves with scenes of bliss for older Pennsylvanians.

The soothing voice-over urges viewers to call the toll-free number prominently displayed on the screen, where enrollment professionals who are working 24-7 will switch your coverage while you are on the phone with them.

Meanwhile there is another approach, usually offered by smaller insurers running advertisements during syndicated programming.

This appeal skips all the feel-good scenes and instrumental soundtracks and gets straight to the point did you know you are entitled to health care benefits you may not be receiving? The announcer rattles off coverage of hearing aids, medical equipment, eye care, and gym memberships before telling beneficiaries they must call this number now.

Medicare is headed for a crisis. Were not ready but theres still time | Ray E. Landis

These are the enrollment pushes the general public is exposed to. But Medicare beneficiaries are subject to another line of attack through the U.S. Postal Service.

Over-sized postcards and letters fill mailboxes during the late fall urging individuals to switch their plans before it is too late. Many of these mailings are somewhat threatening, such as those with the bold word WARNING! on the cover.

Open enrollment has another consequence beyond annoying advertisements and mailings, however. It is looked at by scammers as open season on seniors. The quest to obtain Social Security and Medicare identification numbers is never-ending for these criminals and open enrollment is another opportunity to trick beneficiaries into revealing that information.

Legitimate insurers cannot legally call individuals about open enrollment unless the beneficiary has requested a call, but scammers make these calls in hopes of convincing a few people to reveal their private information, which can provide access to credit cards and bank accounts.

The good news in all this confusion is there are resources to help individuals make logical choices in open enrollment. The Pennsylvania Department of Aging offers free, objective health benefits counseling through Pennsylvania Medicare Education and Decision Insight or PA MEDI, a service offered through the 52 Area Agencies on Aging. Medicares website has a wealth of information useful in evaluating options.

But the bad news is this process continues to become more confusing and many older Pennsylvanians do not recognize making the wrong choice in open enrollment can result in loss of access to the physicians of their choice and could result in increased co-pays or deductibles.

Our elected officials have chosen to make it that way in order to placate those who profit from the confusion.

The worse news is these efforts endanger the future financial stability of the Medicare program, a situation Congress will need to address sooner rather than later.

Medicare beneficiaries, not to mention the overall financial health of the system, would be helped if the program was simplified. But given the influence of the profiteers, Im not holding my breath until this happens.

Ray E. Landis writes about the issues important to older Pennsylvanians. His work appears biweekly on the Capital-Stars Commentary Page. Readers can follow him on Twitter @RELandis.

Read more:
With Medicare open enrollment ending this week, important things to keep in mind | Ray E. Landis - Pennsylvania Capital-Star

People who have recovered from a serious bout of COVID-19 may still have reason to be concerned for their health within the year of their recovery.

A new study published in the journal Frontiers in Medicine suggests survivors of severe COVID-19 are more than twice as likely to die within a year after infection compared to patients who tested negative for the disease or experienced only mild symptoms.

Researchers from the University of Florida analyzed electronic health records of 13,638 patients who were tested for the virus using a PCR test in the Florida health system. Among those tested, 178 patients experienced severe symptoms and were hospitalized while 246 had only mild or moderate symptoms. The rest tested negative for the virus.

The study tracked patients over 12 months after they fully recovered and found those who had severe COVID-19 were 233 percent more likely to die.

Our country is in a historic fight against the coronavirus. Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news.

COVID-19 is even more devastating than we thought when only focusing on the initial episode. The downstream risk for the most severe outcome, death, is definitely high enough to hopefully make everyone rethink the impact of COVID-19, Arch G. Mainous, a professor at the University of Florida and the studys lead author, said in a statement.

Most deaths among severe COVID-19 survivors were not attributed to complications commonly associated with the disease, such as cardiovascular, respiratory and clotting problems. Just 20 percent of deaths were associated with these issues while the majority were the result of a variety of other conditions not typically associated with the coronavirus.

Surprisingly, the study found the increased risk of dying was greater for severe COVID-19 patients under 65.

Researchers said the study underscores the importance of vaccinations in reducing severe disease.

These findings reinforce that the internal trauma of being sick enough to be hospitalized with COVID-19 has a big consequence for peoples health. This is a huge complication of COVID-19 that has not been shown before, Mainous said.

READ MORE STORIES FROM CHANGING AMERICA

SUPER ATHLETE REFUSES VACCINE, DIES TRAGICALLY

MODERNA CHIEF PREDICTS VACCINES COULD STRUGGLE AGAINST OMICRON

ALBERT EINSTEIN REVEALED THE SECRET TO HAPPINESS AND HE USED JUST 17 WORDS

ANCIENT MAMMOTH TUSK DISCOVERED 10,000 FEET DEEP IN OCEAN OFF CALIFORNIA COAST

DOCTOR WHO DISCOVERED OMICRON EXPLAINS THE SYMPTOMS TO WATCH OUT FOR

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New study finds serious COVID-19 infection could be fatal even after recovery | TheHill - The Hill

1. Excess deaths disproportionally occurred among Black, American Indian/Alaskan Native, and Latino males and females during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M21-2134

URL goes live when the embargo lifts

A large study of surveillance data found that excess deaths during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately occurred among Black, American Indian (AI)/Alaskan Native (AN), and Latino males and females in the U.S., compared to White and Asian males and females. According to the authors, these overwhelming disparities highlight the urgent need to address long-standing structural inequities affecting health and longevity. The findings are published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Researchers from the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities, and the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, used data from the CDC National Center for Health Statistics to estimate deaths by month, year, sex, age group, race/ethnicity, and cause from March 1, 2020 (the first full month of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S.) to December 31, 2020. They found that compared with the number expected, based on 2019 data, 477,200 excess deaths occurred during the study period: 74% from COVID-19. The remaining fraction were attributed to causes including diabetes, heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and Alzheimer disease. Black, AI/AN, and Latino males and females had more than double the number of excess deaths than White and Asian males and females, after standardizing by population size.

According to the authors, differences in COVID-19 risk, hospitalization, and death by race/ethnicity can be attributed to structural and social determinants of health with established and deep roots in structural racism. Studies have shown that Black and Latino persons are more likely to have occupational exposure to COVID-19, live in multigenerational households and/or more densely populated neighborhoods, and have less access to health care and private transportation, compared to White persons. Prior to a successful mass-vaccination program, AI/AN reservationbased communities were at further risk for infection due to a lack of infrastructure and chronically underfunded health care facilities.

The authors suggest that equitable vaccine distribution is needed to prevent further exacerbation of racial/ethnic disparities in COVID-19 risk and mortality. Inequities need to be addressed with urgency and cultural competence, as has been done by tribal communities.

Annals of Internal Medicine

People

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Excess Deaths During the COVID-19 Pandemic, March to December 2020

5-Oct-2021

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.

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Excess deaths disproportionally occurred among Black, American Indian/Alaskan Native, and Latino males and females during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic -...

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Minnesota Adult and Teen Challenge (MnTC) is preparing for a leadership transition in 2022. Pastor Rich Scherber, who has served as the organizations CEO for the past 30 years, announced that he will step down from his role as CEO sometime next year. Scherber and the board have been preparing for this transition for several years; the organization expects to name its future CEO by the end of 2021.

We have been preparing for this transition for quite some time, says Eric Vagle, president of Minnesota Adult and Teen Challenge. Pastor Rich has certainly been the face of our organization for many years, but its never been about just one person; our mission encompasses all of us working together and our mission will continue unchanged. Vagle notes that Scherber, along with the board and leadership team, have always focused on ensuring the organizations longevity. According to Vagle, While we will have a new CEO next year, there is significant continuity within our senior leadership team and board; we will continue serving clients and operating as weve always done.

Since taking on the CEO role in 1991, Rich Scherber has led MnTC to provide treatment and recovery services to tens of thousands of people, filling them with hope, and helping them find freedom from addiction. When Scherber took over the organization, it was more than $25,000 in debt, had no assets, and was on the verge of closing due to a lack of support. Scherber led the organizations transformation, turning it into one of the states largest and most well-respected addiction treatment and recovery organizations. Today MnTC helps more than 3,100 people each year with a full range of outpatient and residential services for those struggling with substance use disorder and co-occurring mental health disorders; it has received Charity Navigators highest rating (four stars) for eight consecutive years; it has been recognized as a top 150 employer by the Star Tribune for three consecutive years; and it was rated as a Best Addiction Treatment center in 2020 by Newsweek/Statista.

While he will no longer serve as CEO, Pastor Rich will remain involved with the organization and help oversee the transition to his successor. Going forward, he will take on roles that allow for greater flexibility and work life balance. MnTC is planning to name Scherbers successor in November 2021. That successor will work closely with Pastor Rich to ensure a smooth transition over the next year.

About Minnesota Adult and Teen Challenge

Minnesota Adult & Teen Challenge (MnTC) is a substance use disorder treatment and recovery organization that has been in operation since 1983. With 14 residential locations throughout the state, MnTC offers a full range of services including: licensed treatment (14- to 90-day residential; outpatient; telehealth); a long-term residential recovery program (13 months); co-occurring mental health services; addiction medicine services; peer support services; transitional housing; and aftercare. In addition, the organization supports prevention education and community peer support. Learn more at http://www.mntc.org.

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Leadership Transition Coming to Minnesota Adult and Teen Challenge - Business Wire