Category Archives: Progress

Mar 14, 2022

Rob DawsonCorrespondent

"We are implementing a strategy to win and we will foster a culture of excellence through a world class football environment," boasted Richard Arnold, Manchester United's new CEO, when the club announced their financial results earlier this month. It was the latest edition of what's long become a familiar theme during conference calls with their investors. Best in class, world beating, excellence, record-breaking... but for a decade now, it's rung hollow.

When United kick off against Atletico Madrid at Old Trafford on Tuesday night, they will attempt to reach the quarterfinals of the Champions League -- the world's top club competition -- for just the third time since 2011. Excellence? Not even close. They are not shy about branding themselves as the biggest football club in the world -- a banner on the website set up specifically for investors even spells this out, saying "Manchester United is the No.1 club in the No.1 sport" -- but on the pitch, there has been little to back it up.

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In the 10 seasons since reaching the Champions League final in 2011, United have won just two knockout ties in the competition; against Olympiakos in 2014 and Paris Saint-Germain in 2019. (For context, over the same period Chelsea have won 10 Champions League knockout ties, with Manchester City and Liverpool on nine. And that's just their Premier League rivals.)

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"Of course it's a surprise," said Brazilian defender Alex Telles on Monday when asked about their recent record. "United always need to think about winning every competition they enter. We're not very happy with the past few years, but we've worked really hard to better that and I think this year we have an opportunity to change things.

"To change this we need to train well and win games and tomorrow we have an opportunity to change this."

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Man United remain convinced they belong in a group of super-clubs (many of whom also bought into the European Super League effort of 2021) alongside Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Juventus, yet Real Madrid have won 24 knockout ties in the Champions League since 2011. Bayern Munich aren't far behind on 22. In the latest Deloitte Money League, which ranks clubs by revenue, United were fourth on the list behind Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern, but in a purely sporting sense, they are nowhere near.

Atletico Madrid are ranked 13th, but in the past 10 years, they've won two domestic titles and reached the Champions League final twice. It's the kind of success that, at the moment, United can only dream of. Though it's not for a lack of trying.

United's gross transfer spend over the past 10 years is 1.4 billion, just behind Chelsea (1.6bn) and Manchester City (1.5bn), but ahead of Liverpool (1bn) and Arsenal (1bn). The wage bill for 2021 alone was 323 million, again behind Manchester City (355m) and Chelsea (333m), but also more than Liverpool (314m).

There are legitimate questions to be asked of the owners, the Glazer family, who plunged the club into debt to buy it in a leveraged takeover in 2005. They regularly take out dividend payments running into the tens of millions without injecting any of their any money, and they've been largely anonymous throughout their reign at Old Trafford, but for years now United have punched significantly below their substantial financial might.

It has reached the point that midfielder Paul Pogba is prepared to turn down one of the most lucrative contracts the club has ever offered to leave on a free transfer in the summer and go in search of trophies elsewhere. The five full seasons since his return as the most expensive player in the world, in 2016, have yielded winners' medals in the League Cup and the Europa League -- two secondary competitions, by anyone's standards.

Regardless of the result against Atletico in Manchester on Tuesday night, United find themselves at another crossroads.

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Speaking on the same investor call as Arnold two weeks ago, football director John Murtough said it was vital the next permanent manager, who will take over in the summer, got the club "back to challenging for domestic and European titles," but it's easier said than done. A glance at the Premier League table shows United in fifth and in a battle to just qualify for the Champions League next season. Manchester City and Liverpool are 19 and 16 points clear, respectively, and recent history suggests the gap will only have increased by the end of the campaign. Since winning their last title under Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013, United have finished an average 22 points behind the champions.

It should be little wonder that some of the candidates Murtough has in mind for the top job are nervous about agreeing to stake their reputations on making the club's lofty expectations a reality.

There is no quick fix for a decade of decline, even if a revamped Champions League format ends up offering them a surer path. For now, interim boss Ralf Rangnick says that when they walk out to face Atletico, he just wants United "to show we can compete with the best teams" after so long in the Champions League wilderness. It's a far cry from Arnold's ambitious promises about a golden future, but a place in the quarterfinals would, at least, represent a small step closer to regaining their seat at Europe's top table.

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Man United need Champions League progress to justify super-club standing off the pitch - ESPN

A day after the state filed a motion to end federal oversight of the state Department of Children and Families, Gov. Ned Lamont heard about the departments progress in addressing some of the major issues they were facing several decades ago.

Commissioner Vannessa Dorantes, who started out at DCF as a case worker in 1992, told Lamont of improvements theyve made in the past 30 years, including hiring more case workers, reducing those workers case loads, lowering foster care rates and increasing kinship placements.

Lamont visited the agencys main office in Hartford Tuesday morning to thank the staff for all the changes theyve made, as well as the changes they plan for the future.

People forget about all the lives youre saving, Lamont told DCF officials. We desperately need these kids ... We need everybody lifted up in order to keep this state growing.

DCF is getting it right, he added.

The Office of the Attorney General and others filed a joint motion Monday to end the federal oversight over DCF, which started after a federal civil rights class action lawsuit alleged structural failures in Connecticuts child welfare system that put children and families at risk of harm in December 1989.

The filing came after the most recent status report from the federal court monitor confirmed that DCF has both met and consistently sustained the expectations from the court. The Court Monitor is confident that the DCF has the necessary infrastructure to continually improve performance," the report states.

The agency is now offering more proactive, preventative and supportive services, said Jodi Hill-Lilly, the deputy commissioner, who started with the department in 1988.

Whats really interesting is to hear families talk about wanting to be involved in the department, she said. Certainly we have our share of folks who are continuing to be angry because of our involvement, but theres some that knock at the door for us to be involved.

Were not the same agency we were in the 80s, she added.

The state agency has made a lot of strides to improve since the early 2000s.

In 2004, social workers visited 33 percent of in-home family cases at least twice a month. Now that number is up to 90 percent. Additionally, the percentage of children experiencing repeated, substantiated maltreatement has been cut in half, from 9.3 percent in 2004 to 4.7 percent in 2021, according to the motion.

Also, case workers arent as overwhelmed as they used to be. The 1,300 to 1,400 case workers in the agency each have, on average, about 12 to 15 cases, according to data from the agency.

The state agency has aimed to keep families together as long as theyre safe. Since 2019, there has been a 19 percent reduction in foster care cases, according to Dorantes.

This hasnt resulted in a spike in abuse, either, Dorantes told Lamont Tuesday. Repeat in-home maltreatment went from 9.4 percent in 2004 to 4.7 percent in March 2022, according to the states motion.

You dont want to send kids home for the sake of sending them home, we want to make sure that theyre safe, she said.

For children who do need to be removed from the home, DCF tries to put them with relatives or someone they know, which is known as a kinship placement. In January 2010, the kinship rate was at 21 percent. By January 2022, this was at 42.3 percent a 21.3 percent increase, according to the motion.

The rate of children being placed in out-of-state congregate care has also plummeted. On March 31, 2011, the number was at 352. As of March 15, 2022, there are only six children in these out-of-state facilities.

When children need clinical intervention, I think that needs to be close to their families and it needs to be in a way that works toward getting them back home, Dorantes said.

In December 1989, the federal lawsuit said DCF failed to make reasonable efforts to keep families together, failed to adequately investigate child abuse and neglect complaints, and failed to provide adequate safety, oversight and health care services to the children in the care, custody or supervision of DCF and children who the departments knows were or would be neglected, abandoned or at serious risk for maltreatment.

In January 1991, the state reached an agreement, or a consent decree, with the plaintiff and a judge adopted a 120-page plan to improve DCF operations. This included focusing on investigations and pre-placement services, foster care and out-of-home placement services, mental health and medical care, staffing and other factors. This was then overseen by a court monitor.

DCF made strides to improve, but not enough at the time. The motion states the agency struggled to comply with case loads and staffing, among other factors, throughout various exit plans.

The agency turned a corner in 2011 when Joette Katz was appointed as the DCF commissioner, according to the state. Kats immediately sought to overhaul DCFs organization structure by moving staff to regional offices and spearheaded fundamental policy changes that emphasized a family-centered approach, according to the motion.

Dorantes, who was hired in 1992 as one of the early hires of the initial decree, was appointed as commissioner in 2019 and was immediately committed to continuing and expanding the progress of her predecessor, the motion states.

Dorantes focused on meeting measures that had not been met. This resulted in sustained, reduced case loads, improved quality of in-home visits and additional time for household members and observation.

Under Commissioner Dorantes leadership, improvements under the governing 2017 Revised Exit Plan accelerated and full, sustained complaince has now been reached, the motion says.

Connecticuts Child Advocate Sarah Eagan said DCF has made enormous progress. Eagan has worked around the child welfare system for almost 20 years and has been the child advocate since 2013. Her agency monitors and evaluates public and private agencies that are supposed to protect children.

In particular, she has noticed DCFs drastic reduction in relying on institutional care and a large increase in placing children with relatives.

We dont put babies in group homes anymore. Things like that, its great progress, she said. And we dont ship all of our foster care children who have autism to out-of-state facilities.

This doesnt mean everythings perfect, though, Eagan said.

There remain unmet needs, she said. I dont think its a milestone that says why all our work is done ... Its a milestone that says a lot of things have been accomplished and theres no longer a need for forced oversight from the federal court.

The state will have to rely on itself to sustain and continue to build on the progress that has been made, she added.

Eagan hopes that policymakers, child welfare stakeholders and DCF itself can come together, make goals for the future and determine what state-based oversight will look like.

The DCF of today benefits from three decades work of child welfare evolutions and positions Connecticut to lead best practice areas and improved outcomes in support of the children and families we serve, Dorantes said in a statement. We await further direction from the court as to the outcome of this motion.

Families who think they may need help with child care, support or other resources should call 211 or visit 211CT.org.

Families can also find behavioral health services and support by going to ConnectingToCareCT.org.

To report instances of child abuse or neglect, call the DCF Careline at 800-842-2288.

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Connecticut DCF touts enormous progress after 30 years of federal oversight - CT Insider

Advocacy groups measure progress since Atlanta spa shooting

The coalition tracks reports of discrimination or violence against the Asian American Pacific Islander community. It received nearly 11,000 reports between March 2020 and end of 2021.

ATLANTA - A year after the Atlanta-area spa shootings, advocacy groups are reflecting on what progress that has been made towards increasing awareness and preventing anti-Asian violence.

Eight people were gunned down in three spas in Atlanta and Cherokee County. Six of the victims were Asian women.

"The Atlanta shootings were sort of our worst fears realized," said Dr. Russell Jeung, a professor at San Francisco State University and the co-founder of an organization called Stop AAPI Hate.

VICTIMS' FAMILIES CONTINUE TO HEAL, WAIT FOR JUSTICE 1 YEAR LATER

The coalition tracks reports of discrimination or violence against the Asian American Pacific Islander community. It received nearly 11,000 reports between March 2020 and end of 2021.

The murders of Hyun Jung Grant, Soon Chung Park, Suncha Kim, Yong Ae Yue, Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Feng, Delaina Ashley Yaun, and Paul Andre Michels sent shockwaves through the AAPI community.

"For Asian Americans, I think it's a period of collective racial trauma because we could see ourselves and our family members in those women. We could feel them," Dr. Jeung said.

Dr. Jeung said shedding light on the violence through data and speaking out has pushed people into action.

"There has been a major movement within the community to stand up against racism," he said.

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There have been rallies across the country to call attention to the crimes, a federal COVID-19 hate crime law was put in place, and there has been more involvement in AAPI organizations, Asian Americans Advancing Justice. This organization helped at least 120,000 people receive bystander training in the last two years.

Phi Nguyen, the executive director of the Atlanta chapter of the organization said the work is far from over.

"I don't think enough has changed beyond creating that awareness," she said.

According to the Center of Study of Hate and Extremism at CSU San Bernardino, there was a nearly 340 percent increase in crimes against AAPI members in major cities from 2020 to 2021.

Just in the past couple of months, a man in New York was charged with hate crimes after police said he attacked seven Asian women in two hours.

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Last week, police in New York said an Asian woman was punched 125 times, stomped on, and spit on by a man. According to officials, the man was charged with attempted murder and assault, both as hate crimes.

In January, Michelle Go was pushed in front of the subway in New York City and killed.

Last month, Christina Yuna Lee was found brutally stabbed to death in her New York City apartment. Police said she was followed home.

Reports of unprovoked attacks like these continue to cause uneasiness within communities.

"I do think that how we move on and move forward and navigate this moment is critical," Nguyen said.

She said long term solutions will only come by addressing root causes of the violence.

"I think because the root causes of interpersonal violence are long-standing systemic issues, it's very hard to actually come up with solutions that are going to address those things immediately," Nguyen said.

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Atlanta spa shootings: Advocacy groups reflect on progress made in the last year - FOX 5 Atlanta

A fifteen-point draft deal between Russia and Ukraine, reported by the Financial Times on Wednesday (16 March), would involve Kyiv renouncing NATO membership ambitions and accepting territorial changes, in return for security guarantees.

According to the FT, who based their report on three people involved in the talks, Ukraine and Russia have made significant progress on a tentative 15-point peace plan including a ceasefire and Russian withdrawal if Kyiv declares neutrality and accepts limits on its armed forces.

The proposed deal, which Ukrainian and Russian negotiators reportedly discussed in full for the first time on Monday (14 March), would involve Kyiv renouncing its ambitions to join NATO and promising not to host foreign military bases or weaponry in exchange for protection from allies such as the US, UK, and Turkey, the sources said.

The nature of Western guarantees for Ukrainian security and their acceptability to Moscow could yet prove to be a big obstacle to any deal.

But the biggest sticking point reportedly remains Russias demand that Ukraine recognise Moscows sovereignty over Crimea, which Russia invaded and annexed in 2014, and the independence of the two Russia-controlled so-called republics of Donetsk and Lugansk.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that peace negotiations must lead to a fair deal for Ukraine that would include reliable security guarantees protecting it from future threats.

We can and must fight today, now. We can and must defend our state, our life, our Ukrainian life. We can and must negotiate a just but fair peace for Ukraine, real security guarantees that will work, he said in a video address.

Ukraine has had a troublesome experience with security guarantees in recent history.

The so-called Budapest memorandum of 1991 prohibited the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States from threatening or using military force or economic coercion against Ukraine, in exchange for Kyiv giving up the Soviet nuclear arsenal based on its soil.

That memorandum, however, did not prevent Russia from attacking Ukraine in 2014 and in 2022, nor did it ensure meaningful support from the UK and the US.

The Kremlin said for its part on Wednesday that a neutral Ukraine, with its own army along the lines of Austria or Sweden, was being looked at as a possible compromise in talks with Kyiv.

This is a variant that is currently being discussed and which could really be seen as a compromise, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by RIA news agency on day 21 of what Russia calls its special military operation in Ukraine, which has so far killed thousands and turned three million Ukrainians into refugees.

Peskov was commenting on remarks from Vladimir Medinsky, Russias chief negotiator, who earlier told state TV: Ukraine is offering an Austrian or Swedish version of a neutral demilitarized state, but at the same time a state with its own army and navy.

Russias Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that absolutely specific wordings were close to being agreed in the negotiations.

Ending the war is as much in the interest of Ukraine, whose population has suffered shocking atrocities, as it is for Russia, which has struggled with its military campaign and has become an international pariah, under crippling sanctions and close to defaulting on its international debt.

It is unclear if the lifting of Western sanctions is part of the peace plan.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]

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Ukraine and Russia make progress on plan to end war - EURACTIV

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Western sanctions have wiped out "30 years of economic progress" in Russia in just a few weeks, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday.

Western countries and trade blocs imposed heavy financial sanctions on Russia after President Vladimir Putin sent troops to attack Ukraine in late February. The measures include banning transactions with Russia's central bank, cutting off some Russian banks' access to the SWIFT international-payments system, banning Russian oil imports into the US, andblocking the trade of luxury goods.

The measures have helped send the ruble to a record low and triggered soaring inflation in Russia.

"The unprecedented costs we've imposed with allies and partners have reversed 30 years of economic progress, something President Putin himself pushed for, and that has happened in less than a month," Psaki said at a press briefing Tuesday.

Russia holds around $640 billion in foreign reserves, which were targeted by Western sanctions so that the country couldn't use them to prop up its economy. Russia's finance minister told Interfax that this had frozen around $300 billion of reserves.

"He can't use these rainy day funds to support his war in Ukraine," Psaki said.

She added that inflation in Russia has been "rampant."

"The ruble is less than a penny," she said. "It's the worst-performing emerging market currency."

Nathanael Tilahun, an assistant professor and sanctions expert at Coventry University's Research Centre for Financial & Corporate Integrity, previously told Insider that the sanctions so far would "basically bring Russia's economy to its knees overnight, completely," and that over the next few months their effects"would trickle down to every single individual Russian."

The West has also targeted sanctions at some Russian individuals and has frozen the foreign-held assets of Putin, other Kremlin leaders, andseveral high-profile oligarchs. Psaki said that Europe had seized at least five yachts owned by Russian oligarchs.

"Our actions have hit hard at the things President Putin cares about the most: degrading his military, [the country's] access to cutting-edge technology, and [its] ability to project power and influence," Psaki said.

Butsome critics say the sanctions haven't gone far enough, in that they have yet to persuade Putin to call off the invasion. Exiled Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky told CNN that blocking all Putin's bankers and sanctioning every oligarch was the "only thing" that would stop Russia'scontinued assault on Ukraine.

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Western sanctions reversed 30 years of Russian economic progress: Psaki - Business Insider

BYU senior Teagan Graham celebrates a good play during the WCC game against Gonzaga at the Marriott Center in Provo on Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022. (Jaren Wilkey, BYU Photo)

BYU senior forward Teagan Graham plays basketball with a lot of passion and heart, often showing her emotions on the court.

But if you really want to see her fired up, ask her about efforts to level the playing field between mens and womens college basketball, particularly as part of the NCAA tournaments.

Im really excited about that, Graham said Sunday after the Cougars earned the No. 6 seed for the Big Dance. I think big things are coming in that area.

The fact the BYUs matchup was shown on Selection Sunday, just after the bracket was revealed for the mens tournament was announced, was an example of the drive for change. The womens tournament also is also titled March Madness, just like the mens event.

Grahams efforts to help people understand what female college athletes go through go beyond just her experiences as a player.

I just finished my masters thesis on it and I did a podcast called Second Class citizens, which is on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts now that looks at gender equity in Division I sports, Graham said. I think theres going to be big changes, especially this tournament.

She believes that the need to demonstrate that female athletes deserve the same respect as their male counterparts is becoming much more clear.

I think theres a lot of pressure on the NCAA to drastically improve from last years tournament, Graham said. Obviously everyone knows about the weight rooms and all the disparities from last year. Its also about having the bigger conversation about promotion and womens coverage and investment. Its asking all the big questions about why women dont get more or whats happening with TV coverage and things like that.

She knows that change like this wont happen overnight but shes optimistic about the possibilities moving forward.

I think theres a long way to go, Graham said. But its vital that this conversation is held right now around this time to make sure that it is still being had with people who have power and influence to make change.

BYU head coach Jeff Judkins has coached the Cougar womens team since 2001 and thus has seen things evolving over the last two decades. He also likes the direction things are going for women athletes right now.

I think its a big plus, Judkins said. I just think its so exciting to be able to have a lot of the same things that the men have. I think these these ladies deserve it. They work hard. They do whatever it takes. Basketball is becoming way more popular in the female game with more crowds, more support, better coaches, the players are getting a lot better TV exposure. All those things are coming into place and its exciting to be part of it. Twenty years ago when I started it wasnt like what it is right now and I think its just going to keep growing.

Judkins, Graham and the rest of the BYU squad are currently getting ready for their first-round matchup in the NCAA tournament.

The Cougars earned a No. 6-seed and will play No. 11-seed Villanova on Saturday in Ann Arbor, Michigan at 1 p.m. EDT. That game will be broadcast on ESPNEWS.

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BYU women's basketball thrilled by progress towards leveling the playing field - Daily Herald

WhatsUp Gold 2022 leverages the powerful capabilities of Progress Flowmon to help organizations improve the visibility, security and reliability of their infrastructure

BEDFORD, Mass., March 16, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Progress (Nasdaq: PRGS), the trusted provider ofinfrastructure software, today announced the latest release of Progress WhatsUp Gold, its award-winning IT infrastructure monitoring software. With todays WhatsUp Gold release, less than six months after Progress acquisition of Kemp, Progress introduces integration with the comprehensive network traffic performance monitoring and diagnostics capabilities of Progress Flowmon along with the monitoring of Progress LoadMaster. Progress now offers organizations a comprehensive and easy-to-understand view of their networks performance from a single pane of glass.

With hybrid and remote work environments, system administrators are increasingly facing the challenge of effectively managing complex, multi-vendor, hybrid environments that span beyond their network edge. Powerful, vendor-agnostic visibility is required in order to accomplish this pivotal, ever-present task while minimizing business impact from service issues and downtime. Now more than ever, the ability to synthesize insights from multiple infrastructure vantage points is critical.

WhatsUp Gold 2022 builds on its interactive mapping interface and total ecosystem visibility through integration with Flowmon that surfaces deep network performance insights in a single dashboard. IT operations teams can now simplify troubleshooting with consolidated access to WhatsUp Gold native infrastructure monitoring view combined with advanced network telemetry. When an organization deploys WhatsUp Gold 2022, when network issues occur, time to resolution is optimized which reduces impact on the business. Joint deployments of WhatsUp Gold and Flowmon also mean that customers can benefit from anomaly detection capabilities that help to improve their overall security posture, reducing the risk of threat actors and infrastructure compromise.

To manage all aspects of hybrid infrastructure monitoring, organizations often end up with dozens of independent tools that dont natively work together and may be collecting the same data leading to significant levels of inefficiency, said Jason Dover, VP, Product Strategy, Enterprise Application Experience, Progress. To reduce complexity and increase efficiency, a unified approach to network infrastructure and security visibility is required. By integrating WhatsUp Gold with Flowmon, Progress enables customers with the right information in context, to identify the leading indicators of infrastructure performance and network issues in order to prevent them from happening in the first place.

In addition to Flowmon integration, this release of WhatsUp Gold introduces native monitoring of LoadMaster ADCs and Microsoft Teams alert group notifications.

WhatsUp Gold IT infrastructure monitoring solution empowers operations teams to monitor and manage their business applications and the resources that support them to ensure high levels of performance and availability. WhatsUp Gold was named a 2021 Network Monitoring Emotional Footprint Champion by SoftwareReviews, a division of IT research and advisory firm Info-Tech Research Group, and regularly receives high marks from peer-to-peer review sites such as G2.

The latest release of WhatsUp Gold is available today. For more information, visit https://www.whatsupgold.com.

About ProgressDedicated to propelling business forward in a technology-driven world, Progress (Nasdaq: PRGS) helps businesses drive faster cycles of innovation, fuel momentum and accelerate their path to success. As the trusted provider ofthe bestproducts to develop, deploy and manage high-impact applications, Progress enables customers to build the applications and experiences they need, deploy where and how they want andmanage it all safely and securely.Hundreds of thousands of enterprises, including 1,700 software companies and 3.5 milliondevelopers, depend on Progress to achieve their goalswith confidence.Learn more atwww.progress.com, and follow us on LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Progress, WhatsUp, Kemp, LoadMaster and Flowmon are trademarks or registered trademarks of Progress Software Corporation and/or one of its subsidiaries or affiliates in the US and other countries. Any other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

Press Contacts:Kim Baker Progress +1-781-280-4000 pr@progress.com

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Progress Introduces Enhanced IT Infrastructure Observability and Security with Latest Release of WhatsUp Gold - GlobeNewswire

The Logan County Coalition on Aging is getting ready to unveil its Age Friendly Survey Thermometer Monday.

LCCOA wants to know how to make the county a better age-friendly community and, to that end, is circulating surveys throughout Logan County to gather data that will help create a plan for making Logan County more age-friendly.

Peggy Stoltenberg, Partnership and Project Development Manager for Colorado State Universitys Northeast Regional Engagement Center in Sterling said, the survey is part of a two-year project. The surveys have been circulating for several weeks and they hope to have that part of the project finished by the end of March.

The unveiling will occur on the Logan County Courthouse Square at 12:30 p.m. City and county leaders and community champions will be on hand, and a reception will follow at the CSU Engagement Center across the street.

In 2020, the Engagement Center, Logan County and Logan County Economic Development Corp. applied for an age friendly designation from the American Association of Retired Persons. An age-friendly designation means that a community has pledged to come together to plan how it can improve the lives of residents of all ages.

AARP declared Logan County an age friendly community in January 2021, expecting a plan to be developed by January of 2023. The first step in creating that plan is a 45-question survey that asks about all aspects of life in Logan County.

The data derived from the surveys will be valuable for other purposes as well.

A lot of times, we apply for grants for things we know we need because people have told us (we need them) but the people with the grants ask for data to show the need, Stoltenberg said. This will give us raw data we can use to show the need.

The surveys are available online in both English and in Spanish, and at the following locations: Jackson Insurance Agency, Family Resource Center, Salud, Sterling Public Library, Dr. Charles Gerks office, the Engagement Centers Facebook page and Logan Countys Facebook page.

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Coalition on Aging to unveil survey progress thermometer Monday - Journal Advocate

Treatment resistance to cancer therapy can be a major stumbling block in a patients clinical journey, but it can be addressed with combination therapy or personalized medicine.

Personalized medicine uses patient-specific information to tailor treatment strategies to each individual, reducing the likelihood of treatment resistance occurring. OncoHost uses proteomic analyses and AI-driven technology to give insights into how a patient will respond to treatment, equipping the patient with the information to put them in the drivers seat of their care journey.

Technology Networks spoke with the CEO of OncoHost, Dr. Ofer Sharon, to find out more about how OncoHost enables patient-specific treatment plans based on personalized medicine approaches.

Katie Brighton (KB): Can you tell us about how personalized oncology treatments have developed over the last decade? How has this changed the patient experience?

Ofer Sharon (OS): Over the years, drug-based anti-cancer treatment has evolved from a non-specific carpet bombing approach to targeted therapies biologic therapies that target specific cancer cells that harbor driver mutations. In addition, over the last decade there has been a rise in immunotherapies used in the clinic.

Immunotherapy is a new type of anti-cancer treatment that activates the patients immune response towards the cancer. Targeted therapies offer improved response rates with a different profile of adverse events, in that patients respond to treatment for longer, and are more likely to respond well. While this approach to cancer management improves the outcome of survival, immunotherapy also greatly improves clinical outcomes.

One issue with targeted therapies is that they are only relevant for a minority of patients for whom driver mutations can be identified. At some point during treatment, the patients may experience cancer resistance breakthrough and they eventually stop responding to their given treatment. With immunotherapy, a certain percentage of patients respond until they eventually experience this resistance breakthrough. This issue stems from the inability to pre-emptively determine which patient will respond and benefit from the course of treatment and which will not. This inability to predict patient response results in wasted time, unnecessary adverse events, frustration, despair and uncertainty.

KB: How does treatment resistance occur in cancer patients? Are there particular cancer types that are more likely to become treatment-resistant? How can we combat this?

OS: Resistance to treatment is a multifactorial process. Resistance occurs when cancer cells have a certain molecular trait that causes them to be resistant to a specific drug because of biological mechanisms related to the bodys response to the anti-cancer treatment. This phenomenon, known as host response, is one of the major reasons for treatment resistance today.

Resistance mechanisms are generally diverse and non-specific to certain cancer types and may present themselves as primary resistance, intrinsic resistance or acquired resistance. Combating resistance requires several strategies. Combination therapies, along with therapies that have different mechanisms of action, are well-known approaches used to mitigate treatment resistance. Another approach is personalized medicine. Personalized medicine is a specific approach that involves adapting the treatment plan to fit the patients specific needs rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all treatment protocol.

KB: What benefits do proteomics analyses and artificial intelligence (AI) bring to understanding which treatment is best for the patient?

OS: Proteins are the building blocks and drivers of biological processes in our body. Analyzing proteins allows us to gain insight into the complex interplay of the tumor, the therapy and the host (patient). This complex biological interaction involves intrinsic cancer cell characteristics with the bodys host response to treatment and is the underlying reason for treatment resistance.

There are thousands of proteins in the body and making clinical sense of these protein levels and dynamics requires sophisticated mathematical and bioinformatic tools. Combining plasma protein analysis with machine learning tools enables us to answer three clinical questions:

1. Will the patient respond?

2. Why does resistance occur?

3. What may be the next line of therapy?

The key factor of this combination analysis is that it is all completely personalized, specific and relevant to each individual patient.

KB: How does OncoHost help patients make decisions on their treatment plan?

OS: We provide oncologists with insight on the response probability for individual patients for the first year of treatment, analysis of the biological pathways involved in resistance and identification of potential resistance-associated proteins. We also provide analysis on the drugs that are targeting those resistance-associated proteins. This analysis allows us to intervene early and support the clinical decision-making process with a significantly improved level of insight.

KB: As personalized treatments are coming closer to being widely used in the clinic, are there any considerations that need to be taken into account regarding handling patient data?

OS: As with any other type of personal health information, we need to operate within the boundaries set by legislation and patient privacy standards and best practices. HIPAA and GDPR are good examples of those measures.

KB: Where can you see personalized therapy heading in the future?

OS: In the future, diagnostics is going to be based on several assessments across the continuum of the disease. Early detection, treatment guidance, identification of intrinsic resistance, acquired resistance and different treatment strategies are all examples of the future course of diagnostics. I believe that the data to identify these factors and guide clinical decisions will be based on multiomic analysis at different points in time. This will allow for the guidance of clinical decisions that are specifically matched for each individual patient.

Dr. Ofer Sharon was speaking to Katie Brighton, Scientific Copywriter for Technology Networks.

Read this article:

Driving Progress in Personalized Cancer Therapy - Technology Networks

Linda Leuzzi

Twelve months after its official ribbon-cutting launch in Patchogue, GiGis Playhouse Long Island Down Syndrome Achievement Center has expanded its programs, increased its volunteer and participating family numbers, and has a glam fundraiser coming up on March 19 at the Southward Ho Country Club in Bay Shore.

Not bad for a not-for-profit that doesnt charge for programs offered to Down syndrome prenatal, toddlers, adults, and also parents.

Of the programs that emerged since last years three offerings, weve added a bunch, said Mike Cirigliano, board president.

We now have Fantastic Friends, interjected board member and program chair Elizabeth Rahne. Its a socialization program for adults. They do different types of activities like karaoke, role playing, and games like Minute to Win. Theres also Leaps and Bounds for children 3 to 6, designed to help with sensory and motor capability.

A We Dance program is instructed by a Stage Door School of Dance Studio teacher once a month. Its designed for children with special needs, Rahne added. Weve had little ones and teens. Its a beloved program. Theres also Movement to Music and Art Expression for 5 year olds and up.

A call from Kilwins Patchogue owner John Murray came in for Cirigliano during the Advance interview. Murray had been asked if he would participate in a Fantastic Friends visit with GiGis participants on March 28. Murray called to say yes.

We want to travel with them and bring them to businesses that support us, Cirigliano said. Well start here in Patchogue and expand to other places.

Im looking forward to it, joked Rahne of the anticipated ice cream visit.

Its really simple, said Murray when contacted. They are doing great work there. I have a cousin with Down syndrome and its an easy way to support the organization. Its got to be great for these families to bring their kids there and interact through their programs.

Cirigliano said the group will meet at the popular ice cream store on Main Street.

John will introduce himself, talk about what he offers, and give a tour of his business, he said. Then hell have them make one of his products, which theyll sit and eat afterwards.

The Southward Ho gala is a big deal. How did they pull that off?

Its due to the volunteers who want to see it through, said Rahne, admitting to nail biting along the way. We already have 170 seats sold so far.

This place is definitely inhabited by grace.

Vivid donated Sherwin Williams paint hues of deep purple, tropical blues, warm corals, which radiate from the walls, including an emerging Patchogue Arts Council mural in the Sensory Room. Best of All Walls recognition celebrating participants milestones are scattered throughout. There are Thank You plaques to sponsors like PeraBell Food Bar, Dublin Deck and Donatina. Rudys Bar & Grill is also a biggie. But perhaps the most relevant ambiance tap is the large GiGis Playhouse logo: Be Accepting, Be Generous, Be Kind, with a heart imbedded with a G in the Innovation Board Room in the Open Play Area.

Theres no dearth of volunteers who sign up for one project or another. Griffin Jacobs, 18, an artist from The Summit School in Queens, for example, drives from his home in Glen Cove to help out via an internship program. Hes great, said Cirigliano, as Jacobs turned from his project in the volunteer room to say hello. Hes working on our annual sponsorships and created a gorgeous chalkboard for us.

Cirigliano, president and Cirigliano Agency owner, has been dogged in his commitment to establish the Patchogue headquarters with his board members for several years.

(He even tapped the Islip Bulletin Inspiration Award winner Keith Caputo from Center Moriches last year for a comedy show fundraiser. Caputo will attend the gala as a table captain.)

Cirigliano is godfather to his brother and sister-in-laws twins, nephew Louis and niece Bella. Bella has Down syndrome; Cirigliano spends a lot of time with the family.

The Patchogue headquarters, with a parking lot and entrance located off Austin Street (the location spans to Jayne Avenue), is the only GiGis Playhouse Down Syndrome Achievement Center on Long Island, with coverage to the east end and to western Nassau. Currently, over 50 GiGis Playhouse locations operate across the country.

Cirigliano keeps careful track of progress from their startup and can quickly get numbers of families registered with them from a database as well as other numbers. In 2018, we had 279 families, he said. In 2021, its 1,427. Our volunteer numbers started [in] 2018 with 10; in 2021, its up to 153. Its 99 percent volunteer-run and 100 percent funded by donations.

Their goal was to raise $200,000 to cover operating expenses for the first year. Their budget this year is $215,000.

Our big event was cancelled last year, Cirigliano said. But this year, Nancy Gianni, founder and chief belief officer of GiGis Playhouse, and her daughter, GiGi, are the special guests at the gala. (Gianni has been recognized as a CNN Hero among other recognitions.) They are flying in from South Barrington, Ill., and will attend a brunch the next day for those families who cant make the gala.

True to form, were already thinking about expansion, Cirigliano said. We want to start a Hugs and Mugs, a nonprofit caf, and a GiGis University.

Read more:

Progress with life possibilities and a gala, one year later: GiGi's Playhouse LI to celebrate at Southward Ho - Long Island Advance