(2020-04-02). Alberta's right-wing UCP government exploits coronavirus pandemic to lay off at least 20,000 education workers. wsws.org Jason Kenney's United Conservative Party government slashed all non-teacher salary funding to Alberta school boards Saturday, which will force the layoff of at least 20,000 teaching assistants, cleaners, and other support staff.
(2020-04-02). [Research Paper] Survey of major trauma centre preparedness for mass casualty incidents in Australia, Canada, England and New Zealand. thelancet.com The disaster preparedness of MTCs was high for communication, safety and security but there was clear need for improvement in other areas including surge capacity, human resources and post-disaster recovery.
(2020-04-02). SF Hunters Point Shipyard,The Workers, The Science, The Health Issues & The Cover-up. indybay.org Dr. Ahimsa Sumchai discusses continuing health epidemic of disease as a result of the contamination by the former Hunters Point naval shipyard. She also discusses the systemic cover-up by the Navy, CCSF and. UCSF of workers becoming contaminated. UCSF workers are members of AFSCME 3299 and CWA UPTE.
(2020-04-02). Statistical lies used to justify continued inaction, paint the US epidemic as nearly over. wsws.org The US ruling class turns to bad statistics to justify its continued inaction and paint a picture that the worst is just ahead.
(2020-04-02). AI Tools Developed to Predict COVID-19 Case Severity – Research. sputniknews.com An artificial intelligence (AI) model which can predict whether a COVID-19 patient will experience a severe illness has been jointly developed by researchers from China and the US. The research was based on 53 patients from China and its findings were 70 to 80 percent accurate.
(2020-04-02). Chinese Trial Vaccine May be Tested Abroad. sputniknews.com China's first candidate vaccine for the novel coronavirus may be put into additional trials in other countries seriously hit by the pandemic if the ongoing initial trial proves it is safe and effective, the top researcher for the vaccine said.
(2020-04-02). Tencent Partners With United Nations Ahead of 75 Year Jubilee to Host Online Videoconferences. sputniknews.com The announcement comes ahead of the intergovernmental organisation's 75th anniversary, in a bid to reach wider audiences, including young people, amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
(2020-04-02). Turkish defense giant Aselsan continues to grow in 2020. yenisafak.com The Turkish defense giant Aselsan, which closed last year with sound financial results, announced that it continued to grow in 2020 despite negative global conditions."Aselsan continued its growth trend in the first three months of 2020 without losing momentum and managed to receive more than $320 million of new orders," Haluk Gorgun, the CEO of the company, said on Thursday in a press release issued on the Public Disclosure Platform.Aselsan will keep supporting its production power and research and development activities with strong financial results in 2020, as it did in 2019, Gorgun noted.He stressed that the…
(2020-04-01). Pandemic Reveals Limits of Education System to Assist Students and Families. truthout.org The COVID-19 pandemic is unfolding fast, with each day's missives giving us new, and sometimes contradictory, information about the virus. Schools — public and private, pre-K through university — have been scrambling to figure out how best to respond since the virus hit the U.S. Currently, schools in most states are closed, but dates for reopening vary. Some are slated to open their doors in mid-April, while others have already announced that they will not reopen until fall. | As s…
(2020-04-01). 'Unorthodox': The vagaries of victimization. peoplesworld.org 
Esty Shapiro is being persecuted for being a Jew. Her rights are taken away. She's denied education, subject to sexual abuse, cut off from the larger society, routinely humiliated and turned into a breeding machine. Everything in her environment reinforces discrimination and a second-class role. Esther Shapiro, granddaughter of Holocaust victims, is clearly being persecuted …
(2020-04-01). John Hopkins: US First Nation With Over 200000 Covid-19 Cases. telesurenglish.net The United States became the first nation with more than 200,000 COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, according to a new tally from Johns Hopkins University. | As of Wednesday afternoon, a total of 209,071 confirmed cases have been reported in the United States, with 4,476 deaths, as shown by the tally updated by the university's Center for Systems Science and Engineering. | RELATED: | New York state has recorded 83,712 dia…
(2020-04-01). The UK and Covid-19 Crisis. counterpunch.org BoJo, though not the proverbial rocket scientist, is much better informed generally (and less demented!) than his orange-hued American counterpart, and so, for instance, knows that hospitals caring for COVID-19 patients need more than 2 ventilators each, and that making egregious suggestions regarding possible "cures" for the virus is best left to those better trained in science and medicine!
(2020-04-01). 'How Are We Supposed to Protect Our Lungs?': Climate Strikers Blast EPA Suspension of Pollution Laws. commondreams.org School children march down Queen Street during a climate change protest on May 24, 2019 in Auckland, New Zealand. Thousands of students across New Zealand are demonstrating in the streets again to fight for climate change action. (Photo: Hannah Peters/Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files… …
(2020-04-01). "Whose University? Our University!" The Struggle for a COLA at UC Berkeley. counterpunch.org On March 5th, in the midst of a campus-wide march and rally, a student protester at UC Berkeley walked into the bustling Free Speech Movement Café, a study spot that borrows its name from Cal's legendary 1960s anti-war protests. "Fellow students!" she shouted, climbing on top of the counter. "Today, you will witness the largest
(2020-04-01). Campuses Are Closed, but Student Journalists Are Still Working. thenation.com Campuses Are Closed, but Student Journalists Are Still Working…
(2020-04-01). Stranded UK tourists wait for news on charter flights. thecanary.co 
Hundreds of thousands of UK citizens stranded abroad face an anxious wait for details of rescue flights to be announced. | The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has set aside £75 million to charter flights from destinations where commercial routes have been severed due to the coronavirus pandemic. | Repatriation flights operated from Peru and Tunisia on Tuesday, but details of further flights have not been revealed. | On March 23, the FCO advised all UK residents who were travelling abroad to return home. | We are aware that not everyone who wanted to leave Peru was able to. We understand this is a worr…
(2020-04-01). How coronavirus might save more lives than it takes. thecanary.co 
For decades, our society has been deteriorating. And our tolerance for the discomfort and death of our fellow human beings has seemed virtually boundless. But with the appearance of a virus that made the world stop, we started to notice each other again. We started to count those suffering and dying like it mattered.We are in a surreal and terrifying moment. But if we harness the compassion and creativity that the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic has forced upon us, this virus might just save more lives than it takes.The numbers: I was floored by a statistic from the World Health Organization (WHO) from jus…
(2020-03-31). Scientists Help Governors to Confront Coronavirus in Brazil. telesurenglish.net A videoconference held Tuesday morning brought together Governors of Brazil's northeastern states, including Rui Costa, the Workers' party governor of Bahia, and members of the Scientific Committee of the Northeast Consortium to combat the spread of coronavirus. | RELATED: | Doctors, scientists, physicists, and researchers came together to assist Brazilian governors in taking the right health decisions to confr…
(2020-03-31). Visas extended for overseas doctors, nurses and paramedics fighting virus in UK. thecanary.co Doctors, nurses and paramedics from abroad are to have their visas extended so they can "focus on fighting coronavirus". | The extension will apply to around 2,800 migrant health professionals who are working for the NHS and have UK work visas which are due to expire before 1 October. | They will be renewed automatically for a year free of charge so they can remain working in the country, the Home Office said. | The changes will also apply to their family members. | Restrictions have also been lifted on how many hours international student doctors and nurses can work for the NHS per week, according to an announce…
(2020-03-31). On the Need for Dissent and Debate in These Urgent Times. thenation.com On the Need for Dissent and Debate in These Urgent Times…
(2020-03-30). In a 10-Day Span, ICE Flew This Iranian Detainee Across the Country Nine Times. iranian.com Less than two weeks ago, the Trump administration urged Americans to avoid nonessential travel to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Major airlines slashed their routes. All the while, Sirous Asgari took nine different flights around the country. None of them was by choice. Asgari bounced around on chartered jets from Louisiana to Texas to …
(2020-03-28). [Comment] Offline: COVID-19 and the NHS—"a national scandal" thelancet.com "When this is all over, the NHS England board should resign in their entirety." So wrote one National Health Service (NHS) health worker last weekend. The scale of anger and frustration is unprecedented, and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the cause. The UK Government's Contain—Delay—Mitigate—Research strategy failed. It failed, in part, because ministers didn't follow WHO's advice to "test, test, test" every suspected case. They didn't isolate and quarantine. They didn't contact trace. These basic principles of public health and infectious disease control were ignored, for reasons that r…
(2020-03-28). [Obituary] Aron Goldhirsch. thelancet.com Medical oncologist specialising in breast cancer. Born on April 25, 1946, in Landsberg am Lech, Germany, he died on Feb 26, 2020, in Lugano, Switzerland, aged 73 years.
(2020-03-27). "Total System Failure": Congress Pushes $2 Trillion Pandemic Bill. Will Dems Allow "Corporate Coup"? democracynow.org 
We continue our look at the massive $2 trillion coronavirus relief package — the largest stimulus bill in U.S. history — with author Matt Stoller, who argues the country will be unrecognizable after this pandemic if big corporations walk away with trillions of dollars and no strings attached. Stoller is research director at the American Economic Liberties Project and author of the book "Goliath: The 100-Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy." His recent column for The Guardian is headlined "The coronavirus relief bill could turn into a corporate coup if we aren't careful."
(2020-03-27). The Italian war-like measures to fight coronavirus spreading: Re-open closed hospitals now. thelancet.com As recently highlighted by The Lancet, the Covid-19 outbreak started in Northern Italy has shocked Europe, while it has been questioned if China benefits from an authoritarian advantage in disease response [1,2]. In Italy, after the shutdown of the educational system (schools and Universities will remain closed at least for one month) and the collapse of the touristic sector (90% of travels and reservations cancelled), the Government officially locked down residents of all the region of Milan (Lombardia) and other 11 provinces.
(2020-03-18). [Research Paper] A phase 1b randomized study of the safety and immunological responses to vaccination with H4:IC31, H56:IC31, and BCG revaccination in Mycobacterium tuberculosis-uninfected adolescents in Cape Town, South Africa. thelancet.com BCG revaccination administered as a single dose ID and both H4: IC31 and H56: IC31 administered as 2 doses IM had acceptable safety profiles in healthy, QFT-negative, previously BCG-vaccinated adolescents. Characterization of the assays and the immunogenicity of these vaccines may help to identify valuable markers of protection for upcoming immune correlates analyses of C-040-404 and future TB vaccine efficacy trials.
(2020-03-18). [Correspondence] Future of Chernobyl research: the urgency for consolidated action. thelancet.com The Chernobyl nuclear disaster on April 26, 1986, continues to create fears and myths about its health consequences, as shown by the large response to a top-rated HBO miniseries devoted to the tragic event. Risk assessments range from recognising an increase in thyroid cancer incidence in exposed children and adolescents (becoming one of the single most established long-term health effects of the Chernobyl disaster on the general population), to claims of hundreds of thousands of deaths due to the accident.
(2020-03-16). [Correspondence] COVID-19: the need for continuous medical education and training. thelancet.com Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) moved rapidly through China, and the virus had spread to more than 60 countries and infected nearly 90‚Äà000 patients by March 5, 2020. Based on data for 72‚Äà314 cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), 14% of people have severe disease, 5% have critical illness, and 2 ∑3% die.1 COVID-19 is not a conventional disease, and rapid changes in the provision of critical care have been needed to meet the needs of patients. Health emergencies such as the COVID-19 outbreak can be a huge challenge for critical-care ph…
(2020-03-16). [Comment] Evolving therapies for rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis: balancing efficacy and toxicity. thelancet.com Disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a leading global health problem associated with severe morbidity and a high risk of death, despite widespread availability of effective treatment for drug-sensitive tuberculosis. Although drug-resistant tuberculosis had been described for many years, alarming reports over the past decade suggested neither tuberculosis transmission nor virulence was compromised by the selection of tuberculosis drug resistance.1,2 These reports, describing the prognosis of patients with extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis, galvanised global research efforts into improving treatment,…
(2020-03-16). [Research Paper] Results from the first English stool bank using faecal microbiota transplant as a medicinal product for the treatment of Clostridioides difficile infection. thelancet.com The methodology developed here enabled successful licencing of FMT by The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency as a medicinal product. This has widened the availability of FMT in the National Health Service via a stool bank and can be applied in other centres across the world to improve access to safe and quality assured treatments.
(2020-03-10). [Research Paper] Association of characteristics of tampon use with menstrual toxic shock syndrome in France. thelancet.com Our study suggests that the risk of MTSS was associated with using tampons for more than 6 h, overnight tampon use during sleep, and neither read nor followed tampon insertion instructions in case of reading.
(2020-03-09). [Comment] Patchy progress on the ICPD: are we asking the right questions? thelancet.com The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) agenda, set in 1994 in Cairo and revisited 25 years later in Nairobi in 2019, included goals for equitable education of women, reduction of infant and child mortality, reduction of maternal mortality, and access to reproductive and sexual health services, including family planning, through its well known Programme of Action.1 The ICPD was ground-breaking in recognising the benefits that empowerment of women and girls would have for themselves, their families, and, ultimately, their countries.
(2020-03-07). TEXAS 2020 DEMOCRATIC PARTY PRIMARY. tdmsresearch.com Exit Poll Versus Reported Vote Count By Theodore de Macedo Soares The 2020 Texas Democratic Party presidential primary was held on March 3, 2020. Election results from the computerized vote counts differed significantly from the results projected by the exit poll conducted by Edison Research and published by CNN at poll's closing. According to the exit poll Sanders was tied with Biden but lost in the unobservable computer counts by 4.5%. In this election candidate Sanders saw the largest
(2020-03-05). [Research Paper] Gender parity at scale: Examining correlations of country-level female participation in education and work with measures of men's and women's survival. thelancet.com This study extends past research by examining actionable areas of gender equality and their impact on both male and female survival. While longitudinal research is needed to examine both causality and mechanisms, our findings suggest longevity gains for both women and men, and for all children through reduced maternal mortality, where greater parity in school and work is exhibited.
(2020-03-05). [Research Paper] Access to women physicians and uptake of reproductive, maternal and child health services in India. thelancet.com Higher district availability of women physicians is associated with higher maternal health care utilization but not child health care utilization. Improving gender parity in the physician workforce and rural women physician access may improve maternal health care use in India.
(2020-03-04). [Research Paper] Effects of sexual harassment on advancement of women in academic medicine: A multi-institutional longitudinal study. thelancet.com Contrary to our hypothesis, women reporting severe workplace harassment in 1995 were more rather than less likely to advance to full professor. Women seeking advancement may be more vulnerable to sexual harassment in academic medicine vis a vis greater exposure to those who abuse their position of authority.
(2020-03-04). [Research Paper] Gender discrimination and depressive symptoms among child-bearing women: ELSPAC-CZ cohort study. thelancet.com The findings provide the first evidence that perceived gender discrimination is associated with depressive symptoms among child-bearing women. Social intervention programs aimed at reducing gender discrimination can potentially contribute to better mental health of women.
(2020-03-04). [Research Paper] Sport as a vehicle of change for livelihoods, social participation and marital health for the youth: Findings from a prospective cohort in Bihar, India. thelancet.com Evidence from India shows that sport can be an instrument supporting pro-social engagement for boys and girls. Further understanding of the gendered nature of sport and the mechanisms linking sport to agency among youth is needed.
(2020-03-04). [Commentary] Gender equality: Framing a special collection of evidence for all. thelancet.com In this issue of EClinicalMedicine, the editors have assembled a special collection of papers which reinforce and extend concepts advanced recently in other Lancet family journals on Gender Equality, Norms and Health [1] and Advancing Gender Equity in Science, Medicine and Global Health [2]. These works in turn, build on decades of scholarship in the study of gender inequalities which to this day have disproportionately impacted women and girls, and even more so women who are poor or from racial or religious minorities or other intersecting aspects of identify which impart social disadvantage.
(2020-03-03). [Research Paper] Violence-related knife injuries in a UK city; epidemiology and impact on secondary care resources. thelancet.com Knife injuries constitute 12 ∑9% of trauma team workload. Violence recidivism and intoxication are common, and females are predominantly injured in a domestic setting, presenting opportunities for targeted violence reduction interventions. 13 ∑9% of injuries involved machetes, with implications for law enforcement strategies.
(2020-02-24). [Newsdesk] The 7th London Centre for NTDs conference. thelancet.com The London Centre for Neglected Tropical Disease Research conference was held in London, United Kingdom, on Jan 30. Alexandra York reports.
(2020-02-19). [Research Paper] Loss-of-function polymorphism in IL6R reduces risk of JAK2V617F somatic mutation and myeloproliferative neoplasm: A Mendelian randomization study. thelancet.com A loss-of-function polymorphism in IL6R reduces risk of JAK2V617F mutation and myeloproliferative neoplasm. This finding supports inflammation as an independent risk factor for JAK2V617F mutation and myeloproliferative neoplasm and indicates that therapeutics designed to block interleukin-6 receptor signaling might prevent or retard progression of myeloproliferative neoplasm.
(2020-02-19). [Research Paper] Long-term clinical prognosis of human infections with avian influenza A(H7N9) viruses in China after hospitalization. thelancet.com Patients who survived severe illness from A(H7N9) virus infection had evidence of persistent lung damage and long-term pulmonary dysfunction.
(2020-02-18). [Research Paper] Predicting death by suicide following an emergency department visit for parasuicide with administrative health care system data and machine learning. thelancet.com The combination of predictors from multiple administrative data systems and the combination of personal and ecologic predictors resulted in promising prediction performance. Further research is needed to develop prediction models optimized for implementation in clinical settings.
(2020-02-17). [Research Paper] Global variation in the prevalence of bullying victimisation amongst adolescents: Role of peer and parental supports. thelancet.com Bullying victimisation is a global public health problem that has been predominantly studied in high income countries. This study aimed to estimate the population level prevalence of bullying victimisation and its association with peer and parental supports amongst adolescents across low and middle income to high income countries (LMICHICs).
(2020-02-14). [Commentary] Women empowerment is central to addressing the double burden of malnutrition. thelancet.com Women play a critical role in ensuring that their nutritional needs and those of their children and families are met. Women are also an integral part of delivering nutrition-sensitive interventions, and optimizing food systems to address the double burden of malnutrition characterized by the co-existence of nutritional deficiencies, underweight, and overweight and obesity in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). In this commentary, we highlight how women empowerment affects nutrition with a focus on nutrition-sensitive interventions, and identify research and implementation gaps that warrant greater attention.
(2020-02-11). [Corrections] Correction to Lancet Glob Health 2020; 8: e76—91. thelancet.com Hines LA, Trickey A, Leung J, et al. Associations between national development indicators and the age profile of people who inject drugs: results from a global systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet Glob Health 2020; 8: e76—91—In the Acknowledgments of this Article, the second and third sentences should read "LAH is supported by a Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Wellcome Trust. LD is supported by an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Senior Principal Research Fellowship." This correction has been made as of Feb 11, 2020.
(2020-02-10). [Research Paper] Outcomes of a nine-month regimen for rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis up to 24 months after treatment completion in nine African countries. thelancet.com The close to 80% relapse-free success indicates the good outcome of the regimen in low-and middle-income settings. Results confirm the lesser effectiveness of the regimen in patients with initial resistance to fluoroquinolones and support the use of high-dose isoniazid, but do not support exclusion of patients for resistance to drugs other than fluoroquinolones.
(2020-01-07). [Comment] Relaunching human bornavirus research from encephalitis cases with unclear cause. thelancet.com Borna disease virus 1 (BoDV-1), the first bornavirus to be discovered, was identified as a causative agent of Borna disease, a fatal encephalitis occurring in horses and sheep. BoDV-1 is highly neurotropic and can cause both fatal immune-mediated encephalitis and behavioural disturbances in a broad range of infected animals.1 These observations prompted researchers to investigate the presence of BoDV-1 in patients with psychiatric disorders on the basis of the hypothesis that BoDV-1 might also cause behavioural abnormalities in humans.
(2019-12-12). [Comment] Treatment for obstructive sleep apnoea and cardiovascular diseases: are we aiming at the wrong target? thelancet.com Despite a robust design and good statistical power, the ISAACC study1 (Impact of Sleep Apnea syndrome in the evolution of Acute Coronary syndrome. Effect of intervention with CPAP), similar to the SAVE study (Sleep Apnea cardioVascular Endpoints),2 did not show a positive effect of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) as a secondary prevention for cardiovascular events. The modest but clinically similar use of CPAP (<3 h per night) observed in this study and in SAVE might explain, at least in part, this absence of an effect.