Center

FDA's approval of the world's first vaccine against RSV will offer a new tool in an old fight – 4 questions answered

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, May 10, 2023

The new shot represents six decades of starts and stops in the hunt for a vaccine to curb one of the most common winter respiratory viruses.

Key Points: 
  • The new shot represents six decades of starts and stops in the hunt for a vaccine to curb one of the most common winter respiratory viruses.
  • The vaccine, called Arexvy, made by the biopharmaceutical company GSK, is approved for use in adults ages 60 and over.
  • The Conversation asked Annette Regan, an epidemiologist and vaccine specialist, to discuss the significance of the first vaccine against RSV and the other RSV vaccine candidates that are in the pipeline.

1. How does the new vaccine protect against the virus?

    • The vaccine targets a protein known as RSV F glycoprotein, which is found on the surface of the virus.
    • The vaccine also includes an adjuvant, a substance that helps amplify the effect of the vaccine by boosting the immune system’s response.

2. When and for whom will it be available?

    • The committee is expected to meet in June 2023 to make a recommendation on the new RSV vaccine, after which the CDC would officially endorse it.
    • It could recommend the vaccine for all adults 60 and older, or a subset of older adults.
    • Given the lower efficacy for adults ages 80 and older, the committee could place an age cap on the recommendations.

3. Why has the first RSV vaccine been so long in coming?

    • One problem that has plagued vaccine manufacturers is the difficulty of identifying an antigen – the piece of the virus that the vaccine targets – that doesn’t change, or shape-shift.
    • The F protein of the RSV virus is notorious for changing its shape once it fuses with a host’s cell.
    • Early attempts to create an inactivated RSV vaccine in the 1960s were stalled after they caused an enhanced form of RSV disease.

4. What other RSV vaccine candidates are coming down the line?

    • The next RSV vaccine under review with the FDA is Pfizer’s RSV vaccine.
    • It is similar to the recently approved vaccine except that it has no adjuvant and is bivalent, meaning that it targets both RSV A and RSV B – the two strains of RSV.
    • The CDC advisory committee is scheduled to discuss vaccine recommendations in October 2023, making this the likely next possible vaccine available.

'Leeds 2023': can investment in culture improve a city's health? Yes, but more ambition is needed

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, May 10, 2023

There is a growing interest in the value of arts and culture in supporting health and wellbeing.

Key Points: 
  • There is a growing interest in the value of arts and culture in supporting health and wellbeing.
  • For example, the government’s Know Your Neighbourhood Fund, aimed at tackling loneliness, has earmarked £5 million to expand arts, culture and heritage activities across 27 target areas.
  • At the Centre for Cultural Value, we have spent the past two years exploring research to learn about the impact of culture on health and wellbeing.
  • This has resulted in an apparent postcode lottery for what does and doesn’t get commissioned by the NHS.

Scaling understanding

    • One answer lies in developing a better understanding over a longer term.
    • Previous studies show that the creative and cultural sectors can be powerful drivers of innovation, job creation and economic growth.
    • However, alongside our partners at The Audience Agency, we will focus on drawing out arguably the more difficult-to-quantify social impacts.

Capturing complexity: the next steps

    • Capturing and conveying the nuanced value of culture in health and wellbeing is complex, but not impossible.
    • This partly means shifting away from short-term funding models, where small pots of money are available for time-limited projects.
    • They can also provide powerful moments of joy, connection and wonder – at a time when people need them most.

Remote teaching in Nigeria and South Africa got a COVID wake-up call -- how to capitalise on it

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, May 9, 2023

One of these was how to move all of their teaching online.

Key Points: 
  • One of these was how to move all of their teaching online.
  • For some, the process was fairly simple as they had already been offering blended online and in-person lessons.
  • We wanted to know how the pandemic had affected training and technology adoption by lecturers at open distance learning institutions in Africa.
  • To find out, we conducted research at two of the continent’s biggest open distance universities – one in Nigeria and one in South Africa.

Unprepared and unsure

    • We interviewed 20 participants from the institutions, most of them academics and many in senior management positions.
    • The pandemic marked the first time that most lecturers were forced to interact with their institutions’ online teaching tools.
    • During the lockdown in March 2020, we got many training requests for Microsoft Teams.

Some green shoots

    • Lecturers had no choice but to “adapt or die” – they had to learn about the technology needed for teaching online.
    • Not only did formal requests for training rise, but many academics also turned to more digitally savvy colleagues for training and advice.
    • They realised how technology could help to increase access to higher education by reaching learners even in remote areas.

The way forward

    • Training and development must be relevant to teaching and learning through technologies for lecturers and students.
    • Higher education institutions also need comprehensive e-learning policies to regulate and enforce the transition and proper implementation of online teaching and learning.

Obesity in children is rising dramatically, and it comes with major – and sometimes lifelong – health consequences

Retrieved on: 
Friday, May 5, 2023

A 2020 report found that 14.7 million children and adolescents in the U.S. live with obesity.

Key Points: 
  • A 2020 report found that 14.7 million children and adolescents in the U.S. live with obesity.
  • Because obesity is a known risk factor for serious health problems, its rapid increase during the COVID-19 pandemic raised alarms.
  • Even before adulthood, some children will have serious health problems beginning in their preteen years.
  • Some of these children have severe obesity and several health complications that require multiple specialists.

How obesity is measured

    • Therefore most clinicians use body measurements to screen for obesity.
    • Severe obesity occurs when a child reaches the 120th percentile or has a BMI over 35.
    • Severe obesity carries a heightened risk of liver disease, cardiovascular disease and metabolic problems such as diabetes.
    • As of 2016, almost 8% of children ages 2 to 19 had severe obesity.

How obesity affects the liver

    • The liver disease associated with obesity is called nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.
    • Under the microscope, a pediatric fatty liver looks similar to a liver with alcohol damage.
    • Occasionally children with fatty liver are not obese; however, the greatest risk factor for fatty liver is obesity.
    • Fatty liver is the second-most common reason for liver transplantation in the U.S., and it will be the leading cause in the future.

Links between obesity and diabetes

    • In a telephone interview, Dr. Barry Reiner, a pediatric endocrinologist, voiced his concerns to me about obesity and diabetes.
    • “When I started my practice, I had never heard of type 2 diabetes in children,” says Reiner.
    • “Now, depending on which part of the U.S., between a quarter and a third of new cases of diabetes are type 2.” Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease previously called juvenile-onset diabetes.
    • However, type 2 diabetes is increasing in children, and obesity is the major risk factor.

Heart health

    • Cardiovascular changes associated with obesity and severe obesity can also increase a child’s lifetime chance of heart attacks and strokes.
    • Although still uncommon, more people in their 20s, 30s and 40s are having strokes and heart attacks than a few decades ago.

Talk about being healthy, not focusing on weight

    • “Food, diet, lifestyle and weight are often a proxy for something greater going on in someone’s life,” says Kalami.
    • Factors beyond a child’s control, including depression, access to healthy food and walkable neighborhoods, contribute to obesity.
    • She adds that even preteens and teenagers should not be focusing on their weight, though they likely already are.
    • “Help them pick what’s available and make the best choice, which may not be the perfect choice.” Any weight talk, either criticism or compliments for weight loss, may backfire, she adds.

AI is helping astronomers make new discoveries and learn about the universe faster than ever before

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, May 3, 2023

I’m an astronomer who studies and has written about cosmology, black holes and exoplanets.

Key Points: 
  • I’m an astronomer who studies and has written about cosmology, black holes and exoplanets.
  • As the technology has become more powerful, AI algorithms have begun helping astronomers tame massive data sets and discover new knowledge about the universe.

Better telescopes, more data

    • As telescopes have continued to improve, the sheer number of celestial objects humans can see and the amount of data astronomers need to sort through have both grown exponentially, too.
    • AI algorithms are the only way astronomers could ever hope to work through all of the data available to them today.
    • There are a number of ways AI is proving useful in processing this data.

Picking out patterns

    • AI algorithms – in particular, neural networks that use many interconnected nodes and are able to learn to recognize patterns – are perfectly suited for picking out the patterns of galaxies.
    • Now the algorithms are so effective that they can classify galaxies with an accuracy of 98%.
    • Now, researchers are using AI to sift through reams of data much more quickly and thoroughly than people can.
    • This has allowed SETI efforts to cover more ground while also greatly reducing the number of false positive signals.

Making new discoveries

    • But it is also quite powerful at finding objects or phenomena that are theorized but have not yet been discovered in the real world.
    • To do this, astronomers first use AI to convert theoretical models into observational signatures – including realistic levels of noise.
    • Finally, radio astronomers have also been using AI algorithms to sift through signals that don’t correspond to known phenomena.

Making predictions and plugging holes

    • As in many areas of life recently, generative AI and large language models like ChatGPT are also making waves in the astronomy world.
    • The team that created the first image of a black hole in 2019 used a generative AI to produce its new image.
    • To do so, it first taught an AI how to recognize black holes by feeding it simulations of many kinds of black holes.

47% of South Africans rely on social grants - study reveals how they use them to generate more income

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, May 3, 2023

South Africa has one of the world’s most expansive social grant system: 47% of the population relies on a monthly grant.

Key Points: 
  • South Africa has one of the world’s most expansive social grant system: 47% of the population relies on a monthly grant.
  • Of these, 18 million are permanent beneficiaries and about 10 million receive a temporary Social Relief of Distress Grant.
  • The vast majority of the grants are child support grants (R500 or around US$27 a month) paid to a child’s primary caregiver based on a means test.
  • Although social grants are spent largely on food, there is growing evidence that they are also used for productive investments in livelihood activities.
  • These findings point to the need to design multi-pronged poverty reduction strategies that combine grants with livelihood support services.

Livelihood activities

    • In all three studies, regardless of the grant received and its value, interviewees said the grant monies were insufficient to meet their needs.
    • Some were income generating activities like buying and selling of goods, providing services such as building, painting, photography, running restaurants or taverns, renting accommodation and traditional healing.
    • Others invested in future livelihood strategies such as supporting children with their job search.
    • Here's why

      Few grant beneficiaries were able to access formal support services from the government.

    • A major barrier also relates to the precarious nature of informal work and the lack of protection for vulnerable workers.

Implications for social development policies

    • There is a need for greater recognition of informal work and its role in poverty reduction as a national policy objective.
    • The development of knowledge and skills and mentoring and coaching are also critical.
    • There is room to scale up livelihood support through existing governmental, NGOs, development agencies and CSI programmes.
    • However, more research and experimental intervention research is needed to inform the design of livelihood support policies and strategies.

Action by FTC and Pennsylvania Leads to Permanent Ban For Debt Collectors That Targeted Businesses, Non-Profits, First Responders

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, May 2, 2023

ICR allegedly collected on debts AFS claimed organizations such as businesses, schools, fire and police departments, and non-profits owed for book and newsletter subscriptions they did not order.

Key Points: 
  • ICR allegedly collected on debts AFS claimed organizations such as businesses, schools, fire and police departments, and non-profits owed for book and newsletter subscriptions they did not order.
  • The FTC and Pennsylvania charged that, in connection with its debt collection activities, ICR contacted consumers that it knew or had reason to know did not agree to order paid subscriptions.
  • NOTE: Stipulated final orders or injunctions have the force of law when approved and signed by the District Court judge.
  • Follow the FTC on social media, read consumer alerts and the business blog, and sign up to get the latest FTC news and alerts.

Action by FTC and Pennsylvania Leads to Permanent Ban For Debt Collectors That Targeted Businesses, Non-Profits, First Responders

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, May 2, 2023

ICR allegedly collected on debts AFS claimed organizations such as businesses, schools, fire and police departments, and non-profits owed for book and newsletter subscriptions they did not order.

Key Points: 
  • ICR allegedly collected on debts AFS claimed organizations such as businesses, schools, fire and police departments, and non-profits owed for book and newsletter subscriptions they did not order.
  • The FTC and Pennsylvania charged that, in connection with its debt collection activities, ICR contacted consumers that it knew or had reason to know did not agree to order paid subscriptions.
  • NOTE: Stipulated final orders or injunctions have the force of law when approved and signed by the District Court judge.
  • Follow the FTC on social media, read consumer alerts and the business blog, and sign up to get the latest FTC news and alerts.

Uganda's anti-homosexuality bill wants to 'rehabilitate' LGBTIQ+ people – African psychologists warn of its dangers

Retrieved on: 
Monday, May 1, 2023

Unfortunately, the practices described in the declaration are included in the 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Bill proposed by Uganda’s parliament.

Key Points: 
  • Unfortunately, the practices described in the declaration are included in the 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Bill proposed by Uganda’s parliament.
  • PsySSA president, professor Floretta Boonzaier, has described the bill to me as “an attack on human dignity, well-being, autonomy and self-determination”.
  • Research conducted in three African countries in 2019 found that half of the respondents suffered some form of conversion.
  • South African psychologists with expertise in sexuality and gender have condemned the bill.

No scientific grounding

    • But he has ignored evidence-based critiques that have been presented to him over the years, dating back to 2010 and 2014.
    • Brouard has said the bill
      is anti-science and represents a backward step in contemporary understanding of human nature.

Perpetuating harm

    • Professor Kopano Ratele, an acclaimed African psychology scholar, said via email that
      the bill is, at its core, inhuman.
    • It seems that the bill is essentially about some people desiring to control the bodies, relationships, and the inner lives of others.
    • It criminalises identity by prescribing prosecution for how people think, feel, identify, and, ultimately, who and how they love.
    • Christian evangelical churches from the US have been directly linked to current anti-LGBTIQ+ ideologies in African countries.

The next steps

    • We call on mental health professionals from across Africa to sign and endorse the declaration and to join the growing chorus of experts who have condemned Uganda’s dangerous bill.
    • The PsySSA Sexuality and Gender Division, for example, has been at the forefront of leading a science-informed critique of the Ugandan bill.

How dirty old used cars from the US and Europe carry on polluting ... in Africa – podcast

Retrieved on: 
Friday, April 28, 2023

In countries across Africa and Latin America, old used cars from places like the U.S. and Europe provide vital access to transportation to people who would otherwise be unable to afford their own vehicles.

Key Points: 
  • In countries across Africa and Latin America, old used cars from places like the U.S. and Europe provide vital access to transportation to people who would otherwise be unable to afford their own vehicles.
  • While this process extends the lives of these cars, the practice is not without problems, in particular with regards to pollution and passenger safety.
  • He studies sustainable development in Africa through a postcolonial lens and has looked into the issue of old cars.
  • With exports of old cars expected to increase as electric vehicles take over Western markets, policies like the law Ghana passed in 2020 may become more relevant.