Confusion and anxiety reign for Canadians dependent on CERB as pandemic program winds down

 WE DEMAND:

 

A UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME OF $2000 PER MONTH!!!

LIVING WAGE $20 PER HOUR

WAGES FOR HOUSE WORK $4000 PER MONTH   

NO TAXES ON EARNINGS UNDER $100,000 PER ANNUM 

 

TRANSITIONAL PROGRAM OF THE 13TH INTERNATIONAL

 

Pete Evans CBC

Roger Wiebe is one of millions of Canadians who has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, despite never contracting the virus.

The Edmontonian was working in a medical supply warehouse when he lost his job after the pandemic struck. He qualified for the Canada emergency response benefit (CERB), the income support program the government rolled out during the pandemic to help people like him with payouts of up to $2,000 a month.

But that program is set to expire on Sunday. Which brings new anxieties and uncertainties.

He and his wife Kim, a legal assistant, used to earn around $6,000 a month combined, but she lost her job in February as work slowed before the pandemic struck, so she applied for employment insurance (EI). That ran out in August, when she was moved to CERB. The couple has been relying on government programs and food banks of late.

On top of the financial stress, his wife recently had one of her legs amputated below the knee.

"I'm really I'm trying to stay stable ... for my wife ... because she's going through a lot of emotional as well as physical pain due to the amputation," Wiebe said in an interview. "I'm trying to be a rock for her, but it's a lot of stress and emotional fatigue on me as well."

CERB has kept them afloat, but now with rent and bills piling up and the job market looking no better than before — he says he and his wife have filled out 150 job applications since the pandemic began — he's worried.

Despite the end of CERB, the government says people like Wiebe won't be left in the lurch. That's because most people who were on the program will be rolled into an expanded EI if they meet the qualifications, which have been expanded to include more people than usual.

And almost everyone else, Ottawa says, is likely covered by another new income support program in the works, the Canada response benefit (CRB), which is designed to cover gig, freelance and contract workers who don't qualify for EI.

That was previously slated to pay $400 a week, but the Liberals bumped the amount up to $500 after Thursday's throne speech. THANKS TO THE NDP

© Trevor Wilson/CBC Roger Wiebe says once the the taxi ride to his wife's doctor's appointment is paid next week, he'll be down to his last $7.

"That may seem like a small change, but there's actually two million people ... that will benefit from this change," said David MacDonald, chief economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, a progressive think-tank.

Thats the good news. But MacDonald says the current EI plan could still leave more than a million people worse off than where they were under CERB.

By his math, roughly 700,000 people who lost work in the pandemic but managed to take in some paid work will find themselves getting less in benefits.

And MacDonald said there's a whole other group of roughly 400,000 low income, primarily part-time workers, who will still be making less than they would have been if the government simply extended CERB if they are lucky enough to get back to their regular hours.
Transferring between programs 'a messy process'

There's also the problem that whether you are transferred seamlessly from CERB to EI depends on how you applied for it. If you applied for CERB through Service Canada, the government says it will happen automatically. But if you applied through the Canada Revenue Agency, you'll have to begin a formal application for EI, which can take time.

MacDonald estimates about 900,000 people will qualify for the new CRB. But since none of the programs have been officially created and passed through Parliament yet, there's uncertainty everywhere.

"The websites aren't up and running in terms of where people would apply, how they apply, how they find out their status and so on," MacDonald said. "There are four million people who are on CERB and will likely go through this transition [so] where they should go and where they should apply to is ... going to be a messy process."

Wiebe says he has heard that it can take between six and eight weeks to get a first EI payment. "If that's the case, I'm not sure what we're going to do because we can't go eight weeks with no income," he said.  

© Turgut Yeter/CBC Sarah Pacey received CERB after she lost her job while on maternity leave. With the program now ending, she is worried about slipping through the cracks.

Sarah Pacey is another CERB recipient who's worried about the future.

She went on maternity leave from her job providing in-home behaviour therapy for autistic children in June of 2019, but her publicly funded employer lost funding last December. She was laid off while on maternity leave.

When her mat leave expired in June 2020 she applied for CERB.

"With that ending, I'm a little bit just unsure about where I am now," said Pacey, who lives in Toronto.

She has pored over the government website explaining EI, but since payouts are based on the amount of paid work you've done over the past year, "it doesn't seem like I really qualify for any of those programs," she said.

Government confident no one will be left behind

In announcing the changes, Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough said the government is confident that people like Pacey and Wiebe don't need to worry.

"I think we've created … a much more elegant balance between the need to not disincentivize work, but also support people who, regardless of effort, still aren't working or have significantly reduced hours," she said.

WATCH | Carla Qualtrough on the transition from CERB:

The government said in a statement that anyone currently on CERB will be eligible for their first EI payment as of Oct. 11. "Over 80 per cent of eligible Canadians are expected to receive their payment by Oct. 14 — three days after becoming eligible, and over 90 per cent are expected to be paid within three to 14 days."

Wiebe is fairly confident that he will still qualify for some sort of support program, but his wife may not. Once the couple's $1,575 in rent and more than $500 a month in medical expenses are factored in, there will be little left for utilities and food.

The couple's October rent has been paid. But once they take a $20 cab ride to his wife's doctor's appointment next week, Wiebe said he will be down to his last $7.

"They talk about the hardships and how they understand it," he says of the government's assurances. "But until you've actually lived it, you don't truly grasp it."

TAX THE RICH 

IF THEY FAIL TO PAY

EAT THE RICH

TRANSITIONAL PROGRAM OF THE 13TH INTERNATIONAL

Nanocrystals can trigger explosive volcanic eruptions

The presence of tiny crystals can make typically peaceful basaltic volcanoes surprisingly explosive, researchers say. Photo by Scot Nelson/Flickr

Sept. 24 (UPI) -- The presence of tiny crystals in magma can cause volcanoes to violently explode, according to a new study published Thursday in the journal Science Advances.

"Exactly what causes the sudden and violent eruption of apparently peaceful volcanoes has always been a mystery in geology research," lead researcher Danilo Di Genova said in a news release.

"Nanogeoscience research has now allowed us to find an explanation. Tiny crystal grains containing mostly iron, silicon, and aluminium are the first link in a chain of cause and effect that can end in catastrophe for people living in the vicinity of a volcano," said Di Genova, a geophysicist at the University of Bayreuth in Germany.

Using a combination of spectroscopic and electron microscopic imaging techniques, researchers were able to identify nano-sized crystals called nanolites in the ashes of active volcanoes.

RELATED Historically stable volcanoes can host potentially explosive magmas

In the lab, scientists successfully demonstrated how these tiny crystals, ten thousand times thinner than a human hair, increase the viscosity of volcanic magma, preventing volcanic gasses from bubbling up, escaping and relieving pressure inside magma chambers.

For their experiments, researchers focused on magma with low levels of silicon oxide, the kind of magma that forms basalt when it cools. Low silica magma isn't very viscous; it is typically thin and runny. When low silica magma erupts, it spreads quickly.

"Basaltic volcanoes generally provide a stark contrast to their high-silica cousins, showing relatively low explosivity even if they have a high volatile content," researchers wrote in their paper.

RELATED Volcanism didn't play a role in demise of dinosaurs

But the latest research suggests the presence of nanolites can turn low silica magma quite viscous, making it difficult for rising gasses to pass through it. As a result, bubbling gasses accumulate, increasing pressure in a magma chamber until the volcano explodes.

"Constant light plumes of smoke above a volcanic cone need not necessarily be interpreted as a sign of an imminent dangerous eruption," Di Genova said. "Conversely, however, the inactivity of apparently peaceful volcanoes can be deceptive."

In followup studies, researchers plan to use both computer simulations and high-pressure facilities to model the geochemical processes that result in sudden explosive eruptions.

RELATED Steam-driven volcanic eruptions difficult to predict, poorly understood

NANITES VOLCANOLOGY, MICROBIOLOGY IN CURRENT SF ADVENTURE NOVEL

'In The Devil Colony, released in June of 2011, Sigma faces controversy with a local Native American tribe who lay claim on ancient mummified bodies and artifacts deep in the Rocky Mountains

“From the hidden Indian treasure, to the Fort Knox secrets, to the conspiracy at the beginning of the United States The Devil Colony gives you every reason why you’ll want to be a member of Sigma Force.” (Brad Meltzer, New York Times bestselling author of The Inner Circle on The Devil Colony)

“A first-class, breathtaking adventure that will have readers whizzing through the pages. The only thing wrong with this tale: it has to end.” (Romantic Times (4 1/2 stars) on The Devil Colony)

From the Back Cover

The gruesome discovery of hundreds of mummified bodies deep in the Rocky Mountains—along with strange artifacts inscribed with an unfathomable script—stirs controversy and foments unrest. And when a riot at the dig site results in the horrible death of an anthropologist captured by television cameras, the government focuses its attention on an escaped teenage agitator—the firebrand niece of Sigma Force director Painter Crowe.

To protect her, Crowe will ignite a war across the nation's most powerful intelligence agencies. But the dark events have set in motion a frightening chain reaction: a geological meltdown that threatens the entire western half of the U.S. And the unearthed truth could topple governments, as Painter Crowe joins forces with Commander Gray Pierce to penetrate the shadowy heart of a sinister cabal that has been manipulating American history since the founding of the thirteen colonies.

About the Author

James Rollins is the author of international thrillers that have been translated into more than forty languages. His Sigma series has been lauded as one of the “top crowd pleasers” (New York Times) and one of the "hottest summer reads" (People magazine). In each novel, acclaimed for its originality, Rollins unveils unseen worlds, scientific breakthroughs, and historical secrets—and he does it all at breakneck speed and with stunning insight. He lives in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Florida researchers achieve successful spawning of transplanted coral

A staghorn coral that was artificially transplanted into the Atlantic Ocean near Miami releases eggs in August. Photo courtesy of University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science

Sept. 25 (UPI) -- Researchers in South Florida showed this summer that transplanted corals can reproduce naturally on reefs, representing a significant advance in coral reef restoration.

The spawning that occurred Aug. 6 and 7 near Miami proved the success of coral transplanting, which is considered a vital method to save dying reefs around the world, researchers from the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science said.

"It was extremely rewarding to see the spawning, because we're never going to be able to recover the reefs unless these corals thrive and reproduce," said Diego Lirman, an associate professor of marine biology and ecology at the school.

He was referring to the moment he saw the first corals release eggs and sperm.

RELATED Coral gardening is a boon to Caribbean reefs

The UM biologists had collected the staghorn coral eggs, which are being used to expand their breeding population and boost genetic diversity. Doing this is part of a desperate effort to save and restore the reefs, which have lost 90% of their staghorn corals in the last four decades, Lirman said.

"We have a lot riding on these spawning events -- financially and emotionally. I felt a big relief and a sense of accomplishment," he said.

At stake is the survival of the staghorn species on the third-longest barrier reef in the world, which the U.S. Geological Survey says is dying and eroding. Scientists in 2014 found that stony coral tissue loss disease was ravaging the reef.

RELATED Feds list 20 new coral species as 'threatened'

The 200-mile-long barrier helps protect Florida and the Keys from waves at a time when climate change is believed to be causing more frequent and more severe hurricanes. The federal government estimates the reef's value at $8.5 billion in terms of shoreline protection, tourism and fishing impact.

The corals are beset by problems such as hurricane damage, rising temperatures due to climate change, coral bleaching and other diseases, Lirman said. Large areas of dead coral make natural reproduction difficult.

"There's been reproduction over the past few decades, but we are not seeing strong evidence they are recovering naturally, and the only way to increase the genetic diversity is through sexual reproduction," Lirman said.

RELATED Florida coral reefs damaged by cold water

The work is funded by $6 million from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, federal and local governments and other nonprofit groups. The spawning is a first step toward restoring 125 acres of reef in South Florida over three years starting in January.

The project, which began in January, ultimately will grow and plant over 150,000 coral colonies and juveniles from five coral species, three of which are listed as threatened.

Some members of the coalition behind the project were skeptical that it could work in South Florida, said Margaret Miller, research director for SECORE International, an environmental non-profit focused on coral restoration.

"Elkhorn and staghorn coral species are very scarce in South Florida, so there are few parent corals to start with," said Margaret Miller, research director for SECORE International of Ohio, an environmental non-profit.

"We haven't seen some corals spawning there for years, so the spawning in August was a better outcome than we expected."

What can we learn from the Salem Witch Trials?

A historical exhibition at the Peabody Essex Museum traces the political and religious forces that led to the executions of innocent people

BILLY ANANIA  24th September 2020 

Tompkins Harrison Matteson, Trial of George Jacobs, Sr for Witchcraft (1855) Photo: Mark Sexton and Jeffrey R. Dykes. Courtesy of the Peabody Essex Museum

Disinformation and paranoia, made worse by religious politics and fear-mongering: an exhibition at the Peabody Essex Museum traces the history of the 1692 Salem Witch Trials, which led to executions of innocent people, predominantly women, and established a morbid fascination around the development of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. And while some of the manuscripts, paintings, and household items included in the show date back to the 15th century, the historic lessons for visitors are all too applicable today.

The exhibition breaks with traditional folklore and places the murders of the so-called “witches” within the context of social and economic crisis, humanising the people involved and drawing parallels to our current conspiracy-driven political climate. Starting with the European origins of witch-hunting, the show explores how Puritans brought theocratic anxiety to the colonies and shaped their criminal justice system around religious supremacy.

The Salem trials took place in the aftermath of a smallpox outbreak, and its consequences helped bring down a Puritan regime hellbent on “purifying” New England. Dan Lipcan, a co-curator of the show and the museum’s head librarian, believes these insecurities are evergreen.

Tompkins Harrison Matteson, Examination of a Witch (1853) Photo: Mark Sexton and Jeffrey R. Dykes. Courtesy of the Peabody Essex Museum

“Prejudice, injustice, and intolerance are on everybody’s minds now,” Lipcan said. “The trials were driven by fear, harsh weather, disease, supply shortages, and war—which altogether created the conditions for invented crimes and persecution for no good reason.”

Despite Salem’s reputation in the popular imagination, executions for witchcraft charges were commonplace in early modern Europe. More than 50,000 Europeans were burned at the stake between 1560 and 1630 during the Counter-Reformation, when Catholic and Protestant churches competed for market dominance. The exhibition sets Salem’s trials against this historical backdrop, displaying a 1494 copy of the German witch-hunting manual Malleus Maleficarum alongside British diagnostic texts.

Petition of Mary Esty, about 15 September 1692. Phillips Library, on deposit from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives

In Salem, many accused witches were teenagers, refugees fleeing French occupation, or household workers (most famously Tituba, a slave of the disgraced minister Samuel Parris). Judges would convict them using “spectral evidence”, often based on memories from only one witness. Tompkins H. Matteson’s 1855 painting of the George Jacobs trial appears with examination records and the two canes Jacobs used to walk, which accusers said he used in his spectural form to beat them. Another Matteson painting, Examination of a Witch, shows a group of men and women disrobing Mary Fisher in pursuit of identifying the Devil’s mark on her body. Examination records of Elizabeth Proctor and Bridget Bishop are displayed alongside Mary Esty’s petition of innocence and a gold sundial owned by John Proctor; all were convicted of witchcraft, but only Elizabeth avoided execution, because she was pregnant.

The exhibition also includes texts questioning the ethics of the trials, from Cotton Mather’s hardline defense to dissenting opinions by Thomas Maule and Robert Calef, which had to be published outside of Massachusetts, as Governor William Phips banned any texts contradicting Mather’s. Considering the final pardon clearing the names of five people convicted of witchcraft was only issued in 2001, this exhibition is a timely portrayal of how governments can sanction disinformation, and why these events have compelled so many generations since.

• The Salem Witch Trials 1692, Peabody-Essex Museum, 26 September-4 April 2021

REST IN POWER

Environmental activist confirmed dead in Oregon wildfire

Oregon environmentalist George Atiyeh, 72, was confirmed dead this week after a wildfire in the region burned his home earlier this month. Photo via the Opal Creek Ancient Forest Center/Facebook

Sept. 26 (UPI) -- A well-known Oregon environmentalist who has been missing since Sept. 7 amid wildfires in the region was confirmed dead Friday in the forest he spent much of his life trying to save.

Family members of 72-year-old George Atiyeh said in a Friday night Facebook post that authorities had confirmed that remains found on Atiyeh's burned property belonged to him.

"Although we are saddened that this was the final outcome, we are thankful to finally have closure," wrote his daughter, Aniese Mitchell. "We appreciate all the love and support from family, friends and community."

Atiyeh is believed to be the fifth person killed by the Beachie Creek Fire, a combination of two infernos - one that began in the Opal Creek Wilderness and another that sparked on downed power lines in the Santiam Canyon.

As of Friday, the fire was 50% contained.

Atiyeh was the nephew of former Oregon Gov. Vic Atiyeh, and his family owned a mining operation in the woods near Oregon's Opal Creek.

He started his working life in the family business as a miner, then became a logger -- but he joined the environmental movement when he learned the U.S. Forest Service was considering logging the old-growth forest near his childhood home.

The Opal Creek area was one of the last roadless, uncut forests in the Cascade Foothills, and Atiyeh flew in journalists, politicians and celebrities during what would eventually be dubbed the Timber Wars of the 1980s and 1990s in an effort to save the forest.

Atiyeh's activism cost him friends in the industries he worked in early in life, and he admitted to using a combination of legal and "not-so-legal" tactics.

"I wasn't very nice," Atiyeh said in 2016. "I followed them around and pulled out their survey stakes. I stole their chainsaws and ripped down their flagging. We put snow in their gas tanks and would steal their lunch."

After an episode in which guns were drawn and Atiyeh was arrested, he changed his tactics.

Ultimately, he prevailed: in 1996, Oregon Sen. Mark Hatfield, a Republican, pushed through legislation creating the Opal Creek Wilderness and Scenic Recreation Area, encompassing 34,000 acres.

"Opal Creek's forest would have been cut without George, it's just that simple," friend Michael Donnelly told the Salem Statesman-Journal.

LESS THAN 500
Proud Boys briefly rally in Portland; counter-protesters gather elsewhere

Hundreds of people gather at Peninsula Park Saturday afternoon in Portland at a counter-demonstration to a Proud Boy rally the same day. Image courtesy of KGW/Twitter

Sept. 26 (UPI) -- An estimated collective 2,000 people turned out for demonstrations in Portland Saturday afternoon, with 500 of those turning out for a Proud Boy rally that had promised to draw thousands more.

Three people were cited on weapons violations but otherwise law enforcement and journalists on the scene reported an uneventful end to the demonstrations by early evening.

A permit application from the far-right Proud Boys for a rally this week had promised to draw a crowd of 20,000, but instead just a few hundred turned out for a rally which was billed as retribution for the death of Aaron J. Danielson, who was killed last month in downtown Portland by a self-identified anti-fascist following a pro-Trump caravan through the area.

The suspect in Danielson's death was killed by federal marshals in early September, the same evening an interview aired in which he confessed.

Officials and activists feared the group's presence would escalate civil unrest in the city, which has seen sustained protest activity since the death of George Floyd at the end of May, and Gov. Kate Brown declared a state of emergency in advance of the event, deputizing Oregon State Police to patrol the event and a counter-demonstration scheduled for the same day.

Two counter-demonstrations took place Saturday: one at a historical marker elsewhere in Delta Park, and a second at a different park about three miles away. Each of those events drew hundreds of participants.

Law enforcement said their goal was to keep the two protest groups apart.

The Proud Boy rally dispersed around 1:30 p.m. and by 6 p.m. police had not reported violence in connection with the demonstrations.

Blacks, poor at greater risk for infection, hospitalization with COVID-19

People of color and those living in poverty are at increased risk for infection and hospitalization with COVID-19, according to two new studies. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

Sept. 25 (UPI) -- Black Americans are five times as likely to get COVID-19 than those in other racial and ethnic groups, according to a study published Friday by JAMA Network Open.

The study, based on an evaluation of patients who were tested by a healthcare system in Milwaukee, also found that those living in poverty had a nearly four-fold increased risk for the catching the virus compared to those in middle- and high-income households.

"Milwaukee is one of the most segregated cities in the U.S., [and] race and poverty run in parallel with other factors that may increase person-to-person spread of the virus," study co-author Dr. Silvia Munoz-Price told UPI.

These "other factors" include living in crowded households, being unable to self-isolate because of their role as "essential" workers and the regular use of mass transportation, according to Munoz-Price, a professor of medicine at Froedtert Health and the Medical College of Wisconsin.

RELATED COVID-19 hospitalization rate for minorities far beyond share of population

"Additionally, minorities have higher burden of other medical conditions that may increase their risk for more severe COVID-19 disease triggering hospitalization," she said.

A separate analysis also published Friday by JAMA Network Open, highlighted that last point, in that COVID-19 patients with chronic kidney disease were greater than 50% more likely to die from the virus than otherwise healthy individuals.

In addition, obese patients had a roughly 40% higher risk for death from the virus, while patients with heart disease and diabetes prior to getting infected had a 20% higher risk, the data showed.

RELATED Racial disparities in death rates widen in U.S. rural areas, study says

Black Americans are at increased risk for all of these health problems compared to other racial and ethnic groups, according Dr. Madhur K. Garg, an oncologist at Montefiore Medical Center.

Through Friday morning, nearly 7 million Americans had been infected with COVID-19, based on estimates from Johns Hopkins University, which has been tracking the global pandemic.

People of color in the United States have been disproportionately affected, with higher rates of infection and hospitalization, research suggests.

RELATED CDC data highlight racial disparities in spread, scope of COVID-19 pandemic

The findings by Munoz-Price and her colleagues were based on an analysis of nearly 2,600 people who came to their Milwaukee-based health system for COVID-19 testing between March 12 and 31.

Fourteen percent tested positive for the virus, and 46% of those infected were Black Americans, the data showed.

In addition, "the location of patients' residences was strongly associated with testing positive for COVID-19," with those living in poorer neighborhoods -- based on household income data for ZIP codes within the city -- at increased risk for "getting admitted to the hospital" because of the virus, Munoz-Price said.

Garg and his colleagues based their findings on nearly 6,000 patients with the virus who were treated at the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, N.Y., between March 14 and April 15.

Of these patients, 33% were Black American and 32% were Hispanic American, researchers. said.

Although the percentage of COVID-19 patients at the hospital who died from the disease was roughly the same across all racial and ethnic groups -- between 16% and 20% -- Black American and Hispanic American patients were more likely to have at least two chronic health conditions prior to getting infected -- 40% and 34% -- than White American patients, at 28%, the data showed.

Perhaps as a result, Black American patients were more likely to require treatment in the intensive care unit for COVID-19 than their White American counterparts.

"The Bronx was the worst-hit of New York City's five boroughs, and here we saw an increased infection rate and hospitalization rate among ethnic minorities," Garg said.

However, "the fact they had more underlying health conditions is the most important factor," he said.

South Korea tech giants expanding robotics amid COVID-19


South Korean tech firms like LG Electronics are to introduce service robots in the country. File Photo by James Atoa/UPI | License Photo

Sept. 23 (UPI) -- South Korea's biggest tech companies are investing in robotics as a solution to the risks of human contact amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Service robots could soon reduce the number of jobs in restaurants and hotels, however.


LG Electronics is expanding its robot business and introducing new technology in hotels that eliminates the need for human servers, South Korean news service EDaily reported Wednesday.

The company will soon introduce a robot that pours draft beer for guests at the Mayfield Hotel buffet in Seoul, according to the report.

RELATED Pandemic brings robot waiters to South Korean restaurants

Robots could replace workers in other areas of the hotel, including people who work in outdoor delivery, food and beverage, and even concierge services.

LG Electronics, part of the fourth-biggest conglomerate in South Korea, LG Corp., is positioned to install robots in a variety of locations, including in apartment complexes, on university campuses and playgrounds. An LG affiliate is one of the biggest construction companies in the country.

LG Electronics acquired SB Robotics, a Singaporean company, and U.S. firm Robostar in 2018. In July, the South Korean company launched the Chloe Subbot, an autonomous driving robot, according to EDaily.

Rival Samsung Electronics has also been turning its attention to robotics. Earlier in the week, the company said its GEMS exoskeleton earned a certification from the International Organization for Standardization. The hip exoskeleton is a wearable robot that helps wearers who face challenges walking, running or standing up, according to Yonhap.





Telecom company KT is partnering with restaurant chain Mad for Garlic in Seoul on a pilot program using an artificial intelligence-powered serving robot.

South Korean tech firms are also developing more efficient car batteries that could compete with U.S. firms like Tesla, Newsis reported Wednesday.

RELATED Study suggests robots could help with mental health in senior homes

On Tuesday, at its much anticipated Battery Day, Tesla revealed a better, 56% cheaper and more efficient battery that could lower the price of electric cars, according to MarketWatch.

An improved battery may not be enough to make cheaper cars, however, analysts say.

Educational efforts increase use of HIV preventive drug in Africa by 55%

A promotional program increased use of HIV preventive drugs in a hard-hit African nation, a new study has found. Photo by Kim Cloete/NIH

Sept. 23 (UPI) -- A promotional program designed to educate patients on HIV risk and prevention saw use of a preventive drug regimen among at-risk groups in Africa increase by more than 50%, according to a study published Wednesday by the journal Science Translational Medicine.

During the 18-month trial in the small, southern African nation of Eswatini, 34% of those in the study started pre-exposure proplylaxis, or PrEP, which involves giving antiviral drugs to those at risk for HIV before they're exposed to the virus to prevent infection, the researchers said.

A promotional campaign that included an educational booklet and a T-shirt increased participation in PrEP by 55%, they said.

The educational booklet highlighted the importance of PrEP and the HIV risks for pregnant women and sex workers, among others. The T-shirt carried the message, "What if there was a pill that could prevent HIV?" on the front and "Actually there is: Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis. Ask me for more information about PrEP" on the back.

RELATED Cost puts HIV-preventing PrEP out of reach for many

Although the study focused on the population of one African nation, the approach also could be successful anywhere HIV prevalence is high and use of PrEp remains low, researchers said.

"I think our research applies to countries, and regions within countries, that have a very high HIV incidence in the general population," study co-author Dr. Pascal Geldsetzer told UPI.

"In these settings, PrEP offered at primary care facilities, or in the community, to anyone who is at at least a minimal risk of acquiring HIV ... could have a substantial effect on the course of the epidemic," said Geldsetzer, an assistant professor of medicine at Stanford.

RELATED COVID-19 lockdown led to less sex, lower use of HIV prevention meds

Eswatini, a small country in southern Africa formerly known as Swaziland, has the world's highest prevalence of HIV among adults and an annual incidence of new infections as high as 3% of the population there, Geldsetzer and his colleagues said.

The promotional program they used was intended to increase trust within the community of clinic workers and boost PrEP participation rates.

The study focused on PrEP participation, retention and retention rates among 1,538 people who received care at six clinics in the nation, researchers said.

RELATED Potential new drug could be taken twice a year to treat HIV

The clinics offered PrEP to anyone over age 16 who had at least a minimal risk of infection, and gradually rolled out a promotional program that included videos, booklets and other materials designed to raise awareness of HIV prevention options.

Eventually, all study participants saw the promotional materials. However, to assess the value for increased PrEP use, participants at three clinics received them earlier than those at the other three.

Over 18 months, 517 of the study participants, or 34%, started PrEP, and about one-third of these participants attended all of their scheduled appointments during their first six months on the regimen, the data showed.

Participants who received the promotional materials were 55% more likely to start PrEP and stick with the regimen than those who did not, the researchers found.

"[Our] promotion package had a small, but significant, positive effect on PrEP uptake," Geldsetzer said.

"Patients, clinicians and policymakers generally felt that PrEP promotion and delivery should be expanded beyond healthcare facilities to the community to reach men, as well as women, who don't frequently attend clinic-based care.


upi.com/7040718

Antarctic Ice Sheet to melt, raise sea levels by 8.5 feet even under Paris Agreement

View of the rift across the Larsen C Ice Shelf as seen from the vantage point of NASA's DC-8 research aircraft on November 10, 2016. Scientists predict that even keeping global warming to a minimum under the Paris Agreement, enough of the Antarctic Ice Shelf will met to raise sea levels by 8.5 feet in the long-term. File Photo by John Sonntag/NASA | License Photo

Sept. 23 (UPI) -- The Antarctic Ice Sheet will suffer irreversible ice loss raising ocean levels by 8.5 feet even if the world meets global warming goals laid out by the Paris Agreement on Climate change, scientists said in a report published Wednesday.

The analysis determined there are a number of temperature thresholds above pre-industrial levels that will ultimately lead to increasing sea levels if the world's nations don't rein in emissions and global warming.

The study, published Wednesday in the journal nature, was conducted by researchers at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the University of Potsdam in Germany, Columbia University in New York City, and Stockholm University in Sweden.

The researchers determined that if global warming is maintained at 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels -- as laid out by the Paris Agreement -- sea levels would rise by 8.5 feet.

If the climate agreement is not met and global warming rises to between 6 degrees and 9 degrees above pre-industrial levels, sea levels will increase to up to about 138.5 feet. Global warming of 10 degrees above pre-industrial levels would cause Antartica to become "virtually ice-free," the study says.

The impacts won't be immediate, but once global temperatures reach these levels, Antarctic ice will irreversibly melt into the next century.

"Antarctica holds more than half of Earth's fresh water, frozen in a vast ice-sheet which is [more than 3 miles] thick," said Ricarda Winkelmann, lead authors of the study and researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and University of Potsdam.

"As the surrounding ocean water and atmosphere warm due to human greenhouse-gas emissions, the white cap on the South Pole loses mass and eventually becomes unstable. Because of its sheer magnitude, Antarctica's potential for sea-level contribution is enormous: We find that already at 2 degrees of warming, melting and the accelerated ice flow into the ocean will, eventually, entail 2.5 meters of global sea level rise just from Antarctica alone. At 4 degrees, it will be 6.5 meters and at 6 degrees almost 12 meters if these temperature levels would be sustained long enough."

Basically, the warmer Earth gets, the faster the continent loses its ice.

Last month, scientists discovered a new melting spot in East Antarctica, home to most of the ice sheet. An influx of warm seawater into the Lützow-Holm Bay has accelerated melt rates beneath the Shirase Glacier Tongue.