How the wealthy cut (INTO) the line during Florida's frenzied vaccine rollout
Sharyn Alfonsi 
4/4/2021

This past week, President Biden said 90% of U.S. adults will be eligible for the COVID vaccine by April 19 and will be able to get their shots within five miles of their home. That will be welcome news to many in Florida.

© Credit: CBSNews floridacovidscreengrabs03.jpg

For three months, we've been reporting around Palm Beach County, the third-largest in the state. It's home to old-monied millionaires but also some of the poorest day laborers and farm workers in America.

During those months, we watched Florida's vaccine rollout deteriorate into a virtual free for all and watched as some wealthy and well-connected residents cut the line, leaving other Floridians without a fair shot.

This is the town of Palm Beach. Privacy hedges hide beachfront mansions and a healthy share of billionaires. More than 80% of the town's seniors have been vaccinated. Bram Majtlis was one of the first.

Bram Majtlis: I was the lucky one that had my phone in my hands, pushed the link to make the appointment, and had an appointment.

© Provided by CBS News Bram Majtlis

On January 5, Majtlis, a retired businessman, got his first shot at a fire station just a block from his home. A few days earlier, the town had been given a thousand doses from the state. The vaccine was in short supply. Residents were thrilled. But neighboring towns were upset that Palm Beach was the only town in all of palm beach county to get the life-saving shots for their seniors.

Bram Majtlis: I don't think that they got it for any other reason than being prepared.

Sharyn Alfonsi: To be prepared you have to have resources. And so I think a lot of people look at Palm Beach and say, "Well, they got the vaccine because they're a rich community."

Bram Majtlis: I really think it has nothing to do with the resources. In this particular case. Absolutely not.

The Palm Beach fire chief said they spent months training staff and setting up locations to administer the vaccine quickly. But a bridge away in West Palm Beach, they say they were just as prepared.

Sharyn Alfonsi: You were ready in West Palm Beach for the vaccine?

Keith James: Absolutely. And I even put my signature on the letter to let the governor and the county know that we were ready, willing and able.

Keith James is the mayor of West Palm Beach, which is not on the beach at all, but the intercoastal waterway. The median income in West Palm Beach is about $28,000 a year, compared to $70,000 in the town of Palm Beach.

James told us after he and other mayors complained about the town of Palm Beach getting the 1,000 doses, the county's health director took the blame, calling it a "miscommunication."

Keith James: Listen, the county health director has fallen on the sword on that and said it was her bad. Her organization's bad. They made a mistake. But isn't it funny that these mistakes only happen in communities that have that kind of wealth? They didn't make a mistake and send a thousand doses to the poorest communities in our county?

© Provided by CBS News Keith James

Mayor James is among a number of community leaders who say the state's vaccination rollout has favored the wealthy.

Florida's rollout started pretty typically. The first doses were given to health care workers and nursing home residents in early December.

But then a few weeks later, Governor Ron DeSantis, breaking from CDC guidelines, announced he would not vaccinate teachers and essential workers next but instead put "seniors first," making anyone 65 or over eligible for the vaccine. The first in the country to do that. DeSantis said seniors were at highest risk.

Ron DeSantis at press conference: They will have priority over ordinary workers who are under 65. And I think that that's the appropriate way to do.

Florida's four and a half million seniors started competing against each other for the vaccine.

In the rush, public health department phone lines failed and computer sites crashed.

Kara Macsuga, a teacher, tried to increase the odds of getting her mom an appointment.

Kara Macsuga: So I have a school-issued Chromebook. I have my own personal laptop. I have my husband's iPad. I have my ancient iPad. And all four of those screens. It's very deflating, I missed it again today

.

© Provided by CBS News Kara Macsuga and her mother try to obtain a COVID vaccination appointment

In some places, seniors waited 17 hours for a shot, but not everyone was so patient. Almost immediately, the line jumping started.

Keith James: It was incredibly frustrating.

In West Palm Beach, Mayor James says he was still trying to secure vaccines for his town's firefighters when he learned that at a nursing home in town, some board members and their wealthy pals got vaccinated. Even though those doses were only supposed to be given to elderly residents and staff.

Then, the private jets started arriving.

Hollywood moguls, New York socialites and tourists from overseas were getting vaccinated in Florida, posting on social media and sparking outrage. Early on, there were no residency requirements to get vaccinated in the state.

Keith James: People were saying, "Listen, this is a resource and I know it's out there and I'm gonna use whatever leverage I have to get that resource." There were no rules.

Sharyn Alfonsi: It sounds like "The Hunger Games."

Keith James: That's a pretty good way of putting it. And those who had the fiscal resources were gonna use them in whatever way they could to get this vaccine.

By February 1, casualties of the chaotic rollout became clear.

State data revealed of the more than 160,000 residents in Palm Beach County who'd been vaccinated, only 2% were Black and 3% Hispanic. Even though minorities make up almost half the county. State representative Omari Hardy, a Democrat, says it's all about access.

Omari Hardy: At the beginning of this pandemic Black people, Hispanics, people of color, we bore the full force of this pandemic. Overrepresented in the hospitalizations. Overrepresented in the deaths. And now on the back end of the pandemic we're bearing the full force of it as well. Because we don't have the same access to the vaccine.

Sharyn Alfonsi: Some people have said that the minority community is distrusting of the vaccine and doesn't want the vaccine. What do you think of that narrative?

Omari Hardy: That's an excuse for people who don't want to do the work required to ensure that the distribution of this vaccine is equitable.

© Provided by CBS News Omari Hardy

And nowhere was that more challenging than here. This is the Glades. It's 44 miles west of the town of Palm Beach, also in Palm Beach County. 31,000 people call the Glades "home."

Rivers of sugar cane line the roads and the air is thick with the smell of molasses.

About 90% of residents are Black and Latino. Many live below the poverty line. By March, 11 weeks into the rollout, more than half the seniors in the Glades had still not been vaccinated.

For months, Tammy Jackson-Moore, a community organizer, has been going door to door trying to fix that. We were with her when we met 91-year-old Annie-Pearl Cornelius on her porch

.

© Provided by CBS News Annie-Pearl Cornelius

Sharyn Alfonsi: Do you drive?

Annie-Pearl Cornelius: No, ma'am.

Sharyn Alfonsi: Do you have a computer?

Annie-Pearl Cornelius: No, ma'am.

Annie-Pearl told us she wanted to get the vaccine for months, but couldn't make an appointment.

Tammy Jackson-Moore: A lot of people still have flip phones. So there were a lot of challenges in our community as it relates to people trying to make appointments for vaccinations.

But the biggest challenge for residents of the Glades wasn't just making appointments, it was getting to them.

That's because back in January, the governor made another game-changing move. He announced he was partnering with Publix grocery stores across the state to distribute the vaccine in their pharmacies.

But as part of the program in Palm Beach County, most seniors could no longer get vaccine appointments though their public health departments. They had to go to Publix instead

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© Provided by CBS News Tammy Jackson-Moore

Tammy Jackson-Moore: I was shocked because I know that we don't have a Publix in our community. And then I got angry, because I personally knew three people that had passed from COVID. And I knew that this was not going to be good for this community.

Omari Hardy: Belle Glade is one of the poorest communities, not just in Palm Beach County, but in the state of Florida. So you have lots of folks who don't have cars.

Sharyn Alfonsi: How far would someone from Belle Glade have to go to get to a Publix?

Omari Hardy: The nearest Publix to Belle Glade is about 25 miles.

Sharyn Alfonsi: That's pretty significant if you don't drive.

You have to catch two buses to get to the nearest Publix from the Glades. It's 34 stops. More than two hours round trip. A daunting task in the middle of a pandemic, especially if you're elderly.

So why did the governor choose Publix?

Campaign finance reports obtained by 60 Minutes show that weeks before the governor's announcement, Publix donated $100,000 to his political action committee, Friends of Ron DeSantis.

Julie Jenkins Fancelli, heiress to the Publix fortune, has given $55,000 to the governor's PAC in the past. And in November, Fancelli's brother-in-law, Hoyt R. Barnett, a retired Publix executive, donated $25,000.

Publix did not respond to our request for comment about the donations.

Governor DeSantis is up for re-election next year.

Sharyn Alfonsi: I imagine Governor DeSantis's office would say, "Look, we privatized the rollout because it's more efficient and it works better."

Omari Hardy: It hasn't worked better for people of color. Before, I could call the public health director. She would answer my calls. But now if I want to get my constituents information about how to get this vaccine I have to call a lobbyist from Publix? That makes no sense. They're not accountable to the public.

Distributing vaccines is lucrative. Under federal guidelines, Publix, like any other private company, can charge medicare $40 a shot to administer the vaccine.

© Provided by CBS News Ron DeSantis

We wanted to ask Governor DeSantis about the deal. But he declined our requests for an interview. We caught up with him south of Orlando.

Sharyn Alfonsi: Publix, as you know, donated $100,000 to your campaign. And then you rewarded them with the exclusive rights to distribute the vaccination in Palm Beach County.

Ron DeSantis: So, first of all, that-- what you're saying is wrong. That's--

Sharyn Alfonsi: How is that not pay to play?

Ron DeSantis: --that-- that's a fake narrative. I met with the county mayor. I met with the administrator. I met with all the folks in Palm Beach County and I said, "here's some of the options. We can do more drive-thru sites. We can give more to hospitals. We can do the Publix." And they said, "We think that would be the easiest thing for our residents."

But Melissa McKinlay, the county commissioner in the Glades, told us the governor never met with her about the Publix deal.

Sharyn Alfonsi: The criticism is that it's pay-to-play, governor.

Ron DeSantis: And it's wrong. It's wrong. It's a fake narrative. I just disabused you of the narrative. And you don't care about the facts. Because, obviously, I laid it out for you in a way that is irrefutable.

Sharyn Alfonsi: Well, I-- I was just talk--

Ron DeSantis: And, so, it's clearly not.

Sharyn Alfonsi: Isn't there the nearest Publix --

Ron DeSantis: No, no, no. You're wrong.

Sharyn Alfonsi: --30 miles away.

Ron DeSantis: You're wrong. You're wrong. Yes, sir?

Sharyn Alfonsi: That's actually a fact.

A federal complaint raises other questions about the governor's vaccine distribution decisions and alleges Governor DeSantis was discriminating when he hand-picked communities for pop-up sites across the state.

One of those communities was Lakewood Ranch in Manatee County just south of Tampa. In February, the governor announced he was giving 3,000 doses to the community.

Ron DeSantis: We saw a need, we want to get the numbers up for seniors.

But what the governor didn't mention was that Lakewood Ranch developer Pat Neal has donated $135,000 to the Friends of Ron DeSantis PAC.

Or that only residents from two ZIP codes would be allowed to get the shots and those two ZIP codes have some of highest income levels and lowest COVID infection rates in the county.

When the governor was questioned about it, he threatened to take all the vaccine back.

Ron DeSantis: I mean if Manatee County doesn't like us doing this, then we are totally fine with putting this in counties that want it.

Annie-Pearl Cornelius got her first shot last month at a weekly vaccination site the state set up in the Glades. The local CVS and Walgreens have been given vaccine, too. There is no shortage of takers.

State Democratic leaders are calling for the Justice Department to investigate whether Governor DeSantis was rewarding high-dollar donors with special access to the vaccine.

Omari Hardy: This is a once-in-a-century pandemic. Someone shouldn't have a better chance to survive because they have money or because they can write a check to someone, or because they have access to powerful people.

A spokesperson for Publix Super Markets provided the following statement to 60 Minutes:

"The irresponsible suggestion that there was a connection between campaign contributions made to Governor DeSantis and our willingness to join other pharmacies in support of the state's vaccine distribution efforts is absolutely false and offensive. We are proud of our pharmacy associates for administering more than 1.5 million doses of vaccine to date and for joining other retailers in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia to do our part to help our communities emerge from the pandemic."

Produced by Oriana Zill de Granados. Associate producer, Emily Gordon. Broadcast associate, Elizabeth Germino. Edited by Craig Crawford.

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How the wealthy cut the line during Florida's frenzied vaccine rollout 

 

"The Five Lies of Capitalism."

Frank Jacob

362 Pages

1 File ▾

Political Philosophy,

Political Theory,

Marxism,

Political Science,

Capitalism

 ...more ▾

The present paper offers a reflection about capitalist exploitation and the lies this exploitation is based upon. It identifies capitalism’s narratives to secure its own existence against criticism from different protest movements and, in addition, shows that the named five lies are contested by larger crises, like the COVID-19 pandemic, the anti-racism protests in the US, as well as the menace of climate change, which unite different protest movements not only against racism or the global ecological exploitation but also against capitalism itself, the force that has been identified as the main menace for humanity and its further existence in the 21st century. 

Keywords: Five Lies of Capitalism, Capitalism, Global Exploitation, Capitalist Exploitation, Marxism

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Michigan's Middle Eastern and North African population face barriers to optimal health

Multiple factors, ranging from fear of deportation to food insecurity, create a negative domino effect for the health of the MENA community

MICHIGAN MEDICINE - UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Research News

IMAGE: ISSUES SUCH AS TRANSPORTATION BARRIERS, FOOD INSECURITY, AND FEAR OF DEPORTATION CREATE SIGNIFICANT OBSTACLES TO OPTIMAL HEALTH FOR THE MENA COMMUNITY. view more 

CREDIT: JACOB DWYER

Within southeast Michigan's Middle Eastern and North African community, those who worry about deportation or believe they've been treated unfairly are likely to face more adverse conditions associated with poor health, including food insecurity and financial distress.

The MENA people who face several of these barriers are also more likely to report chronic illness and mental health issues as well as worse overall health.

That's according to a new study by the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center, the University of Michigan School of Public Health, and the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services.

"There are numerous health disparities for the MENA community that are not that different from other racial and ethnic groups where we're trying to close the gap," says Minal R. Patel, Ph.D., M.P.H., an associate professor of health behavior and health education at the U-M School of Public Health and a member of the Rogel Cancer Center. "The data show us that this is an important population where we should be focusing our efforts to address health needs."

This is the latest in a series of papers based on data from an extensive survey designed to better understand the population within one of the geographic areas the Rogel Cancer Center aims to serve. The researchers paid special attention to MENA people because metro Detroit is home to one of the United States' largest MENA communities, with about 210,000 residents hailing from Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and other Arab countries.

Previous state surveys had revealed significant health disparities for the MENA population, similar to what Michigan's African-American and Hispanic groups experience. However, Patel and her research team knew more specific data was needed to determine MENA people's unmet health needs as well as the impact that discrimination has on their health.

Through questionnaires distributed in community venues -- including grocery stores, mosques, and health care clinics -- to about 400 people who identified as MENA, researchers found that almost 60% of respondents felt they had experienced discrimination. Close to half did not believe the government was trying to improve life for Arab-Americans. Although fewer people worried about deportation or thought they had been treated unfairly, those who did often faced more adverse conditions associated with poor health, such as food insecurity.

More unmet health needs were also found among people who were not born in the United States (58% of the study's sample); who had lived in America for fewer years; who spoke Arabic at home; and who were from Egypt, Syria, or Yemen -- countries with unstable political environments and high poverty rates.

Public health researchers and media outlets alike have previously called attention to the physical and mental toll of immigration-related concerns on Latino immigrants. Patel says this data illustrates how the MENA people fit into that discussion.

"We were able to highlight that even though we don't share a border with a Middle Eastern country, we still have a sizeable population right next door to us that have concerns about immigration," Patel says. "This is another community where we can bring in that national conversation and think about how it is specifically impacting health."

Among risk factors that limit optimal health in the MENA population, transportation issues for health care visits, food insecurity, and financial strain were the most common, followed by unemployment and unstable housing.

Patel said she was surprised at the prevalence of food insecurity in particular given the number of grocery stores and restaurants in areas with large concentrations of the MENA population.

"When you drive through Dearborn, where much of the survey took place, it doesn't look like the makeup of your typical food desert," Patel says. "So we need to unpack that. Food insecurity is multidimensional, and the availability of food is only one component."

Overall, experiencing more risk factors for poor health, e.g., food insecurity and unemployment and unstable housing, was linked with more chronic diseases, including cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, depression and heart conditions. In addition, mental health and general health were poorer for the people who faced multiple societal conditions that limit optimal health.

This survey was conducted in 2019, and Patel says all the issues discussed have likely worsened for the MENA community since then due to the increased stressors of the pandemic.

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Research reveals why redheads may have different pain thresholds

Study in red-haired mice uncovers mechanisms involved and suggests new treatment strategies for pain

MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL

Research News

 

BOSTON - New research led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) provides insights on why people with red hair exhibit altered sensitivity to certain kinds of pain. The findings are published in Science Advances.

In people with red hair (as in numerous other species of animals with red fur), the pigment-producing cells of the skin--called melanocytes--contain a variant form of the melanocortin 1 receptor. This receptor sits on the cell surface, and if it becomes activated by circulating hormones called melanocortins, it causes the melanocyte to switch from generating yellow/red melanin pigment to producing brown/black melanin pigment. Earlier work by David E. Fisher, MD, PhD, director of the Mass General Cancer Center's Melanoma Program and director of MGH's Cutaneous Biology Research Center, demonstrated that the inability of red-haired individuals to tan or darken their skin pigment is traced to inactive variants of this receptor.

To investigate the mechanisms behind different pain thresholds in red-haired individuals, Fisher and his colleagues studied a strain of red-haired mice that (as in humans) contains a variant that lacks melanocortin 1 receptor function and also exhibits higher pain thresholds.

The team found that loss of melanocortin 1 receptor function in the red-haired mice caused the animals' melanocytes to secrete lower levels of a molecule called POMC (proopiomelanocortin) that is subsequently cut into different hormones including one that sensitizes to pain and one that blocks pain. The presence of these hormones maintains a balance between opioid receptors that inhibit pain and melanocortin 4 receptors that enhance perception of pain.

In red-haired mice (and therefore, possibly humans), having both hormones at low levels would seemingly cancel each other out. However, the body also produces additional, non-melanocyte-related factors that activate opioid receptors involved in blocking pain. Therefore, the net effect of lower levels of the melanocyte-related hormones is more opioid signals, which elevates the threshold for pain.

"These findings describe the mechanistic basis behind earlier evidence suggesting varied pain thresholds in different pigmentation backgrounds," says Fisher. "Understanding this mechanism provides validation of this earlier evidence and a valuable recognition for medical personnel when caring for patients whose pain sensitivities may vary."

Fisher adds that the results suggest new ways to manipulate the body's natural processes that control pain perception--for example, by designing new medications that inhibit melanocortin 4 receptors involved in sensing pain.

"Our ongoing work is focused on elucidating how additional skin-derived signals regulate pain and opioid signaling," adds co-lead author Lajos V. Kemény, MD, PhD, a research fellow in Dermatology at MGH. "Understanding these pathways in depth may lead to the identification of novel pain-modulating strategies."

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This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Melanoma Research Alliance, the U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation, and the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Medical Research Foundation.

About the Massachusetts General Hospital

Massachusetts General Hospital, founded in 1811, is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. The Mass General Research Institute conducts the largest hospital-based research program in the nation, with annual research operations of more than $1 billion and comprises more than 9,500 researchers working across more than 30 institutes, centers and departments. In August 2020, Mass General was named #6 in the U.S. News & World Report list of "America's Best Hospitals."

UConn researcher develops successful Zika vaccine in preclinical studies

The vaccine is generated from a novel platform technology

UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT

Research News

 

IMAGE: PAULO VERARDI, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF PATHOBIOLOGY AND VETERINARY SCIENCE IN UCONN'S COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE, HEALTH AND NATURAL RESOURCES view more 

CREDIT: UCONN PHOTO

UConn researcher Paulo Verardi, associate professor of pathobiology and veterinary science in the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources, has demonstrated the success of a vaccine against Zika virus and recently published his findings in Scientific Reports, a Nature Research publication. He has also filed provisional patent for the novel vaccine platform technology used to generate the vaccine, as well as genetic modifications made to the vaccine that significantly enhance expression of the vaccine antigen.

Verardi, a Brazilian native, was in Brazil visiting family in the summer of 2015 when the Zika outbreak first began to make waves and soon reached epidemic status.

Back in the United States, Verardi kept tabs on the Zika epidemic and its emerging connection to microcephaly, a serious birth defect that causes babies to be born with small heads and underdeveloped brains.

In October of that year, Verardi called then-Ph.D.-student Brittany Jasperse (CAHNR '19) into his office and told her he wanted to apply their newly developed vaccine platform and start developing a vaccine for Zika virus.

Verardi and Jasperse were among the first researchers in the US to receive NIH funding to generate a vaccine against Zika virus, thanks to Verardi recognizing the significance of Zika virus early.

Modern advancements in genomic technology have expediated the vaccine development process. In the past, researchers needed to have access to the actual virus. Now just obtaining the genetic sequence of the virus can be sufficient to develop a vaccine, as was the case for the Zika vaccine Verardi and Jasperse developed, and the COVID-19 vaccines currently approved for emergency use in the United States and abroad.

Using the genetic sequence of Zika virus, Verardi and Jasperse developed and tested multiple vaccine candidates that would create virus-like particles (VLPs). VLPs are an appealing vaccine approach because they resemble native virus particles to the immune system and therefore trigger the immune system to mount a defense comparable to a natural infection. Critically, VLPs lack genetic material and are unable to replicate.

The vaccine Verardi and Jasperse developed is based on a viral vector, vaccinia virus, which they modified to express a portion of Zika virus' genetic sequence to produce Zika VLPs. Their vaccine has an added safety feature that it is replication-defective when given as a vaccine but replicates normally in cell culture in the lab.

"Essentially, we have included an on/off switch," Jasperse says. "We can turn the viral vector on in the lab when we're producing it by simply adding a chemical inducer, and we can turn it off when it's being delivered as a vaccine to enhance safety."

The team developed five vaccine candidates in the lab with different mutations in a genetic sequence that acts as a signal to secrete proteins. They evaluated how these mutations affected the expression and formation of Zika VLPs and then selected the vaccine candidate that had the highest expression of VLPs to test in a mouse model of Zika virus pathogenesis. This model was developed by Helen Lazear of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, whose lab Jasperse now works in as a postdoctoral research associate.

Verardi and Jasperse found that mice who received just a single dose of the vaccine mounted a strong immune response and were completely protected from Zika virus infection. They did not find any evidence of Zika virus in the blood of challenged mice who were exposed to the virus after vaccination.

Zika virus is part of a group of viruses known as flaviviruses which include dengue virus, yellow fever virus, and West Nile virus. Verardi and Jasperse's findings, particularly the mutations they identified that enhanced expression of Zika VLPs, could be useful for improving production of vaccines against diseases caused by other related flaviviruses.

Ongoing work in the Verardi lab incorporates these novel mutations into vaccine candidates against other viruses, including Powassan virus, a tick-borne flavivirus that can cause fatal encephalitis.

Verardi emphasizes that developing vaccines for viruses, in this case Zika, help the world be better prepared for outbreaks of novel and emerging viruses by having vaccine development frameworks in place.

"Emerging viruses are not going to stop popping up any time soon, so we need to be prepared," Verardi says. "Part of being prepared is to continue the development of these platforms."

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Time to shift from 'food security' to 'nutrition security' to increase health and well-being

Tufts and Georgetown scientists, and humanitarian José Andrés, call for a new approach to address food and nutrition inequities

TUFTS UNIVERSITY, HEALTH SCIENCES CAMPUS

Research News

 

IMAGE: CHEF JOSÉ ANDRÉS SPEAKING TO A GROUP OF PEOPLE IN CALIFORNIA (PRE-COVID IMAGE). view more 

CREDIT: SAMANTHA HIGGINS FOR WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN.

In the 1960s, a national focus on hunger was essential to address major problems of undernutrition after World War II. In the 1990s, the nation shifted away from hunger toward "food insecurity" to better capture and address the challenges of food access and affordability.

Now, a new Viewpoint article argues that today's health and equity challenges call for the U.S. to shift from "food insecurity" to "nutrition insecurity" in order to catalyze appropriate focus and policies on access not just to food but to healthy, nourishing food.

The Viewpoint, by Dariush Mozaffarian of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science & Policy at Tufts University, Sheila Fleischhacker of Georgetown Law School, and José Andrés of World Central Kitchen, was published online in JAMA this week.

The concept of food security focuses on access to and affordability of food that is safe, nutritious, and consistent with personal preferences. In reality, however, the "nutritious" part often has been overlooked or lost in national policies and solutions, with resulting emphasis on quantity, rather than quality, of food, say the authors.

"Food is essential both for life and human dignity. Every day, I see hunger, but the hunger I see is not only for calories but for nourishing meals. With a new focus on nutrition security, we embrace a solution that nourishes people, instead of filling them with food but leaving them hungry," said Chef José Andrés, founder of World Central Kitchen.

The authors define nutrition security as having consistent access to and availability and affordability of foods and beverages that promote well-being, while preventing -- and, if needed, treating -- disease. Nutrition security provides a more inclusive view that recognizes that foods must nourish all people.

"'Nutrition security' incorporates all the aims of food security but with additional emphasis on the need for wholesome, healthful foods and drinks for all. COVID-19 has made clear that Americans who are most likely to be hungry are also at highest risk of diet-related diseases including obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and many cancers - a harsh legacy of inequities and structural racism in our nation. A new focus on nutrition security for all Americans will help crystallize and catalyze real solutions that provide not only food but also well-being for everyone," said first author Dariush Mozaffarian, dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science & Policy at Tufts University.

"It's the right time for this evolution," said Sheila Fleischhacker, adjunct professor at Georgetown Law School, who has drafted food, nutrition and health legislation and campaign positions at the local, state, tribal and federal levels. "By prioritizing nutrition security, we bring together historically siloed areas - hunger and nutrition - which must be tackled together to effectively address our modern challenges of diet-related diseases and disparities in clinical care, government food and food assistance policies, public health investments, and national research."

"The current approach is not sufficient," the authors write, and "traditionally marginalized minority groups as well as people living in rural and lower-income counties are most likely to experience disparities in nutrition quality, food insecurity, and corresponding diet-related diseases."

New research on Alzheimer's Disease shows 'lifestyle origin at least in some degree'

AD-stricken brains show a genetic deficit in ability to use glucose

BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

For years, research to pin down the underlying cause of Alzheimer's Disease has been focused on plaque found to be building up in the brain in AD patients. But treatments targeted at breaking down that buildup have been ineffective in restoring cognitive function, suggesting that the buildup may be a side effect of AD and not the cause itself.

A new study led by a team of Brigham Young University researchers finds novel cellular-level support for an alternate theory that is growing in strength: Alzheimer's could actually be a result of metabolic dysfunction in the brain. In other words, there is growing evidence that diet and lifestyle are at the heart of Alzheimer's Disease.

"Alzheimer's Disease is increasingly being referred to as insulin resistance of the brain or Type 3 Diabetes," said senior study author Benjamin Bikman, a professor of physiology and developmental biology at BYU. "Our research shows there is likely a lifestyle origin to the disease, at least to some degree."

For the new study, published in academic journal Alzheimer's & Dementia, the BYU research team examined RNA sequences in 240 post-mortem Alzheimer's Disease-impacted brains. They were looking specifically at the gene expression of nervous system support cells during two types of metabolism: glucose metabolism, where carbohydrates are broken down to provide energy, and something called ketolytic metabolism.

Ketolytic metabolism involves the brain creating energy from ketones, molecules made in our body when the hormone insulin is low and we are burning relatively higher amounts of fat. The popular "Keto Diet" is named after the process since that low-carb, high-protein diet lowers insulin levels and causes the body to burn fat instead of carbs and produce ketones.

The researchers found widespread glucose metabolism impairment in those nervous system support cells of the brains of former Alzheimer's Disease patients, but limited ketolytic metabolism impairment. The finding is significant because the brain is like a hybrid engine, with the ability to get its fuel from glucose or ketones, but in the Alzheimer's brains studied, there appears to be a fundamental genetic deficit in the brain's ability to use glucose.

"We've turned the hybrid engine of our brains into a mono-fuel system that just fails to thrive," Bikman said. "And so, the brain, which is progressively becoming deficient in its ability to use glucose, is now crying out for help; it's starving in the midst of plenty. The body is swimming in a sea of glucose, but the brain just can't use it.

"The inability to use glucose increases the value of ketones. However, because the average person is eating insulin-spiking foods so frequently, there's never any ketones available to the brain," Bikman added. "I look at these findings as a problem we've created and that we're making worse."

Previous research has observed that the brains of people with AD have a quantifiable reduction in the ability to take in and use glucose, but this paper is the first to show it actually happens at the cellular level. It's a significant contribution to the growing paradigm shift in regards to the scientific view of the causes of Alzheimer's.

And since ketolytic metabolism seems to keep working fine in people with AD, even when glucose metabolism gives out, the paper concludes that treatments involving ketones may be able to support brain metabolism and slow the cognitive decline associated with the disease.

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Study authors, which include BYU professor Justin Miller and former BYU professor John Kauwe (now president of BYU-Hawaii), suggest future research investigate metabolic dysfunction in Alzheimer's Disease brains should target oligodendrocytes because genes involved in ketolysis and glycolysis are both differentially expressed in that cell type in AD brains.

Study co-authors also included Oscar Harari, Carlos Cruchaga and Kathie Mihindukulasuriya from the Washington University School of Medicine.

 THE FUTURE AMAZON WORKER

A robot that senses hidden objects

System uses penetrative radio frequency to pinpoint items, even when they're hidden from view

 The technology could aid fulfilment in e-commerce warehouses.

MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Research News

 

IMAGE: MIT RESEARCHERS DEVELOPED A PICKING ROBOT THAT COMBINES VISION WITH RADIO FREQUENCY (RF) SENSING TO FIND AND GRASPS OBJECTS, EVEN IF THEY'RE HIDDEN FROM VIEW. THE TECHNOLOGY COULD AID FULFILMENT... view more 

CREDIT: IMAGE COURTESY OF FADEL ADIB, TARA BOROUSHAKI, ALBERTO RODRIGUEZ

In recent years, robots have gained artificial vision, touch, and even smell. "Researchers have been giving robots human-like perception," says MIT Associate Professor Fadel Adib. In a new paper, Adib's team is pushing the technology a step further. "We're trying to give robots superhuman perception," he says.

The researchers have developed a robot that uses radio waves, which can pass through walls, to sense occluded objects. The robot, called RF-Grasp, combines this powerful sensing with more traditional computer vision to locate and grasp items that might otherwise be blocked from view. The advance could one day streamline e-commerce fulfillment in warehouses or help a machine pluck a screwdriver from a jumbled toolkit.

The research will be presented in May at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. The paper's lead author is Tara Boroushaki, a research assistant in the Signal Kinetics Group at the MIT Media Lab. Her MIT co-authors include Adib, who is the director of the Signal Kinetics Group; and Alberto Rodriguez, the Class of 1957 Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Other co-authors include Junshan Leng, a research engineer at Harvard University, and Ian Clester, a PhD student at Georgia Tech.

As e-commerce continues to grow, warehouse work is still usually the domain of humans, not robots, despite sometimes-dangerous working conditions. That's in part because robots struggle to locate and grasp objects in such a crowded environment. "Perception and picking are two roadblocks in the industry today," says Rodriguez. Using optical vision alone, robots can't perceive the presence of an item packed away in a box or hidden behind another object on the shelf -- visible light waves, of course, don't pass through walls.

But radio waves can.

For decades, radio frequency (RF) identification has been used to track everything from library books to pets. RF identification systems have two main components: a reader and a tag. The tag is a tiny computer chip that gets attached to -- or, in the case of pets, implanted in -- the item to be tracked. The reader then emits an RF signal, which gets modulated by the tag and reflected back to the reader.

The reflected signal provides information about the location and identity of the tagged item. The technology has gained popularity in retail supply chains -- Japan aims to use RF tracking for nearly all retail purchases in a matter of years. The researchers realized this profusion of RF could be a boon for robots, giving them another mode of perception.

"RF is such a different sensing modality than vision," says Rodriguez. "It would be a mistake not to explore what RF can do."

RF Grasp uses both a camera and an RF reader to find and grab tagged objects, even when they're fully blocked from the camera's view. It consists of a robotic arm attached to a grasping hand. The camera sits on the robot's wrist. The RF reader stands independent of the robot and relays tracking information to the robot's control algorithm. So, the robot is constantly collecting both RF tracking data and a visual picture of its surroundings. Integrating these two data streams into the robot's decision making was one of the biggest challenges the researchers faced.

"The robot has to decide, at each point in time, which of these streams is more important to think about," says Boroushaki. "It's not just eye-hand coordination, it's RF-eye-hand coordination. So, the problem gets very complicated."

The robot initiates the seek-and-pluck process by pinging the target object's RF tag for a sense of its whereabouts. "It starts by using RF to focus the attention of vision," says Adib. "Then you use vision to navigate fine maneuvers." The sequence is akin to hearing a siren from behind, then turning to look and get a clearer picture of the siren's source.

With its two complementary senses, RF Grasp zeroes in on the target object. As it gets closer and even starts manipulating the item, vision, which provides much finer detail than RF, dominates the robot's decision making.

RF Grasp proved its efficiency in a battery of tests. Compared to a similar robot equipped with only a camera, RF Grasp was able to pinpoint and grab its target object with about half as much total movement. Plus, RF Grasp displayed the unique ability to "declutter" its environment -- removing packing materials and other obstacles in its way in order to access the target. Rodriguez says this demonstrates RF Grasp's "unfair advantage" over robots without penetrative RF sensing. "It has this guidance that other systems simply don't have."

RF Grasp could one day perform fulfillment in packed e-commerce warehouses. Its RF sensing could even instantly verify an item's identity without the need to manipulate the item, expose its barcode, then scan it. "RF has the potential to improve some of those limitations in industry, especially in perception and localization," says Rodriguez.

Adib also envisions potential home applications for the robot, like locating the right Allen wrench to assemble your Ikea chair. "Or you could imagine the robot finding lost items. It's like a super-Roomba that goes and retrieves my keys, wherever the heck I put them."

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The research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation, NTT DATA, Toppan, Toppan Forms, and the Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS).

How Fortnite and Zelda can up your surgical game (no joke!)

Scalpel? Check. Gaming console? Check. Study finds video games can be a new tool on surgical tray for medical students

UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA

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IMAGE: STUDY LED BY UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA STUDENT FINDS VIDEO GAMES CAN BE A NEW TOOL ON SURGICAL TRAY FOR MEDICAL STUDENTS view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA

Video games offer students obvious respite from the stresses of studies and, now, a study from a University of Ottawa medical student has found they could benefit surgical skills training.

Arnav Gupta carries a heavy course load as a third-year student in the Faculty of Medicine, so winding down with a game of Legend of Zelda always provides relief from the rigorous of study. But Zelda may be helping improve his surgical education, too, as Gupta and a team of researchers from the University of Toronto found in a paper they recently published in the medical journal Surgery.

"Given the limited availability of simulators and the high accessibility of video games, medical students interested in surgical specialties should know that video games may be a valuable adjunct training for enhancing their medical education, especially in surgical specialties where it can be critical," says Gupta, whose findings were deciphered from a systematic review of 16 studies involving 575 participants.

"Particularly, in robotic surgery, being a video gamer was associated with improvements in time to completion, economy of motion, and overall performance. In laparoscopic surgery, video games-based training was associated with improvement in duration on certain tasks, economy of motion, accuracy, and overall performance," explains Gupta, who has been a gamer since age 8.

This study builds on past reviews and is the first to focus on a specific medical student population where this style of training could be feasibly implemented. Their timely study found some of the most beneficial games for students of robotic surgery and laparoscopy were: Super Monkey Ball, Half Life, Rocket League and Underground. Underground is purposely designed to assist medical students with their robotic surgery training via a video game console.

"While video games can never replace the value of first-hand experience, they do have merit as an adjunctive tool, especially when attempting to replicate important movements to surgery. For example, first-person shooting games require you to translate three dimensional motions onto a two-dimensional screen, which is like the concept of laparoscopic surgery," says Gupta, whose studies are focused on surgery in ophthalmology, which makes games like Resident Evil 4 or Trauma Center: New Blood fitted for his own ambitions.

"I'm not joking when I say that games such as Fortnite have the potential to enhance those necessary movements, providing stronger motivational components and in a low stakes environment."

Reports suggest 55 percent of university students are gamers and enjoy proficiency with video consoles. Yet, many medical students don't admit to owning and using a gaming console.

"I think there definitely is some ambivalence towards video games in medicine," says Gupta, who is also a fan of Witcher 3. "Given how accessible games have become and how video game technology is advancing, video games definitely are an easy go-to for the students who do love them in some capacity. The hope is that maybe this study can inspire someone to take advantage of video games' unique capabilities, reduce the general ambivalence towards it, and develop some fun ways to let students engage with surgical education."

CAPTION

"While video games can never replace the value of first-hand experience, they do have merit as an adjunctive tool, especially when attempting to replicate important movements to surgery," says University of Ottawa medical student Arnav Gupta, who led the study with colleagues from the University of Toronto.