UK

Nurse strike threat over three per cent NHS pay rise

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) says the pay increase has left nurses feeling they were not 'valued for what they do'


Fionnula Hainey    

UK and world news writer
22 JUL 2021

Nurses will be given a three per cent pay rise (Image: PA)

Nurses may consider striking after the government offered a three per cent pay rise for NHS staff in England and Wales, a union leader has said.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) described the decision as a “bitter blow”, saying that the salary increase would in fact be a cut once inflation was taken into account.

Announcing the three per cent uplift, Boris Johnson tweeted: “Our NHS staff have been heroic throughout the pandemic, providing care and saving lives. To recognise the extraordinary contribution they have made they are receiving a 3% pay rise this year."

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The Department of Health and Social Care said the “average nurse” will receive an additional £1,000 a year, while many porters and cleaners will get around £540.

Patricia Marquis, England director of the RCN, said the award has left nurses feeling they were not “valued for what they do”.



She told BBC's Newsnight that the union would consult with its members before considering the next steps.

She added that the union's response "could include consideration of industrial action most certainly".

The government had initially proposed a one per cent pay increase to the NHS Pay Review Body, which proved controversial back in March, before then accepting recommendations to give NHS staff in England a three per cent rise backdated to April.

The RCN had been campaigning for a 12.5 per cent pay increase.

General secretary Pat Cullen said: “When the Treasury expects inflation to be 3.7 per cent, ministers are knowingly cutting pay for an experienced nurse by over £200 in real-terms.

“Nursing staff will remain dignified in responding to what will be a bitter blow to many.

“But the profession will not take this lying down. We will be consulting our members on what action they would like to take next.”

The three per cent increase will be paid to the majority of NHS staff, including nurses, paramedics, consultants, dentists and salaried GPs, but does not cover doctors and dentists in training.

Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng defended the plans today, saying that a three per cent rise was “fair”.

"The independent review has recommended a three per cent increase and the government has decided that we’ll go with the independent review," he told Sky News.

“I think that’s entirely fair. Obviously we’d like it to be more but you’ve got to remember we spent £350 billion to deal with the pandemic.

“I think three per cent, which, after all, was what the independent review came up with, is a fair number.”

The chief executive of NHS Employers said health leaders “have an enormous amount of sympathy for staff, and particularly with regards to how this … process of the pay award has been handled this year by the government”.


Danny Mortimer told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that leaders were “relieved that it’s three per cent, not one per cent” and added: “The key question is is the government going to fund this pay award properly?

“What we can’t have is a situation where the assumption is that the NHS will make efficiencies, will cut the number of staff or reduce the services it provides to pay for this pay award, what we can’t have is a situation where some parts of the NHS, particularly the services that provide specialist public health services, don’t receive the pay award in the same way that my members who run services in hospitals do so. ”


He said “we’re also worried about the longer-term, what does this mean in terms of the attitude of staff and unions in future years around pay awards?”

Dr Tom Dolphin, a spokesman for the British Medical Association (BMA) and a consultant anaesthetist in central London, told Sky News that medics would also consider the option of industrial action.

He said that “over the last 10 years, our pay has fallen in value by about a third”, adding that exhausted doctors were leaving the NHS.

Asked if workers would potentially consider industrial action, he said: “We’re not at that stage yet. What we’re going to be doing is we’re going to be sending out a survey to our members today and over the next week or so, to check and make sure that they are as angry and disappointed about this pay offer as we are at the BMA and if so what they’re prepared to do about it.

“And industrial action will be on that list of things they might want to consider, and we’ll see what people are prepared to do to defend their pay.”

 

Professional rugby may be associated with changes in brain structure

Participation in elite adult rugby may be associated with changes in brain structure.

IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON

Research News

Participation in elite adult rugby may be associated with changes in brain structure.

This is the finding of a study of 44 elite rugby players, almost half of whom had recently sustained a mild head injury while playing.

The study, part of the Drake Rugby Biomarker Study, was led by Imperial College London and published in the journal Brain Communications.

The research found a significant proportion of the rugby players had signs of abnormalities to the white matter, in addition to abnormal changes in white matter volume over time.

White matter is the 'wiring' of the brain, and helps brain cells communicate with each other. The research team say more work is now needed to investigate the long-term effects of professional rugby on brain health.

Professor David Sharp, senior author from Imperial's Department of Brain Sciences, said: "Despite relatively high rates of head injury and an increasing focus on prevention, there has been relatively little research investigating the long-term effects of rugby participation. More objective measures of the effects of sporting head injuries on the brain are needed to assist with the assessment and management of individual players.

"Our research using advanced magnetic resonance imaging suggests that professional rugby participation can be associated with structural changes in the brain that may be missed using conventional brain scans. What is not clear at this stage is the long-term clinical impact of these changes. Further research is needed to understand the long-term implications of repeated head injuries experienced during a rugby career and to provide more accurate ways to assess risk for an individual."

The work, in collaboration with University College London, was funded and instigated by The Drake Foundation, who brought together academia and sport for this pioneering study, and was additionally supported by the National Institute for Health Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, the UK Dementia Research Institute and the Rugby Football Union.

Lauren Pulling, The Drake Foundation's CEO, said: "The Drake Foundation would like to thank the RFU, rugby clubs and research team for their support in this vital study. At present, the long-term consequences of these brain structure abnormalities are unknown and require further research. However, taken together with existing evidence across different sports, as well as recent cases of rugby players being diagnosed with brain diseases in their 40s, they are painting a concerning picture when it comes to players' long-term brain health."

The study, which took place between July 2017 and September 2019, assessed 41 male players, and three female.

All underwent a type of brain scan called an MRI, and around half then had a second MRI scan a year later. The study used two advanced types of MRI called susceptibility weighted imaging and diffusion tensor imaging. This allowed them to look at the structure of blood vessels and the white matter. The study is the first to assess long-term changes in MRI images of professional rugby players.

The rugby players were compared to athletes in non-collision sports, as well as individuals who were not athletes.

Among the group of rugby players, 21 were assessed shortly after sustaining a mild head injury, called a mild traumatic brain injury. In professional rugby union in England, these types of head injuries, which often cause concussions, are the most common reported match injury - accounting for one in five injuries.

The scientists analysed the brain scans for changes in the white matter of the brain, and compared these to the athletes in non-collision sports, and the non-athletes.

The results revealed that 23 percent of all of the rugby players showed abnormalities to their cell axons (the 'wires' of brain cells), or small tears in blood vessels. These tears cause small leaks in the brain, called microbleeds.

These changes were seen in both players with and without a recent head injury.

In addition, the scans provide evidence for unexpected changes in white matter volume across the whole group of rugby players. These could indicate a longer-term effect of these abnormalities to connections in the brain. However, further research is needed to understand the significance of these changes in brain structure.

The research team also asked the players to complete assessments, such as memory tests, to analyse their brain function. The results revealed players with abnormalities in their brain structures did not perform worse than players without abnormalities.

The study team add that long-term studies are needed to investigate the long-term effects on brain health. They add that other health benefits of sports participation must also be taken into account when assessing impact on the brain health.

Mr Karl Zimmerman, lead author of the research, from Imperial's Department of Brain Sciences, said: "The implications on an individual level of the brain changes associated with elite rugby participation are unclear, although obviously it is concerning to see these changes in some of the players' brains. It is important to note that our results in adult professional rugby union and league players are not directly comparable to those who play at local or youth levels. The overall health benefit of participating in sports and physical exercise have been well established including the reduction in mortality and chronic diseases such as dementia. Long-term studies are now needed of both active and retired rugby players to investigate the effect of participation on long-term brain health."

Dr Simon Kemp, Medical Services Director at the Rugby Football Union (RFU) added: "The RFU is fully committed to advancing our understanding of the short, medium and long term consequences of head impacts and concussions so that we can ensure we can make continued improvements in player welfare. We welcome any research that helps to advance our knowledge which is why we actively collaborated with the academic institutions on the Drake Foundation Rugby Biomarker Study from its inception, particularly to promote the recruitment of players. While it is unclear from that research what the individual long-term implications are regarding the brain changes seen in these advanced imaging techniques, it is clearly a priority to investigate this further. To further develop our understanding the RFU, in partnership with Premiership Rugby and independent experts, will be providing a specialist clinical service for the assessment and management of retired elite male and female rugby players between the ages of 30-55 to individually assess their brain health. An integrated research programme will review the risk, causes, assessment and management of brain problems for those who have participated in elite rugby."

The study was carried out in collaboration with UCL researchers Dr Etienne Laverse and Professor Huw Morris from the Department of Clinical and Movement Neuroscience, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology.

Professor Huw Morris said: "We have more to learn about the mechanisms and consequences of head injury, and the best approaches to player assessment. This Imperial/UCL collaborative study has brought together expertise from brain sciences across London. The Drake Foundation have pioneered work in this field in the UK and we are very grateful for the support of the foundation, players, medical teams, clubs and the RFU in carrying out this work. We hope that this work, and understanding the long-term implications will ultimately improve safety across contact sports."

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Mobility restrictions can have unexpected impacts on air quality

UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI

Research News

An international collaborative study led by University of Helsinki has conducted a holistic study to investigate the effects of COVID-19 restrictions on several air quality pollutants for the Po Valley region in northern Italy. The area is well known to have one of the worst air quality standards in Europe and is highly influenced by anthropogenic (human-led) activities. The study was done between research groups in Finland, Italy and Switzerland and the results were published in the journal Environmental Science: Atmospheres.

Scientists have combined air quality measurements and computer simulation data over several locations in the region. The resulting studies show that reduced emissions from traffic lead to a strong reduction of nitrogen oxides, while have had limited impact on aerosol concentrations, contributing to a better understanding of how the air pollution is formed in the Po Valley.

The studies show that despite the large reduction in mobility of people and emissions from cars (which raise for instance nitrogen oxides concentrations), aerosols concentrations remained almost unchanged compared to previous years. Secondary formed pollutants like ozone, on the other hand, showed an increase in concentrations. These findings were confirmed by a computer model simulation that simulates the COVID-19 restriction on traffic, indicating that the increased overall oxidation capacity of the atmosphere might have enhanced the formation of new aerosols.

Furthermore, model simulations indicated that as nitrogen oxides emissions were largely reduced, chemical reactions of organic gases against atmospheric oxidants increased, slightly favoring the formation of new organic particles.

"You can think of the Po Valley region as a massive batch reactor with all sort of chemicals. Altering one of the "ingredients" can trigger non-linear responses in air pollutants concentrations", says Dr Federico Bianchi from the Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR) of University of Helsinki.

These studies shade new lights on the formation of air pollutants in the Po Valley region and on their sources. The conclusion is that the reduction in traffic emissions had little impact on particulate matter concentrations, possibly highlighting the importance of other emissions sources in the Po Valley area.

Carefully characterizing the evolution of such emission categories are of a vital importance to improve the understanding of the air pollution and to reduce the uncertainties in future air quality scenarios.

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Targeted removals and enhanced monitoring can help manage lionfish in the Mediterranean

UNIVERSITY OF PLYMOUTH

Research News

IMAGE: GROUPS OF UP TO 18 VOLUNTEER SCUBA DIVERS WORKED TOGETHER TO REMOVE LIONFISH FROM THE MARINE PROTECTED AREA OF CAPE GRECO view more 

CREDIT: PERIKLIS KLEITOU/UNIVERSITY OF PLYMOUTH

Targeted removals can be effective in suppressing the number of invasive lionfish found within protected coastlines around the Mediterranean Sea.

However, if they are to really be successful they need to be combined with better long-term monitoring by communities and conservationists to ensure their timing and location achieve the best results.

Those are the key findings of a new study, one of the first of its kind to examine the effectiveness of targeted lionfish removals from both an ecological and a socio-economic perspective.

Scientists working as part of the European Union-funded RELIONMED project teamed up with specially trained divers and citizen scientists to conduct a series of removal events and surveys over a six-month period.

Focussed on three marine protected areas on the coast of Cyprus - the Zenobia shipwreck off Larnaca, and two popular diving sites within the Cape Greco Marine Protected Area - between 35 and 119 lionfish were removed per day by divers at each protected site.

Those sites were then monitored by divers over several months which showed that, in some locations, population numbers recovered within three months.

As a result, scientists writing in the Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems journal, say such initiatives can undoubtedly be effective in reducing population numbers.

However, they need to be carefully coordinated to ensure the lionfish are eliminated - including the potential for them to be overfished - in a manner that doesn't have other negative impacts on other species.

The research was led by researchers at the University of Plymouth (UK) and Marine and Environmental Research (MER) Lab (Cyprus). They have been collaborating for several years as part of the €1.6million RELIONMED project, which aims to assess the history of the lionfish invasion in Cyprus, and identify ways to minimise its future impact.

Periklis Kleitou, Research Assistant on the RELIONMED project and lead author on the study, said: "There are many changes happening within the Mediterranean as a consequence of human activity and climate change. The lionfish invasion has been one notable consequence of that, but this study shows there is a potential - albeit complex and challenging - solution. One of the interesting aspects of this work has been to see how the training improved divers' knowledge of the issue, and motivated them to support management efforts. That is without doubt something we can, and should, build on to ensure lionfish populations are managed sustainably now and in the future."

CAPTION

University of Plymouth student and co-author Francesco Cecconi collecting data about the efficiency of lionfish competition using underwater visual census

CREDIT

University of Plymout

Lionfish first began populating the Mediterranean less than a decade ago, as a result of expansion in the Suez Canal and ocean warming.

The species was first recorded off the coast of Cyprus in 2014, with a lack of common predators - coupled with lionfish's breeding habits - meaning numbers have increased dramatically with sightings everywhere from coastlines to the deep seas.

The first targeted removals took place in May 2019, having proved successful in areas previously invaded by lionfish, and they have been combined with education programmes around the threats the species pose and how it might be managed sustainably.

Professor of Marine Biology Jason Hall-Spencer, senior author on the current study and one of the core group of scientists that advises the International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO), said: "This study demonstrates the complex nature of managing and protecting our ocean. Marine Protected Areas are undoubtedly beneficial in terms of biodiversity on the seabed, but they are also vulnerable to the spread of invasive species. Our ongoing research is showing the pivotal role citizens can play in monitoring and managing lionfish, but permitting divers to remove these fish using scuba gear will need to be applied with caution and strictly regulated to avoid illegal fishing. If implemented correctly, removal events could protect selected areas from the adverse effects of lionfish, while at the same time help to establish rich and deep links with local communities, strengthening responsibility and surveillance at corporate and social levels, and stimulating public environmental awareness."

CAPTION

One of the lionfish spotted by survey teams off the coast of Cyprus

CREDIT

University of Plymouth

 

Study shows cancer misinformation common on social media sites

HUNTSMAN CANCER INSTITUTE

Research News

IMAGE: SKYLER JOHNSON, MD view more 

CREDIT: HUNTSMAN CANCER INSTITUTE

A new study published online today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute reports that one third of the most popular cancer treatment articles on social media contain misinformation. Further, the vast majority of that misinformation has the potential to harm cancer patients by supporting approaches that could negatively impact the quality of their treatment and chances for survival. The study also showed that articles containing misinformation garner more attention and engagement than articles with evidence-based information.

The internet is a major source for health information, and misinformation is growing among many types of health conditions. This is an urgent challenge because it can result in patients making decisions detrimental to their survival or outcomes.

Skyler Johnson, MD, Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) physician-scientist and assistant professor of radiation oncology at the University of Utah (U of U), headed the study. Johnson's interest in this area was piqued after work he completed earlier in his career showed higher risk of death among patients who used unproven approaches to treat cancer as an alternative to conventional, evidence-based treatments. That research led Johnson to several discussions with patients, physicians, researchers, and journalists. In the course of these conversations, Johnson found a recurring theme about the role that online media, particularly social media, played in disseminating inaccurate cancer information. Further, in his clinical practice at HCI where he cares for people with cancer, Johnson often heard from patients who had questions about articles they saw on social media.

He and the research team set out to better understand the quantity and nature of cancer information on social media. The research team included experts in cancer care, health outcomes, and communications. They convened medical expert panels to review and assess the claims presented in 200 of the most popular articles on social media sites. For this study, the researchers focused on articles related to breast, prostate, lung, and colorectal cancers.

"We found misinformation is clearly prevalent in cancer articles on social media, and the vast majority of those pieces contain harmful information," says Johnson.

The team's findings showed just how common it is for cancer patients to receive misinformation. Of 200 articles analyzed, 33% contained misinformation. Of those, 77% contained information that could negatively influence patient outcomes. Johnson noted that after reviewing articles, he has major concerns about how one could distinguish between which articles are reliable and which are not.

Johnson says he understands why patients seek information online, including through social media platforms. "Having cancer is a unique and vulnerable situation. Patients are dealing with a new disease. They want to feel in control over their own health and do everything possible to maintain hope. They experience a deluge of new information as they are diagnosed, including through social media. Some patients seek out information, and some information is shared with patients by well-intentioned family and friends."

He advocates for physicians to maintain open communication channels with their patients. In his practice, he lets patients know they are likely to encounter misinformation about their cancer online. He encourages his patients to talk to him if they have questions about information they see related to their cancer online or through social media.

Johnson hopes that this research is just the start. He wants to identify predictors of misinformation and harm on social media in order to help physicians and patients better understand and navigate this challenging issue.

"We need to address these issues head on," Johnson says. "As a medical community, we can't ignore the problem of cancer misinformation on social media or ask our patients to ignore it. We must empathize with our patients and help them when they encounter this type of information. My goal is to help answer their questions, and provide cancer patients with accurate information that will give them the best chance for the best outcome."

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Johnson acknowledges the critical efforts of the entire study team, including senior author Angela Fagerlin, PhD, HCI cancer researcher and professor and chair of population health sciences at the U of U; Jonathan Tward, MD, PhD, HCI physician-scientist and professor of radiation oncology at the U of U, who organized the process of conducting medical expert reviews of the articles; and Laura Scherer, PhD, a misinformation researcher at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute P30CA042014 and Huntsman Cancer Foundation.

Public resource note: Huntsman Cancer Institute's Cancer Learning Center is a free service for health professionals and members of the public who have cancer questions, including questions about articles they may see on social media. It can be reached toll free at 888-424-2100 or email cancerinfo@hci.utah.edu. Services are available in English and Spanish.

About Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah

Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah is the official cancer center of Utah. The cancer campus includes a state-of-the-art cancer specialty hospital, community clinics, a mobile screening program, and two buildings dedicated to cancer research. HCI treats patients with all forms of cancer and is recognized among the best cancer hospitals in the country by U.S. News and World Report. As the only National Cancer Institute (NCI)-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in the Mountain West, HCI serves the largest geographic region in the country, drawing patients from Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. More genes for inherited cancers have been discovered at HCI than at any other cancer center in the world, including genes responsible for hereditary breast, ovarian, colon, head, and neck cancers, along with melanoma. HCI manages the Utah Population Database, the largest genetic database in the world, with information on more than 11 million people linked to genealogies, health records, and vital statistics. HCI was founded by Jon M. and Karen Huntsman.

Chinese hackers stole Mekong River data from Cambodian ministry - sources
By Prak Chan Thul and James Pearson

 Reuters/Pring Samrang FILE PHOTO: A man washes a cow in the Mekong river in Phnom Penh

PHNOM PENH/HANOI (Reuters) - Buried in a long U.S. indictment accusing China of a global cyberespionage campaign was a curious detail: Among the governments targeted by Chinese hackers was Cambodia, one of Beijing's most loyal Asian allies.

The target of the hack, which two sources with knowledge of the indictment said was Cambodia's foreign ministry, was also revealing: discussions between China and Cambodia over the use of the Mekong River, a new battleground for U.S. and Chinese influence in Southeast Asia.

Four Chinese nationals - three security officials and a contract hacker - have been charged for attacks aimed at dozens of companies, universities and government agencies in the United States and abroad, the U.S. Justice Department said on Monday.

Reaction from the defendants named in the indictment was not immediately available.

The accusations, which China has said were fabricated and politically motivated, were outlined in a 30-page U.S. court indictment about the activities of what it said was a front company run by Chinese state security in Hainan, a Chinese island province near Southeast Asia.

Among the hackers' targets was "Cambodian Government Ministry A", according to the indictment, from which they "stole data pertaining to discussions between the Governments of China and Cambodia over the use of the Mekong River" in January 2018.

That ministry was Cambodia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, two sources with direct knowledge of the indictment told Reuters.

China's embassy in Cambodia did not respond to a request from Reuters for comment. The Chinese foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment.

A Cambodian foreign ministry spokesperson referred questions to the telecommunications ministry, which declined to comment. Cambodian government spokesperson Phay Siphan declined to comment.

'SECRETS AND DATA'

The 4,350 km (2,700-mile) long Mekong, known as the Lancang in its upper reaches, flows from China along the borders of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand through Cambodia and Vietnam, where it has supported farming and fishing communities for millennia.

Like the South China Sea, the Mekong River has become a front in U.S.-China rivalry, with Beijing overtaking Washington in both spending and influence over downstream countries at the mercy of its control of the river's waters.

According to the indictment, Chinese hackers obtained data from the Cambodian ministry on the same day Cambodia hosted the China-backed Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) leaders summit with China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam in Phnom Penh on Jan. 10, 2018.

The data obtained by the hackers pertained to those discussions, the indictment said, without elaborating.

On the same day, the hackers hid and transmitted "trade secrets and proprietary hydroacoustic data" within digital images of a koala bear and former U.S. President Donald Trump, according to the indictment. It said the material was sent to an online account controlled by the hackers.

It was not clear if the hydroacoustic data - data collected by sonar and used to monitor underwater features - was of the Mekong River area.

Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Southeast Asian foreign ministers the U.S. supported a "free and open Mekong region" under the Washington-backed Mekong-U.S. Partnership.

(Reporting by Prak Chan Thul in Phnom Penh and James Pearson in Hanoi; additional reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Health minister shrugs off demand for real-time tracking of Alberta medical staff shortages


Health Minister Tyler Shandro responded to the NDP’s demand for real-time tracking of bed closures in Alberta hospitals Wednesday by accusing the Opposition of playing political games.

© Provided by Edmonton Journal Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro.

Lisa Johnson 
lijohnson@postmedia.com

When asked if the province would commit to the real-time reporting amid a shortage of health-care staff that’s led to temporary closures, Shandro accused the NDP of lying about the extent of the province’s challenges.

“They told us that the doctors were fleeing the province, they attacked our contingency plans when it came to field hospitals, they told Albertans that we were firing nurses during the pandemic — they were all complete lies and the NDP are again abject and complete liars,” said Shandro at an unrelated news conference, doubling down on similar comments he made Monday.

Shandro called the NDP demand for public data a “ruse” that amounted to an attack on nurses, doctors and senior leaders at AHS for political gain.

Shandro has said the province is recruiting more health-care staff, including 1,000 more nurses over the last year, and Wednesday added there are 1,700 more registered nurses in the province now than in 2019, when the NDP was in government.

Staffing shortages have affected Edmonton facilities, including Royal Alexandra Hospital, which closed an additional 12 beds for four hours late last week on top of six beds that remain closed , and Grey Nuns Hospital, which will operate at 80 per cent outpatient capacity in its endoscopy unit for two weeks.

Covenant Health spokeswoman Karen Diaper said in a statement the reduction is the result of staffing coverage issues “due to pre-approved staff vacations and unexpected absences for non-COVID-related medical concerns.”

Video: Pediatric ER Crisis (Global News)

Elsewhere, the emergency department at St. Theresa General Hospital in Fort Vermilion will be without an overnight doctor until July 31, and this past weekend, the Sacred Heart Community Health Centre’s emergency department in McLennan was without a doctor for a total of 30 hours .

While Alberta Health Services tracks emergency room wait times and publishes them online , not all bed closures are announced publicly.

NDP Leader Rachel Notley said Albertans deserve to see the details of the challenges being faced within the health-care system so that leaders can be held to account for their efforts to fix them.

“We need the minister to stop gaslighting frontline workers, stop gaslighting Albertans and start taking his ministerial responsibility seriously. I get that it’s a big job, but you do not earn trust by pretending the problem doesn’t exist,” said Notley.

She added similar challenges, sparked in part by burnout from the COVID-19 pandemic, are happening across the country, but the UCP government’s bargaining proposals for wage cuts for health-care workers are exacerbating the problem in Alberta.

“This burnout is being made even worse by the utter lack of respect this government has shown for the sacrifices of these Albertans,” said Notley.

The NDP has noted that over the past two months, bed closures and ER shutdowns have also been reported at hospitals in Edson, St. Paul, Boyle, Elk Point, Galahad, Westlock, Fairview, Rocky Mountain House, Cold Lake, Lac La Biche, High Prairie, Slave Lake, Wainwright, Rimbey, Barrhead and Lacombe.

Spacecraft Flies Through Dusty Tail of Exploded Comet in Unique Chance Encounter

Remains of comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) swooping past the Sun, May 2020. (NASA/NRL/STEREO/Karl Battams)

MICHELLE STARR
20 JULY 2021

A comet that broke apart before it was due to appear in Earth's night sky last year has now nevertheless given us a rare and wonderful gift.

As its disembodied tail continued its journey through the Solar System, a spacecraft orbiting the Sun was able to pass through its tail, quite by chance. The European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter has now given us a unique glimpse into the tail of a disintegrated comet.

The findings have been presented at the Royal Astronomical Society's National Astronomy Meeting 2021.

Comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) was discovered in December of 2019, and immediately comet-watchers were excited. Its path around the Sun was expected to take it close enough to Earth to be visible with the naked eye. Before it could get to that point though – and long before its expected perihelion – the comet disintegrated.

NASA/ESA/STScI/D. Jewitt, UCLA/CC BY 4.0

Above: Hubble Space Telescope image of comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) on April 20 2020, providing the sharpest view to date of the breakup of the solid nucleus of the comet.

In April of last year, images from the Hubble Space Telescope showed the fragments of the comet, shattered as its ices sublimated in the increasing warmth drawing nearer to the Sun. This is not actually an uncommon occurrence, but it did rather dash our hopes of comet-watching.

There were other hopes pinned on C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS), too. Not long after it launched, the Solar Orbiter team noticed that its path would bring it through the comet's tail. The spacecraft wasn't designed for this type of encounter, and nor were its instruments supposed to be switched on at this point, but the scientists figured why not try to see what they could?


When the comet disintegrated, the team figured that, since they had already prepared, they may as well follow through with their plans, even though there might be nothing to detect. However, when Solar Orbiter made its planned rendezvous with the cometary tail, it did indeed detect something.

Now scientists have reconstructed the encounter to learn exactly what the probe detected.

"We have identified a magnetic field structure observed at the beginning of June 4th 2020, associated with a full magnetic field reversal, a local deceleration of the flow and large plasma density, and enhanced dust and energetic ions events," write a team led by physicist Lorenzo Matteini of University College London.

"We interpret this structure as magnetic field draping around a low-field and high-density object, as expected for a cometary magnetotail. Inside and around this large-scale structure, several ion-scale fluctuations are detected that are consistent with small-scale waves and structures generated by cometary pick-up ion instabilities."

In other words, Solar Orbiter's instruments detected the magnetic field of the comet's tail, embedded in the ambient interplanetary magnetic field. This allowed them to learn more about C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS)'s ion tail.

Comets, you see, have two tails. There's the dust tail; that one is made up of dust ejected by the comet as icy material sublimates, generating a dusty atmosphere called a coma around the cometary nucleus. Radiation pressure from the Sun and the solar wind pushes dust away, forming a tail.

The ion tail, on the other hand, is produced when solar ultraviolet light ionizes molecules in the coma. The resulting plasma generates a magnetosphere; it is also pushed away by the solar wind, and that is the ion tail.

The team's results showed that the magnetic field of the ion tail remains for a time after the comet disintegrates. The magnetic field embedded in the solar wind then bends and drapes around the magnetic field of the ion tail.

The probe's measurements, they said, are consistent with an encounter with a cometary magnetic and plasma structure embedded in the solar wind, either associated with a fragment of the broken comet, or a portion of the tail that was previously disconnected.

"This is quite a unique event, and an exciting opportunity for us to study the makeup and structure of comet tails in unprecedented detail," Matteini said.

"Hopefully with the Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter now orbiting the Sun closer than ever before, these events may become much more common in future!"

The findings have been presented at the National Astronomy Meeting 2021.

This is the first time an amateur astronomer has discovered a moon around Jupiter.

In 1974, NASA's Pioneer 11 spacecraft viewed Jupiter from above its north pole. (Image credit: NASA Ames)

By Doris Elin Urrutia 2 days ago

An amater astronomer has discovered a previously unknown moon around Jupiter after poring over old telescope images, a major first.

"I’m proud to say that this is the first planetary moon discovered by an amateur astronomer!" moon searcher Kai Ly said in a July 8 Sky and Telescope report that details the discovery.

Jupiter may have dozens or even hundreds of undiscovered moons orbiting around it. This massive planet boasts a substantial gravitational field that allows it to capture space debris into its orbit. Jupiter currently hosts at least 79 moons, and the number continues to grow. The latest discovery was made by Ly, an amateur astronomer, and it's the latest addition to the catalogue of the Carme group of Jovian satellites.

Carme and its crew are small, odd-shaped space rocks. They orbit in the opposite direction of Jupiter's rotation — a phenomenon called retrograde — and the group travels around Jupiter at an extreme tilt relative to the giant planet's orbital plane, according to NASA. Carme is the largest of the group, with a mean radius of 14 miles (23 kilometers). Carme is the parent rock to the amateur astronomer's discovery and to the other 22 known members of the group. Astronomers think that Carme was an asteroid captured by Jupiter's gravity, and that its group are the bits that broke off of it following a cosmic collision.

Related: A lander on Jupiter's icy moon Europa may have to dig at least 1 foot down to find signs of life

From bottom to top, the bright points in this image feature Earth's moon, Venus and Jupiter. The curved horizon at the top is Earth's crescent. Astronaut Scott Kelly captured this view from the International Space Station in 2015. (Image credit: NASA/Scott KellyFrom bottom to top, the bright points in this image feature Earth's moon, Venus and Jupiter. The curved horizon at the top is Earth's crescent. Astronaut Scott Kelly captured this view from the International Space Station in 2015.)

Ly made their finding when looking online at a data set from 2003 that had been collected by researchers at the University of Hawai'i using the 3.6-meter Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT). Ly paid special attention to the imagery collected in February of that year, when the moons were at their apparent brightest. This was caused by a phenomenon known as opposition, when the sun and a given planet appear in opposite parts of Earth's sky. Our home planet was sitting in the middle of a line between the sun and Jupiter in February 2003, allowing astronomers on Earth to clearly see Jupiter's system illuminated by the star.

Ly used observations from another telescope called Subaru to establish the object's 22-day arc, which showed the moon candidate was likely bound to Jupiter's gravity. This baseline allowed them to find and confirm the moon's existence with other datasets, too.

In the Space and Telescope article, Ly described the exciting discovery as "a summer hobby before I return to school."

This rock is currently designated EJc0061, but does not yet have a formal name. When it does, it will likely end with the letter e like Carme. When NASA officials explained Carme's moniker, they said "a name ending in 'e' was chosen in accordance with the International Astronomical Union's policy for designating outer moons with retrograde orbits."


Doris Elin Urrutia joined Space.com as an intern in the summer of 2017. She received a B.A. in Sociology and Communications at Fordham University in New York City. Her work was previously published in collaboration with London Mining Network. Her passion for geology and the cosmos started when she helped her sister build a model solar system in a Bronx library. Doris also likes learning new ways to prepare the basil sitting on her windowsill. Follow her on twitter at @salazar_elin.

Celebrating 20 Years of International Space Station Spacewalks

Jul 20, 2021



NASA Johnson

On July 20, 2001, two NASA astronauts took the first “steps” out of the International Space Station’s Quest airlock, marking the start of two decades of successful spacewalks in support of station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades enabling all of the life and work onboard to take place. On the same date 32 years before this milestone spacewalk outside the space station, two Apollo astronauts were taking historic steps of their own on the lunar surface for the first time. Astronaut Mike Gernhardt tells us what it was like to follow in such momentous footsteps and how crucial innovations, like the airlock and many others, are to the future of human exploration near and far.