VERY AMERIKAN CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
Lawyer granted release in $460M ‘slip-and-fall’ Ponzi scheme

WHITE FOLKS JUSTICE

F A SWAT team arrives to provide assistance as FBI agents negotiated with Matthew Beasley, who later was shot during the confrontation before being taken into custody, March 3, 2022 in Las Vegas. Beasley, a Las Vegas lawyer accused of orchestrating a $460 million “slip-and-fall” Ponzi scheme across the U.S. West was granted release Friday, April 7, 2023 after spending more than a year in federal custody. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, File)


LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Las Vegas lawyer accused of orchestrating a $460 million “slip-and-fall” Ponzi scheme across the U.S. West was granted release Friday after spending more than a year in federal custody.

U.S. District Judge Cam Ferenbach said he was persuaded by Matthew Beasley’s “strong family support” to give the personal injury lawyer a chance at leading a “productive life” as he awaits trial on charges of money laundering and wire fraud.

While out of custody, Ferenbach said, Beasley is required to maintain employment and barred from contacting any of the alleged victims in the case or possessing a weapon.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Schiess told the judge the federal government would appeal the decision and ask for a court order keeping Beasley in custody pending the outcome of the appeal.

Beasley was indicted last week in connection with the alleged scheme but has been in custody since March 2022, when he was shot and wounded by FBI agents who arrived at his $1.1 million home in Las Vegas to question him.

Prosecutors have said Beasley answered the door that day with a gun aimed at his own head. A four-hour standoff ensued that ended after SWAT officers entered the home.

He was charged with assault on a federal officer, leading to his yearlong detainment, but that charge was dismissed last week following his indictment in connection with the alleged Ponzi scheme.

Friday’s hearing was at times contentious as Schiess argued for Beasley’s continued detainment, citing the standoff as evidence he poses a danger to the community and to himself.

Jackie Tirinnanzi, a lawyer for Beasley, told the judge her client has a renewed outlook on life as he awaits the birth of his grandchild. She said Beasley also wants to reconnect with his children and help take care of his mother, a breast cancer survivor who has trouble walking.

In a statement afterward, Beasley’s attorneys applauded the ruling.

“Mr. Beasley has languished in Nevada Southern Detention Center for 13 months after he was shot by two FBI agents, without a warrant, in his own home,” they said.

According to the indictment, the defendant enlisted hundreds of investors starting in 2017 for a company that claimed to offer short-term loans with high interest rates to clients awaiting payment after settling personal injury “slip-and-fall” cases. Investors were allegedly promised a return of up to 13% within 90 days.

But there were no clients, according to prosecutors. Instead, Beasley is alleged to have used the incoming money to pay earlier investors.

Schiess said the scheme funded Beasley’s “luxurious” lifestyle, including luxury homes and cars, a private jet and recreational vehicles.

Beasley has pleaded not guilty, but prosecutors say that during last year’s standoff, he confessed “over and over and over again” to his involvement in the investment scheme while on the phone with a negotiator.

His trial is set to begin in June.

The Nevada Supreme Court suspended Beasley from practicing law in the state and barred him from handling client funds shortly after his arrest.

Oil-rich Alberta close to meeting methane emissions target early

About 75% of the methane emissions in Alberta come from the oil and gas sector, the provincial government estimates. File Photo by ekina/Shutterstock

April 7 (UPI) -- The oil-rich Canadian province of Alberta is on pace to meet its methane emissions targets by 2025, which recent data showing levels need to drop by only 1 percentage point to meet the goal.

Canadian crude oil production is usually around 5 million barrels per day and the viscous oil sands in Alberta account for about two-thirds of total out. Alberta's oil is among the most polluting in the world, though the provincial government has taken steps to clean up the economy.

In its second-annual report on methane emissions from the oil and gas industry, the provincial government reported levels dropped by 44% from 2014 to 2021. The government has a target of cutting emissions by 45% by 2025.

"Alberta was the first government in Canada to set a methane emissions reduction target, and we're 1% away from meeting it," said Sonya Savage, the provincial minister of the environment. "This is the result of strong leadership from the men and women in our industries, and investments in technology and innovation that are making a difference for our oil and gas sector."

The push to clean up the energy sector is backed by around USD $30 million in funds. Much of the success in Alberta can through protocols calling for more efficient operations at the oil and gas field and a reduction in flaring, the burning off of natural gas associated with crude oil.

Much of natural gas is comprised of methane, which as a greenhouse gas has a warming potential that's 25 times higher than carbon dioxide over a 100-year period, the province said.

"In Alberta, the oil and gas industry is the largest source of methane emissions," it said. "Approximately three-quarters of provincial methane emissions come from the upstream oil and gas sector."

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in November, meanwhile, proposed new standards on methane abatement designed to cut methane emissions associated with oil and gas production by 87% from their 2005 levels by 2030.

On Thursday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced millions of dollars in new grant money targets repairs, replacement and rehabilitation of nearly 270 miles of pipeline as part of a broader effort to control methane emissions.

UNION BUSTING OVERSTEP

On This Day: Truman orders seizure of steel industry

On April 8, 1952, U.S. President Harry Truman ordered government seizure of the steel industry to avoid a general strike.

 Photo courtesy of the U.S. Navy

By UPI Staff

Steel Strike of 1952

Image

Background

From 1950-1953, the United States was involved in the Korean War. To fund the war, Truman originally wanted to increase taxes and implement credit controls to limit inflation. Many Americans were opposed to this due to the previous two decades of shortages from the Great Depression and World War II rationing, so the government was forced to get creative in thinking of other ways to fund and mobilize for war. The Office of Price Stabilization (OPS) enacted price controls on various wartime industries, including steel tonnage pricing, while the Wage Stabilization Board (WSB) worked to limit wage increases for workers to what they felt was a reasonable amount. With these two major agencies, the US was able to keep producing war materials without interruption from labor and industry disputes over prices and wages.

As time went on, slight changes had to be made to the wartime economy. Taxes ultimately had to be increased over time, but wages were increasing too slowly to please many of the labor groups in the US. This situation especially upset the steel unions. The steel industry was vital to the war effort, and the steel unions were strong. They wanted to capitalize on their importance to the defense efforts by granting wage increases to steel workers. By late 1951 the unions were asking for wage increases above the 10% maximum set by the Wage Stabilization Board. The companies told the unions that they would not allow these wage increases unless they could guarantee a higher sale price for the steel they were producing. After several round of negotiations, the Office of Price Stabilization still did not agree to the tonnage hike the steel companies wanted, so the companies denied the wage increases demanded by the unions. The unions threatened to strike, and a domestic crisis began. Truman immediately threw his support behind the union workers, as they were some of his biggest political supporters. However, he found himself in a precarious political situation.

The threat of a strike continued throughout early 1952. In March, the WSB recommended the steelworkers be granted a wage increase. Worrying that their profit margins would drop if they paid their workers more money, the steel companies asked the OPS for an increase in steel tonnage pricing. The OPS refused the proposed price increase and made a lower counteroffer, angering the steel companies. In the midst of these arguments, the workers decided to strike. With important supplies for the war effort hanging in the balance, Truman had to determine what to do.

It is within the president's power to put people back to work through strikes, but there are different ways to go about it. For instance, in 1917 President Wilson nationalized the railroad industry to keep workers from striking during WWI. Truman could do something similar via Executive Order, but he had other options as well. In 1947 Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act, which banned strategies to help workers organize unions and limited the president's power to seize industries during times of labor unrest. Instead, it offered the president the power to force workers back to work for 80 days while negotiations continued between labor and management. This option would keep wartime industries running uninterrupted. In 1948, an amendment was added to the Selective Service Act, allowing the president to seize industry facilities that were unable to fill their government orders for wartime products. The steel industry was not defaulting on its order obligations; however, as commander-in-chief, the president can make all military decisions for the United States, including mobilization efforts.

In the end, Truman issued Executive Order 10340 to seize control of the steel industries on April 8, 1952. The companies sued, resulting in a Supreme Court case to determine whether or not Truman overstepped his Constitutional powers in the steel seizures.

Key Question

Did Truman overstep his Constitutional powers in seizing the steel industries in 1952?

Directions

Steel Strike Lesson Procedures and Goals(opens in a new window)

Materials

Documents to be examined:

1. Radio and Television Address to the American People on the Need for Government Opreation of the Steel Mills, April 8, 1952
2. Letter from Harold Enarson to the President, May 8, 1952
3. Political Cartoon “We’re Waiting to Hear from the Principal,” May 24, 1952
4. Telegram from George Fehlman to the President, April 9, 1952
5. The Constitutional Issues in the Steel Case, April 26, 1952
6. Letter from Harry Truman to Supreme Court Justice William O’Douglas, July 9, 1952
7. Executive Order 10340, Directing the Secretary of Commerce to Take Possession of and Operate the Plants and Facilities of Certain Steel Companies, April 8, 1952

Handouts

1. Steel Strike Background Information(opens in a new window)
2. Steel Strike Documents to Examine(opens in a new window)
3. Steel Strike Graphic Organizer(opens in a new window)

SUPREME COURT REBUKES TRUMAN’S SEIZURE OF STEEL MILLS

David Adler
June 11, 2022

In his 6-3 opinion for the Supreme Court in the landmark case, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952), Justice Hugo Black rejected President Harry Truman’s assertion of an inherent executive power to seize the steel industry as a means of thwarting a nationwide steel strike. Black’s opinion, a historic rebuke to sweeping claims of presidential authority, provided a textbook lesson on the constraining force of the separation of powers doctrine and why it prohibited President Truman from issuing an executive order that encroached on legislative power.

President Truman, it will be recalled, had ordered Secretary of Commerce Charles Sawyer to seize the steel industry for the purpose of ensuring the continuation of steel production which he believed critical to both the United States’ role in the Korean War and the task of rebuilding Europe in the aftermath of World War II. Justice Black declared that the president’s power, “if any, to issue the order must stem from an act of Congress or from the Constitution itself.”

Black proceeded to emphasize that no statute existed that “expressly” authorized Truman’s act, nor was there any law from which such power “can be fairly implied.” Consequently, Black noted, the “necessary authority must be found in some provision of the Constitution.” But Truman made no such claim. Instead, he asserted the aggregate of his powers under the Constitution, with reliance on the Vesting Clause, the Take Care Clause and the Commander in Chief Clause.

Black easily disposed of the Commander in Chief argument and trained his sights on the president’s assertion of an inherent power. He denied that the seizure order could be upheld by the “grant of executive power to the president.” As Black explained it, “In the framework of our Constitution, the President’s power to see that the laws are faithfully executed refutes the idea that he is to be a lawmaker.” The Constitution, he stated, grants to Congress, not the president, the authority to make laws.

At bottom, Congress had not authorized the president to seize private property. That fact is what united the five separate concurring opinions. While the concurring opinions written by the majority emphasized different aspects of the separation of powers, the common denominator lay in the justices’ insistence on the existence of law granting seizure authority to the president.

The majority agreed, moreover, that the president possessed no “inherent” power to seize the steel mills. The assertion of such a vague, undefined reservoir of “inherent” power, variously characterized as an emergency or prerogative power, would permit the president to act in the absence of law and even in defiance of it. In that case, the president might displace the laws of Congress, thus mortally wounding the separation of powers, which insists that the nation should be governed by known rules of law. That principle can be maintained, however, only if those who make the law have no power to execute it and those who execute it have no power to make it. That critical distinction would be eviscerated by an inherent executive power.

The Truman administration’s assertion of an “inherent” power to confront a crisis raised the profile of Youngstown to a historic level. It harkened back to one of the most fundamental, dramatic and transcendent issues in the long history of Anglo-American jurisprudence: subordinating the executive to the rule of law. The issue of the president’s relationship to the law defined the Steel Seizure Case and confronted the justices of the Supreme Court with an issue that judges have grappled with since the great English judge, Sir Edward Coke, in 1608, boldly declared to an outraged King James I that the king is indeed subject to the law.

The administration’s assertion of an emergency executive power to take any action the president believed would serve the national welfare, hadn’t been heard in an English-speaking courtroom since the mid-17th Century reign of King Charles I. While the Court rejected the claim of a presidential prerogative power, there lingered the question of which branch of government possessed the authority to meet and resolve an emergency. After all, it is not possible for Congress to write laws to govern every conceivable emergency that might arise. And it is scarcely imaginable that a government could stand idly by in the face of a crisis that threatens lives and the future of the nation simply because it had not occurred to the legislature to act. In other words, the problem of emergency could not be wished away or relegated to the confines of an academic seminar. If the president does not possess a constitutionally based emergency power, then the question arises: What is the constitutional prescription for meeting an emergency? The framers’ answer lay in resort to the ancient doctrine of retroactive ratification, which we explain in our next column.

SILVER LINING 
Report links climate change to increase in Major League Baseball home runs
By Doug Cunningham


New York Yankees Aaron Judge hits a solo home run in the first inning against the San Francisco Giants in the 2023 MLB Opening Day baseball game at Yankee Stadium in March. According to a new research report published Friday, Judge may have had help with his feat from today's warming climate. 

John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

April 7 (UPI) -- Is climate change sending more home run balls over the fence in Major League Baseball?

A new study published Friday says the hotter air from climate change accounts for hundreds more home runs per year.

According to a study in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, more than 500 home runs since 2010 "are attributable to historical warming."

The report was written by Dartmouth College researchers Christopher W. Callahan, Nathaniel J. Dominy, Jeremy M. DeSilva, and Justin S. Mankin.

"We show that global warming has increased home runs in baseball by reducing game time air density," they wrote. "Without gameplay adaptations, future warming will intensify this effect alongside other climate impacts."

Their report said that several hundred additional home runs per season are projected due to future warming.

Major League Baseball has seen a long-term increase in home runs since the 1980s, and this newest study suggests the warming caused by climate change is adding to that increase.

How did they reach this conclusion?

"The ideal gas law tells us that air density is inversely proportional to temperature (Clapeyron, 1835). Ballistics tells us that the trajectory of a batted ball is influenced by temperature via its effect on density," the researchers wrote. "All else being equal, warmer air is less dense, and a batted ball will carry farther."

The data used was observations from 100,000 Major League Baseball games and 220,000 individual batted balls to show that higher temperatures substantially increase home runs.

The authors of the study said they isolated human-caused warming with scientific climate models.

If the major leagues want to counteract the climate change effect on home runs, the researchers say they could use adaptations such as building domes over stadiums or shifting day games to night games to reduce temperature's effects on home runs.

"Our results point to the reality that even the elite billion-dollar sports industry is vulnerable to unexpected impacts. Greenhouse gas mitigation and climate adaptation are a priority not only to reduce the large-scale loss and damage associated with extreme climate events, but also to avoid pervasive (and sometimes subtle) changes to recreation and leisure activities enjoyed by people," the Dartmouth College researchers wrote.

AP PHOTO ESSAY

Climate change adding 50 homers a year in MLB, study says | AP News

Spike in major league home runs tied to climate change

More than 500 home runs since 2010 due to warmer, thinner air caused by global warming

Peer-Reviewed Publication

DARTMOUTH COLLEGE

 

IMAGE: INCREASE IN AVERAGE NUMBER OF HOME RUNS PER YEAR FOR EACH AMERICAN MAJOR LEAGUE BALLPARK WITH EVERY 1-DGREE CELSIUS INCREASE IN GLOBAL AVERAGE TEMPERATURE. view more 

CREDIT: CHRISTOPHER CALLAHAN

In the history of Major League Baseball, first came the low-scoring dead-ball era, followed by the modern live-ball era characterized by power hitters such as Babe Ruth and Henry "Hank" Aaron. Then, regrettably, was the steroid era of the 1990s and early 2000s.

Now, could baseball be on the cusp of a "climate-ball" era where higher temperatures due to global warming increasingly determine the outcome of a game?

A new Dartmouth College study suggests it may be. A report in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society found that more than 500 home runs since 2010 can be attributed to higher-than-average temperatures resulting from climate change — with several hundred more home runs per season to come with future warming.

While the researchers attribute only 1% of recent home runs to climate change, they found that rising temperatures could account for 10% or more of home runs by 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions and climate change continue unabated.

"There's a very clear physical mechanism at play in which warmer temperatures reduce the density of air. Baseball is a game of ballistics, and a batted ball is going to fly farther on a warm day," said senior author Justin Mankin, an assistant professor of geography.

The researchers analyzed more than 100,000 major league games and 220,000 individual hits to correlate the number of home runs with the occurrence of unseasonably warm temperatures. They then estimated the extent to which the reduced air density that results from higher temperatures was the driving force in the number of home runs on a given day compared to other games.

Lead author Christopher Callahan, a doctoral candidate in geography at Dartmouth who conceived of the study, said the researchers accounted for factors such as the use of performance-enhancing drugs, the construction of bats and balls, and the adoption of cameras, launch analytics, and other technology intended to optimize a batter's power and distance.

"We asked whether there are more home runs on unseasonably warm days than on unseasonably cold days during the course of a season," Callahan said. "We're able to compare those days with the implicit assumption that the other factors affecting batter performance don't vary day to day or are affected if a day is unseasonably warm or cold."

"We don't think temperature is the dominant factor in the increase in home runs — batters are now primed to hit balls at optimal speeds and angles," Callahan said. "That said, temperature matters and we've identified its effect. While climate change has been a minor influence so far, this influence will substantially increase by the end of the century if we continue to emit greenhouse gases and temperatures rise."

The researchers examined each major league ballpark in the United States to gauge how the average number of home runs per year could rise with each 1-degree Celsius increase in the global average temperature. The actual number of runs per season due to temperature could be higher or lower depending on individual gameday conditions.

They found that the Chicago Cubs' open-air Wrigley Field — which hosts only a limited number of night games — would experience the largest spike with more than 15 home runs per season, while the Tampa Bay Rays' domed Tropicana Field would remain level at one home run or less no matter how hot it gets outside. The Boston Red Sox's iconic Fenway Park and the home of their archrivals the New York Yankees fall in the middle and would experience nearly the same effect as temperatures rise.

Night games would lessen the influence that temperature and air density have on the distance a ball travels, and covered stadiums such as Tropicana Field would nearly eliminate it, the researchers report. Curbing the rise in home runs — and thus the excitement they bring to a game — might seem counterproductive, but there are additional factors to consider as global temperatures rise, particularly the exposure of players and fans to heat, Mankin said.

"A key question for the organization at large is what's an acceptable level of heat exposure for everybody and what's the acceptable cost for maximizing home runs," Mankin said. "Home runs are one pathway by which temperature is affecting game play, but there are other pathways that are more concerning because they have human risk attached to them."

The enormous wealth of data available for major league baseball games provided a unique opportunity to identify the repercussions of climate change on a cultural institution, Mankin said. Climate scientists focus on the increased likelihood and severity of natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods, and heat waves because of the far-reaching devastation these events wreak — and because there are records to study them.

"Major League Baseball is a multibillion-dollar industry that is very data-rich, and that privilege allowed us to identify the effect of climate. This critical cultural touchstone for what it means to be American also happens to have a very salient relationship with physics in that temperature actually affects game play," Mankin said.

"It is really difficult to document how climate change is affecting cultural institutions and forms of recreation generally," he said. "For most cultural institutions, we simply don't have the data. In fact, we struggle to track climate impacts around the world because of data poverty. A project like this makes me worry that warming is affecting so many other things we just can't document."

The study began with Callahan, an avid baseball fan, wondering about the effect of climate change on baseball and sports in general. "It's important for us to recognize the potentially pervasive way that climate change has altered, or will alter, all the things we care about that are not necessarily encapsulated in heat waves or megadroughts or category 6 hurricanes," Callahan said. "The effects of global warming will extend throughout our lives in potentially subtle ways."

Co-author Jeremy DeSilva, professor and chair of anthropology at Dartmouth, said that evaluating the effect of climate change on cultural institutions can resonate with people's daily lives more so than large-scale disasters that can appear random and beyond anyone's control. That can lead to change. Baseball has been a touchpoint for social change in the past, from desegregation to growing corporatization and the outsized influence of money.

"Baseball is one of these ways that American society holds a mirror up to itself and global climate change is just another example — baseball is not immune to it," DeSilva said.

"This kind of study can be an entry point to understanding a phenomenon that is affecting the planet and every individual on it," he said. "Maybe people who otherwise wouldn't have will think about, and have a bigger conversation about, the more impactful and dangerous aspects of climate change once they know how it's affecting this quintessential game in the history of our country."

Cultural institutions reflect societal values and baseball encapsulates the American response to climate change, said co-author Nathaniel Dominy, the Charles Hansen Professor of Anthropology at Dartmouth.

"Think about the expression of American cultural values in baseball and how many of them exist in opposition to the other: winning and losing, tradition and change, teamwork and individualism, logic and luck," he said. "These same tensions are frustrating our collective response to carbon emissions, so it is extremely fitting to explore the effects of climate change on baseball. It is a potent metaphor for the American experience."

The study "Global warming, home runs, and the future of America's pastime," was published April 7, 2023, by the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. This work was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (1840344), and the Neukom Institute for Computational Science and the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and the Social Sciences at Dartmouth College.

###

---

JOURNAL

Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

DOI

10.1175/BAMS-D-22-0235.1 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Global warming, home runs, and the future of America’s pastime

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

7-Apr-2023

CHUPACABRA🙄

Texas wildlife officials trying to identify 'mystery animal' caught on camera

April 7 (UPI) -- Texas Parks and Wildlife officials are investigating a mystery after a wildlife camera in the Rio Grande Valley captured an image of an unknown "mystery animal."

Officials wrote in a post on the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park Facebook page that a game camera in the Rio Grande Valley captured a nighttime image of an animal officials have not yet been able to identify.

"Is it a new species? An escapee from a nearby zoo? Or just a park ranger in disguise?" the post said. "Regardless, it's thrilling to see such an incredible animal in its natural habitat."

Officials wrote they would keep the public updated on the progress of the investigation.

Commenters on the post suggested the animal could be a badger, a wolverine, a bush dog or potentially an optical illusion caused by two wild hogs passing one another in opposite directions.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for CRYPTOZOOLOGY

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for CHUPACABRA

AIR POLLUTION PANDEMIC

Air pollution may increase risk of dementia

By Cara Murez, HealthDay News

The investigators found a 17% increase in risk for developing dementia for every 2 μg/m3 increase in average annual exposure to PM2.5. 

Photo by David Mark/Pixabay

Exposure to air pollution may increase the risk of developing dementia, according to a review of prior research.

The new Harvard study is the latest look at a host of health issues -- from dementia to heart disease and stroke -- linked to pollutants such as fine particulate matter (PM2.5), as well as nitrogen oxide and nitrogen dioxide.

The findings support the need to strengthen air quality policies in the United States, according to the authors.

"There really hadn't been, to my mind, a good synthesis of all of the data or all of literature that was out there and, in particular, literature that included some of the more recent studies that involved a slightly different approach to doing this study," said study co-author Marc Weisskopf. He is a professor of environmental epidemiology and physiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, in Boston.

The researchers scanned more than 2,000 studies in their review, finding 51 that looked at an association between ambient air pollution and clinical dementia. Those studies were published within the past 10 years.

Sixteen studies met their criteria after they assessed for bias using something called the Risk of Bias in Non-Randomized Studies of Exposure (ROBINS-E). Weisskopf explained that with issues of environmental exposures, the biases can be subtle and don't lend themselves to easy metrics. ROBINS-E allows for a deeper assessment of the possibility of bias.

The meta-analysis found consistent evidence of an association between PM2.5 and dementia.

That was true even when the exposure was less than the current limit set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) - 12 micrograms per cubic meter of air (μg/m3) - a level the EPA has announced it may lower.

The investigators found a 17% increase in risk for developing dementia for every 2 μg/m3 increase in average annual exposure to PM2.5.

Associations also existed between nitrogen dioxide and nitrogen oxide and dementia. For nitrogen oxide, there was a 5% increase in risk for every 10 μg/m3 in annual exposure. For nitrogen dioxide, it was a 2% increase in risk for every 10 μg/m3 increase in annual exposure.

Many theories exist for why dirty air might increase dementia risk. It may simply be because pollution affects cardiovascular health and that in turn affects brain health.

Another theory involves the impact of inflammation. The pollution may directly act on nerve cells or other cells of the brain, Weisskopf said, interfering with general brain function.

Although smoking is considered a bigger risk factor for dementia than air pollution, this could still have massive implications at a population level because everyone has to breathe, Weisskopf noted.

"It's unclear what the mechanisms are that lead to this connection, but it's hypothesized that the very small particles of pollutants enter our bodies and penetrate our circulatory system, which helps fuel the brain," said Rebecca Edelmayer, Alzheimer's Association senior director of scientific engagement. Edelmayer was not involved in the study.

She noted that the results should be interpreted with caution because of limitations when conducting a "meta-analysis" of observational studies.

"These data illustrate that there are many factors across the life course that can contribute to our risk of dementia, and this includes the environment. Some of these factors we can control, such as our diet and frequency of physical activity, but some are more difficult to control on an individual level, such as where we live and the quality of the air that surrounds us," Edelmayer said.

She called for action by federal and local governments, as well as businesses, to reduce air pollutants.

Weisskopf said that agencies like the EPA could use these results because they support the public health importance of strengthening limits on pollution.

One big uncertainty is when exposure to pollution matters most in terms of its association with dementia, Weisskopf noted.

"Most of these studies were looking in the year or a few years before the dementia onset, but it could be earlier in life, it could be across all of life. And so until we understand that better, these numbers are going to fluctuate a bit," he explained.

Americans could potentially reduce some of the pollution they take in by the choices they make, said Dr. Afif El-Hasan, a pediatrician with Kaiser Permanente in Southern California and a volunteer medical spokesperson with the American Lung Association. El-Hasan was not involved in this study.

"Obviously, we have to go out. As a pediatrician, I want people to exercise," he said.

El-Hasan suggested being aware of pollution levels, noting that many cities and states have websites offering information about that day's air quality or even variations at different times of day.

"If possible, and we know it's not always possible, take a look and schedule outdoor activities at times when there's less pollution, especially so if you have lung disease or other issues," he stressed.

Use a filter that cleans air in the house, he said. Don't smoke.

If the world is an unhealthy place, that may not only worsen medical issues, but will also have an economic impact, El-Hasan noted.

"I just hope that the study reminds everyone that we're very much affected by the world around us. It's not independent. It is long-term effects, and it can be devastating effects to our whole body," he added.

The study findings were published Wednesday in BMJ.

More information

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has more on PM2.5.

Copyright © 2023 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Work-from-home order issued as Thai city tops world pollution table
Agence France-Presse
April 07, 2023

Smoke from forest fires and farmers burning crop stubble has blanketed Thailand's Chiang Mai in recent weeks © STR / AFP/File

Thailand's Chiang Mai was ranked the world's most polluted city on Friday, with authorities urging people to work from home to avoid the hazardous air.

Smoke from forest fires and farmers burning crop stubble has blanketed the popular tourist destination in recent weeks.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha held video talks with the leaders of neighboring Myanmar and Laos to discuss the problem, which affects large areas of southeast Asia every year.

Thailand has been choking on heavy air pollution since the start of the year, caused in part by seasonal agricultural burning.

Nearly two million people have needed hospital treatment for respiratory conditions caused by air pollution this year, according to the public health ministry.

On Friday morning, the air monitoring website IQAir ranked Chiang Mai as the most polluted major city in the world, above regular hotspots such as Delhi and Lahore.

Levels of the most dangerous PM2.5 particles -- so tiny they can enter the bloodstream -- were more than 66 times the World Health Organization's annual guideline, according to IQAir.

Chiang Mai provincial governor Nirat Pongsittitavorn issued a statement urging people to stay indoors and work from home to "protect themselves and reduce the health impact" from PM2.5 particles.

Forest fires have contributed to the problem.

The latest, in Chiang Rai province, northeast of Chiang Mai, began on Thursday and has affected 96 hectares of forest.

Home to nearly 130,000 people, Chiang Mai is a gateway to Thailand's hilly north, visited pre-pandemic by millions of tourists for its historic centre and laid-back atmosphere.

But Wittaya Pongsiri, vice-president of the Chiang Mai Tourism Business Association, said the pollution was putting visitors off.

"The number of tourists has dropped by 20 percent," he said.

After his talks with his Laotian counterpart Sonexay Siphandone and Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing, Prayut's office said he would push for discussion of cross-border pollution at the next summit of regional bloc ASEAN.

The three leaders discussed the need to find ways to curb emissions from agriculture and industry, but did not agree on any concrete steps for action.

Officials previously warned Bangkok residents to stay indoors and work from home in February as the Thai capital was covered with harmful haze.

Virus on hands, surfaces contributes to household spread of COVID-19

By Cara Murez, HealthDay News

Researchers found that if the COVID-19 virus was detected on primary cases' hands, then contacts in their household were 1.7 times more likely to get infected than those in households where primary cases did not have the virus on their hands. 

File photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

For what they say is the first time, British researchers report that they have found the spread of COVID-19 in households is linked to the presence of the virus on hands and surfaces, not just in the air.

The investigators collected data from households at the height of the pandemic, finding that people were much more likely to get COVID-19 from someone in their house if virus was present on hands or frequently touched places, like refrigerator door handles or sink faucets.

"There's no doubt that if you have COVID-19, you're emitting the virus into the air as micro-aerosols as well as large droplets that land on your hands and the surfaces around you. What hasn't been shown, until now, is that the presence of the virus on people's hands or household surfaces predicts transmission to contacts," said study author Ajit Lalvani. He is director of the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) Health Protection Research Unit (HPRU) in Respiratory Infections.

The NIHR HPRU is a research partnership between Imperial College London and the UK Health Security Agency. Researchers from University of Oxford also worked on the study.

"Our real-life study in London households provides the first empirical evidence to show that the presence of SARS-CoV-2 on people's hands and surfaces contributes significantly to spread of COVID-19. Since we didn't systematically sample household air, we cannot rule out airborne transmission occurring in parallel," Lalvani said.

The researchers studied COVID-19 transmission in 279 London households, recruiting 414 household contacts who lived with 279 people who were newly diagnosed with COVID-19 between Aug. 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021.

Very few of the household contacts had been vaccinated yet or previously infected, which made them susceptible to infection. They ranged in age between 6 and 79 years.

The research team checked all the contacts regularly using PCR tests in the nose and throat, while also swabbing the hands of both the primary cases and their contacts. The researchers also took samples from frequently touched communal areas, to measure the amount of virus genetic material and the number of particles.

"In houses in which we found the virus on surfaces and the hands of participants, infection among contacts, and thus transmission, was significantly higher," said study first author Nieves Derqui, from Imperial College London's NIHR HPRU in Respiratory Infections.

Although the study authors accounted for other potentially influential factors, they still found that if the virus was detected on primary cases' hands, then contacts in their household were 1.7 times more likely to get infected than those in households where primary cases did not have the virus on their hands.

The presence of virus on primary cases' hands was also associated with a three times greater risk of contacts in the household having a positive hand-swab. Contacts with the virus on their hands were twice as likely to become infected with COVID-19.

If virus was present on frequently touched surfaces in the household, contacts were 3.8 times more likely to have detectable virus on their hands and 1.7 times more likely to be infected, the researchers reported.

Six of the contacts who were initially uninfected but became infected with COVID-19 during the study had positive hand or household surface swabs prior to becoming infected.

The authors said this supports that transmission came from household surfaces and contacts' hands to their nose and throat.

When possible, the researchers did whole genome sequencing of the 25 primary cases and their contacts. This confirmed that each primary case-contact pair was infected with the same virus strain, which supported that transmission happened in the household.

"My team's Herculean logistical undertaking during the challenging circumstances at the height of the pandemic in real-life households strongly supports the theory that SARS-CoV-2 transmission from contaminated surfaces and hands does occur in households," Lalvani said in a college news release.

"With successive new variants likely to spread widely despite booster vaccinations, the simple, easily applicable public health interventions and messaging underpinned by our evidence are a valuable, risk-free and timely addition to the toolkit for living safely with COVID-19," he added.

The study was observational and can't prove causation, and it also can't rule out airborne transmission. Other limitations were that non-white ethnicities and older age groups were under-represented in the study, and that the timing was when early variants were spreading, which means that the results may not apply to more recent variants.

The findings were published Thursday in The Lancet Microbe.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on COVID-19.

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Spread of COVID-19 in households is linked to virus on hands and surfaces, say researchers

Peer-Reviewed Publication

IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON

 

IMAGE: THIS INFOGRAPHIC SHOWS SARS-COV-2 HOUSEHOLD TRANSMISSION PATHWAYS WITH ADJUSTED RELATIVE RISKS. view more 

CREDIT: IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON

Peer-reviewed / Observational study / People

Spread of COVID-19 in households is linked to virus on hands and surfaces, say researchers

A new Imperial College London-led study provides the first empirical evidence for transmission of SARS-CoV-2 via people’s hands and frequently touched household surfaces.

The research sheds new light on the spread of COVID-19 in households, where most transmission of SARS-CoV-2 occurs, and it is the first to link the presence of SARS-CoV-2 on people’s hands and frequently touched household surfaces to the risk of infection among contacts. The findings support the use of interventions at home when someone has an infection, in particular frequent handwashing, regular surface disinfection, and physical distancing as well as the use of masks to curb the spread of COVID-19.

The study of 279 households in London, published in The Lancet Microbe, was conducted at the height of the pandemic during the alpha and pre-alpha waves. The research was carried out at the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) Health Protection Research Unit (HPRU) in Respiratory Infections, a research partnership between Imperial College London and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

Professor Ajit Lalvani, lead author of the study, and Director of NIHR HPRU in Respiratory Infections, said: “There’s no doubt that if you have COVID-19 you’re emitting the virus into the air as micro-aerosols as well as large droplets that land on your hands and the surfaces around you. What hasn’t been shown, until now, is that the presence of the virus on people’s hands or household surfaces predicts transmission to contacts.

“Our real-life study in London households provides the first empirical evidence to show that the presence of SARS-CoV-2 on people’s hands and surfaces contributes significantly to spread of COVID-19. Since we didn’t systematically sample household air, we cannot rule out airborne transmission occurring in parallel.”

The first study of its kind – by researchers from Imperial College London, the UKHSA, and the University of Oxford – prospectively recruited 414 susceptible household contacts living in the same households as 279 newly diagnosed primary cases between 1st August 2020 and 31st March 2021 [1]. Since the study was conducted early in the pandemic, very few had been vaccinated or previously infected and the majority were therefore non-immune and susceptible to infection. This enabled the researchers to rigorously assess risk factors and vectors for transmission in unique circumstances akin to a natural experiment. The age range was 6-79 years, and 52% were female.

All contacts were regularly tested for SARS-CoV-2 infection by PCR on nose and throat (upper respiratory tract (URT)) swabs.

The researchers also took swabs from primary cases' and contacts’ hands as well as the most frequently touched surfaces in communal areas (for example, fridge-door and kettle handles, kitchen taps etc.) to measure SARS-CoV-2 genetic material (RNA) and the number of virus particles. The researchers looked for correlations between microbiological detection of the virus on hands and surfaces and transmission to household contacts.

Nieves Derqui, first author for the study, from Imperial College London’s NIHR HPRU in Respiratory Infections, said: “In houses in which we found the virus on surfaces and the hands of participants, infection among contacts, and thus transmission, was significantly higher.”

After accounting for other potentially influential factors such as sex, vaccination status, underlying illnesses, and contacts’ relationship to the primary case, the researchers found that if the virus was detected on primary cases’ hands, then contacts in their household were 1.7 times more likely to get infected than those in households where primary cases did not have the virus on their hands.

Similarly, the presence of virus on primary cases’ hands was associated with a three times greater risk of contacts in the household having a positive hand-swab, and in turn, contacts with the virus on their hands were twice as likely to become infected with COVID-19.

If virus was present on frequently touched surfaces in the household, contacts were 3.8 times more likely to have detectable virus on their hands and 1.7 times more likely to be infected, i.e. to have a PCR-positive URT-swab.

Among the contacts who were initially uninfected but became infected with COVID-19 during the study, six had positive hand or household surface swabs prior to becoming infected. This supports the directionality of transmission being from household surfaces and contacts’ hands to their nose and throat.

Whole genome sequencing of the 25 primary cases and their respective contacts where this was possible confirmed that each primary case-contact pair was infected with the same SARS-CoV-2 strain, confirming household transmission between primary cases and their respective contacts.

Professor Lalvani said: “My team’s Herculean logistical undertaking during the challenging circumstances at the height of the pandemic in real-life households strongly supports the theory that SARS-CoV-2 transmission from contaminated surfaces and hands does occur in households. With successive new variants likely to spread widely despite booster vaccinations, the simple, easily applicable public health interventions and messaging underpinned by our evidence are a valuable, risk-free and timely addition to the toolkit for living safely with COVID-19.

"Our new understanding of the pathways of household transmission now enables us to prioritise simple measures to interrupt spread of the virus. Our data strongly suggest that as well as frequent handwashing, decontamination of frequently touched surfaces could prevent transmission.”

Despite the important findings, the researchers note that this is an observational study and as such cannot prove causation. Moreover, since household air was not systematically sampled, airborne transmission cannot be ruled out.

They also acknowledge that non-white ethnicities and older age groups were under-represented in the study and their results were limited to the pre-alpha and alpha variants, so the results may not apply to other groups or more recent and infectious variants.

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‘Risk factors and vectors for SARS-CoV-2 household transmission: a prospective, longitudinal cohort study’ by Nieves Derqui et al. is published in the journal The Lancet Microbe.

An infographic showing household transmission with relative risks (aRR) is attached to this press release.

Adjusted relative risks (aRR) were calculated accounting for significant demographic and household characteristics. Relative risks shown for risk of infection among contacts (when arrows point to “Contacts’ Upper Respiratory Tract”) or for risk of finding a PCR hand swab (when arrows point to “Contacts’ Hands”). Frequently touched surfaces include fridge doors, kitchen taps and kettles, and similar.

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For more information, please contact:

Conrad Duncan (he/him)

Media Officer (Medicine)

Imperial College London

Tel: +44 (0)20 7594 6860

Email: c.duncan@imperial.ac.uk

Out-of-hours duty media officer: +44 (0)7803 886 248

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This press release uses a labelling system developed by the Academy of Medical Sciences to improve the communication of evidence. For more information, please see: http://www.sciencemediacentre.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/AMS-press-release-labelling-system-GUIDANCE.pdf

NOTES TO EDITOR:

The study was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research – Health Protection Research Unit in Respiratory Infections.

[1] Participants were enrolled in two longitudinal community-based observational studies in Greater London: INSTINCT (Integrated Network for Surveillance, Trials and Investigations into COVID-19 Transmission), and ATACCC (Assessment of Transmission And Contagiousness of COVID-19 in Contacts). SARS-CoV-2 PCR-positive, symptomatic primary cases and their contacts were identified through the national contact tracing system (NHS Test & Trace) and invited to participate if the primary case symptom onset was 5 days or less.

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About Imperial College London

Imperial College London is a global top ten university with a world-class reputation. The College's 22,000 students and 8,000 staff are working to solve the biggest challenges in science, medicine, engineering and business.

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 found that it has a greater proportion of world-leading research than any other UK university, it was named University of the Year 2022 according to The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide, University of the Year for Student Experience 2022 by the Good University Guide, and awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for its COVID-19 response. https://www.imperial.ac.uk/

 

About the National Institute for Health and Care Research

The mission of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research. We do this by:

• Funding high quality, timely research that benefits the NHS, public health and social care;
• Investing in world-class expertise, facilities and a skilled delivery workforce to translate discoveries into improved treatments and services;
• Partnering with patients, service users, carers and communities, improving the relevance, quality and impact of our research;
• Attracting, training and supporting the best researchers to tackle complex health and social care challenges;
• Collaborating with other public funders, charities and industry to help shape a cohesive and globally competitive research system;
• Funding applied global health research and training to meet the needs of the poorest people in low- and middle-income countries.

NIHR is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care. Its work in low- and middle-income countries is principally funded through UK Aid from the UK government.

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JOURNAL

The Lancet Microbe

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

‘Risk factors and vectors for SARS-CoV-2 household transmission: a prospective, longitudinal cohort study’

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

6-Apr-2023

Amsterdam sex work advocates rip city's plan to move famed red light district

Amsterdam sex work advocates are condemning a plan to move the city’s famed red-light district from the historic neighborhood of De Wallen to an erotic center on the outskirts of the city. 

April 6 (UPI) -- Amsterdam sex work advocates are condemning a plan to move the city's famed red-light district from the historic neighborhood of De Wallen to an erotic center on the outskirts of the city.

Sabrina Sanchez, the director of the European Sex Worker Rights Alliance, said in remarks to UPI that the De Wallen neighborhood "has always been the sex workers' neighborhood."

The so-called red-light district is in a centuries-old part of the city characterized by a network of alleys containing hundreds of one-room shops rented by sex workers who advertise their services from behind a window or glass door and gets its name from the red lights that sex workers use to illuminate their windows.

"Many of the window workers still live in the neighborhood, despite the high rent prices. The planned location of the erotic center is far from the places where most sex workers live, and depending on the hours, with very limited public transportation," she said.

Sanchez also suggested that moving the red light district to an erotic center would also lead to increased danger for sex workers at the end of their shifts.

"In the red-light district, it is also easy for us to mix in the crowd when we enter or finish the shift," Sanchez said.

"They say they want to create areas of entertainment for us and the clients, but tell me honestly, how many times you've seen the employees of a beach resort spending time playing golf or enjoying their leisure time?"

Prostitution is legal in the Netherlands but officials are concerned that tourism to De Wallen is driving an increase in crime in the city.

City officials in February announced in a news release that it would ban smoking marijuana in the street and enforce earlier closing times for sex work establishments, as well as clubs and bars, on weekends because of rowdy tourists and "unsafe conditions at night."

Other restrictions include a reduction in the sale of alcohol and restrictions on displaying alcohol in shops at certain times. A ban on drinking alcohol in the street had already been put into place.

"I personally come from Barcelona, there aren't any windows there and the city also has problems with uncivil tourists, and there are also some insecurity problems related to that," Sanchez said.

"We are the first ones that want to work in nice, good conditions. But moving the windows to another part of the city isn't going to solve them. This is a much deeper conversation."

Sanchez also pushed back on the idea that the sex trade triggers criminal activities.

"I think that it is a wrong and dangerous assumption," she said.

"Authorities have to sit together, if possible in the same room, with us sex workers and neighbors to see how we can address the problems for De Wallen."

She added that sex workers are not "objects that can be moved without asking them what they want and need."

Last week, sex workers marched through the city to protest against city officials pushing for the new measures. Protesters wore masks for anonymity and waved red umbrellas to support the red-light district.

"The different national groups that exist in the cities are still organizing, but we definitely need to mobilize more," Sanchez told UPI.

"It's demonstrated when sex workers speak, power starts to tremble. They will keep us informed accordingly."