It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Saturday, January 04, 2025
GRIFTER IN CHIEF Trump has taken in 'a staggering sum' in cash from donors since winning re-election: NYT
Tom Boggioni January 4, 2025 RAW STORY Donald Trump (Photo by Scott Morgan for Reuters)
Donald Trump's re-election win in November has led to him being showered with cash from previous donors as well as corporate interests hoping to either stay on his good side or find future favor with the president-elect, reports the New York Times.
On Saturday morning the Times reported the president-elect has raked in a "staggering sum" to be used for his Jan. 20 inauguration as well as to fund a "super PAC called Make America Great Again Inc. and its associated nonprofit group, which is expected to be used by Mr. Trump’s team to back his agenda and candidates who support it, while opposing dissenters."
The report notes that Trump has taken in over $200 million so far –– blowing past the record $107 million he accepted for his first inauguration after his 2016 win.
According to the report from the Times' Kenneth P. Vogel, Maggie Haberman and Theodore Schleifer, "Mr. Trump has boasted about the haul, telling people during the Christmas holiday season that he had raised more than $200 million since the election. Mr. Trump’s team has repeatedly noted how many people have wanted to find ways to donate to him since his election win."
The report goes on to note that a substantial amount of cash has come from wealthy donors who will be offered specified perks based upon the amount given.
"Donations of at least $1 million grant access to the top package of perks related to several days of festivities in the run-up to the inauguration on Jan. 20, including what are touted as 'Intimate' dinners with Mr. Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance, though often with many attendees, as well as black-tie balls after the swearing-in," the Times is reporting.
Wrestling legend Sweet Daddy Siki remembered across Canada for his greatness
Story by Kevin Nielsen
As the clock struck 12 on a new year, the wrestling world lost one of its most colourful characters from the past.
Sweet Daddy Siki was a legend from coast to coast in Canada back in the days when World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) was not the sole dominating force in professional wrestling.
Siki, who was born Elkin James, died on New Year’s Eve after battling dementia for many years, according to Greg Oliver, the producer of Slamwrestling.net. He was 91.
Oliver, who has written 10 books on wrestling, was involved in producing a documentary on the life of ‘Mr. Irresistible.’ That was another of the monikers for Siki, whose final days few decades were spent living in Toronto near Exhibition Place, far from where his life began.
“The story of Sweet Daddy Siki starts out in Texas and he's the son of a sharecropper,” Oliver said.
He said Siki landed in Los Angeles after his mother’s death and that was where he picked up a passion for boxing and wrestling.
After serving in the U.S. military during the Korean War, Siki returned home and that was when he began to thrive inside the squared circle.
“He quickly became a decent hand in pro wrestling, as we call it, learning the sport and starting to get his name out there,” Oliver said. “He was an early face that was on the Dumont network, which was a national network. And so his name started to get known nationally.”
A promotional poster for Sweet Daddy Siki.
But it was not until Siki switched to his trademark bleached-blond hair that his stature grew.
“He learns how to do the strut from Buddy Rogers. He just becomes a much bigger star,” Oliver said. “And he's headlined many places around North America.”
After spending some time in New York, working for the World Wrestling Federation, Siki’s star sputtered and he moved to Toronto with his wife.
“At that point, his career sort of peters out in the U.S. and he becomes mainly known across Canada,” Oliver said.
Siki worked the Toronto circuit, also spending time in Atlantic Canada working for Grand Prix and in the Prairies as well for the Hart family.
“Sweet Daddy 'broke in' around Toronto in 1961 & wrestled for my grandfather in 1964, 1966 & 1970. He worked as a heel & drew amazing crowds for Stampede Wrestling,” Natalya Neidhart wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
A former WWE champion, Neidhart comes from a wrestling family as her grandfather was Stu Hart, the founder of Stampede Wrestling, while her uncle is Bret Hart and father is Jim (the Anvil) Neidhart.
“Stu respected him greatly. Rest peacefully, Sweet Daddy. Thank you for all you gave,” she said.
Siki worked the circuits in the west in the winters, and summered in the Maritimes.
“So in the summer, a great place to be was out in the Maritimes because it was only a summer territory,” Oliver said.
“The rest of the year, maybe he'd be out in Vancouver or he'd be out in Calgary Stampede Wrestling.”
Oliver said he would also often work the “Toronto corridor.” which spanned from Montreal to Detroit.
“Now those are really where he got really well known,” Oliver said. “He just never really did much in the United States after he was let go by the WWF.”
Sweet Daddy Siki's career took off once he changed his look and developed his strut. (Photo by Bob Leonard)
In the late 1970s, Siki started a wrestling school in Hamilton, alongside Johnny Powers.
“But at some point, Johnny Power stepped back and they brought in Ron Hutchison as a partner,” Oliver said.
The two ran an essay contest in a local newspaper seeking to drum up interest in the wrestling school and the winner ended up being an 18-year-old from Orangeville named Adam Copeland.
“He ended up being WWE superstar Edge, currently in AEW (All Elite Wrestling) known as Cope,” Oliver said. “They trained another guy, Christian Cage, who is another WWE and AEW star.”
“AEW and the wrestling world mourn the passing of Sweet Daddy Siki. After his in ring career came to a close, he became a trainer to many pro wrestling hopefuls including Adam Copeland and Christian Cage,” it read.
The WWE also offered condolences.
“WWE is saddened to learn that Elkin James, known to wrestling fans as Sweet Daddy Siki, passed away on December 31, 2024, at age 91,” the organization wrote.
A number of other wrestling stars also chimed in to mourn the passing of the adopted Canadian legend, including Mark Henry and Michael Hayes.
"Today The Pro Wrestling world lost one of the greatest wrestlers of all time Sweet Daddy Siki," Henry wrote. "You always be remembered."
Prices for food oils rose in 2024 - Copyright AFP/File Richard A. Brooks
World food commodity prices declined by 2.1 percent in 2024 compared to the previous year, the FAO said on Friday, but they remain considerably higher than before the Covid-19 pandemic.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s overall Food Price Index averaged 122.0 points — 2.6 points or 2.1 percent lower than the average value in 2023.
However, food prices increased over the course of the year, with the index climbing from 117.6 points in January to 127.0 in December.
The index rose 6.7 percent from December 2023 to 2024, with meat, dairy and food oils accounting for the increase.
The United Nations’ food agency tracks monthly and global changes in the international prices of a set of globally traded commodities.
Food prices also remain considerably higher — roughly 26 percent — than they were five years ago.
The disruption to global trade during the Covid-19 pandemic initially saw food prices dip but they later climbed higher amid the surge in inflation as the global economy rebounded.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 sent them spiking to records, since both nations are major wheat exporters, but efforts to ensure shipments were not blocked led to prices easing lower until the beginning of 2024.
The dip in the average value for the index between 2023 and 2024 was mainly due to falls in cereals and sugar prices.
Cereals dropped 13.3 compared to 2023 and the FAO’s sugar price index fell 13.2 percent.
The decreases were offset in part by a 9.4-percent rise in the vegetable oil price index.
UK, Germany electricity cleanest on record in 2024
Turbines like these off the coast of Wales are expected to help wind power become Britain's largest source of electricity in 2025 - Copyright AFP/File Richard A. Brooks
Britain and Germany produced their cleanest electricity on record last year, with renewables reaching record highs, according to data released Thursday.
Renewable energy like wind and solar accounted for 59 percent of production in Germany, while in Britain it stood at 45 percent, the data showed.
In Germany, where 2024 marked the first year without nuclear energy, the share of renewables increased to 59 percent from 56 percent the previous year, the country’s energy regulator said in a statement.
Wind power retained its place as the nation’s main electricity producer at 31.9 percent of the total, while the share of coal continued to decrease to less than 23 percent from 26 percent in 2023, it said.
The share of natural gas increased to 13.2 percent of the total, up from 8.6 percent.
Germany aims to have renewables make up 80 percent of its energy supplies by 2030 and to phase out coal by 2035.
Overall, Germany produced 431.7 TWh of electricity in 2024, a decrease of 4.2 percent compared with the previous year.
Imports increased to 13.8 percent, while exports declined to 10 percent.
– No more coal –
In Britain, oil, gas and coal together produced 29 percent of the UK’s electricity in 2024 while renewables made up 45 percent, according to a report Thursday from the climate and energy website Carbon Brief.
Britain’s last coal-fired power station closed in October, making the country the first G7 member to end its reliance on the fossil fuel for electricity.
The Labour government followed this up in November with plans to ban new coal mines.
Carbon Brief added that nuclear energy was used to produce 13 percent of Britain’s electricity last year. A total 11 percent of Britain’s electricity was imported.
Gas-fired power stations remained Britain’s single-largest source of electricity in 2024, the analysis found.
However, Carbon Brief forecast that the country’s wind power would likely generate more electricity than gas this year.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government has pledged to reduce UK greenhouse gas emissions by 81 percent on 1990 levels by 2035, as part of plans to reach net-zero by 2050.
Britain has spearheaded a push into low-carbon energy also as part of its strategy to combat sky-high electricity and gas bills, which rocketed after key producer Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022 and sparked a cost-of-living crisis.
Energy bills remain at elevated levels in Britain as the country faces freezing temperatures at the start of the year.
Just less than one in five new cars sold in Britain last year was an EV, a record market share but less than the government's 22 percent target - Copyright AFP/File Tolga Akmen
UK car industry sold a record number of all-electric vehicles in 2024 but still fell short of the government’s mandated targets, an industry trade body said Saturday.
Battery electric vehicles made up 19.6 percent of new cars sold last year, said the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, which was below the government’s 22-percent target for carmakers.
The SMMT reported a “record annual volume” of 382,000 battery electric vehicles sold in the UK last year.
The automobile trade body had already warned in October that carmakers were at risk of missing government targets, with manufacturers facing government penalties of £15,000 ($18,625) per polluting vehicle sold above the limits.
However, the government has since assured that it expects all manufacturers to avoid the penalties in 2024 by taking advantage of flexibility mechanisms which will take into account, among other things, emissions reductions across the whole fleet.
The group’s chief executive, Mike Hawes, said that while the market share of electric vehicles grew, this came at a “huge cost” to the industry.
He referred to the “billions invested in new models” supplemented by “unsustainable” incentives provided by the industry.
Hawes urged the government to review the mandate and to do more to stimulate private demand, including improving charging infrastructure.
The SMMT also warned that reaching the thresholds in 2025 will be “even more intense” with the mandates pushed up to 28 percent of cars sold.
There are also concerns over the Labour government’s pledge to bring forward the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles to 2030, after the previous Conservative government pushed it back to 2035.
Overall, the SMMT reported that the number of new vehicles registered in the UK increased to almost 2 million, up by 2.6 percent year-on-year.
It said that growth was mainly driven by business purchases as demand from private buyers dropped.
Despite a second successive year of growth, the overall car market remains below pre-pandemic levels.
Electric cars took 89% of Norway market in 2024
By AFP January 2, 2025 Thanks to government incentives, electric cars have surged in Oslo and across Norway - Copyright AFP Philip FONG
Electric cars accounted for 89 percent of the new cars sold in Norway last year, a report said Thursday, pushing the country closer to reaching its goal of going fully electric by 2025.
“We need only 10 percent more to reach the objective for 2025,” the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV) said in a statement.
Of the 128,691 new car registrations last year, 114,400 were electric, the highest share of any major national car market and up from an 82-percent share in 2023.
Despite being a major oil and gas producer, Norway aims for all new cars sold to be “zero emission” starting in 2025, which is 10 years ahead of the goal set by the European Union, of which Norway is not a member.
In 2012, electric cars accounted for just 2.8 percent of sales, but they have since exploded thanks to various incentives.
Electric cars were exempted from many taxes, making them competitive against heavily taxed internal combustion cars. They have also benefitted from toll exemptions, free parking in public car parks, and the use of public transport traffic lanes.
While some tax breaks and incentives have been rolled back over the years, electric cars have become commonplace.
“It is crucial to maintain the incentives that favour the purchase of electric cars if the government and parliament are to achieve the goal they themselves set,” Oyvind Solberg Thorsen, director of OFV, said in a press release.
Tesla is the leading electric car company in Norway, with 19 percent of the market, followed by Volkswagen, Toyota, Volvo and BMW.
“In 2025, it will be interesting to see whether new Chinese brands and models will manage to strengthen their position among buyers,” said Thorsen.
NO LONGER A 'SECRET'
Secret lab developing UK’s first quantum clock: defence ministry
A strontium atomic clock, pictured in a lab at the University of Colorado Boulder in the United States
- Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File SCOTT OLSON
A top-secret lab in the UK is developing the country’s first quantum clock to help the British military boost intelligence and reconnaissance operations, the defence ministry said Thursday.
The clock is so precise that it will lose less than one second over billions of years, “allowing scientists to measure time at an unprecedented scale,” the ministry said in a statement.
“The trialling of this emerging, groundbreaking technology could not only strengthen our operational capability, but also drive progress in industry, bolster our science sector and support high-skilled jobs,” Minister for Defence Procurement Maria Eagle said.
The groundbreaking technology by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory will reduce reliance on GPS technology, which “can be disrupted and blocked by adversaries,” the ministry added.
It is not a world first, as the University of Colorado at Boulder developed a quantum clock 15 years ago with the US National Institute of Standards and Technology.
But it is “the first device of its kind to be built in the UK,” the statement said, adding it could be deployed by the military “in the next five years”.
A quantum clock uses quantum mechanics — the physics of matter and energy at the atomic and subatomic scale — to keep time with unprecedented accuracy by measuring energy fluctuations within atoms.
Accurate timekeeping is crucial for satellite navigation systems, mobile telephones and digital TV, among other applications, and may open new frontiers in research fields such as quantum science.
Companies and governments around the world are keen to cash in on the huge potential benefits quantum technology could bring.
Google last month unveiled a new quantum computing chip it said could do in minutes what it would take leading supercomputers 10 septillion years to complete.
The United States and China are investing heavily in quantum research, and the US administration has imposed tight restrictions on exporting such sensitive technology.
One expert, Olivier Ezratty, told AFP in October that private and public investment in such technology had reached $20 billion during the past five years.
The defence ministry said future research would “see the technology decrease in size to allow mass manufacturing and miniaturisation, unlocking a wide range of applications, such as use by military vehicles and aircraft”.
EXPLAINER
Al Jazeera in Palestine: A timeline of coverage against all odds The network has continued to report on the plight of Palestinians, despite intimidation.
A mural depicting slain Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh adorns a part of Israel's separation barrier, in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, on July 6, 2022 [Mahmoud Illean/AP Photo]
Al Jazeera Media Network has strongly condemned the Palestinian Authority (PA) ban on its operations in the occupied West Bank this week, calling it an action that “aligns with Israeli occupation practises”.
Since its launch in 1996, Al Jazeera’s reporters have covered the Middle East, from the Arab Spring to Israeli settler violence in the West Bank and the brutal war on Gaza, even when other news organisations pulled their journalists out.
From the start, Al Jazeera has faced attempts to silence its reporting through arrests, imprisonment and attacks on its journalists. And since Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza began in October 2023, the channel has faced even more attempts to stifle its reporting on Palestine.
Al Jazeera’s determination to provide round-the-clock, firsthand reporting on the horrors in Gaza and the deadly raids in the occupied West Bank has come at a high cost, with at least six Al Jazeera journalists killed in the Palestinian territory since 2022.
The PA’s decision to ban Al Jazeera mirrors Israel’s announcement last year that the channel would be banned in Israel and then its closure of the bureau in Ramallah. Advertisement
Here’s a breakdown of how Al Jazeera has been targeted by both the PA and Israel:
Israeli soldiers raid and order the closure of the Al Jazeera office in Ramallah, September 22, 2024 [Screengrab/Al Jazeera]
When did Al Jazeera start reporting from the West Bank and Gaza?
Al Jazeera has been reporting in Palestine since 2000, marking Al Jazeera Arabic’s first attempt to launch a foreign bureau.
There are Al Jazeera bureaus in Ramallah and occupied East Jerusalem in the West Bank, although both have now been suspended by the Israeli government or the PA.
In 2021, Israeli forces bombed the Gaza bureau.
How many times has the PA shut Al Jazeera down?
The PA controls parts of the occupied West Bank and has suspended Al Jazeera’s operations there three times:In March 2001, the PA, led at the time by President Yasser Arafat, invaded Al Jazeera’s Ramallah offices and prevented staff from accessing the building. No official reasons were provided. However, bureau chief Walid Al-Omari said at the time that a security official had called the bureau and accused the network of airing footage “offensive” to Arafat, demanding that it be removed.
On July 15, 2009, PA security officials stormed Al Jazeera’s Ramallah offices and banned its 35 employees from broadcasting. Officials alleged the network had broadcast “false information” because late Palestinian politician Farouk Kaddoumi, in an interview, accused PA President Mahmoud Abbas of involvement in an Israeli plot to kill Arafat. The office was allowed to reopen four days later following an outcry from journalists’ rights groups.
In December 2024, Fatah, the Palestinian party that dominates the PA, banned Al Jazeera from reporting from the governorates of Jenin, Qalqilya and Tubas in the occupied West Bank, citing its coverage of clashes between the Palestinian security forces and Palestinian armed groups. Since mid-December, PA security forces have cracked down on the armed groups in what analysts say is an attempt to endear the PA to the Israelis and the United States. The crackdown has led to the killing of several civilians as well as the West Bank journalist Shatha Sabbagh, 22.
On January 2, 2025, the PA suspended all Al Jazeera broadcasts from the West Bank and placed restrictions on anyone working for the network.
How many times has Israel shut Al Jazeera down?
Israeli authorities have repeatedly attempted to muzzle Al Jazeera. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long accused the network’s coverage of “inciting violence”. The network refutes these claims as “arbitrary and hostile”.In July 2017, Netanyahu threatened to close Al Jazeera’s Jerusalem office in a Facebook post because the network covered a fallout between Palestinians and Israeli authorities over Al-Aqsa Mosque. In May 2021, Israel bombed Al Jazeera’s Gaza office. Israeli forces gave Al Jazeera and other media organisations in the same building just one hour to evacuate the tower. In May 2024, Al Jazeera’s occupied East Jerusalem bureau was raided and closed after the Israeli parliament passed a law allowing the government to suspend the operations of foreign media that pose a “threat”, for 45 days at a time. The ban, including a ban on Al Jazeera’s website in Israel, has been renewed multiple times and remains in place. Al Jazeera now reports from Amman, Jordan.
In September 2024, heavily armed and masked Israeli security forces raided Al Jazeera’s office in Ramallah at 3am and shuttered its operations as the bureau was broadcasting live. Israeli officials alleged that the network supported “terrorism” and ordered operations to be closed for 45 days. Al Jazeera staff were forced to stand on the street and were threatened with a laser weapon during the raid.
Solidarity gathering at Al Jazeera for journalists killed in Gaza [Al Jazeera]
How many Al Jazeera journalists have been killed or injured in the West Bank and Gaza?
At least six Al Jazeera journalists have been killed by Israeli authorities in the West Bank and Gaza while on duty. In most cases, the journalists were wearing marked press vests or were in clearly marked cars.
Shireen Abu Akleh: Veteran journalist Abu Akleh was shot and killed by a bullet to the head on May 11, 2022, while reporting on an Israeli raid on Jenin, in the occupied West Bank. Despite the fact she was wearing a helmet and a vest clearly marked with “Press”, the bullet from an Israeli sniper penetrated just below her helmet. Israeli forces at first tried to blame “crossfire” from Palestinian fighters but were forced to backtrack when ample video evidence proved no Palestinian fighters were nearby. No action has been taken against the sniper. Israeli forces attacked her funeral procession attended by thousands of Palestinians paying their respects – at one point causing her coffin to slip and nearly hit the ground.
Samer Abudaqa: On December 15, 2023, an Israeli air attack injured Al Jazeera cameraman Abudaqa in Khan Younis, Gaza. Israeli officials prevented emergency vehicles from reaching him despite international pleas as he bled out over several hours.
Wael Dahdouh: Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief, whose wife, son, daughter and grandson were killed by Israeli bombs on Gaza, was filming with Abudaqa and was injured in the same attack. On January 7, 2024, Dahdouh’s son, Hamza Dahdouh, who also worked as a journalist for Al Jazeera, was killed in an attack alongside his colleague, Mustafa Thuraya.
Ismail Abu Omar: On February 13, 2024, an Israeli drone hit Abu Omar, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent, and his cameraman, Ahmad Matar, in Rafah, southern Gaza. The two men were critically injured.
Ismail al-Ghoul and Rami al-Rifi: Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent al-Ghoul was reporting with cameraman al-Rifi on July 31, 2024, when an Israeli air raid hit their car in the Shati refugee area of Gaza City. Al-Ghoul had previously been detained and severely beaten by Israeli forces in March 2024 as he covered raids on the al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
Hossam Shabat: Shabat was injured on November 20, 2024, during a second Israeli raid on a house that had just been hit, and that he was reporting on.
Ahmed al-Louh: Israel killed Al Jazeera Arabic photojournalist al-Louh on December 15, 2024, while he was covering attempts by the Palestinian Civil Defence to rescue an injured family in central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp. Five others were killed.
AI system helps doctors identify patients at risk for suicide
Automated system developed at Vanderbilt University Medical Center flagged about 8% of patient visits for screening
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
image:
Colin Walsh, MD, MA, at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, led a team that tested whether an AI system could effectively prompt doctors in three neurology clinics to screen patients for suicide risk during regular clinic visits.
A new study from Vanderbilt University Medical Center shows that clinical alerts driven by artificial intelligence (AI) can help doctors identify patients at risk for suicide, potentially improving prevention efforts in routine medical settings.
A team led by Colin Walsh, MD, MA, associate professor of Biomedical Informatics, Medicine and Psychiatry, tested whether their AI system, called the Vanderbilt Suicide Attempt and Ideation Likelihood model (VSAIL), could effectively prompt doctors in three neurology clinics at VUMC to screen patients for suicide risk during regular clinic visits.
The study, reported inJAMA Network Open, compared two approaches — automatic pop-up alerts that interrupted the doctor's workflow versus a more passive system that simply displayed risk information in the patient's electronic chart.
The study found that the interruptive alerts were far more effective, leading doctors to conduct suicide risk assessments in connection with 42% of screening alerts, compared to just 4% with the passive system.
"Most people who die by suicide have seen a health care provider in the year before their death, often for reasons unrelated to mental health," Walsh said. "But universal screening isn't practical in every setting. We developed VSAIL to help identify high-risk patients and prompt focused screening conversations."
Suicide has been on the rise in the U.S. for a generation and is estimated to claim the lives of 14.2 in 100,000 Americans each year, making it the nation’s 11th leading cause of death. Studies have shown that 77% of people who die by suicide have contact with primary care providers in the year before their death.
Calls to improve risk screening have led researchers to explore ways to identify patients most in need of assessment. The VSAIL model, which Walsh's team developed at Vanderbilt, analyzes routine information from electronic health records to calculate a patient's 30-day risk of suicide attempt. In earlier prospective testing, where VUMC patient records were flagged but no alerts were fired, the model proved effective at identifying high-risk patients, with one in 23 individuals flagged by the system later reporting suicidal thoughts.
In the new study, when patients identified as high-risk by VSAIL came for appointments at Vanderbilt's neurology clinics, their doctors received on a randomized basis either the interruptive or non-interruptive alerts. The research focused on neurology clinics because certain neurological conditions are associated with increased suicide risk.
The researchers suggested that similar systems could be tested in other medical settings.
"The automated system flagged only about 8% of all patient visits for screening," Walsh said. "This selective approach makes it more feasible for busy clinics to implement suicide prevention efforts."
The study involved 7,732 patient visits over six months, prompting 596 total screening alerts. During the 30-day follow-up period, in a review of VUMC health records, no patients in either randomized alert group were found to have experienced episodes of suicidal ideation or attempted suicide. While the interruptive alerts were more effective at prompting screenings, they could potentially contribute to "alert fatigue" — when doctors become overwhelmed by frequent automated notifications. The researchers noted that future studies should examine this concern.
"Health care systems need to balance the effectiveness of interruptive alerts against their potential downsides," Walsh said. "But these results suggest that automated risk detection combined with well-designed alerts could help us identify more patients who need suicide prevention services."
Others on the study from VUMC included Michael Ripperger, BS, Laurie Novak, PhD, Carrie Reale, MSN, Shilo Anders, PhD, Ashley Spann, MD, Jhansi Kolli, BS, Katelyn Robinson, BA, Qingxia Chen, PhD, David Isaacs, MD, Lealani Mae Acosta, MD, Fenna Phibbs, MD, Elliot Fielstein, PhD, Drew Wilimitis, BS, Katherine Musacchio Schafer, PhD, Dan Albert, MS, Jill Shelton, BSN, Jessica Stroh, BSN, and co-senior authors William Stead, MD, and Kevin Johnson, MD, MS.
The study was supported by the Evelyn Selby Stead Fund for Innovation (VUMC), FDA Sentinel, Wellcome Leap MCPsych, and the National Institutes of Health (grants MH118233, MH12145 MH116269, MH120122, HG009034, HG012510).
Risk Model–Guided Clinical Decision Support for Suicide Screening
Article Publication Date
3-Jan-2025
Exposure to school racial segregation and late-life cognitive outcomes
JAMA Network
About The Study:
This cross-sectional study of Black and white older individuals found that childhood exposure to school segregation was associated with late-life cognition among the Black population. Given the increasing amount of school segregation in the U.S., educational policies aimed at reducing segregation are needed to address health inequities. Clinicians may leverage patients’ early-life educational circumstances to promote screening, prevention, and management of cognitive disorders.
Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Xi Chen, PhD, email xi.chen@yale.edu.
Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.
Trends in screening for social risk in physician practices
JAMA Network
About The Study:
In this survey-based cross-sectional study of U.S. physician practices, social risk screening increased substantially from 2017 to 2022, although still less than one-third of practices systematically screened for a set of 5 common social risks (food, housing, utilities, interpersonal violence, and transportation). What remains to be seen is whether practices use these data to help improve patient health by adjusting health care or referring patients for assistance with social needs. As policies and incentives increasingly emphasize social risk screening, it will be important to assess the association of screening and referrals with patient outcomes.
Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Amanda L. Brewster, PhD, email amanda.brewster@berkeley.edu.
Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.
