Feldman: Indiana's abortion law from a doctor's perspective

Dr. Richard Feldman

Mon, September 19, 2022 

This column’s intention is to give readers a look at what resulted from Indiana’s abortion legislation from a physician perspective; it is not meant to take a position on the pro-life and pro-choice debate.

This legislation is termed as one of the most restrictive in the country as it bans abortion from zero weeks gestation. But it’s not as restrictive as it could have been. It allows certain exceptions for protection of the health and life of the mother, fetal anomalies, and incest and rape.

Indiana’s abortion bill is the most consequential legislation enacted in memory. But unfortunately, it was passed in haste. Public testimony was cut short. And legislators should have given more time to engage with physicians and other health professionals to study the legislation’s ramifications thoroughly and thoughtfully.

The introduced bill was pretty much a done deal, only tweaked around the edges before passage. Legislators were largely deaf to the long procession of physicians who testified to the high potential for unintended consequences and who offered solutions to mitigate potential problematic outcomes.

According to the new law, abortions involving rape and incest must be performed at ten weeks gestation or earlier. Especially for pregnant children, more time is needed to identify the pregnancy due to delay in diagnosis from unawareness, hiding the pregnancy because of intimidation or shame, irregular menstrual cycles and denial and rationalization.

Although there may be confusion due to inconsistent bill language, the law allows for abortion throughout the entire pregnancy to protect the health and life of the mother. However, the legislation utilizing a standard of “reasonable medical judgment” for that determination is problematic, as it is open to interpretation. What is reasonable medical judgment? What conditions are legitimate risks to the mother? At what point is the disease severe enough for an allowed termination? Further, there needs to be a certificate with clinical documentation filed first with the hospital to justify the termination. I cannot find any provision for emergency situations demanding immediate action.

There is an exception for “the fetus is diagnosed with a lethal fetal anomaly” defined as a condition that with reasonable certainty results in death not more than three months after birth. “Reasonable certainty” is subject to opinion and clinical variability as is the life expectancy of a specific condition.

My above concerns largely result from inclusion of physician felony criminal prosecution. The abortion ban beginning at zero weeks gestation creates many more potentially unlawful situations. Physicians will be second-guessed and challenged on acting in a responsible, evidenced-based, good-faith manner by non-physicians, some with political or philosophical agendas. Physician accountability belongs with the Indiana Medical Licensing Board, not in criminal court.

Physicians may hesitate to act or withhold care in emergent situations, weighing their duty as a physician with criminal prosecution. Criminality should be a matter of intent and only for blatant and egregious violations. This will have a chilling effect on practicing obstetrics in such a punitive, adversarial, and restrictive environment. Maternity-care access and Indiana’s already high maternal/infant mortality rates will suffer.

Admirably, the General Assembly enacted companion legislation (Senate Bill 2) providing much needed funding, especially for low-income families, in support of healthy pregnancies, infants, children, families, and adoption. Allocations total $75 million with $45 million for establishment of the Family First Fund. More funding will be needed. Time will tell what impact this will have.

Commitment to pro-life should not end with the birth of the baby.

A former resident of South Bend, Dr. Richard Feldman is an Indianapolis family physician and is a past Indiana state health commissioner. Email him at richarddfeldman@gmai­l.com.

Dr. Richard Feldman (Photo Provided/Jim Barnett)

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: A look at Indiana's abortion law from a doctor's perspective

Gavin Newsom Is ‘Unequivocally’ Running for President in 2024 if Biden Doesn’t (Exclusive)



Tina Daunt
Mon, September 19, 2022 

California Governor Gavin Newsom is “undeniably, unequivocally” planning to run for president in 2024 if President Biden chooses not to seek a second term, two individuals with knowledge of Newsom’s plans told TheWrap.

“After this midterm election is over, he absolutely is going to announce that he is running for the presidency once Biden announces that he is not running,” a leading California fundraiser with close ties to the Newsom family told TheWrap. “No ifs, ands or buts. He will run if Biden does not.”

A second individual close to the governor, a Los Angeles philanthropist with deep connections in the Democratic Party and a long history of fundraising for its candidates, confirmed Newsom’s intention to run.

But is Biden running again? In a “60 Minutes” interview that aired on Sunday, Biden told CBS’ Scott Pelley that it’s “much too early” to make a decision on that. “Look, my intention, as I said to begin with, is that I would run again,” Biden said. “But it’s just an intention. But is it a firm decision that I run again? That remains to be seen.”

Also Read:
Gavin Newsom Challenges Ron DeSantis to a Debate: ‘Name the Time Before Election Day’

Officially, Newsom — a Democrat who’s expected to easily win a second term in California’s gubernatorial race this November — has said he has “sub-zero interest” in running for president in 2024. A staffer in Newsom’s administration reiterated that statement to TheWrap.

But his recent actions have already begun to create a much higher profile for the former San Francisco mayor beyond California. On Friday, the governor was in the news when he launched billboard campaigns in Texas, Indiana, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota and Oklahoma attacking abortion restrictions in those individual states. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has become a wedge issue in elections across the country. Newsom’s billboards direct people to a website – abortion.ca.gov – with information on how to obtain an abortion in California.

Last week, Newsom also issued a public debate challenge to Florida Governor Ron de Santis — who has emerged in recent polls as Republicans’ best bet to challenge Biden in 2024 – with the quip, “I’ll bring my hair gel. You bring your hairspray.”

But the first big clue that the governor’s political plans extend beyond the Golden State occurred in July, when Newsom ran a TV ad campaign that aired in Florida and Ohio, which criticized the Republican Party’s shift to the right on issues such as abortion and free speech.

There have been further indications that Newsom is preparing to beef up his war chest for a national run. According to CNBC, a Wall Street executive who raised money for Biden’s 2020 campaign met with Newsom in recent weeks. The governor has also been networking with Heather Podesta, a veteran DC lobbyist, to meet with “dozens of wealthy donors” for a Democratic Governors Association event, CNBC reported. TheWrap’s insiders also confirmed Newsom is speaking with political consultants with national election experience.

Also Read:
Gavin Newsom Says Some Republicans Are ‘On The Spectrum of Authoritarianism:’ ‘There’s a Ruthlessness to the Right’

The Democratic fundraiser noted that the governor “has gotten much more moderate in the last few years” after many years waving the progressive banner, including championing gay marriage in San Francisco when he was mayor there from 2004-2011. Historically, presidential candidates have had to play more politically in the center to win in the general election.

“Just look at some of the bills he started vetoing [in California],” the fundraiser pointed out. “He has done everything to play toward the middle. But he’s not at all scared to get up and just go after opponents on important issues. He can be a real attack dog.”

For example, recently Newsom rejected a bill that would have allowed California cities to set up sites where addicts could take drugs, showing he’s willing to oppose certain liberal segments of his own party. Newsom will need that toughness if he runs, since the Republican nominee might be former President Donald Trump.

Also Read:
Rappers’ Own Lyrics Are Putting Them in Jail – Now the Music Industry Is Fighting Back

The insiders we spoke with don’t expect Newsom to make any formal announcement that he’ll seek the presidency for several months at least. It would be bad form, the Democratic fundraiser said, to announce future plans while he’s running for a second term as governor. “That would be a real no-no, while this race is still pending,” the individual said.

A recent UC-Berkeley Institute of Government studies poll found that 61% of California don’t want Biden to seek re-election. The poll, released on Aug. 19, also found that Newsom and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) top the list of California presidential preferences for the 2024 Democratic primary.

Of course, Vice President Kamala Harris — who won statewide races in California as attorney general and U.S. Senator — is expected to seek the presidency should Biden decide not run for a second term. Yet even though Newsom and Harris share California ties, the insiders TheWrap spoke with say that wouldn’t stop the governor from challenging her.

Also Read:
Gov. Newsom Calls on Hollywood to Ditch Georgia Film Industry Over Abortion Ban: ‘Choose Freedom’

One of the insiders who confirmed Newsom’s presidential plans, the L.A. philanthropist, previously supported and fundraised for Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign. The individual said many in the Democratic Party now question whether Harris can rally the national support needed to fight the GOP in 2024.

“There’s going to be a ton of people coming out against Kamala if Biden doesn’t run,” said the L.A. philanthropist, whose previous support of Harris goes back to when she served as district attorney in San Francisco from 2004-2011 while Newsom was mayor.

Biden and Harris’ offices didn’t respond to TheWrap’s requests for comment.

As Newsom quietly builds toward a potential 2024 presidential run, he’s currently running against Republican Brian Dahle, a member of the California state senate, in this year’s gubernatorial election. His current re-election effort has attracted a broad range of support from Hollywood and the tech industry, including Jeffrey Katzenberg, Haim Saban, JJ Abrams and Silicon Valley titans Ron Conway and Eric Schmidt — a solid base that Newsom could seek to tap for a possible presidential run.

Also Read:
Liz Cheney Gets Hollywood Boost as Jeffrey Katzenberg Leads in Industry Donations

'Out of control' STD situation prompts call for changes


This 1966 microscope photo made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a tissue sample with the presence of numerous, corkscrew-shaped, darkly-stained, Treponema pallidum spirochetes, the bacterium responsible for causing syphilis. U.S. health officials on Monday, Sept. 19, 2022, are calling for a new push to prevent sexually transmitted diseases — spurred in part by a 26% increase in syphilis cases last year. 

(Skip Van Orden/CDC via AP) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

MIKE STOBBE
Mon, September 19, 2022 

NEW YORK (AP) — Sharply rising cases of some sexually transmitted diseases — including a 26% rise in new syphilis infections reported last year — are prompting U.S. health officials to call for new prevention and treatment efforts.

“It is imperative that we ... work to rebuild, innovate, and expand (STD) prevention in the U.S.,” said Dr. Leandro Mena of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a speech Monday at a medical conference on sexually transmitted diseases.

Infections rates for some STDs, including gonorrhea and syphilis, have been rising for years. Last year the rate of syphilis cases reached its highest since 1991 and the total number of cases hit its highest since 1948. HIV cases are also on the rise, up 16% last year.

And an international outbreak of monkeypox, which is being spread mainly between men who have sex with other men, has further highlighted the nation's worsening problem with diseases spread mostly through sex.

David Harvey, executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors, called the situation “out of control.”

Officials are working on new approaches to the problem, such as home-test kits for some STDs that will make it easier for people to learn they are infected and to take steps to prevent spreading it to others, Mena said.

Another expert said a core part of any effort must work to increase the use of condoms.

“It's pretty simple. More sexually transmitted infections occur when people are having more unprotected sex,” said Dr. Mike Saag, an infectious disease expert at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Syphilis is a bacterial disease that surfaces as genital sores but can ultimately lead to severe symptoms and death if left untreated.

New syphilis infections plummeted in the U.S. starting in the 1940s when antibiotics became widely available. They fell to their lowest ever by 1998, when fewer than 7,000 new cases were reported nationwide. The CDC was so encouraged by the progress it launched a plan to eliminate syphilis in the U.S.

But by 2002 cases began rising again, largely among gay and bisexual men, and they kept going. In late 2013, CDC ended its elimination campaign in the face of limited funding and escalating cases, which that year surpassed 17,000.

By 2020 cases had reached nearly 41,700 and they spiked even further last year, to more than 52,000.

The rate of cases has been rising, too, hitting about 16 per 100,000 people last year. That's the highest in three decades.

Rates are highest in men who have sex with men, and among Black and Hispanic Americans and Native Americans. While the rate for women is lower than it is for men, officials noted that it's has been rising more dramatically — up about 50% last year.

That ties to another problem — the rise in congenital syphilis, in which infected moms pass the virus on to their babies, potentially leading to death of the child or health problems like deafness and blindness. Annual congenital syphilis cases numbered only about 300 a decade ago; they surged to nearly 2,700 last year. Of last year's tally, 211 were stillbirths or infant deaths, Mena said.

The increases in syphilis and other STDs may have several causes, experts say. Testing and prevention efforts have been hobbled by years of inadequate funding, and spread may have gotten worse — especially during the pandemic — as a result of delayed diagnosis and treatment. Drug and alcohol use may have contributed to risky sexual behavior. Condom use has been declining.

And there may have been a surge in sexual activity as people emerged from COVID-19 lockdowns. “People are feeling liberated,” Saag said.

The arrival of monkeypox added a large additional burden. CDC recently sent a letter to state and local health departments saying that their HIV and STD resources could be used to fight the monkeypox outbreak. But some experts say the government needs to provide more funding for STD work, not divert it.

Harvey's group and some other public health organizations are pushing a proposal for more federal funding, including at least $500 million for STD clinics.

Mena, who last year became director of the CDC's Division of STD Prevention, called for reducing stigma, broadening screening and treatment services, and supporting the development and accessibility of at-home testing. “I envision one day where getting tested (for STDs) can be as simple and as affordable as doing a home pregnancy test,” he said.

___

The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Concentration

Camp Concentration - Wikipedia 

Camp Concentration is a 1968 science fiction novel by American author Thomas M. Disch. After being serialized in New Worlds in 1967, it was published by ...

https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/disch_thomas_m

SFE: Disch, Thomas M - SF Encyclopedia 

Disch's first novel, The Genocides (1965), his most formidable early work, ... Intelligence but causes death from a new form of syphilis within months.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/jul/09/culture.obituaries

Thomas Disch | Books | The Guardian 

Jul 8, 2008 ... Obituary: American science fiction writer whose strange, ... The novelist Thomas M Disch once observed: "America is a nation of liars, ...

Nigerian students protest lecturers strike, block Lagos traffic

Members of the NANS stage a protest against prolonged strike action of the Academic Staff Union of Universities in Lagos

Mon, September 19, 2022

LAGOS (Reuters) - Hundreds of students blocked the main airport road in Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos on Monday to protest against the disruption to classes caused by a lecturers' strike that has been going on for more than seven months.

Strikes over pay by public university lecturers are common in Nigeria and often go on for months. The latest action started in February.

Chanting and holding placards, students gathered on Lagos International Airport Road, causing gridlock in a city that already struggles with daily traffic congestion and leaving motorists and air passengers stranded.

The National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS) had at the weekend threatened to occupy major airports to send a message that the students were tired of the pay stand-off between lecturers and President Muhammadu Buhari's government.

"We are here to ground the economy at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport so that the government, the first class people, can be aware that our students are off campus now (for) seven months," Awoyinfa Opeoluwa, NANS spokesperson for the southwest region told Reuters.

Passengers were forced to walk with their luggage in the rain for at least 5 kilometres (3 miles) to and from the airport.

Dozens of armed police watched from a distance.

Demonstrations often turn deadly in Nigeria. The last major protest was against police brutality two years ago, which ended with some protesters being shot and killed.

(Reporting by Seun Sanni, writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe, Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)

Why you should pay attention to fly vomit

New research from the University of Massachusetts Amherst shows that common, non-biting flies are potent and understudied transmitters of disease

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST

AMHERST, Mass. – New research from the University of Massachusetts Amherst concerning “synanthropic” flies—or the non-biting flies that live with us—argues that we need to pay far more attention to them as disease carriers. While epidemiologists have focused their attention on the biting flies that can spread diseases by transferring infected blood from host to host, it turns out that what the non-biting flies regurgitate is a far greater risk to human health.

“I’ve been working on synanthropic flies since I was a graduate student in the 1960s,” says John Stoffolano, professor of entomology at UMass Amherst’s Stockbridge School of Agriculture and the author of a new paper that appeared recently in the journal Insects. “And synanthropic flies have largely been ignored. Blood-feeding flies have taken the limelight, but we should pay attention to the ones that live among us because they get their nutrients from people and animals that shed pathogens in their tears, feces and wounds.”

To illustrate the point, consider the common house fly. In the course of its day, buzzing in and out of your house, it may feast on a variety of foods: roadkill, animal dung, rotting garbage and quick trips to the sewer buffet. Each time it feeds, it fills its crop. “The crop is like a gas tank,” says Stoffolano, “a place to store food before it makes its way into the digestive tract where it will get turned into energy for the fly.” Because the crop is a place for storage—not digestion—there are very few digestive enzymes or antimicrobial peptides, both of which would neutralize most pathogens, at work. And so, inadvertently, the crop also becomes a place to store disease-producing pathogens.

As the fly then takes off, crop filled, say, with fresh dog feces left on the sidewalk, it gets rid of excess water in its crop by “bubbling,” or regurgitating the water out, misting everything it contacts. Let’s say that same fly then comes in through your window and lands on the sandwich you’re making. Before helping itself to a bite of your grinder, it regurgitates some of what’s left in its crop right onto your bread. Along with the crop contents, up comes whatever illness-causing pathogens that fly happen to ingest earlier.

It gets worse. Because a fly’s crop is one of the cauldrons where microbes develop antibacterial resistance, what gets spewed out onto your food might not respond well to conventional treatments.

And yet, we still don’t know many of the basics about these flies, as Stoffolano points out. How robust are the immune systems of different synanthropic flies, for instance? Do the flies incubate and encourage the growth of harmful pathogens in their guts, or are they simply transporting diseases from place to place? Are female or male flies better transmitters of pathogens? How do crop volumes vary by species?

“It’s the little things that cause the problems,” Stoffolano says. “Our health depends on paying closer attention to these flies that live with us.”

---

JOURNAL

Insects

DOI

10.3390/insects13090776 

ARTICLE TITLE

Synanthropic Flies—A Review Including How They Obtain Nutrients, along with Pathogens, Store Them in the Crop and Mechanisms of Transmission

 END THE WAR ON DRUGS

Drug detection: ONR SCOUT tests tech for monitoring illicit maritime cargo

OFFICE OF NAVAL RESEARCH

 

IMAGE: VESSELS PARTICIPATE IN AN ONR SCOUT-SPONSORED EXPERIMENTATION EVENT AT JOINT EXPEDITIONARY BASE LITTLE CREEK-FORT STORY, VIRGINIA, AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE CHESAPEAKE BAY. THE GOAL OF THE EVENT WAS TO FIND CREATIVE SOLUTIONS TO PINPOINT “DARK TARGETS” — AIRCRAFT OR WATERCRAFT OPERATING WITH LITTLE TO NO RADIO-FREQUENCY SIGNATURES — FOUND IN MARITIME OPERATING AREAS COVERED BY THE JOINT INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE SOUTH (JIATF-S). IT SOUGHT WAYS TO USE UNMANNED TECHNOLOGIES TO EXPAND INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE AND RECONNAISSANCE CAPABILITIES BEYOND THOSE OF TRADITIONAL MARITIME PATROL AIRCRAFT. view more 

CREDIT: U.S. NAVY PHOTO BY MAX HOPKINS, DEMONSTRATION ASSESSMENT TEAM, NAVAL SURFACE WARFARE CENTER INDIAN HEAD DIVISION

ARLINGTON, Va.—To improve capabilities for monitoring aircraft and vessels carrying illicit maritime cargo such as drugs — for longer periods of time and over greater distances — the Office of Naval Research (ONR)-sponsored SCOUT initiative recently conducted a dynamic experimentation event at Joint Expeditionary Base (JEB) Little Creek-Fort Story, Virginia, at the entrance of the Chesapeake Bay.

The goal of the event was to find creative solutions to pinpoint “dark targets” — aircraft or watercraft operating with little to no radio-frequency signatures — found in maritime operating areas covered by the Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATF-S). It sought ways to use unmanned technologies to expand intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities beyond those of traditional maritime patrol aircraft such as the P-3 Orion and P-8 Poseidon. 

JIATF-S currently works with U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) and partner naval forces to leverage all-domain technologies and unmanned capabilities to target, detect and monitor illicit drug trafficking in the air and maritime domains. This facilitates interdiction and apprehension to reduce the flow of drugs, as well as degrade and dismantle transnational criminal organizations.

ONR SCOUT is an ongoing, multiagency experimentation campaign for identifying alternative ways to bring unmanned technologies to warfighter problems, operationalize them and bring them to scale. SCOUT is committed to getting nontraditional, commercial-off-the-shelf, government-developed and/or government-sponsored technologies to the fleet rapidly.

“SCOUT is an innovation vehicle and investment strategy for the rapid development of autonomous platforms that address today's warfighter challenges,” said Chief of Naval Research Rear Adm. Lorin Selby. “Through experimentation with partners like JIATF-S, we can connect innovators, industry, acquisition professionals and fleet stakeholders to attack and solve key operational problems.”

“This is a pressing issue for JIATF-S because every day multiple suspect vessels are near and in the area of operations conducting illicit trafficking,” said U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Duane Zitta, JIATF-S chief of operational demonstration and experimentation. “Because of this vast area, JIATF-S is looking for alternative capabilities and technologies to provide unmanned counter-operations that can detect and monitor suspect activity, ultimately helping prevent illegal movement to the United States.”

The JEB Little Creek-Fort Story experimentation event was a partnership involving ONR SCOUT, JIATF-S, the Naval Research and Development Establishment, and industry partners in the Chesapeake Bay area. It was one of multiple sprint events (scenario-based demonstrations of technology capabilities and characteristics) held this year that will lead to a large-scale main experimentation event in March 2023.

During the Chesapeake Bay event, participants engaged in simulated drug-running and -hunting scenarios during “cat-and-mouse” games involving a specialized vessel owned by SOUTHCOM and JIATF-S, a “Gotcha” boat formerly used by drug traffickers and seized by JIATF-S, and various targets of interest.

Participants employed sophisticated sensor systems and technologies, ranging from coordinated unmanned aircraft systems to wide-area motion imagery. Data collected during the exercises was fed into an onsite maritime operations center and synthesized, providing operators with real-time information about targets and each technology’s performance.

The technology tested at JEB Little Creek-Fort Story will undergo further refinement and improvement before the March 2023 main experimentation event.

“ONR’s authorities to engage with industry have vaulted it as our vital technology maturation partner,” said Jeffrey Havlicek, J7 director for Innovation and Technology, JIATF-S. “Cooperative technology truly rises all boats in shared stability of maritime commerce and safety.  

“We’re grateful for the years of technology maturation efforts that have been advanced by drawing on ONR’s expertise and passion,” he continued. “The best part is we are finding more naval operators just as grateful as we are for advanced capabilities in data synthesis, mission planning, autonomous detection of dark maritime threats, and improved naval logistics automation.”

Watch a video about the experimentation event at https://youtu.be/X2G0FgKX2zA.

COVID-19 zaps placenta’s immune response, study finds

This damage occurs even if the mother has a mild case of COVID-19, UW Medicine researchers found

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON SCHOOL OF MEDICINE/UW MEDICINE

If a woman contracts COVID-19 during her pregnancy, the infection, even if it’s mild, damages the placenta’s immune response to further infections, a UW Medicine-led study has found.

The study was published Sept. 17 in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

“This is the largest study to date of placentas from women who had COVID-19 during their pregnancies,” said Dr. Kristina Adams Waldorf, senior author and professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Washington School of Medicine.  “We were surprised to find that women who had COVID-19 during their pregnancies had placentas with an impaired immune response to new infection.”

This finding, Adams Waldorf added, “was the tip of the iceberg” in how COVID-19 might affect fetal or placental development.

Early in the pandemic, many thought that COVID-19 did not appear to harm the developing fetus because there were so few babies born with COVID-19 infection, she noted.

“But what we’re seeing now is that the placenta is vulnerable to COVID-19, and the infection changes the way the placenta works, and that in turn is likely to impact the development of the fetus,” Adams Waldorf said.

“To date, the studies about how COVID-19 might affect fetal or child development are very limited as the children are still very young,” noted co-author Dr. Helen Feltovich, professor and associate medical director for maternal fetal medicine imaging at Intermountain Healthcare in Utah.

“Our study suggests that babies born to mothers infected with COVID-19 at any point during their pregnancy will need to be monitored as they grow up,” she said.

The placenta provides nourishment, oxygen, and immune protection for the fetus until the time of birth. Studies led by Adams Waldorf have shown that women who contract COVID-19 have a significantly higher mortality rate than do women who do not contract COVID-19. Other studies have found that pregnant women are more likely to risk hospitalizations or preterm birth, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

It’s unknown how different COVID-19 variants may affect the mother or fetus, Adams Waldorf and Feltovich agree.

“Studying each of the variants in real time is really challenging,” Adams Waldorf said, “because they just keep coming so fast, we can’t keep up. We do know that the COVID-19 Delta variant was worse for pregnant individuals, because there was a spike in stillbirths, maternal deaths and hospitalizations at that time.”

Regardless of the variant, Adams Waldorf stressed it’s important that women not catch COVID-19.

Women who are pregnant should first get vaccinated and boosted, and continue to mask and stay within a strict bubble of individuals who are also vaccinated and boosted. She acknowledges that may mean isolating for the duration of the pregnancy.

“The disease may be mild, or it may be severe, but we’re still seeing these abnormal effects on the placenta,” she said. “It seems that after contracting COVID-19 in pregnancy, the placenta is exhausted by the infection, and can’t recover its immune function.”

In this study, a total of 164 pregnant individuals were studied, consisting of 24 uninfected healthy patients as a control group and 140 individuals who contracted COVID-19. Both groups delivered at about the same time, 37 to 38 weeks. Preterm birth occurred at almost 3 times the rate with the patients with COVID-19 when compared with those without. About 75% of the patients with COVID-19 were either asymptomatic or had mild symptoms, according to the study.

Placental tissues were obtained with patient approval through either the Intermountain Healthcare Research Institutional Review Board, in Salt Lake City, Utah, or the University of Washington Human Subjects Division. Placental tissues were collected by medical providers at the time of delivery.

This work was supported primarily by funding from charitable donations and the National Institutes of Health AI143265. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health or other funders.

---

JOURNAL

American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology

DOI

10.1016/j.ajog.2022.09.023 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Case study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Diminished Antiviral Innate Immune Gene Expression in the Placenta Following a Maternal SARS-CoV-2 Infection

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

17-Sep-2022

COI STATEMENT

The authors report that Dr. Adams Waldorf is a consultant for GlaxoSmithKline.

Chan Zuckerberg Initiative announces partnership to advance genomics research at the nation’s four Historically Black Medical Colleges

New partnership with Charles Drew University College of Medicine, Howard University College of Medicine, Meharry Medical College, and Morehouse School of Medicine aims to accelerate precision health

Grant and Award Announcement

CHAN ZUCKERBERG INITIATIVE

 

IMAGE: 2022 | DR. MARJORIE GONDRÉ-LEWIS’ LAB AT HOWARD UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE. | PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF CZI. view more 

CREDIT: PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF CZI.

Today, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) announced a partnership with the nation’s four Historically Black Medical Colleges (HBMCs) to further support the cutting-edge scientific research they are leading to address significant gaps in genomics research, create new tools and methods to prevent and treat disease, and accelerate precision health for everyone, particularly Black people and other people of color.

CZI’s Accelerate Precision Health program will advance genomics research by investing in genomics programs at each of the HBMCs — Charles Drew University College of Medicine in Los Angeles, California; Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, D.C.; Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee; and Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Accelerate Precision Health program will award $46 million total in funding, or $11.5 million per institution over the next five years. Through the partnership, the HBMCs will expand research opportunities for undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral students; support the creation of a new Master of Science program in Genetic Counseling; support recruitment of anchor faculty in genomics; and fund state-of-the-art tools for data handling, storage, and analysis, among other elements. Dr. Ivory Dean, CZI’s Science Program Manager, Diversity in Science, and Dr. Hannah Valantine, CZI’s Senior Science Advisor, will oversee this new program.

“We are honored to partner with these four institutions that are national leaders and championing some of the most groundbreaking research in precision health,” said CZI Co-Founder & Co-CEO Priscilla Chan. “As pillars in their communities, the Historically Black Medical Colleges are also uniquely positioned to engage populations that have been systematically underrepresented in the scientific research process to ensure that the breakthroughs represent a healthier future for everyone.”

Precision health accounts for differences in people’s genes, environments, and lifestyles, and formulates treatment and prevention strategies based on their unique backgrounds and conditions. In contrast to a one-size-fits-all approach, precision health is used to more accurately predict what type of care for a particular disease will work in which populations of people, and is crucial to improve health outcomes for all.

“It’s important to underscore that for Black Americans, there is a large gap between representation and need in genomics research, and the time is now to support the intersection of genomics and health differences research that will advance science. Research shows that expanding representation leads to innovative discoveries,” said CZI’s Senior Science Advisor, Hannah Valantine. “Actively engaging HBMCs and the communities they serve in genomics research is a necessary approach to harness new perspectives that will fuel creative interdisciplinary research, unleash innovations that have yet to be conceived, and accelerate precision health equity.”

The deep relationships and trust between HBMCs, Black health care providers, and Black communities positions these four institutions to be natural leaders in this work. For more than a century, HBMCs have played an unmatched role in preparing Black physicians for their careers. Overwhelmingly, these institutions produce graduates who fulfill a social mission — especially in communities that are underserved — and who pursue in-demand primary care specialties, including family and internal medicine. Despite this well-documented track record, HBMCs trail their peers because of uneven infrastructure, limited research opportunities for faculty and students, low enrollment of Black students in the field of biological and data sciences, and they also tend to receive less federal research funding. The Accelerate Precision Health program will strengthen the environments needed for genomics research at HBMCs.

“Our work will address the gap between representation and need in genomics research. Given the current growth of the field of precision health, there is no better time than now to support this research,” said Steve Quake, Head of Science at CZI. “Advances from collaborations with the HBMCs will result in broader participation in and access to genomics research, and expand the population that can benefit from precision health.”

"The Howard University College of Medicine and other HBCU medical schools play a critical role as leaders in advanced medical research, resulting in significant improvements in health outcomes for African Americans and other people of color,” said Howard University President, Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick. “The new Accelerate Precision Health program supports our efforts to greatly accelerate scientific knowledge in genomics and fill gaps in health disparities research in the field. We are tremendously grateful to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative for collaborating with us to realize this vision.”

“Morehouse School of Medicine is thrilled to partner with the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative on the Accelerate Precision Health program,” said Morehouse School of Medicine President and CEO Valerie Montgomery Rice, MD, FACOG. “CZI support will allow MSM to expand our educational programs and our world-class genomics research enterprise simultaneously. Through this partnership, MSM will train more graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, hire additional research scientists, and establish an endowed faculty position funded by CZI. These measures will enhance Morehouse School of Medicine’s continued commitment to academic excellence, service, and innovation as we lead the creation and advancement of health equity.”

“This partnership between CDU, our fellow Historically Black Medical Colleges, and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative in many ways represents an almost perfect convergence of ambition, vision, resources, and perspective,” shared Dr. David M. Carlisle, President and CEO of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science. “This endeavor to address humanity’s most pressing health issues through research, regardless of color, ethnicity, gender, or other factors is nothing short of a bold and stunning step towards achieving true health equity.“ 

“We are incredibly excited to work with the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative because of their commitment to building more inclusive and healthy futures for everyone. Their mission aligns with ours, and together, the hope of advancing health equity to serve underrepresented populations will become a reality,” said Dr. James Hildreth, President and CEO of Meharry Medical College. 

With their long-standing commitment to the education, research, and health care of Black Americans, the four HBMCs are equipped and experienced to guide medical research that will directly impact Black communities, generate new scientific knowledge to advance precision health for all communities, and accelerate CZI’s mission to support the science and technology that will make it possible to prevent, cure, or manage all diseases by the end of the century.

This grant is part of a multi-year, $500 million investment CZI announced in December 2020 to support organizations leading the way to advance racial equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts. Additional CZI funds also support Black, Latina/o/x, and Indigenous students who are pursuing STEM degrees at the University of California, San Diego and UC Berkeley, as the two campuses implement aspects of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s successful Meyerhoff Scholars Program. In January 2022, CZI launched the Science Diversity Leadership program in partnership with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that aims to recognize and further the leadership and scientific accomplishments of excellent biomedical researchers who—through their outreach, mentoring, and teaching—have a record of promoting diversity, equity and inclusion in their scientific fields.

Penn State awarded grant to help dairy farmers develop climate-smart commodities

Project is part of USDA’s nationwide Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities initiative

Grant and Award Announcement

PENN STATE

 

IMAGE: AFTER U.S. SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE TOM VILSACK (CENTER) ANNOUNCED FUNDING FOR USDA’S PARTNERSHIPS FOR CLIMATE-SMART COMMODITIES INITIATIVE, ARMEN KEMANIAN, PROFESSOR OF PRODUCTION SYSTEMS AND MODELING (SECOND FROM LEFT), DISCUSSED A PENN STATE-LED COLLABORATION WITH DAIRY INDUSTRY GROUPS AND PRODUCERS THAT WAS FUNDED TO DEVELOP CLIMATE-FRIENDLY PRACTICES AND COMMODITIES IN DAIRY. view more 

CREDIT: MICHAEL HOUTZ, COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES/PENN STATE

Funding of up to $25 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will support a new Penn State-led collaboration with dairy industry associations and producers to develop and implement climate-smart practices on Pennsylvania dairy farms. The project is aimed at generating climate commodities that add value to dairy products along the supply chain and leveraging agriculture’s potential to provide solutions to climate change.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack visited Penn State’s University Park campus Sept. 14 to announce funding for the project and about 70 others nationwide that are part of USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities initiative, which represents a total investment of as much as $2.8 billion.

“There is strong and growing interest in the private sector and among consumers for food that is grown in a climate-friendly way,” Vilsack said. “Through the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities, USDA is delivering on our promise to build and expand these market opportunities for American agriculture and be global leaders in climate-smart agricultural production. This effort will increase the competitive advantage of U.S. agriculture both domestically and internationally, build wealth that stays in rural communities, and support a diverse range of producers and operation types.”

The project led by Penn State — titled "Climate-smart Agriculture that is profitable, Regenerative, Actionable, and Trustworthy," or CARAT — was developed in partnership with the Center for Dairy Excellence, Professional Dairy Managers of Pennsylvania, Red Barn Consulting and Proagrica.

According to project leader Armen Kemanian, professor of production systems and modeling in the College of Agricultural Sciences, the project will build on Penn State’s strengths as a source of unbiased, research-based knowledge; on the central role of dairy producers and farmer associations in implementing climate-smart practices; and on the expertise of data-driven agricultural firms to appraise and transfer the value of climate commodities along the supply chain.

“As a public, land-grant institution, Penn State will serve the role of an honest broker in the emerging value chain, documenting the value of climate-smart commodities,” he said. “This grant will enable producers to work with a team of expert consultants to help them identify, prioritize and tailor the practices to implement on their farms, measure and verify the benefits of deploying climate-smart practices, and determine market prospects for climate-smart commodities.”

Kemanian said by building partnerships among scientists, industry organizations, government agencies and dairy producers, the project can break down barriers and create new pathways to the adoption of climate-smart practices. This can be achieved, he said, by enhancing trust between producers and consumers, reducing producer skepticism by defining the cost and value of these practices, engaging underserved producers and workers across the industry, and identifying markets for climate-smart commodities.

He explained that the project team is focusing on dairy for several reasons: Dairy is a pivotal sector for Pennsylvania’s economy, with a large number of family-owned, small and medium-sized farms; there is significant potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions via feed and nutrient management to suppress methane and nitrous oxide emissions; and, some reductions can be achieved by storing carbon in soil through reduced tillage and planting cover crops.

Kemanian pointed out that Penn State is at the forefront of research on greenhouse-gas reduction in agriculture and enhancing soil health for carbon capture.

“Dairies move around a lot of nutrients, which causes nitrous oxide and methane leakage, and their suppression is a tremendous opportunity to do good for agriculture and the public,” Kemanian said. “Producers want to be recognized for their efforts and for specific greenhouse-gas suppression, and we want to give consumers the chance to reward these efforts.”

Jayne Sebright, executive director of the Center for Dairy Excellence, noted that Pennsylvania’s dairy farmers have been long-time stewards of the environment.

“However, climate-smart strategies they employ on their farms must be both environmentally and economically sustainable for their businesses,” she said. “We are looking forward to this project providing financial assistance and technical resources to help our dairy farm families navigate this delicate balance, while contributing to a baseline that will allow us to set values on the contributions dairy farmers can and are making to address climate change.”

Researchers say there is significant potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in dairy production by employing feed and nutrient management practices to suppress methane and nitrous oxide emissions.

CREDIT

Steve Williams, College of Agricultural Sciences/Penn State

Similarly, Caroline Novak, of Professional Dairy Managers of Pennsylvania, pointed out that there are no standard benchmarks from which to quantify the value of climate-smart practices to greenhouse-gas reduction. “Our goal for the CARAT initiative is to establish real data that will better position our producers to enter into the carbon market and be assured they are being fairly compensated for their climate-smart efforts and investments,” she said.

“We know of many practices that suppress greenhouse gases,” Kemanian added, “but we need to understand specifically by how much so we can tailor the options for a particular farm. There are new technologies emerging all the time, and they need rigorous research and testing to get them into the business stream. A substantial part of the measurement and verification will occur on farms with the producers.”

Dairy producers of varying sizes and types will participate directly in the initial phase of the project across three dairy “core pockets” in distinct regions of Pennsylvania to provide a good representation of Pennsylvania’s diverse dairy farms.
 

Rick Roush, dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences, noted that Pennsylvania is well positioned to take advantage of opportunities that may arise from the CARAT project.

“Pennsylvania is a leader in no-till and cover cropping, which are critical to retaining carbon in the soil,” he said, “and adoption of these practices is due in large part to research and extension programs conducted by the college in recent decades. In contrast to other states, we have a huge cohort of farmers who already are using climate-smart practices and are thus in a great place to benefit from premiums for climate-smart crops and commodities, such as corn and milk. For this reason, I was extremely enthusiastic about supporting this project.”

Kemanian suggested that the project’s success will be measured by higher agricultural production with much lower carbon intensity — and that is economically rewarded.

“Following USDA’s vision for this initiative, we hope our work leads to the emergence of socially stronger, dynamic farming communities fully integrated into the business of avoiding the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere — from farms to consumers,” he said. “When people around the world mention American creativity and can-do attitude to meet a global challenge, we want them to think of our valleys and our farms in Pennsylvania.”