Researchers develop antimicrobial lipstick using cranberry extract


Researchers at Valencia Catholic University Saint Vincent Martyr in Spain have experimented with cranberry extract as an antimicrobial additive to lipstick.

 File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

Dec. 16 (UPI) -- Researchers in Spain have developed a novel way to create antimicrobial lipstick with cranberry extract.

Researchers Alberto Tuñón-Molina, Alba Cano-Vicent, and Ángel Serrano-Aroca reported in ASC Applied Materials & Interface that they were able to reduce microorganism colonies in samples that contained cranberry extract added to cream lipstick base. Their research was funded by Valencia Catholic University Saint Vincent Martyr and the Spanish Ministry for Science and Innovation.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has speeded up the race to find materials that could help limit or avoid the spread of SARS-CoV-2, while infections by multidrug-resistant bacteria and fungi are now becoming a serious threat," the authors wrote in the report. "In this study, we developed a novel bio-based lipstick containing cranberry extract, a substance able to inactivate a broad range of microorganisms."

The study showed that fungal and bacterial colony growth was greatly reduced in test samples that contained cranberry extract.

"The proposed antimicrobial lipstick offers a new form of protection against a broad range of microorganisms, including enveloped and non-enveloped viruses, bacteria, and fungi, in the current COVID-19 pandemic and microbial-resistant era," the report said.

The American Chemical Society, which published the study, was founded at New York University in 1876 and currently has over 151,000 members in 140 countries.

Retired football players more likely to report age-related diseases

By Cara Murez, HealthDay News



NFL players, especially former linemen, had fewer disease-free years and earlier high blood pressure and diabetes diagnoses, a recent study found. File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo

Former elite football players may age faster than their more average peers, a new study suggests.

NFL players, especially former linemen, had fewer disease-free years and earlier high blood pressure and diabetes diagnoses. Two age-related diseases, arthritis and dementia, were also more commonly found in former football players than in other men of the same age.

This research was part of the ongoing Football Players Health Study at Harvard University.

"We wanted to know: Are professional football players being robbed of their middle age? Our findings suggest that football prematurely weathers them and puts them on an alternate aging trajectory, increasing the prevalence of a variety of diseases of old age," said senior investigator Rachel Grashow, director of epidemiological research initiatives for the Football Players Health Study.

"We need to look not just at the length of life but the quality of life," she said in a university news release. "Professional football players might live as long as men in the general population, but those years could be filled with disability and infirmity."

For this research, nearly 3,000 former NFL players completed a survey for investigators at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School.

"Our analysis raises important biological and physiological questions about underlying causes but, just as importantly, the results should serve as an alarm bell telling clinicians who care for these individuals to pay close attention even to their relatively younger former athlete patients," Grashow said. "Such heightened vigilance can lead to earlier diagnoses and timelier intervention to prevent or dramatically slow the pace of age-related illness."

Researchers were intrigued by conflicting reports in which athletes reported feeling older than their chronological age, while past research showed they lived as long as or longer than men in the general population. Sports medicine physicians who treat players had also reported that these athletes often experience an earlier onset of age-related chronic health conditions.

Participants in the study were 2,864 Black and White former pro football players, ages 25 to 59.

Researchers also used survey data to measure how long the athletes lived without developing four health conditions (dementia/Alzheimer's disease, arthritis, hypertension or diabetes), comparing the results to other non-NFL men ages 25 to 59 who had been part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and the National Health Interview Survey.

In each decade of life, the former athletes were more likely to report that they'd been diagnosed with dementia/Alzheimer's disease and arthritis, the study found.

Younger players, ages 25 to 29, were more likely than the average population to report high blood pressure and diabetes.

The effects persisted even after the researchers accounted for body mass index and race.

The research team also analyzed player health for different game-related aspects, such as what position the athletes played. They found that linemen, who are known to have more physical contact during games, had shorter health spans and developed age-related disease sooner than those who were not linemen.

Later diagnosis and treatment for metabolic conditions such as hypertension and diabetes could have long-term effects on heart health and cognition, study senior author Dr. Aaron Baggish said in the release. He is director of in-person assessment studies at the Football Players Health Study.

"The duration of one's life is very important, but so, too, is the quality of one's life," added Baggish, a professor of medicine at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. "This study was conducted to probe the latter and now provides an important perspective on how early-life participation in the great game of football may accelerate the onset of certain common forms of chronic disease."

Future studies will focus on the biological mechanisms that are causing this premature aging among football players and interventions to help them live healthier lives, Grashow said.

The findings were published Thursday in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on the health impacts of hypertension and diabetes.

Copyright © 2022 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

FDA approves diabetes pill for cats

By Cara Murez, HealthDay News

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved the first pill to improve control of diabetes in some cats. 

File Photo by Laura Cavanaugh/UPI | License Photo

Owners whose cats have diabetes now have a new option to care for the condition in their otherwise healthy pets.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved the first pill to improve control of diabetes in some cats.

The drug, called Bexacat (bexagliflozin tablets), is not insulin and is not meant for cats who have the type of diabetes that requires treatment with insulin. Rather, it is what is called a sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor.

The active ingredient in this pill prevents the cat's kidneys from reabsorbing glucose into the blood. This excess glucose leaves the body through the urine, lowering blood sugar levels.

RELATEDHumans have been bonding with cats for thousands of years

As part of the approval, the FDA requires that Bexacat labels include a boxed warning about the importance of patient selection. Only certain cats should take the drug, determined through careful screening.

Potential patients must be screened for kidney, liver and pancreatic disease, as well as ketoacidosis, a high level of a type of acids known as ketones in the blood.

Bexacat also shouldn't be used in cats who are being treated with insulin or in those who have previously been treated with insulin.

The drug should not be started in cats who are not eating well or who are dehydrated or lethargic at diagnosis.

Cats taking this medication should be monitored regularly with exams and blood tests, as well as watched for lack of appetite, lethargy, dehydration and weight loss.

Cats who are treated with Bexacat may be at an increased risk of serious adverse reactions, including diabetic ketoacidosis, the FDA said. This can be fatal and should be treated as emergencies.

RELATEDHaving a dog in childhood may reduce risk for Crohn's disease

In a news release about the approval, the FDA explained that like in humans, the cells of a cat's body need sugar in the form of glucose for energy. Cats with diabetes can't properly produce or respond to the hormone insulin. Insulin helps cells use glucose for normal function.

Without any treatment, diabetic cats will have high levels of glucose in their blood and urine. They may experience symptoms such as increased thirst and urine, weight loss and increased appetite.

Typically cats with diabetes are treated with diet and insulin therapy, including twice-daily injections given 12 hours apart.

Bexacat is a once-daily flavored pill given with or without food to cats who weigh at least 6.6 pounds.

The FDA cited two field studies that were six months long and an extended field study in its approval. The studies found the medication was more than 80% effective in improving blood sugar control in cats with diabetes.

Veterinarians and clients should report any adverse events to the FDA.

More information

Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine has more on diabetes in cats.

Copyright © 2022 HealthDay. All rights reserved.



Read MorePets help owners stay active, manage stress

Death toll rises to 22 in Peru amid growing political protests


The death toll from ongoing political protests in Peru climbed to 22 on Friday while the country’s new caretaker president Dina Boluarte (R) refused calls to resign.

 Photo by Paolo Aguilar/EPA-EFE

Dec. 17 (UPI) -- The death toll from ongoing political protests in Peru has climbed to 22, officials said, as the country's newly installed caretaker president, Dina Boluarte, refused calls to resign.

Two demonstrators died after clashing with police in central Peru on Friday, bringing the death toll to 22 amid widespread protests, authorities said.

Boluarte refused calls to resign, saying such a move will not stop the violence. The president said she would travel to protest-stricken areas and speak directly with demonstrators.

The violence led two of Boluarte's ministers to resign on Friday. Education minister Patricia Correa and culture minister Jair Perez announced their resignations on Twitter. Both cited the escalating death count as the reason why.

RELATED Seven dead as Peruvians protest ouster of former president Castillo

Protests began earlier this month after the ouster of former President Pedro Castillo.

Peru's  Supreme Court ordered Castillo to be held in pretrial detention for 18 months.

The 53-year-old former school teacher was impeached and arrested hours after he tried to dissolve Peru's congress, triggering deadly national protests. Dozens of people have been injured so far, in addition to the 22 fatalities.

RELATED

Peru airport closes as two killed during protests over presidential impeachment

An airport in southern Peru was closed after CORPAC, the country's aviation agency, said the airport has faced vandalism and fires since Saturday afternoon.

Castillo maintains he did not "commit the crime of conspiracy or rebellion." He originally took office in June 2021. Boluarte was sworn into office as a caretaker immediately after Castillo was impeached.

Protestors are demanding that Bolurarte's government close Congress and move up the next general election.

RELATED Former Peru President Pedro Castillo jailed for 18 months in pretrial detention

A Friday vote in Peru's legislature that would have moved the election up to 2023, however, fell short of the necessary two-thirds required to pass. The election is still slated to take place in 2026, when Castillo's five-year term ends.

Police along with the Peruvian armed forces issued a joint public statement Wednesday saying they would abide by the constitution, calling Castillo's effort to dissolve Congress an attempted coup.

Univ. of Calif., striking academic workers reach tentative agreement 

The University of California announced the tentative agreement with striking academic workers includes "multiyear pay increases." File Photo by Coolcaesar/Wikimedia Commons

Dec. 17 (UPI) -- The University of California says it has reached a tentative labor agreement with 48,000 student researchers and other workers, potentially ending the biggest academic strike in U.S. history.

The school announced Friday it has struck a tentative deal with the United Auto Workers to end the 32-day work stoppage. Under its terms, 17,000 UC graduate student researchers would get minimum salary scales for the first time.

The agreement also entitles the student workers multiyear pay increases, paid dependent access to UC health care and enhanced paid family leave, school officials said.

If approved, the contracts will be effective through May 31, 2025. Members will vote on ratifying the agreements next week.

The sides agreed to enter into private mediation last week conducted by Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg.

University of California President Michael Drake thanked Steinberg and negotiators for both sides for "coming together in a spirit of compromise to reach this tentative agreement. This is a positive step forward for the University and for our students, and I am grateful for the progress we have made together."

"These tentative agreements include major pay increases and expanded benefits which will improve the quality of life for all members of the bargaining unit," UAW President Ray Curry said in a statement

"Our members stood up to show the university that academic workers are vital to UC's success. They deserve nothing less than a contract that reflects the important role they play and the reality of working in cities with extremely high costs of living."

The UAW said the UC graduate researchers' vote to unionize last year was "a huge boost for the growing academic worker movement, which has gained steam in recent years," joining similar recent moves by students at Harvard, Columbia and the University of Washington.

The UC workers have been on strike since Nov. 14, demanding higher pay, public transport passes, better child care benefits and increased annual raise

Union members have accused the university system of taking "a wide range of unlawful actions" since negotiations began early last year and authorized the strike in response to what they characterized as unfair labor practices in negotiations.

University officials said last month they have offered the UAW "generous proposals" that would raise salaries for all graduate student employees by 12.5% to 48.4% over three years, as well as "increased child care reimbursements, campus fee remissions and other benefits."

Caribbean divided as Netherlands mulls slavery apology






The National Monument Slavery Past by Erwin de Vries in Amsterdam, Netherlands is seen in this Dec. 10, 2020 file photo. The Netherlands is expected to issue a national apology for its brutal slavery past when Dutch officials visit their former Caribbean colonies in late Dec. 2022. 

(AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)

GEROLD ROZENBLAD and DÁNICA COTO
Fri, December 16, 2022 

PARAMARIBO, Suriname (AP) — Dutch colonizers kidnapped men, women and children and enslaved them on plantations growing sugar, coffee and other goods that built wealth at the price of misery.

On Monday, the Netherlands is expected to become one of the few nations to apologize for its role in slavery. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte plans to speak in the Netherlands as members of his Cabinet give speeches in seven former Caribbean colonies, including Suriname.

Symbolism around crimes against humanity is controversial everywhere, and debates over Monday's ceremonies are roiling Suriname and other Caribbean countries.

In Suriname, activists and officials say they have not been asked for input about the apology, and that's a reflection of a Dutch colonial attitude. What's really needed, they say, is compensation.

In 2013, the Caribbean trade bloc known as Caricom made a list of requests including that European governments formally apologize and create a repatriation program for those who wish to return to their homeland, which has not happened.

“We are still feeling the effects of that period, so some financial support would be welcome,” said Orlando Daniel, a 46-year-old security guard and a descendant of slaves.

Suriname is an ethnically diverse country where roughly 60% of its 630,000 inhabitants live below the poverty line and 22% identify as Maroon — ancestors of slaves who escaped and established their own communities.

The Dutch first became involved in the trans-Atlantic slave trade in the late 1500s but did not become a major trader until the mid-1600s, when they seized Portuguese fortresses along Africa’s west coast and plantations in northeastern Brazil. Eventually, the Dutch West India Company became the largest trans-Atlantic slave trader, said Karwan Fatah-Black, an expert in Dutch colonial history and an assistant professor at Leiden University in the Netherlands.

Hundreds of thousands of people were branded and forced to work in plantations in Suriname and other colonies.

Portugal became the first European country to buy slaves in West Africa with help from the Catholic Church in the 1400s, followed by Spain. Some experts argue that large-scale sugar production in what is now Brazil then gave rise to the Atlantic slave trade that saw an estimated 12 million Africans transported to the Caribbean and the Americas over some 400 years, with at least 1 million dying en route.

Britain was among the first countries to ban the slave trade, in 1807. Dutch slavery continued until 1863.

If, as expected, the government issues a formal apology on Monday, it will put the Netherlands, which has a long history of progressive thinking and liberal laws, in the vanguard of nations and global institutions seeking to atone for their roles in historical horrors.

In 2018, Denmark apologized to Ghana, which it colonized from the mid-17th century to the mid-19th century. In June, King Philippe of Belgium expressed “deepest regrets” for abuses in Congo. In 1992, Pope John Paul II apologized for the church’s role in slavery. Americans have had emotionally charged fights over taking down statues of slaveholders in the South.

A Dutch government-appointed board issued a report last year saying that “today’s institutional racism cannot be seen separately from centuries of slavery and colonialism."

Politicians and civil-society organizations in Suriname say that July 1, 2023 would be a more appropriate date for the apology ceremony because it marks 160 years since the abolition of slavery in the country.

“Why the rush?” asked Barryl Biekman, chair of the Netherlands-based National Platform for Slavery Past.

Johan Roozer, chairman of Suriname’s National Slavery Past Committee, said that Legal Protections Minister Franc Weerwind, who has slave ancestors and is visiting Suriname Monday, should also be given reparations.

Romeo Bronne, a 58-year-old businessman in Suriname, said an apology is needed, but he wants to hear it from the king of the Netherlands or its prime minister.

“Slavery was a terrible period, and degrading acts were committed,” he said as he called for financial reparations to be spent on education, health and other public benefits. “We remained poor.”

Irma Hoever, a 73-year-old retired civil servant who lives in the capital, Paramaribo, said that the Dutch “do not understand what they have done to us.”

“They still enjoy what their ancestors did to this day. We still suffer. Reparations are needed,” she said.

Activists in the Dutch Caribbean territory of St. Maarten have rejected the anticipated apology and demanded reparations, too.

“We’ve been waiting for a few hundred years for true reparatory justice. We believe that we can wait a little further,” Rhoda Arrindell, a former government minister and member of a local nonprofit, said at a recent government meeting.

Like many nations, the Netherlands has been grappling with its colonial past, with the history of Dutch slavery added for the first time to local school curriculums in 2006.

“There is a sector in society that really clings to colonial pride and finds it difficult to acknowledge that their beloved historical figures have played a part in this history,” Fatah-Black said, referring to seafarers and traders long revered as heroes of the 17th century Dutch Golden Age, when the country was a major world power.

___

Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Historic ship resurfaces on Utah's shrinking Great Salt Lake

The W.E. Marsh No. 4 first set sail on the lake in 1902.

ByMeredith Deliso
December 16, 2022

Great Salt Lake dry-up causing dangerous climate ripple effect, ecologists say
ABC News’ Kayna Whitworth reports on Utah’s Great Salt Lake drying up and slowly shrinking, causing concern for wildlife...

The shrinking of Utah's Great Salt Lake is revealing history that's been hidden below the surface for decades.

The wreckage of a ship that first set sail on the Great Salt Lake 120 years ago can now be observed as the water body, known to be the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere, reaches historic lows.

MORE: Great Salt Lake dry-up causing dangerous climate ripple effect, ecologists say

The Great Salt Lake is believed to have dozens of shipwrecks dating back at last 150 years, some of which have resurfaced after storms or during low water levels.

"There's a rich history out here," Great Salt Lake State Park Manager Dave Shearer told ABC Salt Lake City affiliate KTVX. "There's a lot of wrecks out here on the Great Salt Lake that have started to surface and it's really interesting to go out there and see them."

The remains of the W.E. Marsh No. 4, a 120-year-old boat, are visible in Utah's Great Salt Lake Park.
KTVX

The remains of the W.E. Marsh No. 4, a 120-year-old boat, are visible in Utah's Great Salt Lake Park.
KTVX

Wreckage believed to be of the W.E. Marsh No. 4 was discovered by happenstance near the lake's marina in 2014 using side-scan sonar, while a state park crew was searching for a keel that had fallen off a sailboat, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.

In recent years, the shipwreck could be seen submerged on a sunny day with clear water.

Now, the remains of the 40-foot boat can be seen partially submerged in the lake.

"It's leaning over on its side and you're seeing the starboard side of the hull and you can see the whole hull," Shearer told KTVX.

Great Salt Lake Park Manager Dave Shearer.
KTVX

The W.E. Marsh No. 4 was part of the Southern Pacific Railroad fleet to help construct the Lucin Cutoff, a railroad line that once featured a 12-mile-long trestle bridge across the Great Salt Lake that was built in the early 20th century.

It was one of the first boats that came out on the lake in 1902 to build the trestle, according to Shearer, and was used to ferry people back and forth to the work site.


The boat also was used for dredging before eventually being donated to the Sea Scouts, according to Shearer.

The remains of the W.E. Marsh No. 4, a 120-year-old boat, are visible in Utah's Great Salt Lake Park.
KTVX

The ship was last seen afloat in 1936, according to the Utah Department of Natural Resources.

"It's very exciting to see a piece of history there that people can come out and see, but it's also sad that the lake is this low, that we've got trouble out here -- problems," Shearer told KTVX.

The Great Salt Lake has shrunk to record lows in recent years due to a megadrought and rising temperatures. By 2017, the lake had lost half of its water since the first settler arrived in 1847, according to a study published in Nature Geoscience. It is now one-third of its original capacity and has reached unsustainable levels, researchers told PBS in October.

As other bodies of water across North America have been drying up to due drought and a decrease in precipitation, they've also recently uncovered several surprises.

MORE: Bodies of water all over North America are drying up due to drought, climate change: Experts


Receding waters along the Mississippi River in October revealed a ferry that likely sunk in the late 1800s or early 1900s near Baton Rouge and Civil War relics near Memphis.

Among the more grim discoveries, human remains from five people were recovered on dried-up sections of Lake Mead amid a historic drought this year.

ABC News' Julia Jacobo contributed to this report.

VULCANOLOGY

Many Know of Mount Vesuvius. Few Realize There’s a More Destructive Volcano Right Next Door

Stav Dimitropoulos
Fri, December 16, 2022 

Few Know of the Most Destructive Volcano in ItalyWikimedia Commons

People living in the metropolitan area of Naples, Italy, are literally sandwiched between two active volcanoes.

Mount Vesuvius gets all the attention because of its destruction of ancient Pompeii, but it pales in comparison to Campi Flegrei, a bigger volcano to the west of Naples, whose awakening could wreak havoc on the area.

There is an emergency plan in case either erupts, but they are unclear and certainly not well-communicated; still, Neapolitans have a special relationship with their volcanoes.

Mount Vesuvius looms over the palatial Forum Romanum, the civic center of Pompeii, the ancient Roman city 25 kilometers southeast of Naples, in southwestern Italy. Looking at the collapsed peak of the 200,000-year-old volcano from a close distance is surreal.

Just like every visitor to the city’s ruins, I let the present slip through my grasp, fixating on Vesuvius and the past and death. How many of the 16,000 people who died that day in 79a.d. thought that the “extinct” volcano would one day eject a pyroclastic flow of scorching hot ash, lava, and gasses, burying everyone and everything in four to six meters of ash and pumice?

Vesuvius is not dead. Its most recent eruption in March 1944 buried three nearby villages in giant clouds of ash and other pyroclastic materials; miraculously, no one lost their life. Some scientists say it could well erupt in the 21st century, and that a 15-minute explosion could potentially ravage the entire 15-kilometer-wide Gulf of Naples, the touristy semicircular inlet along the southwestern coast of Italy, killing millions of people. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.


A close-up view of Mount Vesuvius from the ancient city of Pompeii. Jonathan Perugia - Getty Images

Few of Pompeii’s awestruck visitors—myself included—realize that 35 kilometers from Vesuvius, to the west of Naples, lies a far bigger and stronger volcano—the eruption of which could make Vesuvius’s eruptions look like mere sparkles in comparison.
A Infrequent, But Greater Danger

The volcano’s Italian name is Campi Flegrei—in English it’s called Phlegraean Fields—which translates to “burning fields” or “fiery fields.” Located just opposite of Vesuvius, on the other side of Naples, Campi Flegrei lies mostly underground, which is why most tourists are oblivious to its existence and instead obsess over historic Vesuvius. But Campi Flegrei is the real giant, comprised of 24 craters and edifices, many of which are underwater in Pozzuoli Bay, at the northwestern end of the Gulf of Naples.

Campi Flegrei is often referred to as a supervolcano. It technically isn’t one, but it’s close. A supervolcano is able to produce an eruption of the highest magnitude, an 8 on the Volcano Explosivity Index. It means that the volcano has erupted at least once in the past, expelling more than 1,000 cubic kilometers of ejecta. Campi Flegrei’s biggest eruption, the Campanian Ignimbrite eruption, is thought to have produced 181 to 285 cubic kilometers of ejecta, making it a magnitude 7. These inconceivably vast tephra emissions would blacken the atmosphere, diminishing solar radiation and plunging Earth into a global winter; plant growth would suffer and mass extinctions could follow.

An overhead view of Campi Flegrei. A series of craters outline the edge of the volcano’s caldera.Gallo Images - Getty Images

Still, Campi Flegrei is among the most dangerous volcanoes in Europe. To give you some perspective, its Campanian Ignimbrite eruption nearly 40,000 years ago disgorged plumes of ash and volcanic gas into the atmosphere, triggering a volcanic winter and lowering the Earth’s temperature by several degrees for many years—likely contributing to the extinction of the Neanderthals.
A Densely Populated Area

Five-hundred thousand people live in Campi Flegrei’s red zone, an area classified as extremely dangerous when it comes to the risk of pyroclastic flows, which includes at least 18 towns, according to the National Plan of Civil Protection for the Phlegraean Fields drawn up by the Civil Protection Department of the Italian government. In the event of an “alarm,” full evacuation is the only option for the inhabitants, the plan says.

A study published in the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research in 2019 also found that an underwater eruption of Campi Flegrei could (worst-case scenario) produce 100-foot tsunamis with the potential to obliterate Pozzuoli and Sorrento, small touristy towns overlooking the Gulf of Naples. (Pozzuoli also literally sits atop the volcano.)

Casts of the bodies of those entombed in ash during the 79AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius, Pompeii. AFP - Getty Images

Think about it: Vesuvius on the one side, the Burning Fields on the other–the beautiful Neapolitan chaos is literally sandwiched between two active volcanos. Would it be far-fetched to think that the tragedy of Pompeii will repeat itself?

False Red Flags

Though Campi Flegrei last erupted in 1538, something weird happened in April of 2022: the sea around the volcano turned red. More accurately, an algae bloom reddened the volcanic crater lake of Averno (or Avernus), then spread to the water in the Gulf of Pozzuoli, and eventually out to the open sea. The algae bloom is a seasonal occurrence, but this year it was especially colorful. The extreme heat of volcanic activity can cause nutrients from deep underwater to come to the surface and act as fertilizer to organisms like algae and phytoplankton, as documented by a 2019 study on Hawaiian volcano Kīlauea published in Science. So, some scientists worried that this unexpectedly strong algae bloom was a sign of volcanic unrest.

The red waters of crater lake Averno, April 2022. KONTROLAB - Getty Images

But Lucia Pappalardo, senior researcher at Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, in the Vesuvius Observatory, Naples department, who co-authored a 2021 study on volcanic hazard in Italy, doesn’t believe Campi Flegrei will erupt any time soon.

“That the Averno lake inside Campi Flegrei turned red (and not the sea) is not related to volcanic activity but is a consequence of weather conditions,” Pappalardo tells Popular Mechanics. “Moreover, I don’t know any accredited scientific studies predicting an eruption in a short time.”

Predicting an Eruption

According to Pappalardo, what is currently underway at Campi Flegrei is the phenomenon called bradyseism—a combination of the Greek words “βραδύς” meaning slow and “σεισμός” meaning earthquake. In volcanology, bradyseism refers to a gradual uplift or descent of part of the Earth’s surface, caused by an underground magma chamber being filled or vacated, or because intense hydrothermal activity is taking place inside the caldera, a large, round depression in the ground created by the collapse of a volcanic landform.

Know Your Volcano Lingo

A caldera is similar to but typically much larger than a crater, and can encompass numerous craters and other “nested” calderas, as is the case with Campi Flegrei. The greater caldera of Campi Flegrei, formed during the Campanian Ignimbrite eruption, is about 13 kilometers wide.

“Particularly from 2005 to today, the center of the caldera has risen by 98 centimeters,” says Pappalardo, or over 38 inches. In some cases, ground uplift can indeed be a precursor to an eruption, as was the case when Campi Flegrei last erupted in 1538 A.D. Yet, between 1970 to 1972 and 1982 to 1984, Campi Flegrei’s ground surface rose by about 3.5 meters (11.5 feet), and no eruption occurred–just considerable seismic activity.

“Thus, ground uplift is not the only parameter that has to be considered to understand the ‘normal’ state of a volcano, but instead it is the set of geochemical, seismic, deformation, gravimetric indicators, and more that allows us to forecast the future behavior of the volcano,” says Pappalardo.

A dock in the port of Pozzuoli. The significant ground uplift from Campi Flegrei has caused the sea water to recede. March 2022.

KONTROLAB - Getty Images

Since 2012, and at the time of writing, the Campi Flegrei caldera has been at the yellow alert level, the second of four. “It is not currently believed on the basis of the trend of the monitored parameters that there is a risk of an impending eruption,” she continues.

As for Vesuvius, the volcano has calmed down since its last eruption in 1944, exhibiting only “low seismicity and fumarolic activity,” says Pappalardo, which is the emission of gasses such as sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide. Vesuvius is at a green level of alert, the first of four, and Pappalardo says there is no sufficient evidence to suggest it will erupt in the near future.

The Solfatara crater of Campi Flegrei.

KONTROLAB - Getty Images

Life Alongside a Volcano

In any case, Neapolitans continue about their lives as usual. Their houses, railway network, restaurants, schools, hospitals, and historical buildings are jammed between volcanoes, and there is no sign of residents wanting to abandon living even in the red zone. It’s not that people are unaware of the threat of a future eruption; they just worry about more immediate problems, such as unemployment and crime.

Many Neapolitans also don’t trust their public officials will ever successfully deliver comprehensive emergency plans for Phlegraean Fields or Vesuvius, and few are well-informed about their existence. Italian scientific experts have also admitted they don’t believe the civil authorities from all the municipalities involved will be able to follow through on the plans, as they neither study them nor care much to inform their towns about them.

A view of the Pisciarelli fumaroles, volcanic openings in the Earth’s surface, from the Agnano neighborhood of Naples, Italy, 2021. These fumaroles are located in the central area of Campi Flegrei and are one of its most active spots.

KONTROLAB - Getty Images

Volcanoes are not entirely a scourge for the areas in their periphery. They can also be a source of good: the ash and lava deposited around Naples by previous eruptions are rich in nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium, which have made the soil fertile and provide a stable agricultural income for the local people. Neapolitans believe their volcanoes create a specific energy that gives the place its unique vibrancy–the “Neapolitan sound.”

Other Italians attribute personality traits to their volcanoes. They view them as capricious but alluring divas. Those living near Mount Etna, for example, call the volcano La Signora Etna. “Etna might be angry or calm,” Sicilians say; they hope “she” never gets angry. There is something about volcanoes only people who have grown up close to them seem to understand.

For a volcano such as Vesuvius—and its well-known counterparts Etna and Stromboli—its visibility and recent fury has almost bestowed upon it the status of a cultural icon. Campi Flegrei is different, though. It’s lying right under our feet—and waiting.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Indian American lab owner convicted in $447 million genetic testing scam

Minal Patel, 44, who owns LabSolutions LLC conspired with patient brokers, telemedicine companies and call centres to target Medicare beneficiaries with telemarketing calls falsely stating that their package covered expensive cancer genetic tests.

Judge and gavel in courtroom

By: Melvin Samuel

An Indian American laboratory owner from Atlanta has been convicted of involvement in a USD 447.54 million genetic testing scam to defraud Medicare.

Minal Patel, 44, who owns LabSolutions LLC conspired with patient brokers, telemedicine companies and call centres to target Medicare beneficiaries with telemarketing calls falsely stating that their package covered expensive cancer genetic tests, federal prosecutors alleged.

After the Medicare beneficiaries agreed to take tests, Patel paid kickbacks and bribes to patient brokers to obtain signed doctors’ orders authorising the tests from telemedicine companies, the Department of Justice said.

To conceal the kickbacks, Patel required the patient brokers to sign contracts that falsely stated that they were performing legitimate advertising services for LabSolutions.

A federal court in Florida has convicted Patel of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, three counts of health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to pay and receive illegal health care kickbacks, four counts of paying illegal health care kickbacks, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Patel is scheduled to be sentenced on March 7, 2023, and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on the first conspiracy count, 10 years on each health care fraud count, five years on the second conspiracy count, 10 years on each kickback count, and 20 years on the third conspiracy count, a media release said.

(PTI)

REAL CONCERNED PARENTS 

Boston Parents Demand Mask Mandates Return

By Luca Cacciatore | Friday, 16 December 2022 
(Newsmax/"John Bachman Now")

With flu season in full effect, a group of Boston parents demonstrated Wednesday, pushing for schools to bring back mask mandates and COVID-19 testing, Daily Mail reported.

"Today, this morning, my daughter tested positive for COVID," said Sulieka Soto, a parent of a child attending Boston Public Schools, adding that after students return from Christmas break, there "has to be something like a mandate for people to follow it."

Also a BPS nurse, Soto accused education officials of "leaving the community vulnerable to further sickness and deaths" by not preparing to reintroduce masks after the holidays like other cities, including Philadelphia.

Her group, BPS Families for COVID Safety, has organized 200 signatures to demand a 10-day mask mandate and PCR testing for Boston students and school staff, citing a jump in cases of COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, commonly known as RSV.

"The health commission makes it clear that masking and other similar strategies in the school can offset the effects of structural racism in our health care system," Soto said. "As school nurses, we are committed to the fight against racism, which is one of the main reasons we have passed this resolution."

A BPS spokesperson told NBC 10 Boston in a statement that the district is watching COVID-19 rates closely and has continued to meet with experts "daily" about how best to respond.

"Student safety is paramount at Boston Public Schools," the statement read. "We continue to meet daily with the Boston Public Health Commission to review the latest BPS data and make informed decisions regarding our COVID-19 protocols."