The Frontier: Oklahoma’s Teacher of the Year pleaded for patience in return to school. She was booed.
By Ben Felder | The Frontier


Jena Nelson is the 2020 Oklahoma Teacher of the Year.

One after another, parents told the Deer Creek school board during a meeting Monday evening they wanted their children back in school five days a week as quickly as possible. Digital learning had caused grades to slip, social skills were being neglected and the COVID-19 risk to students was minimal, parents claimed.

Also addressing the board was Jena Nelson, a Deer Creek Middle School teacher and Oklahoma’s current teacher of the year, who implored the board not to make a hasty decision and to keep student and teacher safety in mind when deciding when to return to full in-person learning.

“We all want the same thing, we want our kids back in school with teachers who love them,” Nelson said. “But we cannot rush to make decisions on our emotions … or tried within the court of Facebook law.”

As Nelson returned to her seat, several parents in the audience booed and shouted at her.

School districts across Oklahoma continue to weight decisions about in-person learning as the state’s COVID-19 positivity rate remains one of the highest in the nation.

School administrators are also feeling increasing pressure from parents to fully reopen schools and allow sports teams to practice and play as normal.

In Edmond, where students attend school in-person just two days a week, parents gathered at the district administration building last week to protest against the blended learning model and to urge administrators to no longer require masks.

“Five days a week, no masks,” they shouted as they marched around the building.

Like Edmond, Deer Creek students have been in classrooms just two days a week. The board voted Monday to continue with the current plan after some of its members engaged in arguments with parents in the crowd.

In the rural Wynnewood school district, superintendent Tim Simpson recently apologized for ordering the quarantine of the high school softball team after parents complained.

I “took the decision out of our parents’ hands,” Simpson wrote on the district’s Facebook page.

The district originally told parents to make their own decisions on whether to send a child to school if they had been in contact with a person who tested positive.

But after the state Department of Education’s general counsel issued a letter to the district disputing that policy Wynnewood now requires students to quarantine after contact with a person with a known case of COVID-19.

At this week’s Deer Creek school board meeting, some parents argued children have a low risk of contracting the virus or developing severe symptoms.  TRUMP TALKING POINTS

Children under the age of 17 make up 10 percent of all confirmed cases nationally, according to data compiled by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

In Oklahoma, children make up 11.3 percent of all cases.

“This data … underscores the urgent need to control the virus in our communities before our schools and businesses can safely reopen,” said Dr. Savannah Stump, a pediatrician, parent of two Deer Creek students and member of the Oklahoma State Medical Association’s COVID-19 task force.

Nelson, the state teacher of the year, said more needs to be considered than just he risk to students.

“Even if it’s true that kids have a lower risk they are still taught by adults,” Nelson told The Frontier. “Look at the median age for teachers (in Oklahoma), they are on the upper end. And then you start adding in teachers with underlying health issues and we have a big risk.”

Nelson worries a rush to return could result in a loss of many teachers at a time when the need for more educators is growing.

The state Board of Education has already approved 1,285 emergency teaching certificates this school year, more than double the number requested by school districts at this point last school year.

More than 200 school districts have reported cases of COVID-19, according to KOSU, which is tracking cases in public schools.

Health officials said the reopening of schools has contributed to the state’s recent rise.

“It’s mostly due to school reopening, universities are the main factor, we’ve also had some outbreaks in different congregate facilities,” like prisons, said interim Health Commissioner Lance Frye.

The Frontier is a nonprofit corporation operated by The Frontier Media Group Inc.

STUDENTS WANT CHOICE: Sequoyah High School students protest virtual learning only; want options
By Grant D. Crawford gcrawford@tahlequahdailypress.com 

Grant D. Crawford | Daily Press
Sequoyah High School students protesting outside of the Cherokee Nation W.W. Keeler Complex Thursday were met by former tribal councilor David Walkingstick, far right.

Grant D. Crawford | Daily Press
Ryly Ziese helped organize a protest outside of the Cherokee Nation W.W. Keeler Complex Thursday.

Grant D. Crawford | Daily Press

A group of Sequoyah High School students protested their lack of choice to attend class in-person outside of the Cherokee Nation W.W. Keeler Complex Thursday.

A group of Sequoyah High School students stood outside of the Cherokee Nation W.W. Keeler Complex Thursday morning to protest the tribe's decision to close the school doors and continue with curriculum through virtual learning.

While area public schools have remained open, allowing students to choose whether to attend class in-person or online, Sequoyah High School decided to transition all of its students to virtual classes after two weeks of having them on campus. Equipped with signs, the protesters voiced their displeasure with not being given the option whether to attend class in-person. They gained support from District 3 Tribal Councilor Wes Nofire, who said they should have the same opportunities as public school students.

"They're the only school that's virtual only and a lot of students have already transferred out," said Nofire. "Some of those students transferred out with Fs, because virtual learning was not working and they were not getting another option to come in and learn."

As of Wednesday, the Cherokee Nation surpassed 2,000 positive COVID-19 cases within CN Health Services, and there are currently more than 400 active cases. The tribe has ordered more personal protective equipment, and touchless sinks, toilets and water fountains for when students can return to Sequoyah. However, Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr., who commended the students for exercising their First Amendment rights to assemble, said that won't occur until the tribe sees improvement in coronavirus numbers.

"The decision, as it always is with our decision at Cherokee Nation in terms of COVID response, is based on medical science, facts, and compassion," said Hoskin. "The spread of the virus is and has been too dangerous to gather in school buildings, when we have the technology to do distanced learning. We have an opportunity to protect not only the kids, but the teachers and the staff; and not only the kids, the teachers and the staff, but those Cherokee elders that live in the communities where these kids call home."

While the group of students claimed they are taking the ongoing pandemic seriously, they also pointed to the surrounding schools that have students returning to class. Ryly Ziese, a senior at SHS, said they understood that not all people want to go back to school, but if they were given a choice, she thinks with certain precautions in place it could be done with minimal concerns.

"A lot of kids that are straight-A kids are failing because of the virtual stuff," she said. "Most teachers aren't prepared for virtual, so they don't know how to handle it. It's hurting the kids a lot more than people think, and we just want the chief to know that and give us the choice to go back to school."

For seniors, 2020-2021 is the last year to participate in extracurricular activities. Some students hope to receive athletic scholarships, which is difficult to do when there are no sports seasons to compete in. Asa Robbins, SHS senior, said she hopes to be able to compete in track this year, but wanted to clarify that their protest was not about getting students back on the field.

"A lot of people are thinking we're over here moaning about not getting to play sports, and that's not the scenario," said Robbins. "Right now we're focused on education first and sports second, because we have kids failing."

Robbins said she's heard of maybe 50 students who have already transferred out of Sequoyah, and that it seems like every day she has to tell a fellow classmate "best of luck."

Hoskin said he sympathizes with the students and wishes they could return to class, adding that it's regrettable when any student leaves SHS. However, he also said the number of transfers will not influence the tribe's decision when it comes to reopening the school, but will rather be dictated by the "science of the pandemic."

"Given the spread, we're not coming back anytime soon," he said.

"There would have to be a dramatic change in the statistics on COVID spread in our communities. I visit all the time with our public health staff and our other expert advisors to get input, but ultimately I have to do what I think is best to protect the well-being of the students and the communities where they live."

OF GRAVE IMPORTANCE
Final resting place of Sequoyah never found, but his impact on Cherokee culture remains

By Grant D. Crawford 
Sep 23, 2020

Hunter Hodson examines the statue of Sequoyah in Northeastern State University's Centennial Plaza.


Among the pieces at the Cherokee Nation History Museum is a lithographic print of a painting by American artist Charles Bird King done while Sequoyah was in Washington, D.C., on Cherokee delegation business.

Grant Crawford

The final resting place of perhaps the most famous Cherokee has never been officially confirmed, but the impact he made on Cherokee culture is still in full effect today.

Best known for his creation of the Cherokee syllabary, Sequoyah was also considered a statesman and diplomat of the Cherokee Nation. His gravesite has never been formally identified, although people in the past have claimed to have found his remains. What was documented is his trip to Mexico, from which he never returned.

In the summer of 1842, Sequoyah and his son, Teesy, along with a group of Cherokees ventured to Mexico in search of Cherokees they believed had migrated that far south. According to a Cherokee man, The Worm, and a letter written to the Red River Trading Post from the Cherokees who were living in Mexico, Sequoyah died in the summer of 1843.


"I can't really guess what was on his mind leading up to leaving for Mexico, but obviously he felt passionate about finding those Cherokees who had migrated so far away from the rest of us," said Krystan Moser, cultural collections and exhibit manager for Cherokee Nation Cultural Tourism. "According to the account, he sought to bring them back and to unite them with the rest of the tribe. At least that's what we know based off the documentation we have."

It is believed that Sequoyah, also known by his English name George Guess, was buried somewhere near San Fernando Valley, but that has never been confirmed. The statement made by The Worm and the letter from the Cherokees differed in that regard. But by both accounts, it is understood the syllabary creator died after becoming ill.

"One thing to keep in mind, because we don't know exactly when he was born, he was between the ages of 70 and 80 when he made this trip," said Moser. "Both accounts state that he died of sickness and that he was buried in an unmarked grave."

News of Sequoyah's death didn't reached the Cherokee Nation until 1845, two years after. However, because nobody had heard from him in at least a year, it was believed that he died or that something happened preventing him from returning. So in 1843, the Cherokee Nation National Council passed two laws that benefited his family.

"They had put all of the salt operations into the Cherokee Nation's names, except for Sequoyah's," said Moser. "So his would still be his family's operation to generate income. Also, they granted a literary pension that would be issued to him, or in the event of his death, it would go to his wife Sally."

Former Principal Chief J.B. Milam, the first chief to be appointed by a U.S. president, funded an expedition in 1938 to search for his gravesite. A gravesite was found in Coahuila, Mexico, but it could not be determined to be the burial place of Sequoyah.


In an article published Oct. 2, 1952, in the Tahlequah Star-Citizen, former Oklahoma Gov. Johnston Murray announced that the "tomb of Sequoyah, the greatest of all American Indians, had been found by Mr. and Mrs. Omer L. Morgan, in Mexico, and that the remains may soon be returned to Oklahoma for re-burial." The article never included where the couple claims to have found the remains, aside from it being a Cherokee settlement in Mexico, but it went on to discuss where Sequoyah's bones would be returned to, including that Mr. Morgan and other Cherokees felt the proper place would be the courthouse square in Tahlequah.

According to The Oklahoman, in 2001, a man by the name of Charles Rogers of Brownsville, Texas, believed he had discovered the site inside a cave near the former village of Sara Rosa in northern Mexico. According to the article, he had no proof and past searches had been fruitless.

While many explorers have tried to find Sequoyah's resting place, it doesn't appear that any ever have - at least not officially. It is likely any of the belongings he would have had on his person would have decayed by now, leaving only bones. And while "the greatest of all Cherokee mysteries" may never truly be solved, the work he left behind forged the way for years of growth among the Cherokee Nation tribe.

What many consider to be his largest contribution to the Cherokee tribe, the creation of the Cherokee syllabary, was actually considered to be witchcraft before it was accepted.

"He and his daughter were put on trial for witchcraft," said Moser. "You have these talking leaves, something that the Cherokee people are not accustomed to seeing."

After Cherokees became convinced that it was indeed not witchcraft, the literacy rate among Cherokees exploded within a short amount of time, said Moser.

Sequoyah fought for the United States in the War of 1812, alongside John Ross, Andrew Jackson, and Sam Houston in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. A war hero, he was honorably discharged and then later became a diplomat. Sequoyah moved west before the Trail of Tears, during the same period as the Old Settlers. After the Trail of Tears, when there was two factions of Cherokees residing in Indian Territory, he helped broker peace and unification between the two.

"So there was a little bit of unrest there, as you had these two opposing groups," said Moser. "He was one of the people who signed what is called the Act of Union in 1839, which unified the Cherokee Nation - the eastern Cherokees and the western Cherokees - under one name."

Before the Salem witch trials, there were Connecticut witch trials. Really

Staff reports, Thursday, September 24, 2020

Photo: Contributed
An illustration - Arrest of a Witch


SEYMOUR — There was a time in Connecticut when it just wasn’t safe to be a “witch.”

More accurately, the real danger came from being accused of witchcraft, whether you were or were not practicing it.

And it was true danger: About 45 years prior to the Salem witch trials, Connecticut was the first of the 13 colonies in Colonial America to execute a so-called witch, according to the Seymour Public Library.

On May 26, 1647, Alse Young from Windsor, was executed.

The Seymour Public Library shared information about these terrible times in state history because it will act as host for historian Jason Scappaticci, for a free Zoom Lecture, “The Connecticut Witch Trials,” at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 6.

It is what a post on connecticuthistory.org calls “one of the most shameful episodes in the long history of Connecticut.” It includes that by 1662, — some 30 years prior to the first Salem execution, 10 other citizens of Connecticut, eight women and two men, would follow Alse Young to the same fate, according the library.


Further, “From 1647 to 1697, fear of witches spread across the state and led to one Fairfield resident being accused twice. In 1692, another Fairfielder, a young servant named Katherine Branch, began to suffer from fits and delusions. When confronted by concerned neighbors, Branch blamed her fits on witchcraft,” the Westport News has reported.

However, Connecticut’s Gov. John Winthrop the Younger, “is given credit with ending the Connecticut injustices and the executions in 1669 by demanding multiple witnesses provide the same testimony of witchcraft prior to a citizen’s conviction,” also according to the library.

“Connecticut held its final witch trial in 1697, a half century after Alse Young’s execution. During that period, there were 46 prosecutions and at least 11 executions,” according to history.com.

The library’s Zoom session will help participants “learn about this interesting and largely forgotten part of Connecticut’s history.”

Scappaticci earned his bachelor’s degree in history from Utica College and his master’s degree from Trinity College in American Studies, according to the library.

The Zoom program is free and registration is not necessary. For the Zoom link to this program, visit events on the Seymour Public Library website at, www.seymourpubliclibrary.org, or call the library at 203-888-3903.

Campaign launched to pardon Scottish 'witches' burned at the stake nearly 300 years ago

Georgia Forrester, Sep 24 2020


MIRIAM ESPACIO/ UNSPLASH
There's been no recognition for the thousands of people who were tortured and burned at the stake during witch trials 300 years ago, a lawyer says. (File photo)

A lawyer is on a mission to pardon thousands of women who are still classified as being “witches” in Scotland.

Dating back nearly 300 years, Scotland’s past saw women tortured and burned at the stake as ”witches”.

But Claire Mitchell QC wants a legal pardon to be given to those who were condemned under the Witchcraft Act 1563.

She’s launched a Witches of Scotland campaign, aiming to help bring about an apology – like that given to the victims of the trials in the 1690s in Salem, Massachusetts.

READ MORE:
* The worldwide hunt for the bones of a 'witch'
* It's Witchcraft! Sabrina, Suspiria and pop culture's occult romance
* Salem witch trials house is for sale
* The Witches: a cautionary tale of mass delusion
* Stacy Shchiff's The Witches a terrific account of the Salem witchcraft trials

The Witchcraft Act remained in force until 1736, and more than 3000 people, the majority women, were accused of witchcraft.


It’s believed about 2600 people were executed by being strangled and then burned at the stake. Many people were also tortured.

Methods of torture included using sleep deprivation until people confessed to their crimes, as well as pricking people’s skin to see whether they bled, the Witches of Scotland website states.

People were also stripped naked to see if any “witches mark” could be found on them, and torture by crushing and pulling out nails was also used.

FREESTOCKS/ UNSPLASH
Nearly 300 years ago, many people, namely women, died in witch trials. (File photo)

Mitchell told the Observer that unlike Salem, there has been no recognition of those who died in Scotland during the trials.

“There should be an acknowledgement that what happened to these women was a terrible miscarriage of justice,” she was reported saying.

The Guardian reported that according to Mitchell, accusations of witchcraft were four times higher in Scotland than elsewhere.

“It was an incredibly sad period in the history of women,” she said. “These women were voiceless, unable even to speak in their own defence. We need to publicly recognise the terrible wrong done to them.”

The campaign aims to achieve three things: a pardon, an apology and also a national memorial.

An application to the Scottish parliament’s justice committee for a pardon for those executed is expected to be lodged in 2021, The Guardian reported.


Stuff

Killer obsessed with witchcraft executed at Indiana prison
20 hrs ago
AMERIKA KILLS THE MENTALLY ILL

TRUMP IS NOT PRO LIFE HE IS PRO DEATH PENALTY



The federal prison complex in Terre Haute, Indiana, is shown. AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File


TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — The U.S. government on Tuesday executed a former soldier who said an obsession with witchcraft led him to kill a Georgia nurse he believed had put a spell on him.

William Emmett LeCroy, 50, was pronounced dead at 9:06 p.m. EDT after receiving a lethal injection at the same U.S. prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, where five others have been executed i n 2020 following a 17-year period without a federal execution.

Lawyers had asked President Donald Trump in a petition to commute LeCroy’s sentence to life in prison, saying that LeCroy’s brother, Georgia State Trooper Chad LeCroy, was killed during a routine traffic stop in 2010 and that another son’s death would devastate their family.

The execution began nearly three hours later than scheduled as LeCroy's lawyers made an ultimately failed, last-minute bid to convince the U.S. Supreme Court to issue a stay.

As a curtain rose across glass windows separating witnesses from the death chamber, LeCroy lay strapped to a cross-shaped gurney, with IVs in his forearms and hands. He kept his eyes fixed firmly on the ceiling, not turning to look toward witnesses. The witnesses included the father and fiancé of Joann Lee Tiesler, whom LeCroy raped and stabbed to death 19 years ago, Justice Department spokesperson Kerri Kupec said in a statement.

LeCroy's spiritual adviser, Sister Barbara Battista, stood a few feet away inside the chamber, her head bowed and reading softly from a prayer book.

LeCroy had said last week he didn’t want to play into what he called the “theater” surrounding his execution and so might not make a full statement in the minutes before he died, Battista told The Associated Press earlier Tuesday.

When a prison official leaned over him Tuesday night and gently pulled off LeCroy’s face mask to ask if he had any last words, LeCroy responded calmly and matter-of-factly. His last and only words were: “Sister Battista is about to receive in the postal service my last statement.

LeCroy kept his eyes open as someone out of his view in an adjacent room began administering the lethal injection of pentobarbital. His eyelids grew heavy while his midsection began to heave uncontrollably. After several more minutes, color drained from his limbs, his face turned ashen and his lips tinted blue. After about 10 more minutes, an official with a stethoscope entered the chamber, felt LeCroy’s wrist for a pulse and then listened to his heart before officially declaring him dead.

Another execution, of Christopher Vialva, is scheduled Thursday. He would be the first African American on federal death row to be put to death in the series of federal executions this year.

Critics say the Justice Department's resumption of federal executions this year is a cynical bid to help Trump claim the mantel of law-and-order candidate leading up to Election Day. Supporters say Trump is bringing long-overdue justice to victims and their families.

LeCroy broke into the Cherrylog, Georgia, mountain home of Joann Lee Tiesler on Oct. 7, 2001, and waited for her to return from a shopping trip. When she walked through the door, LeCroy struck her with a shotgun, bound and raped her. He then slashed her throat and repeatedly stabbed her in the back.

LeCroy had known Tiesler because she lived near a relative’s home and would often wave to her as he drove by. He later told investigators he’d come to believe she might have been his old babysitter he called Tinkerbell, who LeCroy claimed sexually molested him as a child. After killing Tiesler, he realized that couldn’t possibly be true.

Two days after killing Tiesler, LeCroy was arrested driving Tiesler’s truck after passing a U.S. checkpoint in Minnesota heading to Canada.

Authorities found a note LeCroy wrote before his arrest in which he asked Tiesler for forgiveness, according to court filings. “You were an angel and I killed you,” it read. “I am a vagabond and doomed to hell.”

"Today justice was finally served. William LeCroy died a peaceful death in stark contrast to the horror he imposed on my daughter Joann,” the victim’s father, Tom Tiesler, said in a statement.

“I am unaware that he ever showed any remorse for his evil actions, his life of crime or for the horrific burden he caused Joann’s loved ones," the statement read.

A few hours before the execution, Battista, waiting near the prison, held a bag of caramel chocolate that she said was LeCroy’s favorite. In conversations with him in the days leading up to the execution, she said he had been contemplating his likely death and sounded resigned.

“He said, ‘You know, once we were not and then we are and then we are not,’” she said. “He was reflective. He didn’t seem agitated.”

LeCroy joined the Army at 17 but was soon was discharged for going AWOL and later spoke about an interest in witchcraft that began during a previous stint in prison for burglary, child molestation and other charges.

He had ruminated for days before the slaying about how Tiesler was Tinkerbell and that assaulting her would reverse a hex she put on him. After he cut her throat, he went to Tiesler’s computer to search for books about witchcraft, court filings said.


He was convicted in 2004 on a federal charge of carjacking resulting in death and a jury recommended a death sentence.

LeCroy's lawyers had unsuccessfully tried to halt the execution and argued that his trial lawyers didn’t properly emphasize evidence about his upbringing and mental health that could have persuaded jurors not to impose a death sentence. Their last-minute appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was also rejected.

Over previous 56 years, before the Trump administration’s reboot of executions this year, the federal government had executed just three people — all in the early 2000s. Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was among them.

Neandertals have adopted male sex chromosome from modern humans
WAIT! WHAT? HAVE IS PRESENT TENSE THAT MEANS

NEANDERTALS ARE STILL AROUND

by Max Planck Society

Matthias Meyer at work in the clean laboratory at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Credit: MPI f. Evolutionary Anthropology

In 1997, the very first Neandertal DNA sequence—just a small part of the mitochondrial genome—was determined from an individual discovered in the Neander Valley, Germany, in 1856. Since then, improvements in molecular techniques have enabled scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology to determine high quality sequences of the autosomal genomes of several Neandertals, and led to the discovery of an entirely new group of extinct humans, the Denisovans, who were relatives of the Neandertals in Asia.

However, because all specimens well-preserved enough to yield sufficient amounts of DNA have been from female individuals, comprehensive studies of the Y chromosomes of Neandertals and Denisovans have not yet been possible. Unlike the rest of the autosomal genome, which represents a rich tapestry of thousands of genealogies of any individual's ancestors, Y chromosomes have a peculiar mode of inheritance—they are passed exclusively from father to son. Y chromosomes, and also the maternally-inherited mitochondrial DNA, have been extremely valuable for studying human history.

New method to identify Y chromosome molecules

In this study, the researchers identified three male Neandertals and two Denisovans that were potentially suitable for DNA analysis, and developed an approach to fish out human Y chromosome molecules from the large amounts of microbial DNA that typically contaminate ancient bones and teeth. This allowed them to reconstruct the Y chromosome sequences of these individuals, which would not have been possible using conventional approaches.

By comparing the archaic human Y chromosomes to each other and to the Y chromosomes of people living today, the team found that Neandertal and modern human Y chromosomes are more similar to one another than they are to Denisovan Y chromosomes. "This was quite a surprise to us. We know from studying their autosomal DNA that Neandertals and Denisovans were closely related and that humans living today are their more distant evolutionary cousins. Before we first looked at the data, we expected that their Y chromosomes would show a similar picture," says Martin Petr, the lead author of the study. The researchers also calculated that the most recent common ancestor of Neandertal and modern human Y chromosomes lived around 370,000 years ago, much more recently than previously thought.

Upper molar of a male Neandertal (Spy 94a) from Spy, Belgium. Credit: I. Crevecoeur

It is by now well established that all people with non-African ancestry carry a small amount of Neandertal DNA as a result of interbreeding between Neandertals and modern humans approximately 50,000-70,000 years ago, quite shortly after modern humans migrated out of Africa and started spreading around the world. However, whether Neandertals might also carry some modern human DNA has been a matter of some debate.


These Y chromosome sequences now provide new evidence that Neandertals and early modern humans met and exchanged genes before the major out of Africa migration—potentially as early as 370,000 years ago and certainly more than 100,000 years ago. This implies that some population closely related to early modern humans must already have been in Eurasia at that time. Surprisingly, this interbreeding resulted in the replacement of the original Neandertal Y chromosomes with those of early modern humans, a pattern similar to what has been seen for Neandertal mitochondrial DNA in an earlier study.

Selection for Y chromosomes from early modern humans

At first, the complete replacement of both Y chromosomes and mtDNA of early Neandertals was puzzling, as such replacement events are quite unlikely to occur by chance alone. However, the researchers used computer simulations to show that the known small size of Neandertal populations may have led to an accumulation of deleterious mutations in their Y chromosomes which would reduce their evolutionary fitness. This is quite similar to situations where extremely small population sizes and inbreeding can sometimes increase the incidence of some diseases. "We speculate that given the important role of the Y chromosome in reproduction and fertility, the lower evolutionary fitness of Neandertal Y chromosomes might have caused natural selection to favor the Y chromosomes from early modern humans, eventually leading to their replacement," says Martin Petr.

Janet Kelso, the senior author of the study, is optimistic that this replacement hypothesis could be tested in the near future: "If we can retrieve Y chromosome sequences from Neandertals that lived prior to this hypothesized early introgression event, such as the 430,000 year old Neandertals from Sima de los Huesos in Spain, we predict that they would still have the original Neandertal Y chromosome and will therefore be more similar to Denisovans than to modern humans."


Explore further Neandertals had older mothers and younger fathers

More information: Martin Petr et al, The evolutionary history of Neanderthal and Denisovan Y chromosomes", Science; September 25th, 2020, science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi … 1126/science.abb6460

Journal information: Science

Provided by Max Planck Society

#KINKY

Talc and petroleum jelly among the best lubricants for people wearing PPE
GOOD NEWS FOR CANADIANS TOLD TO WEAR MASKS DURING SEX BY HEALTH CANADA
by Imperial College London

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

For frontline healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) like face visors, googles, and respiratory protective equipment is an essential part of working life. More workers are wearing facial PPE now than ever before, often for extended periods of time, to protect them against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.


However, extended PPE use, particularly on the delicate skin of the face, can cause friction and shear injuries like skin tears, blistering, ulcers, and hives.

The effects of friction and shear can be reduced by lubricants, which workers are advised to apply every half hour. Half-hourly applications can be impractical during shift work and may expose workers to the virus, and many typical moisturisers don't last long as they are designed to be absorbed into the skin for a 'non-greasy feel'.

Now, researchers from Imperial College London have investigated which products create the longest-lasting protective layer between PPE and skin. They hope their findings will help healthcare workers and other long-term PPE users like those in hospitality to prevent skin injury and deformity.

They found that the best lubricants to use are those that don't absorb into the skin, creating a long-lasting layer of protection between skin and PPE. They say that non-absorptive creams like coconut oil-cocoa butter beeswax mixtures, and powders like talcum powder, are most likely to provide PPE wearers with long-lasting skin protection.

The findings are published today in PLOS ONE.

Lead author Dr. Marc Masen, of Imperial's Department of Mechanical Engineering, said: "We think of moisturisers as good for our skin, but commercial skin creams are often designed to absorb into the skin without leaving any residue. While this is fine for everyday moisturising, our study shows that a greasy residue is precisely what's needed to protect skin from PPE friction."

To identify the best-performing lubricants, the researchers custom-built a tribometer—an instrument that assesses friction between two surfaces—and used it to test the friction between skin and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), which is a common component of PPE.

They used the tribometer to test commercially available products to measure how they changed the friction between PDMS and the inner forearm skin of a healthy 44-year-old male participant. They tested friction upon application, and then one, two, and four hours after application.

They found that while most products initially reduced friction by 20 percent, some silicone-based and water-and-glycerin based lubricants increased friction levels over time by up to 29 percent compared to dry skin.

However, two products reduced friction as time went on. Talcum powder reduced friction by 49 percent on application and 59 percent at four hours, and a commercially available product comprising coconut oil, cocoa butter and beeswax reduced friction by 31 percent on application and 53 percent at four hours. A mixture of petrolatum and lanolin reduced friction by 30 percent throughout testing.

When testing commercial moisturisers, they found that friction on application was low, but increased drastically within ten minutes of application. The researchers say this is because the active ingredients, known as humectants, attract water like magnets from the lower layers of skin to the upper ones, leaving it soft, unlubricated, and breakable.

Co-author Dr. Zhengchu Tan, also of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, said: "The products that don't absorb easily into the skin are the ones that provide a protective layer. In fact, for PPE wearers, it's best to actively avoid creams and moisturisers which advertise a 'non-greasy feel'."

Dr. Masen said: "Friction can be incredibly damaging for the skin, particularly when applied for an extended period. We hope our study will save healthcare workers and other frontline PPE wearers from suffering with the painful and damaging effects of skin friction."

The researchers say that while their study signposts PPE wearers to the best skin-saving products, they are looking to perform further studies using facial skin and more participants. Due to COVID-19 restrictions during lockdown, they were only able to test the products on one study participant, and used his inner forearm as a surrogate for facial skin.


Explore further Advice to health staff suffering skin damage from face masks

More information: "Evaluating lubricant performance to reduce COVID-19 PPE-related skin injury" by Marc Masen et al, published 24 September 2020 in PLOS ONE. journals.plos.org/plosone/arti … journal.pone.0239363

Journal information: PLoS ONE


Provided by Imperial College London

BOY'S IN THE BAND REDUX

LBG individuals use stimulants at higher rates than heterosexuals

by Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health


Lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) individuals report higher rates of medical, non-medical, and illegal stimulant use compared to heterosexuals, mirroring patterns seen in other substance use. The study by Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health researchers provides the most detailed picture to date on stimulant use by LGB subgroups and gender. Findings are published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

The researchers analyzed data from the 2015-2017 National Survey on Drug Use and Health to examine associations between sexual identity and past-year use of medical and non-medical stimulants (i.e., Adderall, Ritalin) and illegal stimulants (i.e., cocaine, crack, methamphetamine). They found that bisexual women's illegal stimulant use in the past year was fivefold that of heterosexual women (7.8% vs. 1.5%), while gay men's use was threefold that of heterosexual men (9.2% vs. 3.2%). Non-medical use of prescription stimulants was higher among gay and bisexual men than heterosexual men (5.4% and 6.6% vs. 2.4%) and among gay/lesbian and bisexual women versus heterosexual women (3.3% and 6.8% vs. 1.6%). Past-year medical use of prescription stimulants was higher among gay men than heterosexual men (6.6% vs. 4.1%) and bisexual women than heterosexual women (7.9% vs. 4.9%). There were no differences between bisexual men and women compared to their gay/lesbian counterparts.

Potential consequences of stimulant include substance use disorder and overdose, particularly given increases in fentanyl contamination in illegally produced pills and cocaine and methamphetamine. As many as half of LGB individuals who reported nonmedical and illegal stimulant use also reported nonmedical prescription opioid use.

"This study highlights the need for future interventions to target stimulant use among LGB populations, with a particular focus on harm reduction approaches," says first author Morgan Philbin, Ph.D., assistant professor of sociomedical sciences. "The findings have important implications across sexual identities, and demonstrate the need to disaggregate stimulant use by subgroup and gender, particularly related to polysubstance use."

Higher drug use among LGB individuals is likely a result of minority stress—that is, the fact that exposure to stigma and discrimination based on sexual orientation results in health disparities. Structural stigma (e.g., employment or housing discrimination) drives psychological and physical health morbidities among LGB populations, and perceived stigma is associated with cocaine use. Bisexuals can also experience "double discrimination" from heterosexuals and lesbian and gay communities, which the researchers say may account for the particularly high substance use among bisexual individuals.

The paper outlines several avenues to address stimulant use, including by educating healthcare providers who focus on LGB communities to screen for and discuss substance use, including stimulants. Communities and providers can also scale-up access to medication disposal and harm reduction services.

The researchers note that their dataset started assessing sexual identity among adults in 2015, so these relationships could not be examined in earlier years or among adolescents. The options for gender included only "male" or "female" and thus did not allow researchers to differentiate between transgender and cis-gender individuals. The dataset does not assess sexual behavior, so this study only captured associations based on individuals' sexual identity.


Explore further Study examines stimulant use in context of state medical cannabis laws

More information: Morgan M. Philbin et al, Medical, Nonmedical, and Illegal Stimulant Use by Sexual Identity and Gender, American Journal of Preventive Medicine (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.amepre.2020.05.025

Journal information: American Journal of Preventive Medicine


Provided by Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health

Twinkling, star-shaped brain cells may hold the key to why, how we sleep

by Washington State University

Astrocytes in the brain expressing a fluorescent calcium indicator captured with a two-photon microscope. Credit: Ashley Ingiosi, courtesy of Current Biology

A new study published today in the journal Current Biology suggests that star-shaped brain cells known as astrocytes could be as important to the regulation of sleep as neurons, the brain's nerve cells.

Led by researchers at Washington State University's Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, the study builds new momentum toward ultimately solving the mystery of why we sleep and how sleep works in the brain. The discovery may also set the stage for potential future treatment strategies for sleep disorders and neurological diseases and other conditions associated with troubled sleep, such as PTSD, depression, Alzheimer's disease, and autism spectrum disorder.

"What we know about sleep has been based largely on neurons," said lead author and postdoctoral research associate Ashley Ingiosi. Neurons, she explained, communicate through electrical signals that can be readily captured through electroencephalography (EEG). Astrocytes—a type of glial (or "glue") cell that interacts with neurons—do not use electrical signals and instead use a process known as calcium signaling to control their activity.

It was long thought that astrocytes—which can outnumber neurons by five to one—merely served a supportive role, without any direct involvement in behaviors and processes. Neuroscientists have only recently started to take a closer look at their potential role in various processes. And while a few studies have hinted that astrocytes may play a role in sleep, solid scientific tools to study their calcium activity have not been available until recently, Ingiosi said.

Illustration of how a miniature microscope captures fluorescent astrocytes in the brain (left), with a miniature microscope image of fluorescent astrocytes in the brain shown at right. Credit: Ashley Ingiosi, courtesy of Current Biology

To delve deeper into astrocytes' role in sleep, she and her coauthors used a rodent model to record astrocytes' calcium activity throughout sleep and wake, as well as after sleep deprivation. They used a fluorescent calcium indicator that was imaged via tiny head-mounted microscopes that looked directly into the brains of mice as they moved around and behaved as they normally would. This indicator allowed the team to see calcium-driven fluorescent activity twinkling on and off in astrocytes during sleep and waking behaviors. Their one-of-a-kind methodology using these miniature microscopes allowed the team to conduct the first-ever study of astrocytes' calcium activity in sleep in freely behaving animals.


The research team set out to answer two main questions: do astrocytes change dynamically across sleep and wake states like neurons do? And do astrocytes play a role in regulating sleep need, our natural drive to sleep?

Looking at astrocytes in the frontal cortex, an area of the brain associated with measurable EEG changes in sleep need, they found that astrocytes' activity changes dynamically across the sleep-wake cycle, as is true for neurons. They also observed the most calcium activity at the beginning of the rest phase—when sleep need is greatest—and the least calcium activity at the end of the test phase, when the need for sleep has dissipated.

Next, they kept mice awake for the first 6 hours of their normal rest phase and watched calcium activity change in parallel with EEG slow wave activity in sleep, a key indicator of sleep need. That is, they found that sleep deprivation caused an increase in astrocyte calcium activity that decreased after mice were allowed to sleep.

Video of astrocyte activity in the brain during a single sleep cycle, captured using a fluorescent calcium indicator and miniature microscope. The footage shows dynamic changes throughout the cycle as it transitions through non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREMS), rapid eye movement sleep (REMS), and wakefulness (WAKE). Video shown is 16 times faster than normal speed. Credit: Ashley Ingiosi, Current Biology https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-09-twinkling-star-shaped-brain-cells-key.html

Their next question was whether genetically manipulating astrocyte calcium activity would impact sleep regulation. To find out, they studied mice that lacked a protein known as STIM1 selectively in astrocytes, which reduced the amount of available calcium. After being sleep deprived, these mice did not sleep as long or get as sleepy as normal mice once allowed to sleep, which further confirmed earlier findings that suggest that astrocytes play an essential role in regulating the need for sleep.

Finally, they tested the hypothesis that perhaps astrocyte calcium activity merely mirrors the electrical activity of neurons. Studies have shown that the electrical activity of neurons becomes more synchronized during non-REM sleep and after sleep deprivation, but the researchers found the opposite to be true for astrocytes, with calcium activity becoming less synchronized in non-REM sleep and after sleep deprivation.

"This indicates to us that astrocytes are not just passively following the lead of neurons," said Ingiosi. "And because they don't necessarily display the same activity patterns as neurons, this might actually implicate a more direct role for astrocytes in regulating sleep and sleep need."

More research is needed to further unravel the role of astrocytes in sleep and sleep regulation, Ingiosi said. She plans to study astrocytes' calcium activity in other parts of the brain that have been shown to be important for sleep and wake. In addition, she would like to look at astrocytes' interactions with different neurotransmitters in the brain to start to tease out the mechanism by which astrocytes might drive sleep and sleep need.

"The findings of our study suggest that we may have been looking in the wrong place for more than 100 years," said senior author and professor of biomedical sciences Marcos Frank. "It provides strong evidence that we should be targeting astrocytes to understand why and how we sleep, as well as for the development of therapies that could help people with sleep disorders and other health conditions that involve abnormal sleep."

Explore further Researchers discover new clues on how sleep works in the brain

More information: Current Biology (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.08.052 , www.cell.com/current-biology/f … 0960-9822(20)31242-2

Journal information: Current Biology

Provided by Washington State University

Researchers use artificial intelligence tools to predict loneliness

by University of California - San Diego

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

For the past couple of decades, there has been a loneliness pandemic, marked by rising rates of suicides and opioid use, lost productivity, increased health care costs and rising mortality. The COVID-19 pandemic, with its associated social distancing and lockdowns, have only made things worse, say experts.

Accurately assessing the breadth and depth of societal loneliness is daunting, limited by available tools, such as self-reports. In a new proof-of-concept paper, published online September 24, 2020 in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, a team led by researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine used artificial intelligence technologies to analyze natural language patterns (NLP) to discern degrees of loneliness in older adults.

"Most studies use either a direct question of ' how often do you feel lonely,' which can lead to biased responses due to stigma associated with loneliness or the UCLA Loneliness Scale which does not explicitly use the word 'lonely,'" said senior author Ellen Lee, MD, assistant professor of psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine. "For this project, we used natural language processing or NLP, an unbiased quantitative assessment of expressed emotion and sentiment, in concert with the usual loneliness measurement tools."

In recent years, numerous studies have documented rising rates of loneliness in various populations of people, particularly those most vulnerable, such as older adults. For example, a UC San Diego study published earlier this year found that 85 percent of residents living in an independent senior housing community reported moderate to severe levels of loneliness.

The new study also focused on independent senior living residents: 80 participants aged 66 to 94, with a mean age of 83 years. But, rather than simply asking and documenting answers to questions from the UCLA Loneliness Scale, participants were also interviewed by trained study staff in more unstructured conversations that were analyzed using NLP-understanding software developed by IBM, plus other machine-learning tools.

"NLP and machine learning allow us to systematically examine long interviews from many individuals and explore how subtle speech features like emotions may indicate loneliness. Similar emotion analyses by humans would be open to bias, lack consistency, and require extensive training to standardize," said first author Varsha Badal, Ph.D., a postdoctoral research fellow.

Among the findings:
Lonely individuals had longer responses in qualitative interview, and more greatly expressed sadness to direct questions about loneliness.
Women were more likely than men to acknowledge feeling lonely during interviews.
Men used more fearful and joyful words in their responses compared to women.

Authors said the study highlights the discrepancies between research assessments for loneliness and an individual's subjective experience of loneliness, which NLP-based tools could help to reconcile. The early findings reflect how there may be "lonely speech" that could be used to detect loneliness in older adults, improving how clinicians and families assess and treat loneliness in older adults, especially during times of physical distancing and social isolation.

The study, said the authors, demonstrates the feasibility of using natural language pattern analyses of transcribed speech to better parse and understand complex emotions like loneliness. They said the machine-learning models predicted qualitative loneliness with 94 percent accuracy.

"Our IBM-UC San Diego Center is now exploring NLP signatures of loneliness and wisdom, which are inversely linked in older adults. Speech data can be combined with our other assessments of cognition, mobility, sleep, physical activity and mental health to improve our understanding of aging and to help promote successful aging" said study co-author Dilip Jeste, MD, senior associate dean for healthy aging and senior care and co-director of the IBM-UC San Diego Center for Artificial Intelligence for Healthy Living.


Explore further Loneliness levels high during COVID-19 lockdown

More information: Varsha D. Badal et al, Prediction of Loneliness in Older Adults using Natural Language Processing: Exploring Sex Differences in Speech, The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.jagp.2020.09.009

Journal information: American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry

Provided by University of California - San Diego