Kansas senior Devonte’ Graham, already overjoyed by breaking through to the Final Four, received some more good news on Tuesday when he was named a 2018...
President Trump said on Wednesday that the Second Amendment — the right to keep and bear arms — “will never be repealed,”
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Edition #1 - N° 1 Monday April 12, 2018 Washington DC Edition On-line: www.freedomnews.com
Study: Nearly 22K Died While on Medicaid Waiting List
Nearly 22,000 people on Medicaid waiting lists in expansion states have died since Obamacare began providing health insurance to qualifying adults, according to a study released in early March by the Foundation for Government Accountability.
Anti-Abortion Group Backs Plan for New School Walkout
Students for Life of America, a national anti-abortion group, is helping to back a planned school walkout designed to protest abortions, The Hill
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Facebook announces new privacy tools to edit personal information
Facebook has announced new privacy tools that will allow users to edit personal information the social network holds. It follows criticism of the site after it emerged data from 50 million users had been harvested by political consultancy Cambridge Analytica. Facebook said the changes
were already planned, but added that recent events “underscore” their importance. As part of the changes, Facebook said it has simplified the settings menu in its mobile app, which the company claims will make privacy and data controls easier to find. The social network is also
introducing a new privacy shortcuts menu - this will enable users to control the personal information that appears on the site and delete information and interactions they have made on the platform, as well as search history. The new menu will also enable users to manage the
information Facebook accesses to show users adverts. A new section called Access Your Information is also being introduced, which will allow users to permanently delete anything from their timeline or profile they no longer want on the site. The section will also enable users to access secure copies
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Section A- 2
LOCAL
05-12-2018 / 05-25-20118
National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade presented by Events DC Time: 10 AM – 12 Noon Location: Constitution Avenue – From 7th to 17th Streets, NW Cost: Starting at $20 for Grandstand Seating. Standing along the Parade route from Constitution Avenue between 9th and 15th streets, NW is FREE and open to the public. Arrive early for the best views. One of DC’s largest spectator events, the energy-filled National Cherry Blossom
Festival Parade® presented by Events DC runs for 10 blocks along iconic Constitution Avenue. Giant colorful helium balloons, elaborate floats, marching bands from across the country, celebrity entertainers, and performers burst down the Parade route in a grand spectacle of music and showmanship seen only once a year during the Festival. From the National Archives to the Washington Monument, spectators are wow-ed by the pageantry and excitement that is the nation’s premier springtime parade. Celebrity performances and appearances in the 2018 Parade includes: Grand Marshal: Carla Hall (of ABC’s The Chew) 90s hip-hop group Arrested Development Pop/classical string quartet Well Strung The Voice season 11 contestant Billy Gilman The Voice season eight contestant Sarah Potenza Country singer Ty Herndon Extreme pogo stunt team XPOGO Giant helium balloons, including Peppa Pig, Smurfette, Magic School Bus, and more Keep checking back for the full Line of March! Getting There: Helpful Maps How to walk to Sections 1-26 Sections 1-26 Seating Map Sections 87-164 Seating Map Road Closures Metro: The one-mile length of the Parade route is accessible from multiple Metro stations. Ticketholders should confer their ticket purchase confirmation email that contains explicit instructions on how to walk from Metro to their seats. Spectators who are standing along the free & accessible portions of the route
freedomnews.com from 9th to 15th Streets should utilize the following Metro stops • To stand on the north side of Constitution Avenue – Archives-Navy Memorial-Penn Quarter (Green/Yellow lines), Federal Triangle (Blue/Orange/Silver lines) or Metro Center (Blue/Orange/Red/Silver lines) • To stand on the south side of Constitution Avenue – L’Enfant Plaza (Blue/ Green/Orange/Silver/Yellow lines) or Smithsonian (Blue/Orange lines) DC Circulator Spectators should utilize the DC Circulator’s National Mall route for access to all portions of the Parade. The closest stops are located along Madison Drive NW. Rides cost just $1 and buses arrive every 10 minutes. Riders are encouraged to check DCCirculator.com for real-time service updates, as the traditional route may experience some detours due to road closures. Capital Bikeshare Capital Bikeshare is the public bikesharing system in the metro DC area. You can take a bike from any station, enjoy your ride, and return it to the station of your choice. All trips under 30 minutes are included with your pass! Multiple Capital Bikeshare stations are conveniently located near the Parade route and along the National Mall. Spectators on the north side of Constitution Avenue can use the station at 10th Street & Constitution Avenue NW or 14th Street & D Street NW / Reagan Building. Spectators on the south side of Constitution Avenue can use the station at 14th Street & Jefferson Street SW / Washington Monument or 12th Street & Jefferson Street SW / Smithsonian Metro. For a complete list of stations, visit CapitalBikeshare.com.
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CULTURE
05-12-2018 / 05-25-20118
Section A-3
The Biggest Misconception About Today’s College Students
You might think the typical college student lives in a state of bliss, spending each day moving among classes, parties and extracurricular activities. But the reality is that an increasingly small population of undergraduates enjoys that kind of life. Of the country’s nearly 18 million undergraduates, more than 40 percent go to community college, and of those, only 62 percent can afford to go to college full-time. By contrast, a mere 0.4 percent of students in the United States attend one of the Ivies. The typical student is not the one burnishing a fancy résumé with numerous unpaid internships. It’s just the opposite: Over half of all undergraduates live at home to make their degrees more affordable, and a shocking 40 percent of students work at least 30 hours a week. About 25 percent work full-time and go to school full-time. The typical college student is also not fresh out of high school. A quarter of undergraduates are older than 25, and about the same number are single parents. These students work extremely hard to make ends meet and simultaneously get the education they need to be more stable: A two-year degree can earn students nearly 20 percent more annually than just a high school diploma. And yet, these students are often the most shortchanged. As open-access institutions, community colleges educate the majority of our country’s low-income, first-generation students. But public funding for community colleges is significantly less than for four-year colleges, sometimes because of explicit state policies. This means the amount that community colleges can spend on each student — to pay for faculty, support services, tutoring and facilities — is far less as well.
Tuition for low-income students can be covered by federal financial aid programs, but these students often have significant other costs — including housing, transportation, food and child care — that regularly pose obstacles to their education. A recent Urban Institute study found that from 2011 to 2015, one in five
students attending a two-year college lived in a food-insecure household. A study from the Wisconsin Hope Lab found that in 2016, 14 percent of community college students had been homeless at some point. At LaGuardia Community College in New York, where I am president, 77 percent of students live in households making less than $25,000 per year. With financial pressures like these, studying full-time is not an option. It is not uncommon for a student to take between three and six years to graduate from a two-year associate degree program Even that can be a miraculous feat. At LaGuardia, many of our students start their days by taking their child to day care on the bus. Then they take the subway to college, then ride a different bus to their job, another bus to pick up their child and a final bus to go home. Once home, they still need to cook dinner, help their
child with homework, tuck the child in, tidy up and complete their own college coursework. Many of these students have jobs that are part-time and pay the minimum wage; their schedules can vary wildly, making the fragile balance of each day complex. Being stretched so thin makes each day an ordeal. It’s no wonder that too many students drop out before graduation. Community colleges need increased funding, and students need access to more flexible federal and state financial aid, enhanced paid internships and college work-study programs. Improved access to public supports, like food stamps and reduced public transportation fares, would also make a world of difference. It’s not just that policy must change. Last year, more than $41 billion was given in charity to higher education, but about a quarter of that went to just 20 institutions. Community colleges,
with almost half of all undergraduate students, received just a small fraction of this philanthropy. It is imperative that individuals, corporations and foundations spread their wealth and diversify where they donate their dollars. Correcting society’s perception of who attends college in the United States is the first step toward helping these hard-working and ambitious students, eager to make a better life for themselves and their families. It will take sustained commitment by our elected officials, business leaders and philanthropists to increase support for routinely underfunded community colleges. It’s time to put public and private money where more and more students are educated, and remove the real, but surmountable, obstacles that stand between them and a degree.
Section A- 4
BUSINESS
05-12-2018 / 05-25-20118
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SCIENCE
Human brains make new nerve cells — and lots of them — well into old age
Previous studies have suggested neurogenesis tapers off or stops altogether By Laurel Hamers 2:50pm, April 5, 2018
Your brain might make new nerve cells well into old age. Healthy people in their 70s have just as many young nerve cells, or neurons, in a memory-related part of the brain as do teenagers and young adults, researchers report in the April 5 Cell Stem Cell. The discovery suggests that the hippocampus keeps generating new neurons throughout a person’s life. The finding contradicts a study published in March, which suggested that neurogenesis in the hippocampus stops in childhood (SN Online: 3/8/18). But the new research fits with a larger pile of evidence showing that adult human brains can, to some extent, make new neurons. While those studies indicate that the process tapers off over time, the new study proposes
almost no decline at all. Understanding how healthy brains change over time is important for researchers untangling the ways that conditions like depression, stress and memory loss affect older brains. When it comes to studying neurogenesis in humans, “the devil is in the details,” says Jonas Frisén, a neuroscientist at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm who was not involved in the new research. Small differences in methodology — such as the way brains are preserved or how neurons are counted — can have a big impact on the results, which could explain the conflicting findings. The new paper “is the most rigorous study yet,” he says. Researchers studied hippocampi from the autopsied brains of 17 men and 11 women ranging in age from 14 to 79.
05-12-2018 / 05-25-20118 In contrast to past studies that have often relied on donations from patients without a detailed medical history, the researchers knew that none of the donors had a history of psychiatric illness or chronic illness. And none of the brains tested positive for drugs or alcohol, says Maura Boldrini, a psychiatrist at Columbia University. Boldrini and her colleagues also had access to whole hippocampi, rather than just a few slices, allowing the team to make more accurate estimates of the number of neurons, she says. To look for signs of neurogenesis, the researchers hunted for specific proteins produced by neurons at particular stages of development. Proteins such as GFAP and SOX2, for example, are made in abundance by stem cells that eventually turn into neurons, while newborn neurons make more
of proteins such as Ki-67. In all of the brains, the researchers found evidence of newborn neurons in the dentate gyrus, the part of the hippocampus where neurons are born. Although the number of neural stem cells was a bit lower in people in their 70s compared with people in their 20s, the older brains still had thousands of these cells. The number of young neurons in intermediate to advanced stages of development was the same across people of all ages. Still, the healthy older brains did show some signs of decline. Researchers found less evidence for the formation of new blood vessels and fewer protein markers that signal neuroplasticity, or the brain’s ability to make new connections between neurons. But it’s too soon to say what these findings mean for brain function, Boldrini says.
Section A-5 Studies on autopsied brains can look at structure but not activity. Not all neuroscientists are convinced by the findings. “We don’t think that what they are identifying as young neurons actually are,” says Arturo Alvarez-Buylla of the University of California, San Francisco, who coauthored the recent paper that found no signs of neurogenesis in adult brains. In his study, some of the cells his team initially flagged as young neurons turned out to be mature cells upon further investigation. But others say the new findings are sound. “They use very sophisticated methodology,” Frisén says, and control for factors that Alvarez-Buylla’s study didn’t, such as the type of preservative used on the brains.
2018 FIFA WORLD CUP RUSSIA
Section A- 6
SPORT
05-12-2018 / 05-25-20118
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The 2018 FIFA World Cup will be the 21st FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament contested by the men’s national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It is scheduled to take place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting rights on 2 December 2010. This will be the first World Cup held in Europe since the 2006 tournament in Germany; all but one of the stadium venues are in European Russia, west of the Ural Mountains, to keep travel time manageable. The final tournament will involve 32 national teams, which include 31 teams determined through qualifying competitions and the automatically qualified host team. Of the 32 teams, 20 will be making back-toback appearances following the last tournament in 2014, including defending champions Germany, while Iceland and Panama will both be making their first appearances at a FIFA World Cup. A total of 64 matches will be played in 12 venues located in 11 cities. The final will take place on 15 July at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow The bidding procedure to host the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups began in January 2009, and national associations had until 2 February 2009 to register their interest. Initially, nine countries placed bids for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, but Mexico later withdrew from proceedings, and Indonesia’s bid was rejected by FIFA in February 2010 after the Indonesian government failed to submit a letter to support the bid. During the bidding process, the three remaining non-UEFA
nations (Australia, Japan, and the United States) gradually withdrew from the 2018 bids, and the UEFA nations were thus ruled out of the 2022 bid. As such, there were eventually four bids for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, two of which were joint bids: England, Russia, Netherlands/ Belgium, and Portugal/Spain. The twenty-two-member FIFA Executive Committee convened in Zürich on 2 December 2010 to vote to select the hosts of both tourna-
ments. Russia won the right to be the 2018 host in the second round of voting. The Portugal/Spain bid came second, and that from Belgium/Netherlands third. England’s bid to host its second tournament fell at the first hurdle The process was not without criticism: allegations of bribery on the part of the Russian team and corruption from FIFA members were made particularly by the English Football Association. It was
alleged that four members of the executive committee had requested bribes to vote for England, and Sepp Blatter said that it had already been arranged before the vote that Russia would win. Although the 2014 Garcia Report absolved Russia of any blame, the FA refused to accept this, with Greg Dyke calling for a re-examination of the affair and David Bernstein calling for a boycott of the World Cup
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SPORT
05-12-2018 / 05-25-20118 Draw The draw was held on 1 December 2017, at 18:00 MSK, at the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow.[25][26] The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four. For the draw, the teams were allocated to four pots based on the FIFA World Rankings of October 2017. Pot 1 contained the hosts Russia (who were automatically assigned to Position A1) and the best seven teams, Pot 2 contained the next best eight teams, and so on for Pots 3 and 4. This was different from previous draws, where only Pot 1 was based on FIFA Rankings while the remaining pots were based on geographical considerations. However, still retained was the fact that teams from the same confederation were not drawn against each other for the group stage, except for UEFA where each group contained up to two teams.
Teams Qualification For the first time in the history of the FIFA World Cup, all eligible nations – the 209 FIFA member associations minus automatically qualified hosts Russia – entered the qualifying process.[13] Zimbabwe and Indonesia were later disqualified before playing their first matches,[14][15] while Gibraltar and Kosovo, who joined FIFA on 13 May 2016 after the qualifying draw but before European qualifying had begun, also entered the competition. Places in the tournament were allocated to continental confederations, with the allocation unchanged from the 2014 World Cup.The first qualification game began in Dili, Timor Leste, on 12 March 2015 as part of the AFC’s qualification, and the main qualifying draw took place at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, Saint Petersburg on 25 July 2015 at 18:00 local time Of the thirty-two nations qualified to play at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, twenty countries competed at the previous edition of the tournament in 2014. Both Iceland and Panama qualified for the first time, with the former becoming the smallest country in terms of population to reach the
World Cup. Other teams returning after absences of at least three tournaments include: Egypt, returning to the finals after a 28-year absence from their last appearance in 1990; Morocco, who last competed in 1998; Peru, returning after a 36-year absence (since 1982); and Senegal, competing for the second time after reaching the quarter-finals in 2002. It is the first time three Nordic countries (Denmark, Iceland and Sweden) and four Arab nations (Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia) have qualified for the World Cup. Notable countries that failed to qualify include four-time champions Italy (for the first time since 1958) and three-time runner-up Netherlands. Four reigning continental champions failed to qualify: 2017 Africa Cup of Nations winner Cameroon, two-time Copa América champion and 2017 Confederations Cup runner-up Chile, 2016 OFC Nations Cup winner New Zealand, and 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup champion United States (for the first time since 1986). The other notable qualifying streaks broken were for Ghana and Ivory Coast, who had both made the previous three tournaments.
Russia proposed the following host cities: Kaliningrad, Kazan, Krasnodar, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Saint Petersburg, Samara, Saransk, Sochi, Volgograd, Yaroslavl, and Yekaterinburg. All the cities are in or just outside European Russia to reduce travel time for the teams in the huge country. The bid evaluation report stated: “The Russian bid proposes 13 host cities and 16 stadiums, thus exceeding FIFA’s minimum requirement. Three of the 16 stadiums would be renovated, and 13 would be newly constructed.” In October 2011, Russia decreased the number of stadiums from 16 to 14. Construction of the proposed Podolsk stadium in the Moscow region was cancelled by the regional government, and also in the capital, Otkrytiye Arena was competing with Dynamo Stadium over which would be constructed first. The final choice of host cities was announced on 29 September 2012. The number of cities was further reduced to 11 and number of stadiums to 12 as Krasnodar and Yaroslavl were dropped from the final list. Sepp Blatter stated in July 2014 that due to concerns over the completion of venues in Russia, the number of venues for the tournament may be reduced from 12 to 10. He also said, “We are not going to be in a situation, as is the case of one, two or even three stadiums in South Africa,
where it is a problem of what you do with these stadiums”. In October 2014, on their first official visit to Russia, FIFA’s inspection committee and its head Chris Unger visited St Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan and both Moscow venues. They were satisfied with the progress. On 8 October 2015, FIFA and the Local Organising Committee agreed on the official names of the stadiums used during the tournament. Of the 12 venues used, the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow and the Saint Petersburg Stadium (the two largest stadiums in Russia) will be used most, with 7 matches being played at each of these stadiums. Sochi, Kazan, Nizhny Novogrod and Samara will host 6 matches including one quarter-final match apiece, and the Otkrytiye Stadium in Moscow and Rostov-on-Don will host 5 matches apiece including one round of 16 match each. Volgograd, Kaliningrad, Yekaterinburg and Saransk will host 4 matches each and none of these cities will host any knockout stage games.
Section A-7 Mascot The official FIFA World Cup mascot for the 2018 tournament, a wolf named Zabivaka (“the one who scores” in Russian), was unveiled on 21 October 2016. Representing an anthropomorphic wolf with brown and white wool T-shirt with the words “RUSSIA 2018” and orange sport glasses. The combination of white, blue and red T-shirt and shorts are the national colors of the Russian team. The student designer is Ekaterina Bocharova, and the mascot was selected by Internet voting. The election results were announced on 22 October 2016, in the Evening Urgant on Channel One Russia. Wolf, named Zabivaka, scored 53% of the vote, ahead of Tiger Cat, with 20% of the vote, was third. More than 1 million people participated in the voting, which took place during September 2016 on the FIFA platforms, as well as during the live broadcast on Channel One, where the results of the creative competition were announced
Section A- 8
Saudi ‘Prince Charming’ Mohammed bin Salman comes to Hollywood
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was given a king’s welcome in Hollywood this week. The conservative kingdom’s plan to open up cinemas and Western entertainment after a 35-year ban had Hollywood’s top executives jockeying to make deals with the billionaire crown prince. Mohammed bin Salman, or MBS as he’s also known, dined at media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s house along with studio heads and actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. In a Facebook post about the dinner, The Rock said he was humbled to discover he has so many young fans in Saudi Arabia. “I look forward to my first visit soon to Saudi Arabia,” Johnson wrote. “I’ll be sure to bring my finest tequila to share with the his Royal Highness and family.” Tequila and The Rock in Saudi Arabia? Alcohol is banned in Saudi Arabia and punishable by lashes. But the times they are a-changing. That’s how it looked at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills.
ENTERTAINMENT
Royal baby: Kate Middleton and William’s very modern approach to baby updates revealed THE ROYAL BABY is set to be delivered by Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, and her husband Prince William in April. Now the modern way the couple will revealed news and latest updates about their third child revealed. Kate Middleton, 36, and Prince William’s royal baby updates will be revealed to the public in a very modern way. The couple already broke with royal protocol with the announcement of the birth of their first child Prince George, four. Usually with births in the Royal Family an easel outside of Buckingham Palace would announce the arrival of the child. However, smart, savvy and modern - Kate and William, 35, chose to update this rather archaic royal tradition. The couple will update the public on the birth of their next and third baby using social media and a dedicated webpage. An official royal webpage has been set up on the website of Britain’s premier family. Under the url “www.royal.uk/ baby” the page states: “Updates will be posted on this page and on @ KensingtonRoyal’s Twitter account as they become available.” In October 2017 Kensington Palace’s Twitter account posted: “The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are delighted to confirm they are expecting a baby in April 2018.”
Matilda Star Mara Wilson Slams Sexualization of Young Girls in Hollywood
Matilda actress Mara Wilson is speaking out against the sexualization of young girls in Hollywood, and sharing her own experiences of being objectified as a child star.
05-12-2018 / 05-25-20118
In a power essay for Elle, Wilson began by recounting a fan letter she received at the age of 15 from a man named “Don, or maybe Doug,” who wrote to tell her, “I love your legs” and “Can I have your lip print on the enclosed index card?” “As soon as I’d hit puberty, it had become okay for strangers to discuss my body,” Wilson wrote. The actress, who was one of the most beloved child stars of the ’90s, quit Hollywood as a tween. She later explained that the pressures of a “toxic,” image-obsessed industry were too much for her.
The youngest generation of royals is said to be on a PR mission to drag the reputation of the Royal Family in the modern age. Adopting social media is no doubt another step on the ladder of modernisation for the ancient institution.
Recent details of Kate Middleton’s pregnancy were revealed, and it seems the Duchess is sticking to what she knows. According to royal sources Kate will be giving birth in the Lindo Wing at Mary’s Hospital in London, and not having a home birth, as some reports suggested.
freedomnews.com Is the Duchess of Cambridge having twins? Although it has been a persistent rumour, there is no evidence that Kate is expecting twins. Prince William hinted that he would be overwhelmed by an arrival of two babies. At the 2018 Centrepoint awards, he said: “Twins? I think my mental health would be tested with twins. “Two is fine, I don’t know how I’m going to cope with three, I’m going to be permanently tired.”
Everything We Know About Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez’s Romance — So Far It’s been one year since J-Rod began enchanting the world (and social media) with their sweet PDA, cute quotes about each other and flawless matching styles. A source confirmed to PEOPLE in March 2017 that Jennifer Lopez and retired MLB pro Alex “A-Rod” Rodriguez “have been dating for a few weeks.” The athlete confirmed their relationship status during an appearance on The View, and the pair made their red carpet debut as a couple at the 2017 Met Gala in May. The romance reveal followed Rodriguez’s February split from Silicon Valley CEO Anne Wojcicki, and news that Lopez and former fling Drake “were never that serious.” Below, all the details we know so far about the new power couple on the block. Lopez dedicated a song to her beau during a concert. The songstress headlined the AT&T presents DIRECTV NOW Super Saturday Night at NOMADIC LIVE! at The Armory in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she revealed that Feb. 3 marked her one-year anniversary with her beau, who watched the show from the crowd with his two daughters. At the same time, Lopez confirmed that her new song “Us” is about her relationship with the baseball star. “We’ve been together for one year today,” Lopez said while introducing the song. “I don’t want to get all mushy or anything, but baby, this song’s for you. I love you.” They believe in giving back. The couple traveled to Puerto Rico in January 2018 to announce the
launch of the Puerto Rico Federally Qualified Health Centers Disaster Recovery Fund, an effort to boost the work of health centers that provide accessible healthcare to underserved communities in the wake of the damaging hurricane. In March 2018, the couple skipped the Oscars to teach teens in the Bronx how to be business-savvy and make wise financial choices at an event hosted by Project Destined. Their families are already so, so close. In January, the couple, who have blended their families seamlessly since they began dating, brought their respective kids with them to the game: Lopez’s 10-year-old twins Emme and Max; and Rodriguez’s daughters Natasha, 13, and Ella, 9. “Friday night, family night,” the former Yankee
They have more in common than most people think.
wrote on Instagram alongside a courtside selfie of the J-Rod Bunch at the game — which the Hornets won 108-94. They’re moving in together. Kevin Mazur/Getty Amid planning their disaster-relief telecast and concert and raising a total of $35 million for hurricane victims over the last few weeks, the power couple have also been busy house hunting together, multiple sources confirmed to PEOPLE exclusively. “They will invest together in a new home when they find the perfect one,” said the insider. “They are starting to make more financial decisions together. It’s nice for Jennifer to be with a man who has his own money and spends it wisely.”
People E.
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HEALTH
Bee sting vaccine opens door to new allergy remedies
A bee vaccine developed in Australia is opening doors to new remedies for a range of other insect, plant and pollen allergies.
Researchers from Adelaide in South Australia have developed a highly effective vaccine for European honeybee stings using a unique adjuvant. The trials, which were completed last year, were successful but involved only laboratory tests. In response to these results, researchers are now conducting clinical trials on humans using ant venom therapy followed by sting challenges to further test the effectiveness of the adjuvant in insect sting vaccines. Insect sting allergies affect more than five per cent of the United States population according to the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology and about 50 million people are affected by nasal allergies. Lead researcher and chief pathologist at SA Pathology Professor Robert Heddle said insect allergies affected millions of people around the world. “There are more people in Australia dying from sting allergies than nut allergies but it still flies under the radar,” he said. “With the help of delta-inulin (Advax) we seem to have enhanced responses without it needing to be chemically combined and it is a much cheaper option. “We think the results were very promising with the bee venom and there was no evidence that the inulin did anyone in the study any harm.”
The delta-inulin could potentially also be used as a nasal vaccine against allergies such as pollen or dust but the research has not yet extended into peanut or other food allergies. Professor Heddle and his team have begun trials on a vaccine for hopper ant or jack jumper ant stings, which are a major problem in South Eastern Australia. He said the difficult task of obtaining the insect venom and high cost of manufacturing had previously made it difficult to commercialise a sufficient number of high-quality vaccines. However, he said the addition of the unique delta-inulin adjuvant would not only reduce the cost of production but it also increased the vaccine’s effectiveness. The adjuvant acts as a turbocharger to help the body’s immune system recognise and target venom much faster than other contemporary methods as it is injected into the body. This means that because the venom is easier to recognise, smaller doses of the scarce insect venom could potentially be used in each vaccine, helping to reduce costs of production as well. A commercialised version of the bee vaccine would protect people with allergies against reactions, however it would require them to take multiple doses over a period of three years to build up their immune system. Adapted Media Release
05-12-2018 / 05-25-20118
Is it possible to unclog your arteries?
A person’s arteries can become clogged by a buildup of a substance called plaque. There are no quick fixes for melting away plaque, but people can make key lifestyle changes to stop more of it accumulating and to improve their heart health. In serious cases, medical procedures or surgery can help to remove blockages from within the arteries. A doctor may also prescribe medication, such as aspirin, or cholesterol-reducing drugs, such as statins. In this article, we take a close look at how to prevent plaque buildup, along with risk factors and complications when someone’s arteries are clogged. What are clogged arteries? Plaque is a mixture of fat, calcium, cholesterol, and waste from the cells in the body. This mix can stick to the walls of the arteries, making these blood vessels narrower. When this happens, it is called atherosclerosis. Clogged or blocked arteries can stop fresh blood from reaching parts of the body, which can put a person at risk of a heart attack, heart failure, or stroke. In many cases, people can prevent a plaque buildup and atherosclerosis. Some medical treatments are
available to help clear the arteries, but they are invasive. The best treatment is usually prevention, as removing plaque is much more difficult than preventing it from occurring.
Below is a 3-D model of atherosclerosis, which is fully interactive. You can explore this model using your mouse pad or touchscreen. Avoiding trans fats The type of fat a person eats can affect plaque in the arteries. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommend that a person limits their intake of saturated fats and
Section A-9 trans fats. This is because these kinds of fats contain high levels of LDL cholesterol, which is the main material of plaque in the arteries. Foods that are high in trans fats include: fried foods processed packaged foods cakes, pies, and pastries cookies and biscuits margarine or butter substitutes vegetable shortening products with partially hydrogenated oils, otherwise known as trans fats Along with trans fats, saturated fats may also affect heart health, though the evidence for this is mixed. Saturated fats are mostly found in animal products, such as beef, pork, and dairy, but also in coconut oil and palm oil. One review of scientific studies found there was a small but possibly important reduction in the risk of cardiovascular issues when people cut down on saturated fats and replaced them with unsaturated fats. Another review study suggests that people should avoid saturated fats because they increase LDL cholesterol in the body, which is a direct cause of heart issues.
Section A- 10
CLASSIFIEDS
05-12-2018 / 05-25-20118
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AUTOMOBILE
General Vehicle Safety Features
There are many people who consider fuel consumption, comfort and price to be the important factors to consider when purchasing a vehicle. But what is your main priority when using a vehicle? If your main priority is to arrive at your final destination safely, then considering safety features as a top priority when purchasing a vehicle makes sense. With so many safety features available, which ones should you consider? In a Public Opinion Survey done by Transport, airbags (71%), seatbelts (33%) and anti-lock brake systems (28%) are the three most common safety features that recognize on their vehicles. While these three safety features are very important, there are other features that can keep you and your family safe. Since we have already looked at the importance of head restraints, let us take a brief look at some other important safety features. Airbags Airbags are essential in helping prevent injuries and death, especially in frontal (i.e. head-on) collisions. Airbags are inflatable devices that deploy in a fraction of a second during a serious collision. Front airbags provide additional protection (over and above your seatbelt) during a severe collision, when the head and chest of a buckled-up occupant can move forward and strike the steering wheel or dashboard. Frontal airbags usually don’t deploy in rear-end collisions, side impacts or rollovers. Side airbags deploy during side impacts and rollovers, and provide buffers between the
occupants and the vehicle structure (i.e. doors, windows, roof, etc.). To be sure that you get maximum protection from your supplemental frontal airbag systems during a crash, it is essential to make sure that you do the following each time you get into your vehicle Seat Belts Transport estimates that if all drivers and passengers always wore their seat belts, 300 lives would be saved every year. Wearing your seat belt is the best protection available to drivers and passengers from getting injured or even killed in a car crash. It’s also the law. A seatbelt works by holding the occupant in place in the seat, reducing the risk of them striking the interior of the vehicle, colliding with other passengers or being ejected during impact or emergency braking. A few key points to remember when using a seat bel Anti-lock Brakes Anti-lock braking systems (ABS) use electronic controls to stop your wheels from locking (i.e not rotating) when you’re jamming on the brakes. This helps you maintain steering control better, even on rough surfaces and wet pavement and gives you the advantage of steering around obstacles during emergency braking. During hard braking, nonABS (i.e. conventional brakes) cause the front wheels to lock and steering control is lost. In braking situations where the wheels on a non-ABS equipped vehicle would lock up, ABS will generally provide a shorter controlled stopping distance. On some surfaces such as gravel or a
05-12-2018 / 05-25-20118 skim of snow, ABS braking distance can be longer, but drivers retain the ABS advantage: steering control. Electronic Stability Control (ESC) Electronic stability control can help you retain control of your vehicle during high-speed turns or on slippery roads. Along the lines of anti-lock braking systems, ESC compares your intended direction in steering and braking to your vehicle’s response related to lateral acceleration, rotation and individual wheel speeds. It applies the brakes to individual front or rear wheels and/or reduces excess engine power as needed to help correct under-steer or overs-teer conditions. ESC also controls all-speed traction control, by sensing drive-wheel slip under acceleration, and then individually braking the slipping wheel or whe-
els, and/or reducing excess engine power, until control is regained. Traction Control (TC) Systems Traction Control (TC), also known as ASR “Acceleration Slip Regulation”, is designed to prevent loss of traction from the drive wheels when excessive throttle is applied by the driver, and the condition of the road surface is unable to cope with the torque applied. When your car accelerates from a dead stop or speeds up while passing another vehicle, TC works by sensing slippage at the wheels and continually adjusting the braking pressure to ensure maximum contact between the road surface and the tires, even under slick road conditions. For example, a wet or icy road surface will significantly reduce the traction (i.e. friction) between your tires and pavement. Since only your tires touch
Section A-11 the ground, any resulting loss of traction can be dangerous. It may be helpful to think of TC as the reverse of ABS being used for acceleration instead of deceleration. Daytime Running Lights A daytime running light (DRL) is an automotive lighting safety device on the front of a motor vehicle. Installed in pairs, DRLs automatically switch on when a vehicle is moving forward typically emitting white, yellow or amber light to increase the visibility of a vehicle during daylight conditions. The safety or daytime running lights are a low-cost method to reduce daytime crashes. They are especially effective in preventing daytime head-on and front-corner collisions by increasing vehicle visibility and making it easier to detect approaching vehicles from farther away.
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