Joseph F. McGarvey Jr., MD, FACC | Interventional …

Posted on April 16, 2020 by Danzig

Certifications

Board Certified: Cardiovascular Disease

Cardiovascular Disease, Interventional Cardiology

Doylestown Health Physicians

Medical School: Georgetown University School of Medicine

Residency: University of Massachusetts Hospital

Fellowship: Cardiovascular Disease, Cleveland Clinic Foundation; Interventional Cardiology, Presbyterian Medical Center

Male

English

Joseph McGarvey, MD, has been recognized by Philadelphia Magazine as a Top Doc for 2018-2019.

Dr. McGarvey is an Interventional Cardiologist specializing in emergent stenting for acute heart attacks. His areas of expertise include treatment of peripheral vascular disease (PVD), cardiac catheterization, carotid stenting, intra-arterial thrombectomy (IAT) treatment for acute stroke, ventricular device implantation, and AAA stent grafting for abdominal aortic aneurysms, as well as coronary stenting for acute heart attacks.

Dr. McGarvey is active in the treatment of structural heart disease and the implantation of the Watchman device for AFib patients that has the added benefit to patients who cannot tolerate blood thinners. He performs Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO) closures for patients with strokes and a hole in their heart. He joined the practice in 1996 and currently runs an active clinical research program.

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Joseph F. McGarvey Jr., MD, FACC | Interventional ...

Neurologists Scramble to Respond to COVID-19 with… : Neurology Today – LWW Journals

Posted on April 16, 2020 by Danzig

Article In Brief

In response to COVID-19, many academic and private-practice neurologists have turned to telemedicine. They discuss what works and what has been challenging.

Neurologists in academic and private practice alike are scrambling to embrace telemedicine as one part of their response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While heartened by the Trump administration's announcement on March 17 that it is lifting many telemedicine restrictions, both on reimbursement and HIPAA compliance, neurologists nevertheless expressed anxiety and some confusion over how to handle the new realityand how long it will last.

We're trying to figure out how to avoid the chaos, stay on solid ground, and feel comfortable knowing everything will be all right eventually, said Brad C. Klein, MD, FAAN, a headache specialist at Abington Neurological Associates in Pennsylvania.

In private practice with nine fellow neurologists and privileges at nearby Abington Hospital, Dr. Klein said his group held an urgent meeting on the evening of March 15 to develop a response to the fast-evolving situation.

Even at a major academic neurology center with an established telemedicine program, efforts to protect physicians, staff, and patients are daunting.

We are feeling our way, said Neil A. Busis, MD, FAAN, who arrived on March 1 at New York University Langone Health to lead its telemedicine program for the department of neurology. Things are moving rapidly. NYU already has had a very robust virtual health program. Neurology has some pilot programs; it's my charge to develop a broader range of options. As you can imagine, right now we're overwhelmed.

Even so, telemedicine evangelists who have been preaching the benefits of digital communication for years say that neurologists will like the new normal, once they get used to it.

I see almost all my patients over the internet, said Ray Dorsey, MD, MBA, the David M. Levy professor of neurology and director of the Center for Health Technology at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, NY.

I haven't set foot in the clinic in six years. In general we shouldn't make patients come to the clinicians; we should bring care to them. Why do we ask people with compromised driving ability and mobility to come to us? It's crazy. You will learn a whole lot more about your patients and form a deeper relationship with them.

For those not already running a telemedicine program, however, the challenges of building a program on the fly, in the face of a pandemic, are not trivial. But experts hope that an announcement by the White House would ease some restrictions.

In a White House press briefing on March 17, President Donald J. Trump announced that Medicare patients can now visit any doctor by phone or videoconference at no additional cost, including with commonly used services like Facetime and Skype.

No longer will telemedicine benefits be restricted to Medicare patients in rural areas without access to physicians nearby.

Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), said at the news conference: Medicare beneficiaries across the nation, no matter where they live, will now be able to receive a wide range of services via telehealth without ever having to leave home. And these services can also be provided in a variety of settings, including nursing homes, hospital outpatient departments, and more.

Alex Azar, Secretary of Health and Human Services, issued a press release stating that the administration will essentially stop enforcing elements of HIPAA that required physicians to use only secure telecommunication services when communicating with patients. For the time being, at any rate, physicians can use (and bill Medicare for) ordinary telephone and video links such as Skype and Zoom.

States are also taking action to speed access to medical care in the era of social distancing. On March 14, both New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and Colorado Governor Jared Polis announced that insurance companies in their states must waive co-pays for telehealth visits. The next day, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker announced emergency actions to address COVID-19, including ordering all commercial insurers...to cover medically necessary telehealth services in the same manner they cover in-person services.

The moves come as patients around the nation are overwhelming telemedicine services, producing technical and procedural backlogs, Stat News reported.

In response to the changes in how telemedicine visits are being coded and reimbursed, the AAN has established a small working group of experts to develop a new guidance document for members, according to Luana Ciccarelli, the Academy's senior manager of reimbursement & coding.

In place for more than 10 years, the Mayo Clinic Connected Care platform is taking on the recent uptick in telemedicine sessions relatively smoothly, according to Bart Demaerschalk, MD, FAAN, professor of neurology at Mayo Clinic's Phoenix campus and director of its telestroke program.

To the degree possible, neurologists and neurology allied health staff are now working from home, said Dr. Demaerschalk. Clinic appointments are being rescheduled whenever feasible to a telemedicine format. We are trying to utilize a wide variety of digital health tools to best serve and protect our patients including portal messages, telephone, eConsults, video telemedicine, and remote patient monitoring. Our acute-care neurology services, including stroke, can use robotic telepresence devices, allowing neurologists to participate in acute-care patient encounters from their home or office.

The robotic devices, he explained, are remotely drivenoften autonomouslyand include auto navigation and obstacle-avoidance capabilities. In addition to offering synchronous audio-video links, they usually employ such peripherals as stethoscopes, otoscopes, and ophthalmoscopes that a neurologist can deploy remotely. Even so, the availability of telemedicine services does not preclude in-person neurology care, Dr. Demaerschalk said.

I've been in the emergency department several times today to treat an acute stroke syndrome, a seizure, and a patient with a brain tumor, he said. We are abiding by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] recommendations. When a patient presents with a neurologic complaint and has passed all the screening evaluations, we follow standard universal precautionsnothing elevated. No routine use of gloves or masks. Mostly we are seeking to reduce the number of people in a given area and the theoretical risk of viral spread from those patients who might be asymptomatic.

In keeping with CDC recommendations, he said, a few staff members, including at least one neurologist, are currently self-quarantined at their homes after returning from domestic or international travel to areas with high numbers of COVID-19 cases.

At the Cleveland Clinic's Mellen Center for Multiple Sclerosis, staff neurologist and medical director Robert J. Fox, MD, FAAN, said they are taking their response to the outbreak in stride.

First and foremost we are encouraging patients to use online visits as much as possible, said Dr. Fox. We are also offering some clinicians at high risk for COVID-19 complications the opportunity to work from home if possible. About three-quarters of our follow-up visits are now being conducted online, which makes working from home possible.

While preparing for the possibility that neurologists who normally practice in the outpatient clinic will be pulled over to the inpatient service if hospitalizations rise due to COVID-19, relatively modest precautions are being taken for now. As at Mayo, the outpatient neurologists are not generally wearing gloves or masks, he said.

But, he said, I haven't shaken hands with a patient in over a week, which is very unnatural for me. We're waving, we're doing virtual high fives, and we're washing our hands a lot.

After developing a telemedicine program at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where he was clinical professor of neurology, Dr. Busis had the misfortune to arrive at NYU Langone at the beginning of March with an ordinary cold.

The last thing I wanted to do on my first day on the job was to flip out patients and be seen as the COVID-19 equivalent of Typhoid Mary, Dr. Busis said. So he did what he recommends patients do: He arranged a virtual care appointment. After signing up for the NYU Langone service, he filled out an online questionnaire and then queued up in the virtual waiting room.

When the provider showed up, I saw her on a split screen on my iPhone, Dr. Busis said. She could see me, and I could see her. After talking, she told me, You have a cold. Wear a mask, wash your hands a lot, and be upfront with your patients. That's what I did. When I saw my first patients, I told them, Don't worry, this is just out of an abundance of caution. My patients accepted it fine.

Now digging into his job of ramping up the medical center's telemedicine program, not only in neurology but systemwide, Dr. Busis said the easiest part is the telemedicine visit.

Setting up the audio and video at both ends is actually fairly easy, he said. The harder part is documentation, coding, billing, how you notify people, and how you integrate the virtual visits into your workflow. You can't just do telemedicine at the end of the day; you need a schedule combining in-person and virtual visits. And of course you still have to figure out some sort of way to get reimbursed for services, especially if this is going to become sustainable over the long-term.

Until the changes announced by President Trump and other officials on March 17, coding for telemedicine visits was tricky, Dr. Busis said. Different insurers used different codes, and CMS had its own set of codes. Now, he said, The reimbursement landscape is rapidly changing and many of the old restrictions are no longer in effect, at least temporarily. This is a welcome development. All of us wonder how long these restrictions will remain lifted and if they will ever be reinstated.

While Dr. Dorsey at the University of Rochester Medical Center has worked in telemedicine for years, the sudden transition to virtual care for other neurologists there has been bumpy.

The move to telephone and video telemedicine work has been a major change for some of our providers, particularly some that are not as tech-savvy, said Adam G. Kelly, MD, FAAN, associate professor of neurology and director of the New York State Primary Stroke Center at Highland Hospital. It's been a big paradigm shift for our clinic staff but they have done an awesome job modifying what they do in a very short time. This was an almost overnight switch on our institution's part.

With waiting rooms extraordinarily quiet because of the shift to telemedicine, Dr. Kelly said some neurologists there have had to self-quarantine after attending a medical conference where they were potentially exposed to the virus.

Fortunately no one has developed symptoms yet, he said. But, he added, We have had scheduling challenges related to the self-quarantining. We have also needed to build in multiple layers of back-up coverage in case providers become ill. We have asked some providers to minimize contact with one another to decrease the odds that a large group will all need to quarantine should one become ill.

Without the infrastructure and experience of a large institution to rely on, neurologists in private practice are facing what some fear could be an existential challenge.

We had one of our telephone operators today tell our office manager that her son is a nurse who might have been exposed to someone with COVID-19, Dr. Klein said. The administrator had to tell her: You're banned, you're not coming back into the office for 14 days.

Unlike academic telemedicine programs that merely need to ramp up to meet the current need for virtual visits, Dr. Klein's practice is facing the prospect of having to transition virtually overnight.

We only last week started a process to understand the nuances of getting telemedicine into our office, he said. We're trying to understand the reimbursement rules, who pays for it, what we do if the insurers don't cover it. We need to find the right vendor and get it up and running.

Politics aside, he and other neurologists said, greater leadership from the federal government, as well as from insurers, would be helpful.

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Neurologists Scramble to Respond to COVID-19 with... : Neurology Today - LWW Journals

COVID-19: Advice from CDC Neurovirologist and… : Neurology Today – LWW Journals

Posted on April 16, 2020 by Danzig

By Orly Avitzur April 16, 2020

A neurologist with the CDC discusses what's known to date about COVID-19 and what neurologists should be especially alert to.

On March 19, Neurology Today caught up with AAN member, James J. Sejvar, MD, a neurologist and epidemiologist at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), who has been working on COVID-19 since early January when the first reports of illness were announced in China. In 2009, Dr. Sejvar he asked the AAN to collaborate with the CDC in reporting cases of Guillain-Barr syndrome (GBS), and any adverse events that were suspected of being associated with vaccines in general or the 2009-H1N1 vaccine.

Over the past eleven years, Dr. Sejvar has been deployed to regions of the United States to track the West Nile virus outbreak (2012), to remote villages in central Africa to investigate the Ebola outbreak (2014), to South America to track the Zika pandemic (2016), among numerous other urgent infectious disease epidemics.

I have worked with a number of worrisome viral outbreaks over the years, but none have frightened me as much as COVID-19 from the standpoint of spread of the disease, apparent ease of transmission, and associated morbidity and mortality, Dr. Sejvar told Neurology Today.

We reached Dr. Sejvar, who has been working 19-hour days, after his return from an extended trip to Rhode Island to engage in a special study examining the risk of contracting the 2019 novel coronavirus after exposure. Back in Atlanta on a mandated 14-day quarantine, he shared his current knowledge and advice on COVID-19.

We are continuously understanding more and more but there is still a lot we do not know: First, how long is someone contagious, and second, how easy it is to spread. We do know that people of older age and those with underlying conditions are at highest risk. People who have impairments that cause difficulty in clearing secretions such as those with Parkinson's disease, severe multiple sclerosis, GBS, or other chronic neuropathies are among those at higher risk. We are also concerned about people with seizure disorders. Although there is nothing specific about their condition that places them at risk, we know that seizures can be triggered in the setting of a febrile illness.

People with those conditions or of older age groups, as well as those taking immunosuppressants or immune-modulating medications, should adhere to the CDC guidelines and HHS advisories to minimize contact with others, both asymptomatic individuals and those who are symptomatic. They need to take these messages to heart.

While most neurologists are not currently on the front lines of directly working with COVID-19, they are clearly seeing people with neurologic diseases associated with aging, such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. Clinicians need to be fastidious in terms of infection control and whenever possible, place symptomatic patients in face masks and make sure that contact is limited. If a patient has known respiratory symptoms, neurologists should try to use full protective personal equipment (PPE) before examination to minimize exposure.

Admittedly, we are in the midst of a very difficult situation in terms of PPE. Quite frankly, there are health departments without adequate PPE. If possible, limit the exposure of someone with respiratory illness or signs of COVID-19 and keep them isolated. The government has worked with industry to ramp up the manufacturing of N95 masks, surgical masks, gowns, and eye shields. In lieu of masks, some people are using bandanas on both the physician and the patient to try to minimize the transmission of respiratory droplets. We know this is not ideal, but the CDC says that it's better than nothing.

In Rhode Island, we have set up tents that cars can go through and people can get swabbed after a brief history of present illness and past medical history is attained. The provider is outside the car and the patient is inside the car. This is being replicated in Massachusetts, New York, and other places. It's possible that a neurologist may be able to test someone and get an accurate assessment while minimizing exposure in waiting rooms and reception areas, by setting up systems that minimize patient contact.

There is a serologic test that the CDC developed for people who had been infected. In January, a group of students from a school in Rhode Island visited Italy, France and Germany before returning home. A teacher came down with COVID-19 and the students were all exposed. We are now conducting a sero-survey to look at how many kids exposed are sero-positive. The serology test is not yet Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA)-approved and it still needs to be validated with positive- and negative-predictive value. We also don't know whether mounting an antibody response in IgG and IgM confers protection as it does with other viruses. As this is a new virus, we cannot assume that getting ill and recovering provides absolute protection.

One of the most alarming concerns is that COVID-19 transmission in the hospital is orders of magnitude higher than in the community. My biggest fear is that we incur a situation in which we end up with a limited availability of ventilators for people who are elderly or have underlying medical conditions. While the overall fatality rate is about 0.8-1 percent, recent age-stratified data suggests a rate of 9.5 percent for those over the age of 70 years. I am also very worried about the attitude of some young people we are seeing on the news who are ignoring warnings, congregating on beaches and in bars on spring break. Although there are fewer cases, we are definitely seeing people under the age of 45 with pneumonia.

Researchers Warn of ‘Wave’ of Neurological Illness Caused by the Coronavirus – Gizmodo

Posted on April 16, 2020 by Danzig

The damaging effects of covid-19 will extend beyond the lungs to our brains and minds, scientists are warning. The viral disease may directly affect the nervous systems of some patients both during and post-infection, and the stress of the pandemic and its economic fallout is likely already leading to spikes in anxiety among the general public.

In a new preprint paper released this week in the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity, researchers Emily Troyer, Jordan Kohn, and Suzi Hong, all from the University of California San Diego, argue that the world is set to face a crashing wave of neurological and psychological illness caused by covid-19.

Some of these harms can be attributed to the obvious changes that the pandemic has made to our daily lives, even for people not sickened by the coronavirus that causes covid-19. But theres a growing sense among doctors and scientists that the virus itself can directly affect our brain health.

I think we have all recently witnessed a significant shift in our society and economy, which has been associated with distress and fear for everyone, lead author Troyer, a psychiatrist at UCSD, told Gizmodo. We dont want to minimize that, but my colleagues and I were also curious about whether or not individuals who developed covid-19 would experience not only the psychological stress associated with a pandemic, but also other neuropsychiatric symptoms related to the effects of the virus or host immune response on the nervous system.

Past pandemics caused by viral respiratory illnesses such as the flu, Troyer and her co-authors noted, have been closely linked to reported spikes of neurological or psychiatric symptoms such as brain damage, mood changes, or muscular dysfunction. In many cases, these symptoms have happened during someones initial infection; other times, they happen post-infection. And were starting to see the same pattern with covid-19 emerge. Rarely, confirmed covid-19 patients have also had brain swelling, strokes, or seizures, while many more patients have reported a loss of smell or taste, which can be caused by neurological damage.

The authors lay out a few theories for how this is happening. Some evidence has suggested, for instance, that the coronavirus can slip past the blood-brain barrier and infect nerve cells directly. Another theory is that the immune system overshoots its response to the virus, causing systemic damage throughout the body, including to the brain. They also theorize that certain immune cells can become infected, migrate to the brain, and then trigger dangerous inflammation. Another less supported but plausible theory is that the coronavirus damages the gut microbiome, which then affects the brain.

All these explanations could be true to some extent. But even making it through the initial infection relatively healthy may not spare you from neurological problems down the line. Some viral infections, including the flu, are rarely known to trigger later autoimmune disorders that affect the brain and nervous system, which can cause muscle weakness, chronic pain, and even paralysis.

Beyond those concerns, the pandemic is also affecting peoples mental health. Millions have seen covid-19 sicken or kill their family and friends, with many unable to be with their loved ones as they died or attend funerals in person, due to the aggressive measures needed to slow down person-to-person transmission. These same measures have shut down or curtailed non-essential businesses, dramatically changing most peoples daily lives and devastating many financially. In countries like the U.S., with weak worker protections, these lockdowns have led to the highest unemployment rates seen since the Great Depression.

Already, the authors note in their paper, there have been some reports of suicides among people worried about having the illness or catching it. Essential workers, including in health care, are also reporting high levels of stress and burnout related to covid-19, as many struggle with meager pay and risky working conditions that leave them exposed to the virus.

This pandemic is a potential source of direct and vicarious traumatization for everyone, the authors wrote.

Because were still in the early stages of this pandemic, it may take a long time before we can know how commonly these neurological afflictions are happening among covid-19 patients, especially those post-infection. One unanswered question is whether these complications happen more in people infected with the novel coronavirus, called SARS-CoV-2, than they do in people with other cold and flu viruses. But compared to other recent outbreaks of deadly coronaviruses like SARS and MERS, the scale of this coronavirus pandemic is significantly greater, Troyer said.

By raising awareness of these problems now, the authors hope that the medical community keeps a close eye on the brain health of covid-19 patients moving forward.

We also want people to be aware that the nervous system could be involved in COVID-19, so we hope people will talk to their physicians about any emotional, behavioral, cognitive, or sensorimotor symptoms they might have over the course of their recovery, Troyer said. We dont want to cause people more worrywe just want people to know to talk to their healthcare providers about these kinds of symptoms if they arise, and together we will get through this.

If you or someone you know is having a crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 or text the Crisis Text Line at 741-741.

Excerpt from:
Researchers Warn of 'Wave' of Neurological Illness Caused by the Coronavirus - Gizmodo

Coronavirus: Patients have suffered strokes and other neurological symptoms, says study – Sky News

Posted on April 16, 2020 by Danzig

Patients with COVID-19 have suffered strokes and other neurological symptoms, according to the first scientific study to analyse the effects of the disease on the brain.

The study found that neurological effects were seen in just over a third of all cases of hospitalised COVID-19 patients, but affected more than 45% of those with severe infections.

It isn't yet clear if the coronavirus is causing the strokes directly or as a result of the body's inflammatory response, and leading neurologists say more research is needed.

They warn that as well as respiratory symptoms, doctors need to consider potential neurological effects when assessing new patients.

The study was carried out by researchers at Huazhong University in Wuhan, and the Barrow Neurological Institute in Arizona.

The team analysed cases in Wuhan in China, the original epicentre of the outbreak, between 16 January and 19 February - including 214 hospitalised patients whose diagnoses were laboratory-confirmed.

Just over a third of these patients, 78 (36.4%), had neurological symptoms as well as respiratory symptoms.

"Compared with patients with non-severe infection, patients with severe infection were older, had more underlying disorders, especially hypertension, and showed fewer typical symptoms of COVID-19, such as fever and cough," they found.

The study, in the journal JAMA, was published alongside an editorial by leading neurologists which notes the similarity of the coronavirus to SARS - which researchers have shown caused strokes.

However, unlike in SARS patients, the new study found that neurological symptoms could occur very early within the infection.

Some patients presented at hospital without a fever but had neurological issues including losing their taste or smell, as well more significant impacts such as impaired consciousness, headaches and dizziness.

The scientists warn that the disease may infect the "nervous system and skeletal muscle as well as [the] respiratory tract" which could provide healthcare workers with an additional way to diagnose patients.

COVID-19 has "now reached pandemic status and is common all over the world" said the neurologists in their editorial.

"With so many affected patients, we can expect as neurologists to be confronted with these patients commonly in coming months and years."

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Coronavirus: Patients have suffered strokes and other neurological symptoms, says study - Sky News

Coronavirus Patients First Symptom was Delirium; Neurologists Form Theory that Virus Could Invade the Brain – Science Times

Posted on April 16, 2020 by Danzig

(Photo : Photo by Robina Weermeijer on Unsplash)

Nicole Hutcherson, daughter of the late Frank M. Carter, who died from COVID-19 a week ago, recounts how her father's symptoms of the disease were not the common ones seen in most people.

Frank Carter, an 82-year-old local of Goodlettsville, Tennessee asserted he was fine despite having nausea and vomiting. Hutcherson said her father thought he was just dehydrated. Being a nurse, she had some supplies ready on hand and attempted to insert an IV line on her father to address his dehydration.

She recalls how her father had no reaction when she inserted the needle in his arm as if he was sedated. This was when Hutcherson noticed something was off with her father's mental state. She thought it was unusual, as her father had shown no prior signs of dementia or any other cognitive diseases in the past.

Hutcherson believes that the delirium she recognized in her father was one of the first signs of his infection of the coronavirus. Carter died within a week of experiencing symptoms.

Also Read: A Quicker Solution to Coronavirus May Be Vaccines That Are 50% Effective, Scientists Claim

There is growing evidence to suggest that COVID-19, can affect not only the lungs but the brain, as well.

Dr. E. Wesley Ely, a professor of medicine and critical care at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, speculates the possibility of coronavirus being capable of invading the brain. Not much is certain about the coronavirus and its connection with the neurological system.

Due to the lack of information about the matter, Ely and colleagues with the Critical Illness, Brain Dysfunction, and Survivorship Center, in partnership with Vanderbilt and the Nashville VA, have launched a study of post-mortem brain tissue to study signs of COVID-19 in the brain.

Funding for the research will be the National Institutes of Health. The team plans to analyze the brains' neurons for damage, measure different brain regions to see if parts have unusually shrunk, and examine the hippocampus, which plays a large role in memory. The first brain donated to the project was Frank M. Carter's.

A recent study of 214 patients in Wuhan, China, found more than 33% had neurologic manifestations of the disease, including stroke and loss of consciousness. Doctors in the United States have noted the same.

Dr. Johanna Fifi, the associate director of the cerebrovascular center at the Mount Sinai Health System in New York, told NBC News that she had five COVID-19 patients under the age of 49, all with strokes resulting from a blockage in one of the major blood vessels which led to the brain.

Two of her patients had what Fifi described as mild coronavirus infections before the stroke. The other three displayed no symptoms at all.

A similar case is that of 40-year-old Jesse Vanderhoof, a nurse with coronavirus, who spent more than a week on a mechanical ventilator in an intensive care unit in a hospital in Idaho. His wife, Emily Vanderhoof, described how her husband's mind 'wasn't right' as he yanked his IV out of his arm and talked in circles about random topics.

Read Also: Tech Company Claims UV LED Could Kill Coronavirus in 30 Seconds in Support to Research by UC Santa Barbara

Excerpt from:
Coronavirus Patients First Symptom was Delirium; Neurologists Form Theory that Virus Could Invade the Brain - Science Times

The global rare neurological disease treatment market is expected to reach US$13,830.96 million by 2027 from US$ 7,300.12 million in 2019 – Yahoo…

Posted on April 16, 2020 by Danzig

NEW YORK, April 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --

The global rare neurological disease treatment market is expected to reach US$13,830.96 million by 2027 from US$ 7,300.12 million in 2019. The market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 8.5% from 2020 to 2027.

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05882129/?utm_source=PRN

Driving factors of the rare neurological disease treatment market are growing prevalence of rare neurological diseases and favorable pipeline drugs and robust research activities for the treatment of rare neurological diseases. However, high treatment cost incurred is likely to show negative impact on market growth during the forecast period.Rapid developments in healthcare and drug discovery are leading to the introduction of new therapeutic solutions for the treatment of rare neurological diseases.Authorities such as World Health Organization, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and National Institutes of Health are taking constructive steps to encourage research activities to find a remedy for rare neurological diseases.

For instance, in August 2019, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences invited researchers to conduct study on rare neurological and neuromuscular diseases.In order to cope up with rising prevalence of rare neurological diseases and geriatric population, pharmaceutical companies are actively participating in the development of drugs.For instance, in December 2019, Healx in partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim announced a plan to discover new treatment approaches in the coming years.Additionally, they are planning to discover new therapeutic options for the treatment of fragile X syndrome and Pitt-Hopkins syndrome.

Additionally, in January 2020, Ovid Therapeutics, a well-known player in rare neurological diseases treatment market, announced the enrollment of patients for pivotal Phase 3 NEPTUNE trial associated with Angelman syndrome.The results of this research study are expected in mid-2020.

Such increasing awareness and developments for rare neurological diseases are likely to boost the growth of the market during the forecast period.The global rare neurological disease treatment market is segmented into indication, drug type, distribution channel, and mode of administration.The rare neurological disease treatment market, by indication, is further segmented into narcolepsy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), Duchene muscular dystrophy, and other indication.

Based on drug type, the rare neurological disease treatment market is further segmented into organic compounds and biologics.Based on distribution channel, the market is further segmented into online pharmacies, hospital pharmacies, and retail pharmacies.

The mode of administration segment is classified into oral, injectables.Some of the essential primary and secondary sources included in the report are Food and Drug Administration, World Health Organization (WHO), Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Canada Foundation of Innovation, European Federation of Pharmaceuticals Industries Associations, and International Trade Administration.

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05882129/?utm_source=PRN

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The global rare neurological disease treatment market is expected to reach US$13,830.96 million by 2027 from US$ 7,300.12 million in 2019 - Yahoo...

Brain, nervous system affected in 1 in 3 cases of severe Covid-19 – Health24

Posted on April 16, 2020 by Danzig

A study out of China finds that strokes, altered consciousness and other neurological issues are relatively common in more serious cases of Covid-19.

Looking at 214 cases of severe coronavirus illness treated in Wuhan city during the early phase of the global pandemic, doctors reported that 36.4% of patients displayed neurological symptoms.

Sometimes these symptoms appeared in the relative absence of "typical" symptoms of Covid-19 fever, cough, diarrhoea the team said.

In such cases, doctors should consider coronavirus infection as a potential cause of the problem "to avoid delayed diagnosis or misdiagnosis", said a team led by Dr Bo Hu, a neurologist at Union Hospital in Wuhan.

Hu's team published their findings online in JAMA Neurology.

Absence of typical symptoms

The suspicion that the novel coronavirus could infiltrate and affect the brain and central nervous system is not new. Last month, numerous reports emerged that one key sign of infection was a loss of sense of smell, pointing to the virus somehow affecting nerve pathways.

In the new report, Hu's team tracked outcomes for more than 200 people treated at three hospitals in Wuhan, the original epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic. Patients all had disease severe enough to warrant hospitalisation, and were treated between 16 January and 19 February. They averaged about 53 years of age.

Looking specifically at symptoms affecting the brain or central nervous system, the team found that these issues became more common as the severity of illness rose. And, in some cases, typical Covid-19 symptoms were absent.

"Some patients without typical symptoms of Covid-19 came to the hospital with only neurological manifestation as their presenting symptoms," the researchers wrote. In some cases, these issues could be life-threatening: there were at least six cases of stroke or brain haemorrhage observed among those studied, Hu's group reported.

Whether or not infection with the coronavirus directly triggered strokes is unclear, the team said, but in severe Covid-19, a "rapid clinical deterioration or worsening could be associated with a neurologic event such as stroke, which would contribute to its high mortality rate."

Other neurological issues were also at play. Many patients arrived at the hospital disoriented or confused, or were dizzy or had headaches or even seizures, the Chinese group said. Impairments in taste or smell were also seen.

More specific neuroimaging needed

Older patients, many of whom had other underlying chronic illnesses, were at highest risk for neurological issues tied to Covid-19, the study found.

Dr Rafael Ortiz is chief of neuro-endovascular surgery at Northwell Health Western Region in New York City and Westchester, New York.

Reading over the new report, he said "these findings could be related to direct involvement of the virus in the brain, brainstem and peripheral nerves." Other symptoms may be due to the stresses put on the body by the illness itself, he added.

The Chinese researchers and Ortiz agreed that this early study may not be the last word on how the new coronavirus affects the brain.

"A prospective, observational study with a larger number of patients that includes more specific neuroimaging and other diagnostic tests is warranted for more conclusive evidence," Ortiz said.

READ | Neurological ailments in some coronavirus patients - what could this mean?

READ | How scientists found the fingerprint behind South Africa's Covid-19 virus

READ | A lack of sleep affects your immune system - here's how quality sleep can help you fight the coronavirus

Image credit: iStock

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Brain, nervous system affected in 1 in 3 cases of severe Covid-19 - Health24

Pulmonary Embolism (PE) | Causes of a Blood Clot in the Lung – DrugWatch.com

Posted on April 15, 2020 by Prof Baldwin

A thrombus is a clot that develops in a vein and doesnt move. Once the clot dislodges and travels in the blood stream, its called an embolus. Most of the time, a pulmonary embolism starts as a deep vein thrombosis, also called a DVT, which is a clot that develops in the deep veins of the lower body usually the pelvis, thighs and lower legs.

Once a DVT travels to the lungs, its called a pulmonary embolus. This type of clot blocks blood flow to the lungs and prevents the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide.

While researchers arent sure of the exact number of people who have pulmonary embolisms, they estimate the incidence is about 60 to 70 in 100,000, according to an article published in Experimental & Clinical Cardiology by Dr. Jan Belohlavek and colleagues.

Other studies estimate that more than 1 million Americans have a PE each year, and 100,000 to 200,000 of those cases are fatal, according to the American Thoracic Society.

Complications of pulmonary embolisms include lung damage, low blood oxygen level that can lead to organ damage and death.

Expand

Half of the people with a pulmonary embolism have no symptoms, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Prevention of PE is important because for about 25 percent of people who have a PE, sudden death is the first symptom, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Symptoms of PE may be more or less severe depending on the persons overall health and the extent of the blockage. For example, people with poor cardiovascular health or diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, also called COPD, or coronary artery disease may have more severe symptoms.

A pulmonary embolism is a medical emergency, and anyone with symptoms should seek medical attention right away.

For some people, the only symptom may be shortness of breath with rapid breathing and feelings of anxiety or restlessness. This may be accompanied by chest pain and rapid, irregular heartbeat.

If the clot is very large, the first symptoms are light-headedness or loss of consciousness. A sudden loss of consciousness may cause body shakes similar to seizures and low blood pressure, which could lead to sudden death.

Confusion and mental deterioration because of lack of oxygen are early symptoms that are more common in older people.

In data from the Prospective Investigation of Pulmonary Embolism Diagnosis II (PIOPED II) trial presented by Abigail K. Tarbox and Mamta Swaroop in International Journal of Critical Illness and Injury Science, the most common symptoms were shortness of breath within seconds of PE onset, chest pain, thigh or calf pain, thigh or calf swelling and cough.

Signs of a pulmonary embolism include:

In addition to symptoms of PE, some people may have symptoms of DVT, including pain in one or both legs, swelling, soreness or tenderness and redness, or discolored skin in the affected area.

The most common cause of pulmonary embolisms is DVT, almost all of the clots start in the veins of the leg. But PEs can also develop from clots that form in the arms or pelvis.

Less common causes of PE include:

Some people are at greater risk for PE. Some risk factors can be controlled, such as smoking or obesity. But others such as family history and age cant be controlled.

Risk factors for PE include:

Certain medications may increase the risk of developing blood clots in the lungs. These include certain types of hormonal birth control such as Yaz (drospirenone) or NuvaRing, estrogen replacement therapy, testosterone replacement therapy or Xeljanz (tofacitinib).

For example, in July 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved new warnings for Xeljanz for an increased risk of blood clots and death with the 10 mg twice-daily dose of tofacitinib used for ulcerative colitis patients.

Always tell your health care provider about all medication you are taking, especially if you are already at increased risk for PE.

Pulmonary embolism can be difficult to diagnose because its symptoms mimic those of other health problems. Because less than half of patients who die from the condition were diagnosed before death, PE has earned the reputation of being a silent killer, according to the American Thoracic Society.

Health care providers will take a patients full medical history and perform a physical exam. Although there are several possible tests, most of them vary on accuracy for diagnosing PE. The most common tests are blood tests, CT scan, ultrasound and echocardiogram, according to the American Thoracic Society.

It may take more than one of these tests to diagnose PE.

Health care providers use blood tests to check the bloods clotting status and arterial gas levels. Abnormal arterial gas levels can indicate lack of oxygen and respiratory impairment. Blood tests are also used to check for genetic disorder that may be causing abnormal clotting.

A CT scan uses a computer and X-rays to make detailed images of the body. A CT scan with contrast dye injected into the blood stream allows doctors to see the blood vessels in the lungs. This is the most common test for PE. But some people cant undergo CT because of the contrast dye and radiation.

A type of vascular ultrasound, a duplex ultrasound uses high-frequency sound waves to assess blood flow and the blood vessels in the legs. Most pulmonary embolisms begin as clots in the legs.

An echocardiogram is a type of ultrasound. Health care professionals often perform an echocardiogram of the heart to assess the severity of PE pressures and heart function.

Health care professionals may use the Pulmonary Embolism Rule-Out Criteria, or PERC, rule to see if someone needs to be tested for PE. According to the PERC rule, if a patient meets all eight criteria, they dont need to be tested.

PERC Criteria

People who require treatment for PE will usually have to be in the hospital so they can be monitored. The severity of the clot determines the course and length of treatment.

Treatment options may include anticoagulant medications, thrombolytic therapy and compression stockings. Sometimes a doctor will recommend surgery or interventional procedures to improve blood flow and reduce the risk of blood clots in the future.

In most cases, treatment consists of anticoagulants, also called blood thinners. These help to prevent and break up smaller clots.

Heparin and warfarin, two medications that have been on the market for a while, require blood tests to get the exact dose for the individual. People taking these medications must also get routine blood tests to make sure the dose is working or isnt too high.

Newer blood thinners such as Pradaxa (dabigatran), Xarelto (rivaroxaban) and Eliquis (apixaban) come in once-a-day doses and dont require blood tests.

The most serious side effect of blood thinners is uncontrolled bleeding, but most blood thinners on the market now have antidotes to reverse anticoagulation for life-threatening bleeds.

In emergency cases, some patients may take thrombolytic medications, also called clot busters. Health care providers deliver these medications directly to the clot through a catheter, and the medication dissolves the clot.

Compression stockings, or support hose, are usually knee-high length and compress your legs to prevent the pooling of blood. They also aid blood flow in the legs. A health care provider will instruct the patient on how to use them and for how long.

Sometimes medications and support stocking arent enough. If a pulmonary embolism is life-threatening, a doctor may recommend surgery to remove the clot.

Another type of invasive treatment involves the use of a small, metal cage-like device called an intravenous vena cava filter, or IVC filter. Surgeons implant the IVC filter into the vena cava, the bodys largest vein, to act like a trap for blood clots. The IVC filter catches clots as they travel through the blood stream and prevents them from reaching the lungs.

The PESI is a calculation tool that doctors can use to determine the severity of PE. People with the following criteria score higher on the PESI and are at greater risk of death following PE.

The best treatment for pulmonary embolisms is prevention, especially for people who have a higher risk for DVT or PE. Many prevention tips are simple lifestyle changes. A health care provider may also recommend medications to manage health conditions that could lead to PE.

Tips for preventing PE include:

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Pulmonary Embolism (PE) | Causes of a Blood Clot in the Lung - DrugWatch.com

Protecting The High Seas: Researchers Use Big Data to Identify Biodiversity Hotspots – Noozhawk

Posted on April 15, 2020 by Danzig

Often considered desolate, remote, unalterable places, the high seas are, in fact, hotbeds of activity for both people and wildlife.

Technology has enabled more human activity in areas once difficult to reach, and that in turn has brought a growing presence of industries such as fishing, mining and transportation in international waters the ocean beyond 200 nautical miles from any coast.

This increase is cause for concern to people like UC Santa Barbara researchers Douglas McCauley,Morgan Visalliand Benjamin Best, who are interested in the health and biodiversity of the oceans.

That no nation has jurisdiction over international waters has, at least historically, maderegulation very difficult and puts sensitive and essential ocean habitats and resources at risk.

The high seas are the planets last global commons, said Visalli, a marine scientist at the Benioff Ocean Initiative at UCSB. Yet marine life and resources on the high seas are at risk of being overexploited and degraded under the current fragmented framework of management.

"The world needs and deserves a comprehensive legal mechanism to protect high seas biodiversity now and into the future.

So when the United Nations turned its efforts toward negotiating the first global high seas treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction, the scientistsleapt at the chance to put their expertise to work.

To kickstart this research, ocean scientists and high seas experts from 13 universities and institutions gathered in a series of workshops at UCSB. Together the team developed a standardized, data-driven strategy to identify hotspots of biodiversity potentially deserving of protection in the high seas.

One of the goals of these United Nations negotiations is to develop a pathwayfor the establishment of marine protected areas in the high seas, said Visalli.This creates an incredible opportunity to leverage new global data assets and data-driven planning tools to identify areas of the high seas that have outstanding conservation value and could be considered high priority areas for spatial protection.

The researchers results are published in a paper in the journal Marine Policy.

Marine protected areas designated parks in the sea where special measures are taken to protect biodiversity are among the most powerful and effective tools marine scientists and managershave at their disposal to look after marine biodiversity, maintain ocean resiliency and enhance the productivity of fishery resources that operate just outside of these parks.

But to get the most out of marine protected areas, they need to be put in the right places. Researchers in this collaboration used big data and an optimization algorithm to try tobalance the benefits of protectingcertain locations with high biodiversity against costs, such as the loss of fishing in that area.

Their aim was to find win-win solutions for the possible placement of these high seas protected areas.

It is a historic moment for our ocean, said McCauley, a professor of ecology at UCSB and director of the Benioff Ocean Initiative.

Places like New York City, that famously included parks for nature and people in their zoning plans before things got busy, have benefited immensely from that foresight. This is our Central Park moment for the high seas.

The researchers took more than 22 billion data points organized into 55 layers that included information on conservation-related factors such as species diversity, ocean productivity, threatened species and fishingin locations across the high seas, which cover about two-thirds of the global ocean.

They also future-proofed their analysis by including data layers describing the predicted diversity of species in a future ocean altered by climate change.

This is important because climate change is rapidly altering our oceans, McCauley said. Our approach illustrates one way to protect the biodiversity oases ofboth today and tomorrow.

Each hotspot identified in this analysis was special for its own unique reasons.

The research highlighted, for example,the Costa Rica Dome, a dynamic nutrient rich region that attracts endangered blue whales and leatherback sea turtles; the Emperor Seamount Chain, a string of extinct underwater volcanoes that are home to some of the oldest living corals; and the Mascarene Plateau, an area in the Indian Ocean that has the largest contiguous seagrass meadow in the world and provides habitat for many globally unique species.

These and other notable biodiversity hotspots across the globe could constitute the critical mass needed to achieve long-term marine sustainability goals, according to the study, and are worthy of consideration as the first generation of high seas marine protected areas.

Decades in the making and nearly close to completion, the high seas treaty negotiations were set to embark on their fourth round this month, but have been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Preliminary results from this exercise were presented by UCSB scientists at the United Nations during the third negotiation session for the treaty last August.

This analysis, the researchers say, disproves the misconception that there is not enough good data about biodiversity in the high seas to strategically plan for high seas protected areas.

We have high hopes, McCauley said. We hope that the United Nations will indeed deliver a strong treaty later this year that includes measures to set up these new international ocean parks. And that science-based analyses, such as these, give them confidence that researchers and experts stand ready to help them strategically put these parks in smart places that will maximize the benefits that these parks will yield for people and nature.

Continued here:

Protecting The High Seas: Researchers Use Big Data to Identify Biodiversity Hotspots - Noozhawk

Upcoming ‘Sea of Thieves’ Update Will Change the High Seas – Exclusively Games

Posted on April 15, 2020 by Danzig

Sea of Thieves has tucked away its second anniversary under its belt, retreading bits and pieces of past events to give newcomers and old timers alike a taste of just how far the experience has come. Now, as revealed in a new update video, the adventures are about to heat up even more. Picking up in the wake of the Heart of Fire update, the nefarious undertakings of Captain Flameheart, Stitcher Jim, and the Masked Stranger are now in motion and when everything will finally come to a head is yet to be determined. But the threat is real, and as the stakes begin rising so does the level of involvement players will be able to undertake.

On April 22nd, players will be able to dive into the Ships of Fortune update. This update is aimed at overhauling key aspects of both Adventure mode and Arena mode. For Adventure mode, factions and reputation gains are being overhauled to give players the ability to wave the banner of different factions in favor of special unlockables and increased rewards of treasure and reputation gain the more they progress. Whether youre sailing on behalf of the Gold Hoarders, the Order of Souls, or the Merchant Alliance you can now represent the three main factions your way.

But beyond that, a new faction joins the fight in the form of The Reapers Bones. If youve been enjoying the rewards of the Masked Stranger and her dastardly deeds, from Reapers Chests to double-gold payouts on treasure, then youll love that this faction is now sending you out with the sole purpose of sinking the ships of other factions. This is perfect for those who see Sea of Thieves as a hunting ground. This is likely going to make already hostile encounters heat up quite a bit, because now there is more incentive beyond just the plundered loot of sunken ships. What better time to introduce a new mechanic to the combat system than with this addition? Now players will have the chance to revive their fallen allies in the heat of combat. Done carefully, ship-boardings and other encounters can now not only be prolonged but become much more intense.

It will be interesting to see how that change fairs within the Arena as well, boasting its own set of changes encouraged to make the matches more frantic and less of a war of attrition. Match times have been decreased, and objectives have been redesigned in a way to keep the fight going until the end. Its looking like the update is going to be full of plenty of changes that overhauls the games core components just enough that no one will feel like theyve been keelhauled.

Excerpt from:

Upcoming 'Sea of Thieves' Update Will Change the High Seas - Exclusively Games

Review: ‘Sea Fever’ Is a Contagion Thriller On The High Seas – Pajiba Entertainment News

Posted on April 15, 2020 by Danzig

For centuries, mankind has traversed, fished, and polluted the ocean, masquerading as its master. But still, we just scratch at the surface of its terrain and mysteries. The ocean is a world untamed, containing creatures far bigger than we and far beyond our understanding. Such a creature is at the center of the outstanding sci-fi horror film Sea Fever.

Written and directed by Neasa Hardiman, Sea Fever follows the journey of an average Irish trawler as it sets forth to find a rich cache of fish. A hefty haul is needed by the boats married co-captains (Dougray Scott and Connie Nielsen), who are behind in their debts and in their crews paychecks. To make ends meet, they agree to allow a marine biology student on board to observe and survey the marine life they encounter. But things are tense from the moment Siobhn (Hermione Corfield) steps on deck. Not only is she cringingly socially awkward, but also shes a redhead. And allowing a redheaded woman aboard a boat is a bad omen for superstitious sailors. Nonetheless, they cast off, chasing a big catch and seeking good fortune. But what theyll find is a strange, glowing creature that brings nothing but hardship and horror.

Though a creature feature, this clever low-budget thriller doesnt boast the kind of showy monster sequences of Jaws, The Meg, or John Carpenters The Thing. Instead, it favors a more under-the-skin approach to terror. Hardiman gives us glimpses of a sea beast massive, menacing, and beautifully bioluminescent. She offers blue goo that sludges about the trawler as an oozing if ambiguous threat. And she introduces a life cycle that throws mankind back into the food chain, and, oh yes, there will be blood. But the richest tension in Sea Fever comes not from its monster but from those driven wild by it.

Hardiman sets up a sensationally suspenseful dynamic aboard her ship with a series of culture clashes. First off, shy Siobhn prefers her samples and studies to people, hovering over a microscope to turn her back on an office birthday party. Shes also an intellectual snob, who looks down her button nose at these scruffy blue-collar workers. And she lets them know it with carelessly offensive remarks, like blithely asking their brilliantly inventive engineer, Why dont you have a better job? Its little wonder this tight-knit crew doesnt immediately embrace this stuck-up, erudite barnacle of a girl. But making matters worse is their cultural conflict of science versus superstition. On a dark night, they share nautical folklore, which Siobhn initially finds little more than curious. But when this mysterious creature breaches the boat and infects their water supply, its the crew who is skeptical as Siobhn begins to plead about potential parasitic contamination.

Heres where Hardiman pulls some inspiration from The Thing. The crew begins to eye each other, this outsider, and their own reflections, wary of signs of infection. Every open wound is a reason to worry. Every emotional outburst a potential symptom. And every nautical mile they draw closer to shore pushes them closer to a point of no return. On top of all of this, the scant hours this team sleeps means they are susceptible to mental breakdown, delusions, and sea fever. So they may not be able to believe their eyes. What is real is uncertainand unnerving.

Lean but intense, Sea Fever is a stellar horror-thriller that hooks us with its class conflict, then reels us in with a tale of monsters, mayhem, and impossible choices. Its cast brings an earthy earnestness that grounds the film from its dockside introductions, making its sci-fi beast feel all the more real and terrifying. From theres, Hardiman embraces the claustrophobic vibe of the run-down trawler, trapping her audience with its heroes and their fear there is no escape. Hardiman ratchets up the tension with bursts of blood, sparks of violence, and a climax thats suitably explosive for this setting and scale. And then, most remarkable of all, she gives us a finale that is deeply satisfying and suitably and strangely beautiful.

Sea Fever is available on VOD.

Kristy Puchko is the managing editor of Pajiba. You can follow her on Twitter.

Header Image Source: Bright Moving Pictures

Cruise lines turn to virtual cruising to give a taste of life on the high seas – The Telegraph

Posted on April 15, 2020 by Danzig

I cant help but feel a tinge of jealousy as I read about Danny Bradleys cruise around the Caribbean. Dolphin watching in the Dominican Republic, a sun-soaked beach in Jamaica, a day of sun, sea and cocktails as his ship sails from one island to another. And here we all are in lockdown in the UK.

As, indeed, is Danny. But while most of us are mourning holidays cancelled due to Covid-19, he has been livening up his lockdown by living his cruise virtually onsocial media.

Loving our balcony with these gorgeous Caribbean Sea vistas, he writes on his first day at sea on Marella Cruises ship Marella Discovery 2. Believe me Danny, so am I! By day four he is off for a bit of culture and beach time on a tour in Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic. I can but dream!

The cruise his first with Marella was due to end this week in Jamaica but he loved it so much that plans to stay on for another virtual week as its a different itinerary. Lots of people have had their cruises cancelled and are feeling down in this crisis so this was a fun way to turn it on its head, he says. Will he ever do a real cruise again? I will certainly rebook with Marella as soon as I can, he promises.

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Cruise lines turn to virtual cruising to give a taste of life on the high seas - The Telegraph

Tired of ‘Frozen?’ Here are a few less obvious kids movies to stream – Martinsville Bulletin

Posted on April 15, 2020 by Danzig

This combination photo shows, The Beatles, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney and George Harrison arriving in Liverpool, England for the premiere of their movie "A Hard Day's Night," on July 10, 1964, left, a scene from the film "Apollo 11," center, and a portrait of Buster Keaton, the sad-faced comedian, in Los Angeles on Oct. 9, 1955. (AP Photo, left, CNN/Neon via AP, center, and AP Photo)

NEW YORK (AP) Weeks of quarantine with kids have a way of burning through a movie collection.

Even with the libraries of streaming services like Netflix, Amazon, Disney Plus and others, there are plenty of households that have already had their fill of "Frozen" and overdosed on "Onward." In the best of times, the canon for kids movies can feel limiting. Disney overwhelms.

But there's a wider world of movies out there for young ones. We'll assume they've already accrued a solid foundation of some of the essentials: "Fantastic Mr. Fox," "The Iron Giant," Pixar, the Muppets, et cetera. So here's a few slightly further afield options all available to stream, rent or are free that your kids might not have seen.

"Fly Away Home"

The outlines of this 1996 film, with Anna Paquin and Jeff Daniels, suggest a familiar and schmaltzy kind of family movie, but it's handled with such grace that it rises above the ordinary. Also, the geese are really great. A 13-year-old (Paquin) moves in with her estranged father (Daniels) in rural Canada after the death of her mother. She adopts an abandoned nest of goose eggs, raises them and teaches them to fly South for the winter. Available to stream on the Criterion Channel. The director, Carol Ballard, and the cinematographer, Caleb Deschanel, also crafted a movie of pastoral beauty and sweet child-animal camaraderie in 1979's "Black Stallion," which is streaming on Amazon Prime.

"Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro"

For streaming Studio Ghibli films, we'll have to wait until they collectively hit HBO Max when it launches in May. (They are available outside the U.S. on Netflix.) They are so good among the most wondrous in cinema you might just go ahead and buy copies of "My Neighbor Totoro," "Spirited Away" and "Princess Mononoke." But for now, you can stream the feature-film directing debut of Hayao Miyazaki, the animation master and co-founder of Ghibli. "The Castle of Cagliostro," on Netflix, isn't as well-known as Miyazaki's best. But the director's verve and imagination is already on display in this, a caper that continues the exploits of the debonair thief Arsne Lupin. Here Lupin discovers the loot from a casino heist is counterfeit.

Buster Keaton

No child raised on Buster Keaton can turn out bad. It's just a fact. Most even young children recognize, and laugh their heads off at, his genius. Keaton's features are widely available, but many of his equally brilliant shorts can be streamed for free. Among them, "One Week," in which he tries to assemble a house; "The Goat," wherein Keaton is mistaken for a murderer; and "Cops," in which he angers the entire Los Angeles police force.

"Stop Making Sense"

Concert films are an underutilized source of entertainment for kids. Jonathan Demme's glorious Talking Heads documentary, available for digital rental and to stream for free via Vudu, is a good place to start. And since David Byrne slowly assembles his band beginning with just himself, an acoustic guitar and a tape deck, on "Psycho Killer" "Stop Making Sense" offers a good step-by-step education on how to build a post-modern funk extravaganza. Plus tips on wearing big suits and dancing with floor lamps. (See also: "A Hard Day's Night," on Criterion Channel and "The Last Waltz" on Amazon Prime.)

"The Three Caballeros"

There are forgotten Disney treasures, too, including this trippy 1944 gem streaming on Disney Plus. On his birthday, Donald Duck receives a package from his friends in Central and South America. Inside are film reels that bring a handful of individual tales and travelogues that Donald leaps into, too. It's a loving if overly exotic celebration of South America with some fabulous and surreal moments that blend animation and live action. The movie was produced as part of the wartime "Good Neighbor" policy to bring the Americas together and ward off any appeals from Axis powers. All of which is to say: "The Three Caballeros" isn't your average Disney movie.

"Apollo 11"

This hit 2019 documentary, on Hulu, simply follows the moon mission from launch to rescue, without talking heads and with large amounts of previously unseen IMAX footage. It's a propulsive time-capsule, one that the intervening 50 years has made only more stupendous. "Apollo 11," like the archival "For All Mankind," captures the all-ages thrill and glory of the moon landing.

"Pirates! Band of Misfits"

Aardman Animations has been reliably churning out delights, from "Wallace and Gromit" to "Shaun the Sheep," for decades. "Pirates! Band of Misfits" (2012) came and went somewhat quietly and didn't spawn a franchise. But the Aardman charm is there on the high seas, too. Streaming on Hulu.

"Boy"

Taika Waititi does kids better than any working filmmaker today. Well before his Oscar-nominated "Jo Jo Rabbit," Waititi was making comic and big-hearted films about childhood, including his Oscar-nominated short, "Two Cars, One Night," and this semi-autobiographical sophomore feature, inspired by that short. James Rolleston stars as an 11-year-old Maori boy and Michael Jackson fan whose dimwitted ex-convict father (a mulleted Waititi) returns home. Available on the free, public library streaming service Kanopy.

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Tired of 'Frozen?' Here are a few less obvious kids movies to stream - Martinsville Bulletin

Death on the high seas; the mysterious death of a humble fishing observer – Stuff.co.nz

Posted on April 15, 2020 by Danzig

On a sweltering but calm afternoon, EritaraAatiKaierua left the island of Pohnpei, Micronesiaon his final journey. Aboard a rusting Taiwanesefishing vessel he sailed south-east, leaving behind mangrove swamps on the shore line, and passing low coral atolls, beyond the breakwater beforereachingthe deep-blue of the Pacific.

He would never leave that ship. In less than five weeks, the 40-year-oldwould be dead, found lying on the floor of his locked cabin with a brutal head wound and bruising to his neck.

Kaierua's deathis now under investigation by Kiribati police, with assistance from Fijian pathologist.The father-of-fouris the tenthPacific fisheriesobserver to die on the lawless high seas in the last decade.

The tragedy hassparked a call for more protection for this vulnerable workforce, who oftenface hostility from captains and crews. And it's brought to light the mysterious deaths of two more i-Kiribati monitors in the last three years.

READ MORE:* Caught*Forced labour fishing tainting tuna supply*'Scorched-earth approach to fishing': Conservationists says Govt lobbying for fisheries*50 fishing boats refuse MPI observers in 18 months, data shows

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Eritara with his wife Tekarara Kabangaki.

Kaierua grew up on the Tarawara atoll in Kiribati, a central Pacific island nation that straddles the equator.

The sea was his playground and he and sisterNikora "Nicky"Kaieruawould play hide and seek on vessels moored in the lagoon."He was my best friend in childhood,"she said.

Their father was a ship's engineer and from the age of four, Kaierua dreamed of being a sea captain.

He graduated from a marine training centre and began sailing the world's oceans, working on cargo and oil ships. But these voyages took him away from his wifeTekararaKabangaki and their three young children, and in 2012 he took a job as a fisheries observer, working for the Kiribati government.

These watchdogstravel aboard fishing fleets, tracking their catches including any endangeredspecies by-catch. They make sure fishermen are following the rulesand not dumping unwanted fish overboard. It's vital toprotect oceans andpreserve fishstocks.

But it's dangerous and isolating work and they sometimes face hostility from the crews they are watching. Tuna is a multi-billion dollar industry and the Pacific is it's most lucrative fishing grounds.

H??l??ne Petit/WWF

Tuna contributes about US$42BN to the global economy, with a significant chunk of that caught in the Pacific Ocean.

Observer programmes are run bygovernments and regional fisheries management organisationsbut the monitors have no power to stop or sanction illegal activity. They can only watch, record and report.

In the past decade, ten observershave lost their lives on the vast stretch of ocean, with at least five under a cloud of suspicion. But the sea rarely gives up her secrets and these deaths have never been prosecuted.

"We've seen several instances over the last decade of observers that have gone missing or who have died under suspicious circumstances," says Alfred "Bubba" Cook, an ocean conservationist for the World Wide Fund for Nature.

"They are responsible for collecting information that can ultimately be used in investigations against that vessel and its crew. They're in a position where they're, at best, a nuisance and, at worst, a threat to the crew andthe company.

"So they're constantly in a position of being subject to threats, intimidation, bribes."

WWF

Bubba Cook is Western and Central Pacific Tuna Programme Manager at the World Wide Fund for Nature.

Kaieruaexperienced some of these tensions. In 2016, he told his sister about attempts to bribe him over a shark fin catch.

And in the year before he died, a crew turned on him after they were forced to offload tonnes of tuna in Tuvalu after officials check his log and found that it didn't match that of the captain. NickyKaierua, 42,says her younger brother felt his life was put in danger.

"Eritara got so scared... After that incident, he would go out to do his work, come back and lock himself up in his room.

"Inthe mess room, he was so fearful of being poisoned that he would grab the sailors food rather than eating the serve allocated for him.

"Most of the timehe would eatnoodles and biscuits, his own rations, in his room. He came off that boat and he reported it to Kiribati Fisheries."

His next posting was aboard a sister ship, and NickyKaierua said he was afraid. "Putting him aboard the sister boat showed safety wasn't a priority. But he came back alive and he was really thankful for that.

"The system appears to lack safety risk management. Had there been a robust and effectivesystem with a good reporting, lives could have been more protected and accidents could have been prevented."

Supplied

The WIN FAR NO.636 is currently being held in Kiribati while police investigate the death of an observer.

Kaierua's last voyage was aboard Win Far 636, a 30-year old tuna purse seiner, owned by Kuo HsiungFishery, based in Taiwan's Kaohsiung City. The local Kiribati agent for the vessel was the government-owned company, Central Pacific Products Limited (CCPL).

According to Kaierua's log, seen by his family, he boarded the vessel at 2.20pm on February 13. The vessel's tracking technology was switched off so their voyage is unclear.

His death was reported on March 3 in waters off Nauru. The Taiwanese government alerted the multi-national regulatory body Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission and the Kiribati government.

The mainly Vietnamese crew opted to sail to Kiribati, but arrived a day later than expected. The ship was immediately impounded when it arrived.

Two of the crew were arrested, but thenreleased after questioning.

An autopsy revealed Kaierua died of a severe blow to the back of the head. On March 29 local police opened a murder inquiry.

Stuff understands he was found partially laying on his mattress which was on the floor. There was blood on his nose and there was food on his chest and neck.

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Nicky Kaieru lost her brother Eritara at sea. She wants a thorough police investigation.

Mamara Ubatoi, of the Kiribati police, told Stuff the crew were cooperating: "According to the pathologist Eritara was murdered...We also have information that the [ship'] signalling device was off around the date and time of Eritara's demise," he said.

"We are still suspicious when they didn't report to Nauru and took so long for them to come to Kiribati. The case is still under investigation."

NickyKaierua said herfamily are anxious for answers and want a "solid" investigation. "I know the police are giving it their best shot but I also know police are not 100 per cent familiar with accidents at sea.

"We wantto get to the bottom of this. For the industry to learn from, for the observer programme or fisheries industry to learn from and to prevent the re-occurrence and mainly justice for my brother.

"We are hoping, we are praying."

She said her brother was conscientious and took his job seriously. "He was obedient, you know. He never broke the rules, even as a child."

Uati Tirikai heads Kiribati's fisheries observer programme. He did not respond to a request for comment.

Neither CCPL, the Ministry of Fisheries norTaiwan's Fisheries Agency answered questions.

supplied

Eritara Aati Kaieru "adored" his children.

MAONNIKI NAWII

The investigation has drawn attention to two other i-Kiribati deaths since December 2017, which the Association for Professional Observers, and WWF says they were previously unaware of.

Maonniki Nawiiwas found dead in his cabin aboard the Yu Wen 301 on December 18, 2017. He'd failed to show up for breakfast.

The vessel was in Papua New Guinea waters, but the captain request it dock in the Marshall Islands. Itwas instead directed to Honiara and Solomon Islands police carried out an investigation, at the request of Kiribati. It's understood authorities concluded that he died of "hypertension."

His wife couldn't be reached for comment, but she marked the second anniversary of his death on Facebook, saying: "They said that he slept and never woke up but [I] don't trust what they said." A relative added: "He was found on the job unable to wake up...it's a suspicious case. That's why we don't trust what was reported on him. He passed and lays to rest now next to everyone under the shade of the house."

Little is known about the death of Antin Tamwabeti, who is believed to have died by suicide, onshore.

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Maonniki Nawii was found dead in his cabin after he failed to show up for breakfast.

Kaierua'sdeath has sent shockwaves around theobserver community, which has long been calling for greater protection and safety conditions.

In 2010, Charlie Lasisi's body was found, bound in chains, off the coast of WestSepik, Papua New Guinea in March. Six Filipino crew members were acquitted of his murder.

WesleyTaliawas reported missing in the waters of New Ireland, Papua New Guinea, in 2015.

Larry Gavin went missing at sea in 2016 but his disappearance is so mysterious, there was no record of which ship he was working on. There was never an investigation into his death.

Fijian UsaiaMasibalavu was lost in 2016, after reportedly falling ill two-weeksafter boarding a vessel that left Pago Pago, American Samoa.

In the same year, Josh Sheldon, from the US, died of an advanced MRSA infection allegedly contracted on a Vietnamese longline fishing vessel.

James Numbaruwent missing in Nauru waters in June 2017. He was aboard a Chinese-flagged purse seiner and his body was never recovered, but the crew said he'd fallen overboard.

Cook fears there may be more. "Consider that we didn't even know aboutMaonnikiuntil a little more than a week ago.How many more do we not know about in the last 30 years of observer deployments?"

Keeping track of harassment andcasualties is difficult because systematic recording is non-existent, and the investigation of complaints falls into a bureaucratic black hole, with governments andregional fisheries management organisation slow to follow up and reluctant to prosecute.

In2015, the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), responsible for fisheries regulations in the region, implemented safety and security measures to protect observers.

But Liz Mitchell, of theAssociation for Professional Observers, says these must go further.

"There must be some accountability.

"I'd like to see a measure in place that would require these vessels have astorage capacity for their CCTV footage. So, that ifsomething happens there's that evidence. Right now, I think what they're doing is just taping over it every day."

Supplied

Eritara Aati Kaieru "never broke the rules."

Covid-19 travelrestrictionsmeantNickyKaieruawas the only one of four siblings who could make it back to Kiribati to bury their brother. The rest are scattered around the world.

Her "biggest worry" is forKaierua's widow Tekarara, herchildren and their financial future."She seems to be braver than me right now. She's got emotional strength but I know she is crying inside.

"The kids are missing their father, they keep thinking he is coming home. He was a very good father, he adored his kids."

UNICEF

Kiribati operates an observer programme, deploying people to monitor tuna catch across the region.

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Death on the high seas; the mysterious death of a humble fishing observer - Stuff.co.nz

All the cruise ships that have had confirmed cases of COVID-19 onboard – Business Insider – Business Insider

Posted on April 15, 2020 by Danzig

The worldwide coronavirus pandemic hit the cruise ship industry like a rogue wave.

Cruise ships like the Diamond Princess, the Grand Princess, the Ruby Princess, the Oasis of the Seas, and the Zaandam became the focus of international headlines after crew members and passengers fell ill with COVID-19.

Those widely-publicized outbreaks have helped to upend the entire seafaring business, with shares plummeting for industry giants like Carnival. And government officials in the United States have taken action by extending a no-sail order for cruises for at least another three months.

It is likely that the number of COVID-19 cases linked to cruise ship crew members and passengers will only go up in the weeks to come, as thousands of crew members are still stranded on stricken ships.

Here's a look at the cruise ships at the center of the coronavirus crisis on the high seas:

Ruobing Su/Business Insider

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All the cruise ships that have had confirmed cases of COVID-19 onboard - Business Insider - Business Insider

Fossil discovery that changes the history of monkeys in the Americas – Somag News

Posted on April 15, 2020 by Danzig

32 million years ago, animals dominated terrestrial landscapes. Now, a new archaeological discovery changes what is known about the first monkeys on the American continent. Until recently, pot-bellied monkeys and white-capped capuchin monkeys were believed to have been the only primates to cross the Atlantic towards the Americas on small patches of land and vegetation. A new find in Peru has just included some more adventurers from the seas: those of the extinct species Ucayalipithecus perdita.

4-tooth fossils have been found on the banks of the Yura River, near the Brazilian border. Despite being few records, they can bring a lot of information. Teeth, because of their strength, are the easiest to last for millions of years. In addition, it is the dentition of mammals, in everlasting change, that can bring information about what type of animal is being analyzed.

Interestingly, the fossils found are quite similar to the monkeys of the extinct parapithecids group, which were believed to have lived only in Africa. Finding them in South America shows that they also crossed the ocean and found new land. This journey was purely random and had luck, but it spread the animals across the globe.

It is also worth remembering that, in this period, known as the Late Eocene, Africa and South America were closer. The two continents were 1.5 thousand to 2.1 thousand kilometers apart. Currently, both are 2,800 kilometers from each other. In other words, the journey through the seas was a little less long.

The fossils were found by scientists led by Erik Seiffert of the University of Southern California. I have to admit that I was much more skeptical about rafting until I saw a video of blankets of vegetation floating through the Panama Canal, with trees upright and maybe even bearing fruit, explains Seiffert about how monkeys would have made their own. travels.

However, the monkeys hardly had the intention of throwing themselves into the sea. Most likely, intense storms took coastal primates to the high seas, where they found a way to stay alive in these makeshift rafts. It was up to the sea currents to spread the different African monkeys to different points of the American continent from North to South.

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Fossil discovery that changes the history of monkeys in the Americas - Somag News

Princess Annes Interview on Prince Andrew, Harry and Meghan & Life as a Royal – Vanity Fair

Posted on April 15, 2020 by Danzig

She declines to identify herself as a feminist; rather she says she wants to see every young person achieve their full potential. She became patron of Opportunity International U.K. (which helps young entrepreneurs in some of the poorest countries in Africa) in 1998 to do just that, but she also remains steadfastly loyal to her oldest charities and is deeply proud of her 50 years of work with Save the Children, for which she was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. But she says its not her legacy thats important but whether the organization as a whole has made the sort of difference that it really wants to. So, you know, you look at the Save the Childrens adverts and you think, Has nothing improved? When actually, yes it has, but that doesnt get you any more funding.

I dont think this younger generation [of royals] probably understands what I was doing in the past.

Its not just about, Can I get a tick in the box for doing this? No, its about serving. It comes from an example from both my parents way of working and where they saw their role being. I mean, my father served. It was a more direct form of service, I suppose you could argue. And the queens has been a lifelong service in a slightly different way, but they both have that perspective of service which is about working with people. Remarkably for someone who has always seemed so driven and confident, it took her time to find her voice on the world stage. It took me probably 10 years before I really felt confident enough to contribute to Save the Childrens public debates, because you needed to understand how it works on the ground and that needed a very wide coverage. So my early trips were really important.

And she worries that the younger generation of royals may be in too much of a hurry to change the royal familys tried and tested approach when it comes to philanthropy. Describing herself as the boring old fuddy-duddy at the back saying, Dont forget the basics, she cautions, I dont think this younger generation probably understands what I was doing in the past and its often true, isnt it? You dont necessarily look at the previous generation and say, Oh, you did that? Or, You went there? Nowadays, theyre much more looking for, Oh lets do it a new way. And Im already at the stage, Please do not reinvent that particular wheel. Weve been there, done that. Some of these things dont work. You may need to go back to basics.

Over the years the princess has traveled extensively, clocking up visits to Bangladesh, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Mozambique, Ethiopia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina with Save the Children, but she has reluctantly scaled back her overseas travel in part because of logistics and in part because the younger royals do the lions share of overseas work.

She has plannedpandemic permittingto be in the States this fall to visit the New York branch of the English-Speaking Union, an educational charity of which she is president, and the National Lighthouse Museum in Staten Island, which has asked her to be its new patron. It was very kind of them to ask, she says, adding that lighthouses have always fascinated her. How [Robert] Stevenson built those lighthouses [along the coast of Scotland] is just phenomenal. Theyre very important and need to be maintained, and thats a part of the maritime sector Im interested in, and I like trying to raise that profile.

Being at sea is a personal pleasure and on the rare occasions she does get time off, she enjoys sailing up the West Coast of Britain with her husband, Vice Admiral Laurence.

Its just my husband and I, she smiles.

This summer had been set to be a busy one, if travel and social restrictions are relaxed, so the high seas may have to wait. (At press time, the Prince of Wales had tested positive for coronavirus. Princess Anne was safe and well at her home Gatcombe Park, and following government guidelines.) The queen is rumored to be planning a special birthday celebration for her daughter (who turns 70 on August 15) while courtiers are gathering representatives from her many charities and organizations for a special get-together at Buckingham Palace. And yet, the princess is just like anyone else reflecting on a milestone birthday. Well, it would be nice if it were just another year passed, she says, but I dont think thats going to happen.

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Princess Annes Interview on Prince Andrew, Harry and Meghan & Life as a Royal - Vanity Fair

Building Spiritual Readiness in the Time of COVID-19 – United States Army

Posted on April 15, 2020 by Danzig

JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash. During this time of social distancing, working from home, and being separated from others, some people may experience tough times. They might be looking for answers, question their role in the world, and be faced with unique stressors.One way to address the challenges may be by building spiritual readiness, according to the Army Resilience Directorate in Washington, D.C.The directorate divides resiliency, or readiness, into five components: spiritual, physical, psychological, social, and family. Some people may think spirituality means religion the traditional definition but over time, more have come to view spirituality and religion as two separate, but interconnected, topics.The Army Public Health Center defines spirituality as a sense of connection that gives meaning and purpose to a person's life. The Center points out that spirituality is unique to each individual.Spiritual readiness has several definitions, according to Chaplain (Col.) David Deppmeier, RHC-P command chaplain.For people of faith, a relationship with God answers those questions of identity and purpose as people created by God to know him and serve his purpose, Deppmeier said. Their walk with God yields insight and guidance, and provides hope and contentment as they navigate the challenges of life.But, Deppmeier said, religious faith is just one aspect of spiritual fitness.Its important to remember that many people have a spiritual worldview that doesnt involve a belief in God or a transcendent power, Deppmeier said. They may be guided by a philosophy or their own morality or core values, apart from a religion.Deppmeier said spirituality is a key part of many peoples lives.A persons spirituality isnt just a once-a-week experience that results from a religious service, Deppmeier said. Its the central part of who they are because it guides their belief system, moral conduct, and outlook on life.Chaplains encourage Soldiers and their family members to find hope, strength and resiliency through their own faith tradition, Deppmeier added.Deppmeier said that spiritual readiness is an integral part of the Armys program to ensure the health and strength of its Soldiers.Throughout our Armys history, our leaders have recognized the importance of caring for the religious needs of our Soldiers and their families, he said. Our Army leaders have always understood that spiritual readiness is a central part of a Soldiers overall readiness.There are a number of ways to build upon spiritual readiness, during self-quarantine, working from home, or being physically separated from others, Deppmeier said.I suggest setting clear goals to develop a spiritual resilience program, he said. I once read a study that indicated that people who actually write their goals down on paper accomplish 95 percent more than those who dont.Deppmeier suggested that people may want to set aside some time each day to meditate, pray, or read religious or devotional materials.Another goal may involve deciding to attend regular worship services in order to receive encouragement, experience fellowship, and deepen an understanding and faith in God, he added.Deppmeier said there are additional ways to build spiritual readiness apart from religious services or practices, especially if people are unable to leave their homes.Since many of us are experiencing isolation from others, its a great time to set a goal to read a book a week or month on any topic that will inspire or encourage you, he said. Its easy to check out e-books at your local library and start a reading plan. Get your spouse or loved one involved in reading a book together and it can deepen your communication.Deppmeier said the RHC-P pastoral staff is always available to Soldiers, civilians and families and that their role goes far beyond what is normally associated with the chaplain.Our chaplains lead religious services, provide counseling, and conduct religious support training events, he said, such as ward appreciation events for staff members, or classes on topics like suicide prevention, coping with grief, or managing stress or anger.Other methods of building spiritual readiness found on APHCs Spiritual Health include yoga, meditation, and downloadable brochures containing information to outside resources.One advantage to being at home, Deppmeier said, is that people may find themselves with more time in which to work on their own spiritual readiness.I often hear the complaint, If I only had more time! he said. I know were all busy, but well only have the time if we make the time, and we always make time for the things most important to us.HELP IS AVAILABLEThe Army has a variety of resources available to help build and maintain resiliency. These resources are there for Soldiers, civilians, retirees, and their families. Many are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.Because so many Regional Health Command-Pacific staff members are working long hours, working from home, or are self-quarantining with their families, were sharing their contact information to reach a wider audience.Regional Health Command-Pacific Behavioral Health: Lawrence Edwards, lawrence.a.edwards3.civ@mail.mil; Warren Aoki, warren.k.aoki.civ@mail.mil; Michael Martella, michael.a.martella2.civ@mail.mil.Regional Health Command-Pacific Chaplain: Chaplain (Col.) David Deppmeier, 808-594-8031, david.j.deppmeier.mil@mail.mil; Staff Sgt. Michael Kuehne, 808-741-3049, michael.k.kuehne.mil@mail.mil.Regional Health Command-Pacific Master Resiliency Trainer: Sgt. 1st Class David Baker, 808-800-1450, andrew.d.baker5.mil@mail.milArmy Resilience Directorate: https://readyandresilient.army.mil/index.htmlArmyFit: https://armyfit.army.mil/Army Public Health Center Spiritual Fitness: https://phc.amedd.army.mil/topics/healthyliving/bh/Pages/SpiritualHealth.aspxComprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness: https://readyandresilient.army.mil/CSF2/index.htmlMilitary Crisis Line (U.S.): (800) 273-8255 or DSN 111; Press 1. Text: 838255Military Crisis Line (Korea): 0808-555-118 or DSN 118Military OneSource 24/7 Support: 800-342-9647Psychological Health Center of Excellence: 866-966-1020; 24/7 outreach

Building Spiritual Readiness in the Time of COVID-19 - United States Army

NCR readers share how they keep spiritually grounded, part three – National Catholic Reporter

Posted on April 15, 2020 by Danzig

NCR recently asked how to keep spiritually grounded in a pandemic crisis. Readers responded with how they deepen their faith life and spiritual practice by discovering new prayers and rituals or participating in livestreamed events. Answers have been edited for length and clarity.

A very spiritual friend of mine, whom I phoned the day after my country went into lockdown, drew my attention to the following text:

"Bow down, then, before the power of God now,so that he may raise you up in due time;unload all your burden on to him,since he is concerned about you.Keep sober and alert,because your enemy the devil is on the prowllike a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.Stand up to him, strong in faith and in the knowledgethat it is the same kind of sufferingthat the community of your brothersthroughout the world is undergoing.You will have to suffer only for a little while:the God of all gracewho called you to eternal glory in Christwill restore you,he will confirm, strengthen and support you.His power lasts for ever and ever. Amen."(1 Peter 5:6-11 JB)

It came to her attention, seemingly, by accident. But we know that God answers our prayers, often in ways we do not expect. I have decided to read it every day of this crisis and to pray that by God's power a better world will emerge post COVID-19.

In what ways, if any, has your faith helped you to deal with the crisis?

I am 81 and live on my own. This crisis brings home to me how little I have done to show my love to the needy and how powerless I am without my Savior, Jesus Christ. God's presence has become much more real to me.

BERNARD THOMAS HARRINGTONKatikati, New Zealand

***

I've joined streaming spiritual and faith sharing opportunities, including those led by Jesuit Fr. Jim Martin. I also watched a virtual Lenten mission led by Cardinal Sean O'Malley on CatholicTV and streaming online.

I am also a daily user of the app "Pray As You Go," which is produced by the Jesuits of Great Britain. Daily reflections, devotions and of course many versions of the examen are contained within the app. It truly has something for everyone.

I also subscribe to "Give Us This Day," a daily prayer resource.

In what ways, if any, has your faith helped you to deal with the crisis?

The Gospel for the last weekend in January was the story of Jesus asleep in the storm-tossed boat, with the disciples waking him with their statements of fear ("Do you not see that we are perishing?"). I've been carrying that story ever since, which has been increasingly in my mind and heart as the coronavirus crisis has escalated. I have also been praying with a reflection, on that same Gospel, written by St. Augustine about waking up the Christ who is asleep inside of us during times of tumult.

PAUL CHRISTIANBoston, Massachusetts

***

Centering Prayer has been a daily practice of mine for the past 15 years. I do it twice a day, first thing in the morning and again before dinner. I facilitate a group session each Thursday evening. As I begin each session, I consent to God's action and presence in my life. I then sit in silence. I use a sacred word whenever a thought creeps in to remind me to return to my silence and alert receptivity of God's presence. At this time of the coronavirus, I feel more called to periods of silence and the stabilizing impact that it has on my life. Centering Prayer is practice developed by Fr. Thomas Keating, the founder of Contemplative Outreach.

In what ways, if any, has your faith helped you to deal with the crisis?

I am so thankful for my faith always and its sustaining impact especially in times of difficulty.

ROBERT J. FERKENHOFFNokomis, Florida

***

I am finding Sulpician Fr. Raymond E. Brown'sThe Death of the Messiaha great resource right now. I am only reading the commentary sections of his magnificent work but it gives me an opportunity to very slowly and sometimes prayerfully follow Jesus through the night after the Last Supper. I take Brown's commentary in small doses and that has proved to be the best way for me to spend a part of each day as I shelter at home.

In what ways, if any, has your faith helped you to deal with the crisis?

I think for the most part my faith and an appreciation for the Communion of Saints that is so deeply implanted in our faith, makes me more aware of those who are suffering from the coronavirus but also of those who are tending to them.

DONALD CASEYMahwah, New Jersey

***

As a queer Catholic, I'm compelled by the power of the rosary. I've been praying it daily with particular affinity for the hail holy queen at conclusion. The protection, comfort and healing offered by the Blessed Mother nurtures my soul. I hope to see a resurgence of the rosary and its reclamation by folks on the margins, the vulnerable and the forgotten. I hope it gives folks with more privilege a sense of perspective and a thirst for justice.

In what ways, if any, has your faith helped you to deal with the crisis?

My spiritual practice has allowed me to maintain a sense of routine and structure during uncertain times and it connects me with a higher power to rely on when so many things are out of my hands. It's also been helpful for my partner (an atheist) to see the power and solace of spiritual practice. I bought a rosary for him as a gift!

MATT GALKOWSKINew Orleans, Louisiana

***

Spiritual resources:

Connecting with old friends in various locations. Connecting with my six siblings via text and "virtual cocktail hour." My husband and two daughters who are home from college.

In what ways, if any, has your faith helped you to deal with the crisis?

Having the luxury to spend uninterrupted time in prayer each morning because I have no place to go, no appointments to make, etc., has been wonderful and I am very grateful.

JODEE FINKCresskill, New Jersey

***

This trying time of isolation is not new to me. I experienced it once before in Northern California when many of us, who were survivor/advocates in the clergy abuse crisis, were shunned/shamed out of our parishes and forced to find an alternative, spiritual life. Saying the rosary and Marian devotions, once consoling, went out the door because I associated them with those who had humiliated us.

Each Sunday for 20 years, my husband and I celebrated an ersatz Mass at our kitchen table, using the readings for the day and Gospel commentaries by William Barclay and Charles Spurgeon. We elevated bread and wine remembering our Lord's sacrifice and his earthly persecution (so like ours). We prayed for the church and our perceived enemies. Sometimes our adult children and their friends joined us.

Now we live on a beautiful, 10-acre property near Glacier Park. Although our parish church is closed and we have no close friends there, we are blessed with the presence of four of our children nearby and my retired, missionary brother and his wife nearby. Currently, spending online time with Pope Francis at daily Mass is my delight. Together my husband and I start each morning with readings from daily devotionals, a chapter from one of Franciscan Fr. Richard Rohr's marvelous books, then recite "Our Father," "Hail Mary," "Glory Be," "Morning Offering" (redesigned to fit our times) and Augustine's Holy Spirit prayer.

Finally, it gives me great pleasure to say that, both in our previous life in California and our current life here in Montana, NCR has always served us well as our personal support and church in exile.

In what ways, if any, has your faith helped you to deal with the crisis?

Memories of my devout parents, the education received from the Sisters of Charity as well as the mentoring and example by fellow Catholic-Christians along life's journey support me well during this second crisis in my life.

NANCY McGUNAGLEKalispell, Montana

***

When Pennsylvania's governor put on the stay in place order and all my volunteer activities were cancelled, I breathed a sigh of relief and saw this time as a retreat. As the weeks have passed, I have kept a "City Liturgy" that I found on Benedictine Sr. Joan Chittister's Monasteries of the Heart website. So my day has been structured around a simple way to remember to be continually in the presence of God. I start each day with reading Franciscan Fr. Richard Rohr's daily meditations, the readings of the day and a half hour of Centering Prayer. Throughout the day, according to my "City Liturgy," I remember to come into God's presence. In the early evening, I read another meditation or scriptures, journal and do another half-hour of Centering Prayer. Just before bed, some friends and I pray together in communion for a few minutes. This continuing retreat has united me with God and the world in our universal suffering. I have found joy and peace and oneness.

In what ways, if any, has your faith helped you to deal with the crisis?

My faith has shown me that God is in this crisis. There is no way to separate us from God.

BARBARA J. BAKERLewisburg, Pennsylvania

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NCR readers share how they keep spiritually grounded, part three - National Catholic Reporter

Futurist Transhuman News Blog

Monthly Archives: April 2020

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Death on the high seas; the mysterious death of a humble fishing observer – Stuff.co.nz

All the cruise ships that have had confirmed cases of COVID-19 onboard – Business Insider – Business Insider

Fossil discovery that changes the history of monkeys in the Americas – Somag News

Princess Annes Interview on Prince Andrew, Harry and Meghan & Life as a Royal – Vanity Fair

Building Spiritual Readiness in the Time of COVID-19 – United States Army

NCR readers share how they keep spiritually grounded, part three – National Catholic Reporter