When the SARS epidemic happened in China, I was seven years old. Every day, newscasters would call health care workers white-clothed angels and would praise their courage for risking their lives for the sake of our country. As a child, I remember sitting in front of the TV, terrified by the apocalyptic news broadcasts. Those on the frontline seemed almost supernatural to me as if they really did descend from heaven to save us. I admired them, but I felt like I could never do what they do.

Fast-forward seventeen years: I am now a medical student in California. Suddenly, with the emergence of COVID-19, the world is once again turning to medical professionals to save us except this time Im training to become one of them. In China, at the height of the pandemic, the front pages of every major newspaper and website featured the stories of those who go against the tide referring to the health care workers who went to Wuhan when everyone else was trying to leave. In the United States, people in neighborhoods around the country clapped and cheered for those on the frontline calling them heroes.

There is no doubt that health care workers are essential to society. Watching my mentors and peers respond to calls of service by working long hours in the hospital despite their fears, Ive never felt more resolute in and proud of the professional path Ive chosen.

Yet, I am worried that these stories of heroism are harming the very people they celebrate. By creating an ideal health care worker as an endlessly altruistic individual, it stigmatizes the medical workers who refuse to take on these risks even though there are many legitimate reasons not to. Ive talked to doctors in China who have watched their friends and colleagues die during the SARS epidemic, who have watched the government break its promises to support their families after their death, and who, as a result, are no longer willing to volunteer on the frontlines. Ive watched videos of nurses in the U.S. crying after they were forced to quit their jobs because hospitals are not providing them with the personal protective equipment (PPE) necessary to keep them safe. Many of them said that they were afraid of getting infected and spreading the disease to their high-risk family members.

Who can say these are not real concerns? Who can call these physicians and nurses selfish and irresponsible?

Even as a medical student, there has been a tremendous amount of social and institutional pressure for us to step up during COVID-19 and begin working, even if we havent yet received the proper training. Schools even graduated medical students early so they could start working sooner. Completely well-meaning physicians wrote op-eds about how students should step up and treat the pandemic as a learning opportunity. Many of us myself included are very eager to help out. We have been signing up for volunteer opportunities such as hosting PPE drives, coordinating tele-health appointments in homeless shelters, checking in with elderly community members, and advocating for policies to support COVID-19 efforts.

However, several upperclassmen have expressed their concerns to me about being forced into a life-or-death situation during clinical rotations when they didnt feel well-prepared; they were worried that they were putting their patients, their family members, and themselves at risk not to mention the fact that they were using up precious PPE and requiring the time of physicians who actually had the skillset to respond effectively. This public call for medical heroism only increased the pressure that they already felt from both their superiors and fellow trainees. Ultimately, it may have hindered the early pandemic response.

The rhetoric of heroism also makes it seem like health care workers are taking on these risks willingly without questioning why heroism is needed in the first place. Celebration that silences questions can be used deliberately as a tool of oppression. For example, Dr. Li Wenliang, a 34-year-old ophthalmologist in China, warned his colleagues of a new SARS-like virus in his medical school alumni group chat early on in the pandemic but was summoned by the Wuhan police and forced to sign a letter of admonition for making false comments that had severely disturbed the social order. After this was revealed to the public, Chinas state-sponsored media started calling him a hero of the Chinese people while continuing to ignore the calls for government accountability, transparency, and freedom of speech that arose in the aftermath.

After Dr. Li died from COVID-19, state-sponsored media once again published stories that discretely discredited him, highlighting the fact that he was not the first one to report COVID-19, and did not intend for his message to be spread beyond his alumni group. Although these facts may be true, Dr. Li stated publicly in an interview that he believes there should be more than one voice in a healthy society. His supporters have highlighted that he is admired not because he was extraordinary but rather because he was an ordinary person that acted in accordance with his values. How Dr. Li was treated by the state-sponsored media clearly shows the potential emptiness of the word hero: it is a label that the state can bestow on or withdraw from a person at will, and is often used to hide the injustices that necessitate heroism in the first place.

As someone who grew up in China, I have come to expect this kind of behavior from the Chinese government. Yet what truly disappointed me was the United States disastrous response to COVID-19. After it became apparent that our nations chronic underfunding of public health programs, science denialism, and profit-focused medical manufacturing industry have caused a severe shortage in PPE for our frontline medical workers, doctors and nurses were accused of spreading panic when wearing their own masks and fired for speaking the truth. The fact that for-profit hospitals laid off thousands of medical workers whose services were deemed non-essential further contributes to the cruel irony that during a time in which we need health care workers the most, private corporations are actively denying them of the tools and privileges needed to protect themselves and take care of their patients.

How is this not also a form of authoritarianism?

Treating health care workers as heroes does a disservice to our patients and the general public as well. The rhetoric of heroism risks placing medical professionals on a pedestal of inherent altruism, creating a halo effect in which a favorable impression of an individual or group formed in one context transfers to other contexts. When people believe health care workers to be heroes, they may assume that they will always act altruistically and ethically. Thus, they may be less likely to examine medical practices and research from a more critical lens. This cognitive bias is dangerous: from the horrifying experiments done by Nazi doctors to the Tuskegee syphilis experiments, history has shown that medical professionals can and do abuse their power and act unethically.

Even today, it remains difficult to hold medical professionals accountable, as evidenced the fact that an investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution revealed that nearly half of a total of 450 physicians who were brought before medical regulators or courts for sexual misconduct or sex crimes in 2016 and 2017 remain licensed to practice medicine. Furthermore, systemic racism continues to pervade modern medicine. A significant number of medical students and residents still believe in myths about racial biological differences, and most hospitals still use race-based correction factors for eGFR and spirometry measurements, despite the fact that they were based on the racist beliefs that Black people have more muscle mass and lung capacity. In an era when COVID-19 continues to disproportionately harm Black people, it is important to remember that medicine and medical professionals are not above critique.

Seventeen years after the SARS epidemic, I now know that those white-clothed angels I saw on TV are actually human. Just like everyone else just like me they fear death, make mistakes, and even cause harm to others. While their hard work and courage deserve to be applauded, the rhetoric of heroism places an undue burden on healthcare workers to be endlessly altruistic, obscures the underlying systemic issues that force them into heroism, and risks placing them on a moral pedestal above necessary critique. Instead of superheroes, we need to start viewing medical workers as our fellow community members who need our governments, our institutions, and our communities to support them, protect them, and hold them accountable.

Image credit: "1. We go where we are needed"(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)byJohn Twohig Photography

Here is the original post:
The Dangers of Heroism: Medical Workers Are Human, Too. - Pager Publications, Inc.

"Don't worry, the grownups have it figured out."

I was in third grade and terrified. My teacher was teaching us about global warming -- wildfires, droughts, hurricanes, floods -- the destabilization of our ecosystem, the destruction of our future.

I was scared. But I calmed down: "It's OK, the adults will solve it."

Fast-forward to junior year of college. I saw environmental protections torn down, and the United States withdraw from the Paris climate agreement. My parents told me about the red and gray wildfire smoke coloring the Bay Area sky.

The grownups hadn't figured it out. Then who would?

I knew I had to act. In college, I spent thousands of hours organizing with fellow students and stakeholders to design and advocate for climate policy in New Jersey.

When I arrived at Stanford for medical school last year, I wasn't sure at first how to continue my environmental work, but I knew it was important. The environment is health. Ask any doctor who sees their asthmatic patient choking on wildfire smoke.

Last September, while we were studying for our molecular mechanisms final, the Global Climate Strikes happened. My classmates - Adary Zhang, Santiago Sanchez, Ashley Jowell -- and I put together a lunch talk about climate and health.

We talked about the health effects of air pollution, extreme heat, floods. We talked about how environmental disasters are unjust -- that they always hit low-income communities hardest, even if they contributed least to the problem. And we talked about the problem of greenhouse gas emissions and how we cannot reach our climate goals if the health care sector doesn't cut its share.

We decided to form Stanford Climate and Health. We are a group of Stanford medical, physician assistant, graduate, and undergraduate students; residents; staff; and faculty who are all passionate about the intersection of climate and health.

One of our goals is to find workable ways for hospitals and health systems to reduce their emissions and build resilience toward worsening disasters, such as extreme heat, wildfires and air pollution. Taken together, this is known as "climate-smart health care."

We also need to learn more about the health effects of climate change -- the impacts on the lung, the heart, the kidney and the skin; on children, women, and the elderly; on low-income communities and people of color.

So far, we've worked with medical course directors to weave climate change into our curriculum, and we're working on deploying safe and cost-effective reusable gowns at Stanford Health Care. We are also advocating in our professional societies, including the California Medical Association and American Academy of Physician Assistants, to make climate change a priority issue for patient health. We've additionally supported a climate change vulnerability assessment for Santa Clara County.

Our first major event is coming up on Sept. 25. The NorCal Symposium on Climate and Pandemic Resilience in Healthcare is a virtual gathering, co-organized with the University of California, San Francisco, with the aim of inspiring our community to take action toward more sustainable health care.

Speakers include Cheryl Holder, MD, founder of Florida Clinicians for Climate Action and a physician leader combating climate change and other health inequities in underserved communities.Dean Lloyd Minor, MD, and David Entwistle, president and CEO of Stanford Health Care, also will be there, along with leaders from UCSF and the National Resources Defense Council.

We'll have sessions on emissions, disaster resilience, community partnerships, advocacy, food systems, and medical curriculum. We'll welcome sustainability leaders, health professionals, students and community partners from all backgrounds; and we'll encourage them to work with us to take action toward a just and sustainable future.

Because that's how change happens. It takes grown-ups and young people,deans and students, activists and innovators, front-line communities and environmental advocates, and every kind of health professional, working together as a community, to create a world where third graders don't have to worry anymore.

Jonathan Luis a second-year medical student at Stanford who is passionate about addressing climate change and its health impacts. He is a co-leader of Stanford Climate and Health, along withAshley Jowell, Navami JainandNatalie Baker.You can reach them atstanfordclimateandhealth@gmail.com

Top photo by MILKOV. Middle photo by Jonathan Lu.

Original post:
The intersection of climate and health: Stanford group works for change - Scope

This Patch article is sponsored by Harlem School of the Arts.

Harlem School of the Arts (HSA) is one of New York City's pioneering arts institutions that prides itself on enriching the lives of young people and their families. The organization provides world-class training in and exposure to the arts across multiple disciplines in an environment that emphasizes rigorous training, stimulates creativity, builds self-confidence and adds a dimension of beauty to the lives of its students.

Patch caught up with Eric Pryor, president of Harlem School of the Arts, to learn more about the "cultural destination that built its reputation as a premier provider of a multidisciplinary and comprehensive arts curriculum."

Patch: How long have you been doing business in town?

Pryor: The Harlem School of the Arts was founded in 1964, 56 years ago, by internationally acclaimed concert soprano Dorothy Maynor. She started in the basement of St. James Presbyterian Church, located in the historic Harlem community, with 20 students, at a time when the community suffered severe physical blight and high levels of poverty.

Patch: What attracted you to the line of work you're in, and how did you get started?

Pryor: What attracted me to this line of work is my background. I am a fine arts major with degrees from both Temple and Wayne State universities, and I completed the Executive Leadership Program for Nonprofits at Columbia University. I have always understood the importance of the arts as a tool for community building and as a way to empower individuals by unleashing their creativity. Prior to coming to Harlem School of the Arts, I had always been interested in advancing the goals of organizations that provided access to the arts and arts programs. I had served as executive director of the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation's Center for Arts and Culture in Brooklyn. I also served as president of the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey and later as executive director of The Center for Arts Education. I believe that everything prior to my taking the helm as the president of the Harlem School of the Arts was in preparation for this important move.

Patch: If you had to sum up your business mission to a stranger in five words, what would those words be?

Pryor: Preparing tomorrow's creative leaders today.

Patch: What's the biggest challenge or most difficult moment you've faced in your job?

Pryor: I think the biggest challenge I have had to face as president of HSA is happening as we speak. The pandemic hit suddenly and without warning. We had to shut the facility down, send our staff and students home, and we had to find a way to stay afloat financially, which meant all of us coming together to create a safe distance learning model that would provide our young people with much-needed ways to continue their training, while also offering a space where they could share their concerns and anxieties, ask questions and have a support network that was caring and understanding. This is a tough time for our young people in particular, our Black and Brown youngsters.

Patch: What's the most satisfying part of your job?

Pryor: The most satisfying part of my job is the privilege it affords me to work with a group of inspiring and creative individuals. Members of our staff and our teaching artists are some of the best in the world, and that is evidenced by the remarkable percentage of graduating high school seniors who receive training at HSA and move on to study at top universities and conservatories, or transition successfully into careers in the arts.

Patch: How would you say your organization distinguishes itself from the others?

Pryor: The Harlem School of the Arts stands uniquely apart from other arts organizations as a cultural destination that built its reputation as a premier provider of a multidisciplinary and comprehensive arts curriculum. Beyond the rigorous arts training, the organization prepares students to transition from its programs into competitive performing arts high schools, top-ranked colleges, universities, conservatories and careers in the arts. The organization developed a series of workshops, mentoring, college and career preparedness programs, including a college fair. The fact that we go the extra distance to ensure the success of our young people is what clearly distinguishes us.

Patch: What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given when it comes to success?

Pryor: The best piece of advice that I have received when it comes to success was the importance of being prepared when opportunity knocked. Also, the importance of hard work, collaboration and cooperation. These nuggets of wisdom have carried me throughout my career.

Patch: Are there any new projects or endeavors you're working on that you're extra excited about?

Pryor: We are very excited about the soon-to-be-completed $9.5 million renovation of the 37,000-square-foot facility, thanks to Herb Alpert, his wife, Lani Hall, and Rona Sebastian, president of the Herb Alpert Foundation, who is also an HSA board member. This was the most substantial renovation of the building since its construction 40 years ago. Work is expected to be fully completed early this fall.

Patch: Do you have any events coming up in your community?

Pryor: While this will not be a normal school year, with some schools opening and others remaining shuttered due to the pandemic, the Harlem School of the Arts has made the decision to hold fall classes virtually. Registration is currently open to all students interested in our multidisciplinary curriculum. There are also private lesson classes available in music and the visual arts. There is an ongoing virtual Year-End Student Exhibition, a beautiful demonstration and reflection of their curiosity and a view through their lens of the world around them.

Patch: How can Patch readers learn more about your work and business?

Pryor: To learn more about the Harlem School of the Arts, visit our website and like us on Facebook (@hsanyc), follow us on Twitter (@HSAnyc) and on Instagram (hsanyc), and watch us on YouTube (HarlemSchoolArts).

The rest is here:
Harlem School Of The Arts Is Preparing Tomorrows Leaders Today - Patch.com

SAN DIEGO, Sept. 22, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: SRNE, "Sorrento") announced the public release of the results of its multicenter, open-label, Phase 1b Study to Evaluate Safety and MTD of Epidural Resiniferatoxin Injection for the Treatment of Intractable Cancer Pain, at the 14th Annual Pain Therapeutics Summit held virtually from September 21 to 22, 2020. Data was presented by Srdjan Nedeljkovic, MD, Associate Professor of Anesthesia,Harvard Medical School/Brigham & Women's Hospital.

We are extremely encouraged by the results of this initial study. Even in patients with high levels of pain, RTX given via an epidural injection has been found to reduce pain intensity without having any long-term adverse safety consequences, said Associate Professor of Anesthesia, Srdjan S. Nedeljkovic, M.D. from the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Brigham and Womens Hospital at Harvard Medical School. The patient population had intractable pain that did not respond to other standard therapeutic approaches, including opioids. The addition of RTX to the management of patients with intractable advanced-stage cancer pain offers the prospect of reducing suffering and improving quality of life for this underserved patient population.

This multicenter, open-label study enrolled 17 adults with intractable moderate to severe cancer pain. Subjects were treated with a one-time epidural administration of RTX at escalating dose level cohorts, ranging from 0.4 g to 25 g in 3 ml saline, in seven cohorts. The first participant in each cohort served as the Sentinel subject. The first two dosing cohorts (0.4 g and 1.0 g) each included one subject. Subsequent cohorts proceeded with three subjects each (2, 4, 8, 15 and 25 g).

Enrollment of dose escalation cohorts has completed, with 17 subjects receiving RTX. 65% were women and 35% were men. The median age was 58 years (range 28-82 years). The baseline numerical pain rating scale (NPRS) average score was a mean of 6.8 (standard deviation (S.D.) of 1.65), and the baseline NPRS worst score was a mean of 7.9 (S.D. of 1.26).

No dose-limiting toxicities were reported. Dose escalation was completed at 25 ug. The most frequently reported treatment-emergent adverse event was transient post-procedural pain that was described in 47.1% of subjects. Post-injection-associated pain was managed with traditional short-term pain medications on the day of RTX injection. Typically, the RTX-associated pain following injection subsided before the 8-hour post-injection assessment and resolved within 24 hours in all subjects. Transient and reversible adverse events reported in at least two RTX-treated subjects were nausea (17.6%), vomiting (17.6%), and headache (17.6%). A total of 15 serious adverse events (SAEs) were reported, but none were deemed by the investigator to be related to RTX treatment. Most adverse events were attributed to the underlying cancer diagnosis.

Clinical efficacy (CE) was assessed at three efficacy levels: CE30, CE50 and CE70, defined as a 30%, 50% and 70% decrease in pain, respectively, for three consecutive days from the original baseline NPRS score of 6/10.

A positive outcome was observed in the lowest dose of RTX administered (0.4 ug) at the CE30 efficacy point. A dose-response relationship was observed, with the majority of responders at the 15 ug and 25 ug dose levels. Of the 17 subjects, 11 achieved the CE30 prespecified efficacy end-point using NPRS scores. Day 90 results for all RTX doses pooled are shown below:

PK data revealed no detectable drug in plasma in 15 of the 17 subjects. Minimally detectable levels of RTX were seen in 2 of the 17 subjects, in each case only at the initial post-injection time point.

RTX administration was well-tolerated when given as a one-time epidural injection at doses up to 25 ug. Preliminary clinical pain improvement was observed in the dose-escalation phase. Based on the results, though the protocolallowed exploration of a 35 mcg dose for this indication, adose beyond 25 mcg was not deemed necessary to qualify the safety and clinically meaningful efficacy of the drug. These preliminary data support further study of epidural RTX in a broader patient population with what would be considered moderate to severe pain associated with cancer in this orphan indication.

For access to the poster associated with the scientific presentation, please visit Sorrento Investor Relations Site

Sorrento intends to rapidly advance to larger scale trials and expects to submit a request to proceed with a multicenter, blinded, controlled Phase 3 trial to the FDA in the upcoming weeks.

About Resiniferatoxin (RTX)

A thousand times hotter than pure capsaicin (16 Billion Scoville units versus 16M), and with a high affinity for afferent pain nerves, resiniferatoxin binds to TRPV1 receptors and selectively ablates the nerve endings responsible for pain signals experienced by patients1. Delivered peripherally (into the joint space) the transient nerve ending ablation effect can have profound clinical benefits lasting for months to years (as shown in canine studies2).

RTX-001 was a multicenter, open-label dose escalation Phase 1b study to assess the safety and define the maximally tolerated dose of resiniferatoxin administered via the epidural route for the reduction of moderate to severe pain signal intensity associated with advanced cancer.The Phase 1b study was a dose-escalation protocol in which cohorts of patients received increasing doses of resiniferatoxin until the maximum tolerated dose was achieved. The primary objective of the study was to evaluate the safety of resiniferatoxin and identify the recommended Phase 3 dose. The secondary objective was to assess the preliminary efficacy of resiniferatoxin measured by assessing changes in the intensity of pain using the NPRS score, a widely used proprietary validated pain scale.

RTX is not approved for clinical use by regulatory authorities. Safety and efficacy have not been established.

More information on this trial can be found at http://www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT03226574).

About Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc.

Sorrento is a clinical stage, antibody-centric, biopharmaceutical company developing new therapies to treat cancers. Sorrento's multimodal, multipronged approach to fighting cancer is made possible by its extensive immuno-oncology platforms, including key assets such as fully human antibodies (G-MAB library), clinical stage immuno-cellular therapies (CAR-T, DAR-T), antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), and clinical stage oncolytic virus (Seprehvir, Seprehvec).Sorrento is also developing potential antiviral therapies and vaccines against coronaviruses, including COVIDTRAP, ACE-MAB, COVI-MAB, COVI-GUARD, COVI-SHIELD and T-VIVA-19; and diagnostic test solutions, including COVI-TRACK and COVI-TRACE.

Sorrento's commitment to life-enhancing therapies for patients is also demonstrated by our effort to advance a first-in-class (TRPV1 agonist) non-opioid pain management small molecule, resiniferatoxin (RTX), and ZTlido (lidocaine topical system) 1.8% for the treatment of post-herpetic neuralgia. RTX is completing a phase 1B trial for intractable pain associated with cancer and a phase 1B trial in osteoarthritis patients. ZTlido was approved by the FDA on February 28, 2018.

For more information visit http://www.sorrentotherapeutics.com

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release and any statements made for and during any presentation or meeting contain forward-looking statements related to Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc., under the safe harbor provisions of Section 21E of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding the expectations for Sorrento's and its subsidiaries' technologies and product candidates, including, but, not limited to, resiniferatoxin (RTX), the clinical potential of RTX, timing for commencing larger scale trials for RTX, timing for completion and submission of a request to proceed with any Phase 3 trial for RTX and the possibility of proceeding to a Phase 3 trial. Risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed in our forward-looking statements, include, but are not limited to: risks related to Sorrento's and its subsidiaries', affiliates and partners technologies and prospects, including, but not limited to, RTX; risks related to seeking regulatory approvals and conducting and obtaining results of clinical trials; costs associated with clinical trials; risks that prior test, study and trial results may not be replicated in future studies and trials; the clinical and commercial success of RTX; the viability and success of using RTX for treatments in certain therapeutic areas, including for the treatment of intractable pain associated with cancer; risks related to the global impact of COVID-19; and other risks that are described in Sorrento's most recent periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Sorrento's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the risk factors set forth in those filings. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement in this press release except as required by law.

Media and Investor Relations

Alexis Nahama, SVP Head of RTX Program.

Telephone: 1.858.203.4120

Email: mediarelations@sorrentotherapeutics.com

Sorrento and the Sorrento logo are registered trademarks of Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. G-MAB, COVI-GUARD, COVI-SHIELD, COVIDTRAP, T-VIVA-19, COVI-MAB, ACE-MAB, COVI-TRACK, and COVI-TRACE are trademarks of Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc.

ZTlido is a trademark owned by Scilex Pharmaceuticals Inc..All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. 2020 Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC398431/ 2 Sorrento Therapeutics (Ark Animal Health) internal data (on file)

Read this article:
Sorrento Therapeutics Releases Positive Results of Phase 1B Trial of Resiniferatoxin (RTX) Epidural in Cancer Patients with Reported Intractable Pain...

Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have produced 29 players who ended up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Everyone from Jerry Rice (Mississippi Valley State) to Michael Strahan (Texas Southern) to Aeneas Williams (Southern), but if were honest, football at HBCUs is an afterthought these days.

Deion Sanders can change all of that.

Seriously.

Jackson State named him its 21st coach on Monday at an on-campus news conference full of the pomp and circumstance you would expect from Sanders and an HBCU, arriving behind a marching band, police escort and luxury SUVs for his formal introduction.

Before Sanders takes on his first college job, he will finish this season as offensive coordinator at Trinity Christian School in South Dallas, where his son, Shedeur, plays quarterback and has committed to Florida Atlantic.

Sanders replaces John Hendrick, who was fired last month with a record of 6-9. Jackson State, which has not had a winning year since 2013, will start its season with the rest of the Southwestern Athletic Conference in the spring because of COVID-19.

Sanders, the only man to play in a Super Bowl and World Series, has always welcomed challenges.

This is one of the biggest challenges Sanders has ever faced because of the scrutiny that accompanies his new job and the critics waiting for him to fail, in part, because he didnt take a traditional path to getting this job.

After all, Sanders has never coached at the collegiate level.

Then again, neither had Todd Dodge when the University of North Texas hired him in 2007 after he won three consecutive state Class 5A championships at Southlake Carroll in suburban Dallas.

And neither had Gerry Faust when Notre Dame hired him in 1981 after 18 seasons at perennial powerhouse Moeller High School in Cincinnati, so precedence exists for this type of bold move.

This is what Ive been doing my whole life. Ive been called to take things to another level, Sanders said Sunday on his podcast 21st & Prime. What God is calling me to now, Im ecstatic. Its my people. Its my people I get to touch. A multitude of the parents are the same age as me.

I cant wait. Im so excited. I cant wait to touch the grass. I cant wait to put that whistle in my mouth. I cant wait to start drawing up plays.

The biggest question is whether Sanders can be CEO of a college program and manage more than 100 players, assistant coaches and support staff.

It all starts with his staff.

Sanders said he expects his staff to have eight assistant coaches who either played or coached in the NFL.

They must be grinders, because theres nothing glamorous about coaching college football. Youre either preparing for a practice, a game or recruiting. Downtime is for other people.

Sanders most important staff member will be his NCAA compliance officer because of the organizations draconian rules. Plus, any prominent player who signs with Jackson State is going to have his recruitment scrutinized like none other.

Now, Sanders made mistakes at Prime Prep Academy, the charter school he co-founded in 2013 that closed after months of controversy in 2015. Among a few issues with the school was financial mismanagement, according to an investigation by the Dallas Morning News in 2016.

Building a school from scratch is something Sanders doesnt have to do at Jackson State.

Sanders has made it clear he wants to recruit some of the nations best players. His name and credentials will get him in the home of almost any recruit.

And no better time exists for Sanders to recruit elite Black athletes to an HBCU.

In June, Makur Maker, a five-star basketball player, committed to Howard over UCLA, and in August, 6-foot-3 twin volleyball players Cimone and Bria Woodard changed their verbal commitment from Texas A&M to Howard.

Sanders has shown his commitment to HBCUs. He announced the HBCU combine earlier this year, which was organized to highlight 50 hand-picked athletes from HBCUs ahead of the NFL draft, but the event was canceled due to COVID-19.

Our country is fractured, and too many folks think its cool to cheer for Black athletes when they score touchdowns as long as they arent dating their sons or daughters or straying too far off campus.

What if Sanders signed some of the best college football players because he can sell the one thing Power 5 schools cant: a sense of community and belonging?

Lakers rookie Talen Horton-Tucker on his bubble experience with LeBron and Anthony DavisRead nowA PGA veterans callous joke about blackface and Tiger Woods turned into a lesson on empathyRead nowDeion Sanders joins list of former NFL players who returned to HBCUsRead now

At HBCUs, Black students get a sense of community that doesnt happen at predominantly white schools. History lessons go beyond Harriet Tubman and Martin Luther King Jr. It can be hard to love yourself when you dont really know who you are and where you came from.

At an HBCU, its cool to be unapologetically Black and embrace all that means.

Why not? Isnt this the time? Sanders said. Isnt this the moment? Isnt this whats needed? To match what [Jackson State president Thomas Hudson] so eloquently said, its a match made in heaven. This is a God move.

Jean-Jacques Taylor, a native of Dallas, is an award-winning journalist who has covered the Dallas Cowboys and the NFL for 25 years and is president of JJT Media Group.

Read more:
Deion Sanders can sell recruits on one thing Power 5 schools cannot: community - The Undefeated

Teenagers experienced less anxiety and felt more connection to school during lock down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A study from the University of Bristol examined how 1000 teenagers across 17 schools in the South West of England coped during lockdown when they werent attending school in person.

The students involved in the research were first surveyed in October of 2019, prior to the pandemic, as part of a wider piece of research into social media use and mental health and wellbeing in teens. In October, more than half (54 per cent) of 13-14 year old girls who did the survey showed signs they were at risk of anxiety, while 26 per cent of boys in the same age range showed signs they were at risk.

When the survey was repeated in May of 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic which saw schools in the UK shut, the percentage of teens who were at risk of anxiety dropped by almost 10 per cent among girls to 45 per cent and dropped to just 18 per cent of boys.

The study authors had expected to see an increase in anxiety due to the pandemic, and were surprised by what they found.

Due tothepandemic, resultant lockdown and school closures, it was really important to understand how young people had been affected by these changes.Thestudy provided a unique insight into how many younger teenagers feel withouttheday-to-day pressures of school life, Emily Widnall, lead author of the study and Senior Research Associate in Population Health Sciences at the University of Bristol's Medical School told Theravive.

Overall we found reductions in anxiety and rises in wellbeing but no large changes in depression inthemajority of students. We saw larger improvements in mental health and wellbeing for students who had poor mental health and wellbeing before lockdown. Students with low school, peer and family connectedness pre-pandemic, sawthebiggest improvements in mental health and wellbeing during lockdown. Students school connectedness also increased overall for both girls and boys, indicating that some ofthemeasures put in place by schools during lockdown were successful at nurturing connectedness, she said.

Boys were found to have a greater improvement in sense of well-being than girls. The students who had the lowest level of wellbeing prior to the pandemic saw the greatest benefit during lockdown, with their wellbeing scores increasing by 14 per cent.

The results of the study raise questions around the impact the school environment can have on the mental health of teenagers. Widnall says the findings shine a light on how younger teens may feel without the daily pressures they have at school like difficult peer relationships or academic pressures.

Improvements in mental health and wellbeing may be due totheremoval of stressors withintheschool environment, such as pressure of academic work, and challenging peer relationships. This study raises questions abouttherole oftheschool environment and its impact on teenage mental health, she said.

Although the students surveyed didnt attend school in person due to lockdown, both girls and boys said they felt a stronger connectedness to their school during this time. There were also significant increases in the number of teens who reported having opportunities to talk to their teachers.

Widnall says further research will be important to explore why young people felt more connected to their school during lockdown. One possible explanation is the use of digital platforms to engage with students.

The reduction in anxiety and improvement in well-being experienced by the students surveyed also coincided with notably greater usage of social media among girls. During lock down, 55 per cent of the girls surveyed said they spent more than three hours every day on social media.

Widnall argues this challenges the commonly held view that social media has a negative impact on the mental health of young people. She says her findings suggest that social media can help teenagers feel connected with others during a period when they are physically isolated.

Based on the findings of the study, Widnall says that when schools return to face to face learning, it will be important to address how the school environment can impact the mental health of students.

I think our take home message from this research would betheimportance oftheschool environment on teenage mental health and wellbeing and how we can support schools to make school culture more supportive of mental health, she said.

As schools fully reopen students mental health and wellbeing may have to be prioritised before catch up on academic work can be achieved. Our findings also reemphasisetheneed for more investment in resources for mental health support in schools.

Categories: Anxiety , Coping , Teens | Tags: teens, covid19, lockdown, remote learning, school closures, anxiety, connection, social media

Read the original post:
Less Anxiety And More Connection To School For Teens During Remote Learning - Theravive

Interview by Nicole Aschoff

For the better part of a year the world has battled SARS-CoV-2, a novel coronavirus that has killed nearly a million people and sickened tens of millions. In the United States the virus has wreaked havoc, particularly on older members of the population. Americans aged fifty-five and older account for more than 90 percent of the nearly two hundred thousand US COVID-19 deaths, while roughly 0.2 percent were people under twenty-five.

Efforts to quell the virus have brought additional pain. As of late August, roughly nineteen million Americans were out of work as a result of the pandemic, and food and housing insecurity has increased dramatically. But the pain caused by lockdowns has not been shared equally.

Elites have seen their stock portfolios balloon in value, and many professionals have been able to keep their jobs by working from home. It is the countrys poor and working-class households, particularly those with children, who have borne a disproportionate share of the burden. Lower-income Americans were much more likely to be forced to work in unsafe conditions, to have lost their livelihoods due to business and school shutdowns, or to be unable to learn remotely.

Jacobin editorial board member Nicole Aschoff sat down with two public health experts to discuss the challenge of keeping Americans safe without forcing working people to bear the lions share of pain and risk.

Katherine Yih is a biologist and epidemiologist at Harvard Medical School where she specializes in infectious disease epidemiology, immunization, and post-licensure vaccine safety surveillance. Yih is also a founding member of the New World Agriculture and Ecology Group, a former and current member of Science for the People, and a long-time activist in farm labor and anti-imperialist struggles.

Martin Kulldorff is a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Kulldorff has developed methods for the detection and monitoring of infectious disease outbreaks which are used by public health departments around the world. Since April, he has been an active participant in the COVID-19 strategy debate in the United States, his native Sweden, and elsewhere. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

See the rest here:
We Need a Radically Different Approach to the Pandemic and Our Economy as a Whole - Jacobin magazine