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Bill Gates daughter Jennifer engaged to fellow Stanford alum – East Bay Times

Posted on January 30, 2020 by Danzig

MADRID, SPAIN MAY 17: Jennifer Gates and Nayel Nassar during Madrid-Longines Champions, the International Global Champions Tour at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid on May 17, 2019 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Samuel de Roman/Getty Images)

(CNN) Bill Gates daughter Jennifer Gates has announced her engagement.

The Microsoft founders eldest child shared a photo on her Instagram account Wednesday revealing that she had accepted the proposal of Nayel Nassar.

Nassar, 28, is a professional equestrian with the Paris Panthers, the team that Jennifer Gates manages and also rides for. Born in Chicago, he competes under the flag of his parents homeland, Egypt, and he helped that nation qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Both Gates and Nassar attended Stanford University. She graduated in 2018, he in 2013.

Nayel Nassar, you are one of a kind. Absolutely swept me off my feet this past weekend, surprising me in the most meaningful location over one of our many shared passions, Gates, 23, wrote alongside a photo of the pair sitting on snow.

She added that she cant wait to spend the rest of our lives learning, growing, laughing and loving together.

Gates told CNNs EQ equestrian show last year: Horses are just one part of our life, but we love the sport.

Hes a professional, and I do this as an amateur. So, to be able to share our love and passion for horses with each other is just incredible.

In an interview last summer with CNN Sports, Gates said she will go on to medical school after taking some time off for the equestrian tour.

Gates said she planned to attend the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. The New York Post reported that her parents bought a $5 million condo on Fifth Avenue adjacent to the campus.

In October, Nassar helped Egypt qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games by winning the CSIO4*-W Nations Cup of Rabat. The feat led to the countrys first Olympic qualification for the sport in 60 years.

Nassar also posted two other photos of the wintry proposal on his own Instagram account Wednesday, writing: SHE SAID YES!!

Im feeling like the luckiest (and happiest) man in the world right about now, he captioned his pictures with his wife-to-be.

Jenn, you are everything I could have possibly imagined and so much more. I cant wait to keep growing together through this journey called life, and I simply cant imagine mine without you anymore.

While Bill Gates has yet to release a statement on his daughters pending nuptials, his wife, Melinda, shared their daughters post on her Instagram story and said she is thrilled for the couple.

Bill and Melinda Gates have two other children: Rory, 20, attends the University of Chicago, and Phoebe, 17, is a high school junior with an interest in dance.

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Bill Gates daughter Jennifer engaged to fellow Stanford alum - East Bay Times

Pre-Med Students Across The US Increasingly Take Gap Years Before Medical School – Loyola Phoenix

Posted on January 30, 2020 by Danzig

By Hannah DenaerUpdated January 28, 2020 10:32 p.m. CTPublished January 29, 2020 8:00 a.m. CT

Kate Rochowicz, a Loyola senior, will soon spend 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. each day treating gunshot victims, people injured in bad accidents and others in need of emergency care. Shell be working as a full-time emergency trauma technician at the University of Chicagos trauma center instead of an immediate transition to medical school.

By choosing to work rather than go straight into medical school, the 21-year-old will join pre-medical students across America in taking something she said seems to be an uprising trend a gap year.

According to a 2019 survey from the Association of American Medical Colleges, 43.9 percent of 15,151 students who enrolled in medical school took one to two gap years. Of the students surveyed, 13.4 percent also took three to four gap years and 7.9 percent took five or more gap years, according to the survey.

Loyola doesnt keep statistics on the number of pre-medical students who take gap years, said Jim Johnson, the chairman of Loyolas Pre-Health Professions Advisory Committee which advises pre-medical students on pursuing their chosen careers. At Northwestern University, 70 percent of the students accepted into medical school take one or more gap years, according to the universitys website.

Johnson said the increase in pre-medical students taking gap years is a national phenomenon. He said a gap year can provide pre-medical students with many important opportunities, such as catching up on required classes, saving money and traveling abroad.

Some of my colleagues dont call it a gap year, they call it a gift year, he said, adding instructors are increasingly encouraging students to take a gap year.

Ola Kierzkowska, a psychology major at Loyola whos taking a gap year next year, said while it might be difficult to transition in and out of the school mindset, she sees financial value in taking a gap year. The 21-year-old plans to spend her gap year expanding both her financial savings and work experience.

Kierzkowska said she is still trying to figure out the specific plan for her gap year. However, she said she currently works as a research assistant at the University of Chicago and is interested in applying for a higher position. Another possibility is a full-time position at Misericordia a non-profit that supports people with intellectual and developmental disabilities Kierzkowska said.

However, some Loyola students are still opting to go straight into medical school, including two seniors Riley DeMeulenaere and Derek Rink.

Rink, a 21-year-old who applied to about 20 medical schools, said he feels ready for the rigor and expectations of medical school. DeMeulenaere, 21, also said he felt prepared for both the application process and medical school itself, emphasizing he wants to stay in a school mentality.

I dont see a gap year as an all good or all bad thing, DeMeulenaere said. I think it really depends upon where the individual sits based upon their four years of undergraduate [school].

Alongside financial reasons, Rochowicz said she thinks the gap year trend is also due to increased support in the medical field for the mental health of future doctors. She said the pre-medical coursework is exhausting and intense, causing extreme stress.

According to the 2019 Medscape National Physician Burnout, Depression and Suicide Report, 14 percent of physicians have had thoughts of suicide without an attempt and 1 percent have attempted suicide. The report also said 44 percent of physicians feel burned out.

Rochowicz said burnout can be compared to forgetting youre a person, emphasizing how stress causes doctors and pre-medical students to ignore their own needs. Taking a gap year is a good and beneficial way to curb burnout, she said.

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Pre-Med Students Across The US Increasingly Take Gap Years Before Medical School - Loyola Phoenix

Academic medicine on the front lines of the coronavirus outbreak – AAMCNews

Posted on January 30, 2020 by Danzig

As a novel and dangerous coronavirus continues to sicken thousands in China and a few dozen others in countries around the world, including the United States, U.S. academic researchers and government experts are working around the clock to understand, treat, and help prevent further spread of this emerging viral threat.

We are already functioning as if there is a worldwide pandemic, says James Crowe, Jr., MD, an immunologist at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Center.

Although in 24/7 scramble mode, Crowe recently took time to update AAMCNews on whats happening behind the scenes in a well-developed nationwide system created to handle such potential disasters. Below are key insights that he shared.

Do you anticipate that we may see many more cases in the United States and worldwide soon?Because of the amount of travel between the United States and Asia, I think its likely there will be more cases in the next few weeks here. Also, even excluding ill persons at the border isnt going to keep the virus out [because] travelers may board an airplane while infected but without any symptoms. We think that's already happened.

Do you have a sense of whether this is going to be a manageable outbreak or a global crisis?If you connect the dots of the number of cases being tracked, at present it's not possible to say when that line stops going up. Two weeks ago, people thought it was just smoldering, and this week its clear the number of cases has continued to increase dramatically. So it's possible that this will be a major worldwide outbreak, but predicting is very difficult.

How are researchers in medical schools and teaching hospitals responding? What's going on right now is that academics who have capacity to contribute are contacting government sponsors with whom they already have relationships and are offering their services. Its very encouraging that the entire community that has capabilities has made themselves available.

Also, the U.S. government has been convening both government and extramural experts almost on an hourly basis. There have been callswith people from all over the country and the world, the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], the NIH [National Institutes of Health], the Department of Defense, and experts in major medical research centers in the U.S.

What are you personally working on?Vanderbilt is a contractor in the federal Pandemic Prevention Platform, and we were already starting a year and a half ago to prepare to rapidly respond to an epidemic by developing antibody treatments. Two weeks ago, the potential targets for these programs were still called Pathogen X. Everyone would say, When Pathogen X occurs, you will execute your program. Now, X has been filled in with the word coronavirus.

We are also embedded in a greater virology community, so with collaborators at the medical schools of Washington University in St. Louis, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and other institutions, we immediately started having conversations about sharing cells [and other tools]. Within a day, we had a plan of how to do an antibody discovery program and get it into the clinic.

What we need to do is get blood cells from people who have survived the infection and who are now immune, and we will use their blood cells to make a biological drug. So, we are working on that process now.

Also, weve already had some very good conversations with manufacturers and biotechs offering to engage them if we have a lead antibody drug candidate. Our goal would be to have the drug ready for clinical trials within about three months and that would be the fastest response ever in history.

Are there other potential significant leads on treatments?Another category is antivirals. Gilead Sciences will be testing whether or not their existing drug for other coronaviruses, remdesivir, works against this virus. If so, that drug could be made available very rapidly. But first, investigators need to test the drug against the virus. So they would need to get the virus, most likely from the CDC. Also, it is possible to make the virus synthetically from DNA, and there are groups that are actively working on that approach. But all of those procedures take days or a couple of weeks.

Those are treatments. What about a vaccine? At least two companies are working on a vaccine, Moderna and Inovio, and certainly there will be more to follow rapidly. First, there is development of vaccine candidates, and then there is a selection of a final vaccine to be tested. Certainly, they have candidates already. I suspect that they will have a final selection of a possible vaccine within a few weeks, and they might be able to be in clinical trials by early summer. They want to move fast, but they also don't want to hurt people while developing the vaccine.

What else is a high priority for researchers in academic medicine? We need animal models to test vaccines, antivirals, and antibodies. Academics are much better than industry about developing new models, and that's going on right now at several places, including Washington University and UNC Chapel Hill medical schools, figuring out which small animal will best replicate the virus or mimic human disease.

And then there are some very basic, fundamental questions about how the virus attaches to the human body that are being researched at Harvard, Washington University, and UNC Chapel Hill medical schools, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and some of the NIH government laboratories as we speak.

What's being done in terms of preventing further transmission of the virus?There are a lot of things we need to know immediately, and many academics are working on that, such as how many people one person infects. Right now, we think it's between one and a half and two, but if that number were higher, it would be even more concerning.

Then another question is, "How does the virus move from person to person?" That mode of transmission will determine what PPE [personal protective equipment] and facilities are needed. So if its spread by contact, providers will need to wear gloves and gowns and masks and face shields. And people will retrain on proper donning and doffing of PPE to be up to speed.

If it turns out that it's spread by small particle aerosol, that will be very challenging because hospitals have negative pressure facilities for these issues, but they don't have an unlimited number of those rooms.

Look at China. They're going to build an entire hospital on the fly because theres just not sufficient capacity to keep these people in isolation. So in terms of infection control and personnel protection, academics are figuring that out, and the CDC will establish recommendations.

How prepared are hospitals to handle an outbreak?After some of the events that we've had like bird flu and Ebola, most hospitals in the country have created a plan. At a big hospital like Vanderbilt, weve also had war game-like simulations where we used the NFL football stadium to triage patients. We also have rooms in the emergency department with special showers to bring the person in and contain them right at the door, but not every facility would have that.

Then there are even very special containment units for things like Ebola at Emory University, the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the NIH, and elsewhere. They don't have a huge capacity, but no one's talking about that right now. This is probably going to be containable under some sort of rather standard hospital facility.

How would you say this compares to previous global outbreaks such as SARS or Ebola?That's a good question. I've lived through the response to chikungunya, Ebola, Zika, and bird flu outbreaks weve responded to all of these and I would say the country is in a much better place now to respond rapidly than it's ever been before.

In some ways, it still seems like a surprise every time it happens even though thats what we do in my lab, continually prepare to respond to an epidemic. Last week, we were still arguing with ourselves: Should we pull the trigger and go full blown in sprint mode, or should we keep on with our other important work? By yesterday, the answer was "pull the trigger.

What is your long-term goal in terms of potential outbreaks like this?Outside of the current episode, what we're doing on a day-to-day basis is trying to make human antibodies for 100 of the known viruses in the world that cause human disease and to have candidate treatments ready prior to an epidemic, a program we have called AHEAD100.

We've been systematically developing antibodies for as many viruses as possible. Once the current event is over, we'll reset and well go back and try to prepare for all the other viruses that are out there. I think that would be preferable to everyone scrambling every 12 months in urgent mode.

For more information, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention coronavirus webpage.

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Academic medicine on the front lines of the coronavirus outbreak - AAMCNews

Cedar Rapids Family Medicine Residency, created to address shortage, announces upcoming closure – The Gazette

Posted on January 30, 2020 by Danzig

CEDAR RAPIDS A longtime Cedar Rapids-based medical training program, meant to address the shortage of family medicine physicians in the area, is closing its doors permanently.

The Cedar Rapids Family Medicine Residency Program will be discontinued effective July 1, at the end of this academic year, Mercy Medical Center and UnityPoint-St. Lukes Hospital jointly announced earlier this week.

Both Cedar Rapids hospitals have jointly supported the Cedar Rapids Medical Education Foundation, which was established in 1971 to oversee the three-year residency program, the stage of a physicians training that follows medical school.

There are no other family medicine residency programs in Cedar Rapids.

The foundation was established to address the shortage of family medicine physicians in Cedar Rapids, operating with the hope that graduates would stay and practice in the community, according to a joint statement from the hospitals.

However, in the past five years, only 31 percent of family medicine residents in this program have remained in Cedar Rapids after graduation, officials said.

As a result, Mercy and St. Lukes Hospital have developed robust recruiting programs to bring medical providers to the Cedar Rapids area, according to the statement.

The decision will affect 21 current residents of the Family Medicine Residency Program, only 7 of whom will finish their final semester and graduate this summer.

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Officials say the foundations program directors have posted notice of the closure on a nationwide residency program director listserv, and has reached out to program directors based in Iowa.

So far we are told these communications have been encouraging as several programs in the state have expressed interest in adding some of the Cedar Rapids Medical Education Foundation residents to their programs, according to a joint statement from Mercy and St. Lukes. In addition, the residents are encouraged to pursue leads on their own in locations desirable to them.

The statement added that program slots are available in Iowa City, Waterloo, Mason City, Des Moines, Sioux City and Davenport.

Federal funding allocated to the Cedar Rapids Medical Education Foundation per resident as their sponsoring institution will travel with the family medicine residents, which we hope will help these residents find placement, officials stated.

The closure also impacts 12 faculty and staff members employed by the foundation. Local hospitals human resources department will work with these individuals to assist with their transition, according to the joint statement.

Training sites of the three-year residency program include both Cedar Rapids hospitals, the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Vinton Family Medical Clinic as well as the Eastern Iowa Health Center, a Federally Qualified Community Health Center that tailors its care to underserved populations.

The Cedar Rapids-based Eastern Iowa Health Center has been the outpatient continuity clinic for the program since the clinic was established in 2006, allowing family medicine residents to gain hands on experience by caring for the centers patients.

As a Federally Qualified Community Health Center, the Cedar Rapids provider receives a higher federal reimbursement to be a safety net provider for underserved populations, such as low-income or Medicaid-eligible families.

Though they were separate organizations, Eastern Iowa Health Center officials said the Cedar Rapids Medical Education Foundation has been a collaborative partner in ensuring the organizations together serve as a vital component of the communitys health care safety net.

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We are grateful for the years of partnership with Cedar Rapids Medical Education Foundation faculty and residents, President and CEO Joe Lock said in a statement. They have served the community and underserved patients tirelessly and we are saddened by the news that the program will be closing.

Eastern Iowa Health Center will recruit a mix of primary care providers to fill the vacancies caused by the foundations closing, Lock said in an emailed statement.

Due to the nature of a residency program, their time in clinic is limited, Lock said. As a result, we will recruit the number of providers necessary to take care of the patients that are currently being seen by residents. Recruitment has already started.

Lock said health center officials plan to continue working with training students in many disciplines, including nurse practitioners, nurses and dentists, among others.

The shortage of family medicine physicians and other primary care physicians is a nationwide issue that is expected to continue to worsen, according to recent research.

The United States will see a shortage of nearly 122,000 physicians by 2032 as the demand for doctors grows faster than the supply, according to a 2019 study from the Association of American Medical Colleges, the accrediting body for all U.S. medical schools. The projected shortfall of primary care physicians is expected to range between 21,200 and 55,200 physicians by 2032.

The report stated that a major factor driving demand for physicians is likely to be a growing older population. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates Americans over the age of 65 will increase by 48 percent by 2032.

Additionally, the aging population will affect physician supply, since one-third of all currently active doctors will be older than 65 in the next decade, the report stated. When these physicians decide to retire could have the greatest impact on supply.

However, officials from both Cedar Rapids-based hospitals are confident their recruitment programs will fill the gap of family medicine physicians in the area.

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Thats how weve been able to successfully meet the physician needs of our community, the statement said. Mercy and St. Lukes recruit two-thirds of all the family practice providers in our area. Both hospitals plan to continue those efforts.

Both hospitals have robust recruitment programs and are able to fulfill the health care provider needs of the community, the statement continued.

Comments: (319) 368-8536; michaela.ramm@thegazette.com

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Cedar Rapids Family Medicine Residency, created to address shortage, announces upcoming closure - The Gazette

AAMC launches new initiative to address and eliminate gender inequities – AAMC

Posted on January 30, 2020 by Danzig

While women have made up almost half of graduating medical students since 2004, they represent just 35% of active physicians. Female physicians make 76 cents and female scientists make 90 cents for every dollar earned by men, even after adjusting for age, years of experience, and specialty. Fewer than 20% of medical school deans and department chairs are women.

These and other systemic disparities have prompted the AAMC to launch a bold new initiative on gender equity, calling on medical schools, teaching hospitals, and academic societies to step up their efforts to identify and address the discriminatory practices that have led to stark gender differences in pay, promotion, and representation among specialties, among other areas.

For too long, gender inequities have persisted in our communities, limiting the contributions and the promise of many of our colleagues and learners.

David Skorton, MD, AAMC president and CEO

This week, the AAMC issued a statement and call to action on gender equity, the first in a series of efforts designed to encourage academic medical institutions to take meaningful and effective actions to correct the inequities that have led to manywomen leaving or being forced to abandon medical and scientific careers.

For too long, gender inequities have persisted in our communities, limiting the contributions and the promise of many of our colleagues and learners, David Skorton, MD, AAMC president and CEO, wrote in a letter to the nations medical school deans, teaching hospital CEOs, and academic society leaders. As leaders, you play a critical role in setting the tone and creating accountability for achieving [gender equity] within your institutions and organizations, as well as across your learning environments.

Led by David A. Acosta, MD, AAMC chief diversity and inclusion officer, and endorsed by the AAMC Board of Directors, the initiative calls oninstitutionsto address seven types of inequities in four primary areas: the physician and scientific workforce, leadership and compensation, research, and recognition.

Women continue to be underrepresented in the physician and scientific research workforce despite near parity in entering and graduating students. Indeed, women have comprised almost 50% of medical school graduates since 2004, but they make up just 35% of the physician workforce. Likewise, women represent half the graduates of STEM programsbut represent less than 25% of STEM faculty.

Within medical specialties, women represent far higher numbers of physicians entering primary care specialties than nonprimary care specialties. For instance, 63% of pediatricians are women, compared to just 18% of cardiologists and 5% of orthopedic surgeons.

We know that many women are pushed out of medical and scientific careers because of gender bias, harassment, and abusive cultures that actively exclude them, says Diana Lautenberger, a research director at the AAMC who is co-leading the gender equity project under Acostas leadership. Its time for our profession to change the narrative so that we can address these issues head-on.

Women are not promoted as quickly or to the same levels of leadership as men. While women are the majority of faculty at the instructor level, their numbers decline at each subsequent rank of assistant professor, associate professor, full professor, department chair, and dean. About 18% of department chairs and deans are women.

Women are offered less in starting salary, negotiated pay, and other forms of compensation (e.g., resources and bonuses) than men despite equal effort, rank, training, and experience. A recent AAMC reportfound that women in clinical departments make 76 cents on the dollar compared to men. That same report found that women in basic science departments earn 90cents on the dollar compared to men.

The exclusion of women from, and the concentration of men in, leadership positions creates extreme power differentials in academic medicine. These power differentials have an impact on the culture and climate of an institution and make it that much more difficult for women to reach parity in pay and promotion, Acosta says.

There is a gender gap in authorship of peer-reviewed publications, especially in high-impact journals. Indeed, women are much less likely to be first or second authors on the papers they publish, and their work appears less often in prestigious journals. This could be partly because editorial boards are overpopulated by men, and partly because most submitted papers are reviewed exclusively by men.

Male researchers receive more research funding than their female peers. While men and women receive grants at about the same rate, the amount awarded to women is consistently less than that given to men.Again, this could be partly because grant review panels consist mostly of men.

Women and racial and ethnic minorities also receive less mentorship and guidance when applying for grants, says Laura Castillo-Page, PhD, senior director of diversity policies and programs at the AAMC and co-lead of the gender equity project with Lautenberger. We need to do a better job of ensuring all women, including women from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds, are given the time to pursue research and the guidance to publish that research in the most prestigious journals.

Women receive less recognition through honors, speaking invitations, and awards than their male counterparts. Female faculty are less likely than men to receive awards from professional societies, be invited to speak about their research, or be introduced with their professional titles.

Leaders need to be intentional in recognizing the contributions of all and think critically about who they mentor and sponsor, says Lautenberger. Often, minoritized groups are not just ignored, but penalized, because theyre not in the club.

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AAMC launches new initiative to address and eliminate gender inequities - AAMC

Three Tulanians honored with STEM awards – News from Tulane

Posted on January 30, 2020 by Danzig

Dr. Anjali Niyogi of Tulane Medical School, left, Kimberly Foster, dean of the Tulane School of Science and Engineering and Dr. Sonia Malhotra, also of Tulane Medical School, were among 10 females honored with 2020 Women in STEM awards by the American Heart Association and Entergy. (Photo by Karoline Glausier)

The dean of the Tulane University School of Science and Engineering and two faculty members from the Tulane School of Medicine are winners of the 2020 Women in STEM Award sponsored by the American Heart Association and Entergy.

Kimberly Foster, now in her second year as dean of science and engineering, joins Dr. Anjali Niyogi and Dr. Sonia Malhotra as three of the 10 winners of the inaugural awards.

"Let us as women leaders continue to push the boundaries of our fields.

Dr. Sonia Malhotra

The Women in STEM Awards, a program of the local chapter of the American Heart Association, recognize female leaders who have demonstrated exceptional commitment and made an impact across New Orleans in the STEM field. The winners were celebrated for their work earlier this month at the Audubon Louisiana Nature Center.

"I am proud to be part of such a diverse group of accomplished women honored for their support of STEM in New Orleans," Foster said. It is wonderful to see women giving back to their community and paving the road for an increased STEM pipeline through mentorship, programming and achievement, Foster said.

Foster has focused on collaborating with the other Tulane deans to deepen the research collaborations among schools and to grow the research programs within science and engineering. Under her leadership, the school is also growing the opportunities for undergraduate research at Tulane. Foster is working with faculty in SSE on the design and programmatic planning for Steven & Jann Paul Hall, a multidisciplinary science & engineering building that will support research and education at Tulane, to be completed in 2022.

Niyogi is a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Internal Medicine & Pediatrics. She is co-director of the RIGHT program (Resident Initiative in Global Health at Tulane) and an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Tropical Medicine. In 2015, Niyogi founded the Formerly Incarcerated Transitions (FIT) Clinic, which provides continuity of care for acute and chronic medical conditions to persons recently released from incarceration.

Niyogi credited her mother for the award. Starting in my childhood, I heard her speak about how she was one of three girls in her entire state to study engineering. This was in 1960s India. I learned from her how how to forge ahead even when others say you cannot, or should not.

Malhotra is also an assistant professor of internal medicine and pediatrics. In addition, she is director of Palliative Medicine and Supportive Care, a program of the Tulane School of Medicine and University Medical Center New Orleans.

Malhotra has been recognized with various teaching and community awards including the Tulane Owl Club Award for Best Pediatrics Resident, the National Med-Peds Resident Associations Howard Schubiner Award and Resident of the Year in Pediatrics and Medicine-Pediatrics.

I dedicate this award to my family including my parents, husband and sons for always pushing me forth professionally and the mentors/coaches who have taken the time to make me better. Let us as women leaders continue to push the boundaries of our fields.

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Three Tulanians honored with STEM awards - News from Tulane

2020-21 tuition, room, board, fees announced – Washington University in St. Louis Newsroom

Posted on January 30, 2020 by Danzig

Undergraduate tuition at Washington University in St. Louis will be $56,300 for the 2020-21 academic year a $2,050 (3.8%) increase over the 2019-20 current academic tuition of $54,250, announced Amy B. Kweskin, vice chancellor for finance and chief financial officer.

The required student activity fee will be $562. The health and wellness fee will be $524.

Charges for on-campus double-occupancy housing for 2020-21 will range between $11,512 and $12,000, depending on housing type selected. This years range is $11,176 to $11,650. The meal plans for 2020-21 will range from $4,516 to $6,274 compared with this years range of $4,389 to $6,097.

The tuition you pay allows us to fulfill our mission of providing a world-class university experience inside and outside the classroom, wrote Interim Provost Marion G. Crain in a letter to parents and students about the 2020-21 tuition, room, board and fees.

It also enables us to address the very important goal of meeting the financial needs of all of our students. Doing so is one of our highest priorities, wrote Crain, who is also the Wiley B. Rutledge Professor of Law.

Thank you for your continued support as we work to provide our students with skills and habits of lifelong learning and leadership to become productive members of a global society, Crain wrote.

A Frequently Asked Questions document about tuition and the universitys financial resources was enclosed with the letter.

Students who qualify for need-based financial assistance will receive consideration for the cost increases, along with consideration of changes in their family financial circumstances.

Below are the 2020-21 full-time tuition and fee schedules for the universitys graduate and professional programs as well as tuition for evening and summer schools enrolling part-time students.

The Graduate School and graduate programs in the McKelvey School of Engineering: The 2020-21 tuition charge for graduate students in these programs will be $56,300, an increase of $2,050 (3.8%).

Sam Fox Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design: The 2020-21 tuition charge for the Master of Architecture program will be $54,176, an increase of $1,476 (2.8%).

Sam Fox Graduate School of Art: The 2020-21 tuition charge for the Master of Fine Arts programs will be $45,018, an increase of $1,268 (2.9%).

Brown School: The 2020-21 tuition charge for first-year students in the Master of Social Work program will be $43,460, an increase of $850 (2%), and the Master of Public Health program tuition will be $38,600, an increase of $760 (2%).

Olin Business School graduate program: The 2020-21 tuition for the Master of Business Administration program will be $64,250, an increase of $2,200 (3.5%), and the Executive MBA program will be $139,950, an increase of $2,670 (1.9%).

School of Law: The 2020-21 tuition for the JD, JSD, LLM and MLS programs will be $60,900, an increase of $2,100 (3.6%).

School of Medicine: The 2020-21 tuition, including student use fees, for first-year students in the School of Medicine will be $65,731 each year for their four years of medical school, an increase of $1,567 (2.4%). Tuition and fees for the second-, third- and fourth-year classes was fixed for four years upon their entry to medical school and their 2020-21 annual tuition will continue at $64,164, $62,295 and $60,481, respectively. The health fee will remain at $2,749.

Evening and Summer School 2020-21 tuition rates

Undergraduate evening students: For undergraduate evening students enrolling in University College in 2020-21, tuition will be $665 per credit hour.

Graduate students in University College: Depending upon the graduate program in University College, tuition will range from $665 to $995 per credit hour for 2020-21.

Summer School: Tuition in Summer School classes will be $1,180 per undergraduate credit hour and $1,420 per graduate credit hour for summer 2020.

2020-21 tuition, room, board, fees announced - Washington University in St. Louis Newsroom

How Indian Doctors Get a Medical License in the US – Voice of America

Posted on January 30, 2020 by Danzig

In India, it is quite an achievement to graduate from medical school, given that many students come from modest socio-economic backgrounds.

Its an even higher hurdle for foreign medical graduates to turn that degree into a license to practice medicine in the U.S.

For a [foreign medical graduate] to come to this country, they have to be among the best students in their native country, said Anupam B. Jena, an Indian American who is an associate professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School. Jena is also a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

The standards for acceptance into a U.S. residency program are high for international applicants. An international medical graduate (IMG) describes a U.S. citizen or green card holder who obtained their degree outside the U.S., while a foreign medical graduate (FMG) describes a foreigner who completes a degree in their country of origin.

Indian FMGs in the U.S. are composed of Indias topmost students, Jena said.

So how does someone with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) and a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) and a post-graduate degree from an Indian institution practice medicine in the U.S.?

It starts with gaining certification from the U.S. Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates, which measures whether FMGs are prepared for a residency program in the U.S.

Graduates must next complete the U.S. Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE). The exams determine an IMGs or FMGs medical knowledge and skills in line with standards and practices in the U.S. The USMLE website describes it as a three-step exam that evaluates an applicants basic medical and scientific knowledge, clinical knowledge and clinical skills. It takes years to achieve medical licensure, but must be accomplished within seven years.

Costs to attain medical licensure through the USMLE vary with each stage of the examination, but it totals about $4,000.

The biggest hurdle is getting admission into a U.S. residency training program, Jena said.

Many Indian medical students participate in internships, unpaid or paid, in the U.S., where they shadow physicians and learn more about U.S. health care and medicine, he said.

Jena urged Indian doctors to apply to at least 30 health care programs in the U.S., to ensure at least five to 10 interviews for employment.

Applicants travel to each hospital for in-person interviews, said Rachana Gavara, an Indian American obstetrician-gynecologist at New York-Presbyterian (NYP) Hospital who studied medicine in India and immigrated to the U.S. in 2000.

There are certain specialties which are much easier for foreign medical grads to get into like internal medicine, psychiatry, pediatrics, family medicine, Gavara said.

Some specialties, like the neurosurgery, dermatology, radiology orthopedics, burns and plastics are very competitive, said Gavara, who was a post-doctoral fellow at Cornell University for three years.

Medical licenses are issued on a state-by-state basis by a medical board, so a doctor would apply in the state in which they intend to work. Licenses must be renewed every two years.

With those milestones achieved, and after completing residency training in a U.S. program, medical practitioners can practice independently in the U.S.

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How Indian Doctors Get a Medical License in the US - Voice of America

‘Unfathomable Amounts Of Blood On The Floor’ Testimony Continues In TriMet Stabbing Trial – OPB News

Posted on January 30, 2020 by Danzig

The BigPicture

The prosecution continued its case against Jeremy Christian Thursday. Christian is accused of killing two people and injuring a third on a TriMet light rail train in Portland in2017.

Beforehand, witnesses said Christian was shouting racist comments while two young black women were nearby Walia Mohamed and Destinee Magnum. Mohamed is Muslim and was wearing ahijab.

Christian is also accused of harassing and assaulting Demetria Hester, an African American woman, on a TriMet light rail train the dayprior.

He faces a dozen felony and misdemeanor charges, including multiple counts of first-degree murder andintimidation.

Jeremy Christian in court for the third day at the Multnomah County Courthouse in Portland, Ore., Jan. 30,2020.

Mark Graves/TheOregonian/OregonLive/Pool

Prosecutors called five witnesses to the stand Thursday, including the aunt of one of the victims, the MAX train operator, people who were on the train at the time of the stabbings and a Portland Police officer who responded to thescene.

Beatrix Therese VanOlphen spoke on the stand about a phone call she had with her nephew, Taliesin Namkai-Meche, when he was on the MAX thatday.

Namkai-Meche is one of the men whodied.

We were talking about the new house hed just bought and how he was going to get some roommates to help pay the mortgage, VanOlphensaid.

She said there was loud yelling in the background of the call; Namkai-Meche had told her it was a crazy person was ranting racistcomments.

VanOlphen said she told her nephew not to get involved, but to maybe take video of what was going on just in case it was something to give to the police later. That was the last time she talked toNamkai-Meche.

Jeffrey Quintana has been a MAX train operator for the past 12 years. He was the operator on the MAX Green Line the day of thestabbings.

He said he could hear an argument occurring in the train from his seat in the cab and made an announcement over the intercom telling people to settle down. Quintana said he told the rail controller about that announcement. The controller told him to check in on the car at the HollywoodStation.

Quintana also said he was not aware of any audible signalling or visual flashing from any passengers hitting the call button from inside of the traincar.

When the train arrived at the Hollywood Station, Quintana opened the cabs internal door and someone told him there was astabbing.

He said he closed the door back and locked it, waiting for thepolice.

I was kind of fearing for my life because I dont have any defense, any training defense against a knife, Quintana said. So I didnt get out of the cab for mysafety.

There were unfathomable amounts of blood on the floor, Police Police Officer Rehanna Kerridge said. I ended up throwing my boots away because they were saturated withblood.

Kerridge was the first officer to respond to the scene on May 26, 2017. She had been on patrol when she got the call about a disturbance on the MAX. Traffic was really bad, she said. It was the Friday before a three-dayweekend.

She and other officers, as they arrived, offered aid to victims while waiting for medicalstaff.

Charles Button, 24, testifies during the third day in the trial of Jeremy Christian at the Multnomah County Courthouse in Portland, Ore., Jan. 30, 2020. Button attempted to administer aid to one of the victims the day of theattack.

Mark Graves/TheOregonian/OregonLive/Pool

Charles Button was a Portland State University student at the time of the attacks, working to eventually go to medical school. He was on the train thatday.

Button was seated near the back of the train and couldnt see what was going on up front, but he said he heard a man yelling things along the lines of: Immigrants are ruining this country. Trump will fix this, and something along the lines of illegal immigrants dont paytaxes.

He didnt see the stabbing take place, but he heard screams and saw people running from thetrain.

Button said he attempted to administer aid to Ricky Best, one of the victims, using his sweatshirt to apply pressure to Bests neckwound.

Chief deputy district attorney Donald Rees asked Button how he felt after aidingBest.

I was very shaky. I was covered in blood from my toes to my knees and my hands. I was very sad and trying to figure out what to do next after this, Button said. I just felt like Id let the man down on thetrain.

Jurors are expected to tour a MAX train car at a secure TriMet facility Thursday afternoon. The media and the public are not allowed to attend. Christian also wont be there, but defense attorneys, prosecutors and the judge will be inattendance.

Key witnesses that could still testify include Micah Fletcher who was stabbed on the train by Christian and survived. Also, Demetria Hester could testify. Prosecutors say she was assaulted by Christian on a Portland light rail train on May 25, 2017, the day before thestabbings.

After the state rests its case, Christians defense team will call witnesses of their own. So far, theyve argued Christian was acting inself-defense.

The trial itself is expected to last a month, through the end ofFebruary.

OPBs Conrad Wilson contributed reporting.

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'Unfathomable Amounts Of Blood On The Floor' Testimony Continues In TriMet Stabbing Trial - OPB News

‘Beethoven mice’ prevent deafness: Medicine’s next big thing? – WNDU-TV

Posted on January 30, 2020 by Danzig

Researchers at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital have found a potential treatment for hereditary deafness, the same condition thought to have caused Ludwig van Beethoven to lose his hearing.

The scientists are using a new gene-editing approach that they say could someday prevent profound hearing loss.

Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 is a cornerstone of classical music. It is hard to believe the composer was almost completely deaf from a genetic condition when he finished it.

"These children are born fairly normal, but then over 10 or 20 years, they lose their hearing," Harvard neurobiology professor Dr. David Corey.

Aptly named "Beethoven mice" might hold the key to a potential cure. Scientists believe the animals have a defect in the same gene that may have caused Beethoven's deafness.

"Our genome is composed of about 3 billion letters of DNA that together make up 20,000 genes," Corey explained. "For the disease we're studying, one mistake in the DNA in one of the genes causes deafness."

Researchers identified that hearing gene called TMC1. It's a gene that comes in pairs.

Using a newly refined gene-editing system, they disabled the defective copy of the TMC1 gene, leaving the good gene in place.

"By eliminating just the bad copy, that would be sufficient to preserve hearing," Corey said.

The scientists then delivered the edited DNA back into the cells of the mice and tested their hearing.

"We put little scalp electrodes on the back of the head, play sounds into the ear and can measure the brain activity in response," Boston Children's Hospital professor of otolaryngology Dr. Jeffrey Holt said.

Researchers say the mice were able to hear sounds as low as 45 decibels, the level of a quiet conversation.

"This could be life-changing," Holt said.

A famed composer, his namesake mice and a team of scientists are using cutting-edge medicine to help people who would otherwise go deaf.

The scientists say this research paves the way for using the new editing system to treat as many as 3,500 other genetic diseases that are caused by one defective copy of a gene.

It's important to note that Holt holds patents on TMC1 gene therapy.

MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGHSRESEARCH SUMMARYTOPIC: BEETHOVEN MICE PREVENT DEAFNESS: MEDICINE'S NEXT BIG THING?REPORT: MB #4689

BACKGROUND: In the United States, hearing loss affects 48 million people and can occur at birth or develop at any age. One out of three people over the age 65 have some degree of hearing loss, and two out of three people over the age 75 have a hearing loss. Children in the United States are estimated at 3 million in having a hearing loss, and of those, 1.3 million are under the age of three. One of the leading causes of hearing loss is noise, and while preventable, can be permanent. Listening to a noisy subway for just 15 minutes a day over time can cause permanent damage to one's hearing. Listening to music on a smartphone at high volumes over time can cause permanent damage to one's hearing as well. The number of people with hearing loss is more than those living with Parkinson's, epilepsy, Alzheimer's, and diabetes combined. (Source: https://chchearing.org/facts-about-hearing-loss/ and https://hearinghealthfoundation.org/hearing-loss-tinnitus-statistics/)

TREATMENTS: The treatment you receive will depend on the cause and severity of the hearing loss. A reversible cause of hearing loss is earwax blockage where your doctor may remove earwax using suction or a small tool with a loop on the end. Some types of hearing loss can be treated with surgery, including abnormalities of the ear drum or bones of hearing (ossicles). Repeated infections with persistent fluid may result in your doctor inserting small tubes to help your ears drain. If your hearing loss is due to damage to your inner ear, a hearing aid can be helpful. With more severe hearing loss and limited benefit from conventional hearing aids, a cochlear implant may be an option. Unlike a hearing aid that amplifies sound and directs it into your ear canal, a cochlear implant bypasses damaged or nonworking parts of your inner ear and directly stimulates the hearing nerve. (Source: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hearing-loss/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20373077)

GENE EDITING WITH CRISPR: Scientists at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital have used a newly tailored gene-editing approach in mice thought to have the same genetic defect that caused famed composer Beethoven to go deaf in adulthood. CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing works by using a molecule to identify the mutant DNA sequence. Once the system pinpoints the mutated DNA, the cutting enzyme, or Cas9, "snips" it; however, the gene editors are not always accurate. Sometimes, the guide RNA that leads the enzyme to the target site and the Cas9 enzyme are not precise and could cut the wrong DNA. The Harvard and Boston Children's scientists are using a modified Cas9 enzyme derived from Staphylococcus aureus bacteria that they are finding is significantly more accurate. (Source: https://hms.harvard.edu/news/saving-beethoven)

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'Beethoven mice' prevent deafness: Medicine's next big thing? - WNDU-TV

Work in Healthcare? ZDoggMD Wants Your Voice to Be Heard – Medscape

Posted on January 30, 2020 by Danzig

This transcript has been edited for clarity.

Eric J. Topol, MD: Hello. I am Eric Topol, editor-in-chief of Medscape. It's a real treat for me to bring back Zubin DamaniaZDoggMD, as he's knownwho is one of only two people we've had twice for a Medscape One-on-One interview. Zubin is quite a distinctive fellow. Welcome, Zubin.

Zubin R. Damania, MD: It's a thrill to be back, Eric.

Topol: Since we last convened for Medscape, several years ago, you have gone on to quite an illustrious career as an Internet celebrity, creating viral videos. But you also moved. You had been at Turntable Health in Las Vegas. Can you tell us what happened with that?

Damania: We had a really cool idea for building this concept of health 3.0, which in our mind meant that you have to shape a system to align the incentives with what you want. And what we wanted was to prevent disease before it happens, team-based collaborative care, everybody practicing at the top of their training, in service to the patient, but also in service to each otherbecause if we don't take the caregiver component into it, we're missing half of the equation, right? So with that in mind, we designed a no copay, unlimited access, all-you-can-treat buffet of care, and we had an insurance partner, Nevada Health Co-op. They put our product on the federal exchange so that patients could get access to this high-touch, relationship-driven primary care that, with subsidies, was pretty much for free.

Our job was to navigate the patients through the system, keep them out of trouble, and keep them from unnecessary admissions and out of the hands of cardiologists and other specialists, unless the patient needed it. It worked quite well. We had wonderful outcomes. We had a good number of patients enrolled, and then one day that same insurance company called us up and said, "Yeah, we're going to be out of business in 2 months, so you're going to have to find another medical home for those patients or another partner."

When we approached other insurance partners, they said, "Oh, sure. This looks great. I would send my own family here. But we'll give you one fifth the amount per patient per month as what those guys were giving you. And you have to charge a copay" (which breaks the model). "And maybe you could do Botox or something like that to make up the shortfall." At that point, I decided instead to spin it down.

Our friends at Iora Health are continuing the same model in multiple different states with Medicare Advantage, which is a good, stable partner with incentives aligned for a system like that. I stayed in Vegas for another couple of years, doing my show. But now I'm back in the Bay Area because I think there's a lot more cool healthcare stuff going on here for our show.

Topol: Besides your show and videos, what are you doing? Are you back in practice or are you staying out of that?

Damania: If I had a full-time practice, I would be beholden financially to an organization or something like that, and I wouldn't be able to say the things on my show that I say. One of our real pitches is that we're an unfiltered voice. So instead I'm faculty at UNLV School of Medicine. I go back to Vegas and I round at the county hospital with the house staff for free, as university faculty. If they want to fire me, that's cool; they're not paying me anyway. But they actually appreciate the voice and viewpoint I'm trying to give. That is my clinical work. And then I focus on the show, the videos, trying to shine a light on bright spots, where things are actually working in healthcare, and then shine a light on where they're not working, because I believe both are important for the tribe of medicineto help us come together and have a collective voice, which we've been lacking for so long.

Topol: You're touching on an important topic that I want to drill down with you: Physicians and the medical community need to have a voice. You already hit on that when you said that if you were involved with a medical group in the Bay Area, you might not be able to be unplugged, unbridled. We also know that in general, physicians don't have a history of being activists. But you have been that way since, it seems to me, back in medical school, when you gave one of the graduation ceremony addresses. Was that your breakout moment in '99? Or did you start when you were in the crib? When did that get going?

Damania: Ever since I was young, I was a wise aleck. I never did well in hierarchical organizations, for some reason, and it came off as arrogance. Teachers would say, "You're arrogant; you think you know more than us." But that's not really how I felt. Inside, I felt like an imposter. But I could see enough to realize that this organization makes no sense, this hierarchy makes no sense, and what they're doing makes no sense. In medical school, I expressed the parts that didn't make sense in this graduation speech at UCSF in '99. Now faculty there embrace what I said. I recently was back for a reunion and got an innovator award and all this cool stuff. But at the time, I remember being told that there were faculty who believed that I shouldn't graduate for having said what I said, which was the truth about our experience in a hierarchical system. I talked about the fealty to authority, conditioning, where we learn to just sit down in the face of a system that's broken instead of standing up and saying, "You know what? We have power to actually change this system."

Topol: I suspect that the commencement address was not accompanied by rap music.

Damania: It was before I got involved in the rap game. That took another 11 years before I created ZDoggMD.

Topol: So ZDogg has been going for a decade? How many videos have you made during that decade?

Damania: There's a good 400episodes of our show, multiple music videos, different interviews. It's gotten crazy. And it's spun out in a way that I never would have imagined. It wasn't planned that way, but it became this path that made a lot of sense.

Topol: It is remarkable how much these programs resonate in the medical community. In part, of course, you're a rebel and you'll say things that people are thinking but you'll actually articulate them and do it in an entertaining way. What does it take to get you to say, "I'm going to do a video on this topic"? What stirs you to do something?

Damania: Anytime I round at the hospital, I'm pretty pissed off. I see things in terms of social determinants of health, how we make errors in the hospital, the fallibility of the humans in this very complex and poorly designed nonsystem. And it gets me upset because I think, What if that was my mom or my brother or my kid? And then I end up doing a video or a series of videos about it. We have about 2 million followers across our social media platforms. A lot of healthcare professionals are part of this effort. They call themselves the Z-pack. (I didn't come up with the name.)

They give me input every day in the form of about 2000 Facebook messages, Instagram, Twitter, all that. So they'll say, "Hey, this is happening in my hospital." Or "Have you seen this article?" Or "Can you believe that? Could you talk about this?" I'll find the signal in all of that noise and then act on it. I'll think, That's a story no one is telling. That's how I listen to the front lines. I also listen to administrators and leaders because they have an important voice that needs to be heard. They also are suffering from what we're calling a "moral injury." They have to serve so many masters, and it causes hurt when you have to make these compromises, whether it's based on money, their own personal needs, the needs of the patient, or the needs of their staff. Trying to give a voice across healthcare has been our goal, and not focusing just on doctorsempowering one of the biggest groups, which is nurses. When they get together and get mad, oh, man, they don't lose. So how can we empower that and use that to help transform medicine? It's not just about the doctors.

Topol: These 2 million Z-pack people in the ZDogg camp must include a lot of nurses and doctors and administrators, and probably not only in the United States, right?

Damania: It's international. But it slices right through a cross-section of healthcare professionals in this country. There are 12 million healthcare professionals, and 2 million follow ZDogg. Some of them are activist patients. We call them mugglesnonmedical folk. It can be gratifying. When I'm in an airport, I'm often recognized maybe three or four times and it's always differenta respiratory therapist, a nurse, a healthcare administrator, a doctor's husband. We have to do something good and important with that kind of reach. And that's what I wake up with every morning: Okay, what are we going to do today that's going to make things better?

The things that get me angry are often things that get all of us angry when we think about them, but we're scared to talk about them because we might lose our jobs.

Topol: I don't know any other physician who has that kind of a community. Probably the most followed doctor in America, outside of Dr. Oz, is Sanjay Gupta. But you're right up there. You're saying things and getting the word out on vital issues that help bring people together. You're a voice to take on, whether it's anti-vaxxers or all the conspiracy theories. What are some of the things that have you juiced up and the ones you think have been most successful?

Damania: The things that get me angry are often things that get all of us angry when we think about them, but we're scared to talk about them because we might lose our jobs or affect our incomes. This is something I'm sensitive to. Upton Sinclair said that it's difficult to get a man to understand truths if his salary depends on him not understanding them. When I was in full-time practice, it was hard to say some of these things because if you're attacking a fee-for-service, volume-based mill, well, that's how our system makes money. That's why my salary is subsidized. I'm benefiting from that. There's this deep disconnect. It's almost a kind of moral distress that you feel. So now I try to find those things and talk about them loudly, like price-gouging in the air ambulance space. Marty Makary, at Hopkins, wrote a great book on this, The Price We Pay, and we had him on the show. He got me so mad reading his book that I just took chapter by chapter and started ranting about this idea that hospitals are suing their own patients en masse, patients who cannot afford to pay. These kinds of issues are important.

On the caregiver side, we see so much violence against frontline healthcare professionals now because there's been an erosion of the social norms around what you do in hospitals. The opioid epidemic has made it very dangerous. We haven't put a priority on keeping our people safe because we consider that to be an occupational risk. "Oh, it's part of a nurse's job to get punched." So we did a video called "Say Something." It's based on a very beautiful song by Christina Aguilera. Our video is about healthcare worker violence. I got thousands of stories from people, mostly women. This is never spoken about that it's women who are getting abused in our hospitals, nurses getting punched in the stomach when they're pregnant, getting cut and bit and killed. One interesting dirty secret about this is that nurses are often assaulted and injured, but doctors are murdered more often. There are fewer attacks, but they're more severe. And these are the things we don't talk about. I want to be able to give an unfiltered voice to that.

The other things we want to talk about are issues no one wants to talk about, like abortion, religion, or politics, and why it is that good people disagree on these issues. I want to talk about that because it allows us to understand our patients better, to have more civil discourse and dialogue. Why are we protecting our children from bad ideas when we should be exposing them to these ideas and confronting them, and arguing instead of deplatforming people and shutting them down? These are the kinds of things that get me up in the morning these days, until something better comes along.

Topol: In a way, you're a kind of antiforce to what is considered the traditional doctor, right? You're the true activist, trying to uncover things that are either hidden, suppressed, or unknown.

Why do you think you have these couple million followers? They're captivated by what you're doing, what you're singing about and performing. It's not just the humor or that it's entertaining, but you have a big message and it continues to grow. Why are you such a standout? Why aren't there more doctors who do things like you?

The inclusion of the whole healthcare tribe helps; if I were just aiming it at physiciansphysicians are a tough crowd.

Damania: It shouldn't be rare. Honestly, there's nothing particularly special about me except that I have a degree of oppositional defiance. If someone tells me not to do something, I'll find a way to try to sneak around and do it with a smile on my face. I've been lucky, in a sense, that I hit YouTube at the right time, in 2010. People like Kevin Poe and others have been doing social media really well. There's a guy named Doctor Mike who's been successful on social media. He's a young guy, just out of residency, and mostly aimed at muggles, trying to teach patients. He's very attractiveone of Instagram's sexiest doctors.

I'm the ugly bald short guy who paid his dues going through this academic system and is now going to tell you the truth as far as I see it, and I'm not going to lie to you or try to sell you something. If we do sponsored episodes, it's usually, "Hey, this guy's got a device that thinks it's artificially intelligent and is going to help us with our EHR. Let's figure out whether it's nonsense and have an actual conversation." I think that's what resonates with people. Also, the inclusion of the whole healthcare tribe helps; if I were just aiming it at physiciansphysicians are a tough crowd, Eric. I did a performance at a TCT conference for interventional cardiologists. I ended with "Lose Yourself," an Eminem joint. Twitter blew up"Best thing we've seen; it's amazing"but the live audience didn't know what to make of it.

Topol: That would be the norm.

Damania: Four thousand interventional cardiologists from all around the world. They've never seen anything like that. I gave a similar talk at an American College of Cardiology event that was predominantly nurses, with a few doctors, and got standing ovations, high fives. Very different audiences. Physicians are conditioned to be a bit "in the box"you know, polite. That conditioning is fine, but we need to get them to act because they're smart, creative people. If they stood up and stampeded, we would change the world. That's why I loved your article in The New Yorker where you talked about doctors organizing.

Topol: We should get your help to pull that together. It's coming together. We have remarkable enthusiasm and the leadership is getting established. We have a tentative namethe Osler's Alliance. We're going to enlist your support for sure, because what you do will help. You are organizing doctors and the medical community around an important front.

In social media, people have very emotional responses. Do you get much blowback for your efforts?

Damania: Oh, I get hate almost daily. I get emails that would chill your blood. It's a mix of things. Sometimes it's an anti-vax cult member. We had Paul Offit on our show; he's a luminary in the vaccine world. And the anti-vaxxers found out that he was coming to our studio in Las Vegas, showed up during the live broadcast, and started pounding on the glass holding a picture of a child they said had died of a vaccine injury. It was SIDS, of course. The parents were there, and when you have been led to believe that vaccines murdered your child, of course you're going to act that way. It's very hard to blame them. Who has been doing that conditioning? We've dropped the ball as educators, and these conspiracy theorists have grabbed it and run with it.

So we get that crowd. Sometimes physicians don't like what I say. If I stand up and say, "Hey, you can't have doctors online bullying nurse practitioners. It doesn't become us to do that. We should be practicing at the top of our training and license, and that's all we need to say about that. But going out there and bullying people, saying they have low IQ, things like that, it's beneath us. It's unprofessional." I got a lot of hate for that.

And if I do anything controversial, if I talk about vaping or anything with nuance in it, I'll get a lot of hate, which means I'm probably on the right track. If I don't get hate, I feel like I've done it wrong. I haven't gone hard enough on the nuance, because I do want to upset the fringes on an issue.

Topol: You're a rebel by definition. We first met at the earliest Future of Genomic Medicine (now called Future of Individualized Medicine) conference. Somehow, I think everyone could feel in their bones that you would have an impact like you have. That impact is still developing. It's really quite remarkable.

Where do you go from here? What's the ZDogg plan for the next decade?

Damania: I wish I wasn't stuck with the name ZDogg, but in 2010 I was trying to come up with a handle that no one had taken on Twitter, and ZDoggMD came up. I'm thinking, I like Snoop Dogg, let's go with that. Now it's done. The problem is that it has a tinge of clownery and stupidity. But as we move forward, we really want to be a more serious force. The comedy is important, the music is important, but I want to serve a higher purpose with our show. Now that we're in the Bay Area, we're getting more guests on. I'm hoping to get you on the show because I'm fascinated with all your work on artificial intelligence and everything else you've been doing, especially with organizing physicians. Also, I want to learn a lot more.

The other thing I try to talk about is meditation and those sorts of pursuits. You can talk about moral injury and burnout a lot and say that these are external things that are pushing on us, that we need to fight back on, but then we also need to work on our own personal framing and locus of control. If we decentralize our control and say "this is all out of my control," it becomes very hard to affect change. When we work on things with true mindfulness, meditation, these sorts of practices, which I've been working on myself and trying to teach my audience about, it gives us space to be less reactive, more understanding, more compassionate. I want to go down that route a bit morenot in the "woo-woo," Deepak Chopra, everything-is-beautiful way but in a more realistic, useful way for frontline healthcare workers and others to use.

Topol: When you do your videos, you often have lots of other people in them. Are these extras? Are they on your staff? Where do you get all these people?

Damania: They're all volunteers who want to be in the videos. If I put out a call, 50 people will show up and want to be in the video. It's really fun. We're working with San Mateo Medical Center and we're shooting videos on their campus. It's a fun collaboration because we have a county safety net hospital that we can help by raising awareness for their foundation and things like that. In exchange, we get to shoot in a real hospital, which we've always done in Las Vegas. That and the real medical staff extras help make it authentic. It's not a Hollywood production, although those production values are therewe use 8K cameras and hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of equipment to make a video that healthcare professionals can feel like, wow, this is a world-class music video about, for example, a doctor who steals pens from nurses.

You would think that's a dumb topic. Who cares? The nurses care. These affluent doctors who could buy their own dang pens are coming up to the nurses and asking, "Hey, can I borrow a pen?" And then they walk off with it. So we did a parody of Rick Springfield's "Jessie's Girl," about Jessie's pen. "I wish that I had Jessie's pen. Oh, never found a ballpoint like that."

Topol: We recently did a Medscape One-on-One with Jen Gunter. You're kind of her male counterpart. She's much more focused on women's health and you are more focused on general issues, but both of you are rebels, taking on the miscommunication in medicine and the misinformation.

What's noteworthy here is the different breed of doctors the two of you represent. Recently, Stanley Goldfarb, a former dean at UPenn, published an editorial in The Wall Street Journal. He wrote that doctors should "stay in their lane," just as the NRA said about doctors and gun safety. He wrote that there shouldn't be anything in the medical school curriculum about things like climate change, social injustice (which he put in quotes), gun controlall the things that get you going. He said that doctors should just take care of their patients, basically ignoring where medicine is headed.

You anticipated that in the past decadethe broader view of what it takes to provide care for patients and have that more panoramic perspective. Where do you see medicine going in general?

Damania: We have to be vocal on all those issues. And here's the thing: We may not agree. When we talk about guns, maybe there are doctors who like to hunt and believe in the right to have a weapon. They don't think gun control in its current form will work. Okay, fine. Let's hear that voice. Let's put it into the mix. And then we'll hear the voice that you often see on Twitter, which is a more leftish voice. That voice says, "No, we need to actually talk about this as a public health issue." Before he became Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy got into trouble just for mentioning it. That's censorship. We should be able to speak freely about whatever we're passionate about, whether it's climate change or something like abortion.

Jen Gunter and I got into an offline argument because we both feel so passionately about this, talking about a woman's right to choose 100%, but acknowledging that many people who we are trying to influence are uncomfortable with the moral ramifications of that. But let's at least have a conversation. Nothing is black-and-white. It's one of the great fallacies that the world is black vs white, good vs evil. It's not. Everyone has their own moral palette and they're trying to do good in the world. So let's get boisterous. We went through a lot of hurt to have knowledge and credibility; why aren't we trying to use it for good in the world? That's part of the healing process. So, yes, we have to have a voice in these issues.

Topol: Do you see a remedy in the future for this disillusionment and physician, nurse, and clinician burnout? Are you hopeful that we're going to get out of these doldrums of medicine?

Damania: I am. You know why? Because I've seen it work. I've seen bright spots. Our staffdoctors, nurses, health coaches, licensed clinical social workers, pharmacists, phlebotomistsgot together every morning. It was a nonhierarchical, everybody-teaches-each-other moment, but they all had their own specialty and training, and they operate at the top of their license. They worked harder than they had ever worked in any organization. But they were happier than they had ever been.

Everyone thinks healthcare workers are just overworked. Well, this is true. We're overworked with stuff that doesn't matter. If we're allowed to work hard at what matters, and we're given the tools, the resources, and the autonomy to do that, we will bust our butts because hey, we got through medical school, residency, and fellowship training. We are good at that. But we need the capacity to do our jobs. And when they have it, people work really hard. They work long hours, but they come away invigorated, feeling a sense of purpose, a sense of connection.

Many of us suffer in silence. So many of us are burning out. Burnout is like dialysis: It's the end stage of multiple insults, one of which is this moral distress or greed; another is poor personal tools to deal with the stress. We think that if we just work hard, we can fix it. That's going to end badly. If we can communalize our pain, with shared suffering comes some relief"Oh, it's not just me. I'm not crazy, the system is crazy."

That's what Samuel Shem's book, The House of God, did, remember? All of us thought, It wasn't just me who felt morally bankrupt during residency. It's a whole thing. This communalization of pain can bring us together. I've seen it work with burnout. I've seen it ameliorated. I've seen the benefits of communalizing our pain, giving us a voice, so I have no doubt that it's going to get better. But it's going to take folks like you to organize physicians. It's going to take folks like me to keep shouting and going, "Hey, we're hurting. You're validated, your suffering is real. And it's not just yours alone." That isolation and disconnection is what's driving people to despair. When people disappear off the grid, that's when you worry about things like suicide.

Topol: I share your optimism. And I'll look forward to talking more about that and the gift of time that we might be able to derive from technology and AI. I think I'm speaking for a plurality of the Medscape community when I say that what you've achieved in the past decade is laudable. We're going to follow you closely. And we're going to revisit all of this in another decade. You're still a young guy, you're a force, you're teaching a lot of people what it's like to be able to get out there and speak your mind. So keep up the great work, Zubin.

Eric J. Topol, MD, the editor-in-chief of Medscape, is one of the top 10 most cited researchers in medicine and frequently writes about technology in healthcare, including in his latest book, Deep Medicine: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Healthcare Human Again.

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Work in Healthcare? ZDoggMD Wants Your Voice to Be Heard - Medscape

State Rep. Blanco presents Resolution to Honor Paul L. Foster School of Medicine’s 10-Year Anniversary – El Paso Herald-Post

Posted on January 30, 2020 by Danzig

To commemorate the 10- year anniversary of the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine, State Rep. Csar Blanco presented a resolution to Richard Lange, M.D., M.B.A., Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso (TTUHSC El Paso) president.

This medical school is not only contributing to the economic activity of our city, but directly serves to improve the physician shortage that West Texas faces, said Representative Blanco during the presentation.

Thanks to the Foster School of Medicine, talented students from the Paso del Norte region with a passion for medicine and serving the community have the option to apply for medical school in their hometown.

Blanco, who represents TTUHSC El Paso in the Texas State House of Representatives, has been a key supporter of the Foster School of Medicine. His resolution comes one month before TTUHSC El Paso holds the medical schools 10th anniversary celebration, A Red Tie Affair for a White Coat Occasion, on February 28.

We are thankful for Representative Blanco and the entire El Paso delegation for their continued support of the students, faculty, and staff at the Foster School of Medicine, Dr. Lange said. This resolution not only recognizes the tremendous work being done at TTUHSC El Paso, but also celebrates the positive impact we are making to the health care and education in our region.

Opening its doors in 2009 with an inaugural class of 40 students, the Foster School of Medicine became the first medical school located on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Since graduating from the school, more than 500 alumni are either currently practicing physicians or in residency programs throughout the United States.

The Foster School of Medicine has 403 students currently enrolled, most of whom have contributed several thousand hours in community service through its student-run clinics and volunteer programs.

The school continues to be a pioneer in health education through a curriculum focused on training students in simulation labs with high-tech mannequins, beginning clinical rounds within the first year of study, and requiring all students to learn medical Spanish.

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State Rep. Blanco presents Resolution to Honor Paul L. Foster School of Medicine's 10-Year Anniversary - El Paso Herald-Post

Outdoors connection threaded through all for Renaissance man – Minneapolis Star Tribune

Posted on January 30, 2020 by Danzig

Writers series: This is the third installment in a series of stories profiling celebrated -- and not so well-known -- nature writers in Minnesota. Today: Charles Eastman.

The life of Charles Eastman is enjoying a Renaissance, 81 years after his death.

The Native American author, physician and lecturer is the subject of a 2018 documentary broadcast on public television and multiple academic appraisals of his philosophy and activism. But a missing piece in the story of Eastman (Ohiyesa in Dakota) is his place in the canon of nature writers with roots in Minnesota. He wrote 11 books, each a mix of folklore, autobiography and adventure, and two more in tandem with his wife.

Nature is the greatest schoolmistress of all, Eastman wrote, as he become one of the first Native voices to be published globally. His childhood experiences in Minnesota, the Dakota Territory and the Canadian prairie, along with his medical training, all informed his work.

One of his main inspirations, said a descendant, Kate Beane of Minneapolis, was that personal health is related to nature, and that is why it is so important.

Eastman, a grandson of U.S. Army officer and painter Seth Eastman, did not publish his first book until he was 44 and living in St. Paul. While I had plenty of leisure, I began to put on paper some of my earliest recollections, with the thought that someday our [six] children might like to read of that wilderness life, he wrote.

Lifes circumstances tossed him around like a leaf on the water. He was born near Redwood Falls in the new state of Minnesota in 1858; his mother died shortly after his birth. Four years later, the U.S.-Dakota War erupted, and his family was caught in its midst. His father, Many Lightnings, was arrested and marched to prison camp in Iowa. Many family members escaped to Canada, including Ohiyesa, who was in the care of grandparents and other relatives.

Hundreds died in the prison, but Many Lightnings survived and was released. He converted to Christianity and took the name Jacob Eastman. Nine years passed and he made his way to Canada, where his relatives were shocked to see him alive. We supposed, and, in fact, we were informed that all were hanged, Charles Eastman wrote. Jacob moved the family to the Dakota Territory and urged education on his children. Charles graduated from Dartmouth College in 1887 and Boston Universitys medical school in 1890.

But fate was not finished with him. He returned to doctor his people in South Dakota. After the Wounded Knee massacre erupted later that year, Eastman led a team to the fields of slaughter. He tended the wounded and comforted the survivors.

The white men [on the team] became very nervous, but I set to examining and uncovering every body to see if any were living. Although they had been lying untended in the snow and cold for two days and nights, a number had survived, he wrote.

Three years later, after marrying teacher Elaine Goodale, he moved to St. Paul to set up a medical practice. But patients were hard to come by for a Dakota doctor, and he took up writing to fill his time. Elaine, who had publishing experience, served as his editor. She encouraged him to write down his stories, said Beane, who is director of Native American initiatives for the Minnesota Historical Society. She edited them in a way to make them sellable, and she was the main contact to the publishing houses.

As his fame spread, Eastman and his family moved to be near Elaines family on the East Coast; he became a popular figure on the lecture circuit and met Mark Twain, British Prime Minister Lloyd George and four American presidents. His organizational accomplishments included helping found the Boy Scouts of America. He established 32 branches of the YMCA in Native communities and owned a summer camp in New Hampshire.

Sharp-eyed witness

His stories combined his experiences with Dakota oral traditions. In his retelling of the 1862 U.S.-Dakota War, he wrote, The dog that howled pitifully over the dead was often the only survivor of the farmers household. He was a sharp-eyed witness of nature, including its weather. The bellowing of the (buffalo) bulls became general, and there was a marked uneasiness on the part of the herd. This was the sign of an approaching storm, he wrote in his book Indian Boyhood. Later, (as) after every storm, it was wonderfully still; so still that one could hear distinctly the pounding feet of the jack-rabbits coming down over the slopes to the willows for food.

Although a city resident for a good deal of his adult life, Eastman preferred the outdoors. In civilization there are many deaf ears and blind eyes, he wrote. In the great laboratory of nature there are endless secrets yet to be discovered.

He sometimes seemed surprised at his success. None of my earlier friends who knew me well would have ever believed that I was destined to appear in the role of a public speaker, he wrote. It may be that I shared the native gift of oratory to some degree, but I also had the Indian reticence with strangers.

Eastman stopped writing after 1921 at the time of his separation from his wife. He died at age 80 in 1939 in Detroit while visiting one of his sons, after a fire in his tepee triggered a heart condition. Much of his soul remained in his boyhood home. (His) story begins at and ultimately at least in spirit returns to the heart of the Dakota homeland in southern Minnesota, wrote University of Arizona Prof. David Martinez in an analysis of Eastmans work.

The Northern Star Council of the Boy Scouts of America at Fort Snelling displays a bronze sculpture of a young Ohiyesa playing lacrosse. Dartmouth College awards a scholarship for Native American graduate students in memory of Eastman the refugee, physician, community organizer, public speaker and nature writer.

Mark Neuzil is chair of the journalism program at the University of St. Thomas and the co-author of Canoes: A Natural History in North America.

Previous stories: Sigurd Olson, Florence Page Jaques

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Outdoors connection threaded through all for Renaissance man - Minneapolis Star Tribune

GOLD Classifications, COPD Hospitalization, and All-Cause Mortality in | COPD – Dove Medical Press

Posted on January 30, 2020 by Danzig

Laxmi Bhatta,1 Linda Leivseth,2 Xiao-Mei Mai,1 Anne Hildur Henriksen,3,4 David Carslake,5,6 Yue Chen,7 Arnulf Langhammer,8,* Ben Michael Brumpton4,5,9,*

1Department of Public Health and Nursing, NTNU Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway; 2Centre for Clinical Documentation and Evaluation (SKDE), Northern Norway Regional Health Authority, Troms, Norway; 3Department of Circulation and Medical Imaging, NTNU Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway; 4Clinic of Thoracic and Occupational Medicine, St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway; 5Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit, Department of Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK; 6Population Health Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK; 7School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada; 8HUNT Research Centre, Department of Public Health and Nursing, NTNU Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Levanger, Norway; 9K.G. Jebsen Center for Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Nursing, NTNU Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence: Laxmi BhattaDepartment of Public Health and Nursing, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, NTNU Norwegian University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 8905, MTFS, Trondheim NO-7491, NorwayEmail laxmi.bhatta@ntnu.no

Purpose: The Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) has published three classifications of COPD from 2007 to 2017. No studies have investigated the ability of these classifications to predict COPD-related hospitalizations. We aimed to compare the discrimination ability of the GOLD 2007, 2011, and 2017 classifications to predict COPD hospitalization and all-cause mortality.Patients and Methods: We followed 1300 participants with COPD aged 40 years who participated in the HUNT Study (1995 1997) through to December 31, 2015. Survival analysis and time-dependent area under receiver operating characteristics curves (AUC) were used to compare the discrimination abilities of the GOLD classifications.Results: Of the 1300 participants, 522 were hospitalized due to COPD and 896 died over 20.4 years of follow-up. In adjusted models, worsening GOLD 2007, GOLD 2011, or GOLD 2017 categories were associated with higher hazards for COPD hospitalization and all-cause mortality, except for the GOLD 2017 classification and all-cause mortality (ptrend=0.114). In crude models, the AUCs (95% CI) for the GOLD 2007, GOLD 2011, and GOLD 2017 for COPD hospitalization were 63.1 (58.7 66.9), 60.9 (56.1 64.4), and 56.1 (54.0 58.1), respectively, at 20-years follow-up. Corresponding estimates for all-cause mortality were 57.0 (54.8 59.1), 54.1 (52.1 56.0), and 52.6 (51.0 54.3). The differences in AUCs between the GOLD classifications to predict COPD hospitalization and all-cause mortality were constant over the follow-up time.Conclusion: The GOLD 2007 classification was better than the GOLD 2011 and 2017 classifications at predicting COPD hospitalization and all-cause mortality.

Keywords: GOLD grades, ABCD groups, COPD hospitalization, mortality, area under curve, AUC

This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution - Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License.By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms.

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GOLD Classifications, COPD Hospitalization, and All-Cause Mortality in | COPD - Dove Medical Press

Fold of the Week Celebrates 500-Episode Milestone – Printing Impressions

Posted on January 30, 2020 by Danzig

This morning, Trish Witkowski of Foldfactory.com will go to the Foldfactory channel on YouTube and upload the 500th episode of her well-known video series 60-Second Super-Cool Fold of the Week. In doing so, she will also celebrate 10 years of shooting the groundbreaking vlog series that is enjoyed by tens of thousands of designers and print industry professionals around the world.

In anticipation of the upcoming milestone, she reached out to long-time Foldfactory sponsor Structural Graphics to design a new and exciting format to feature on the 500th episode with plans to distribute samples for free in limited edition to the audience. I wanted to do something special, so we gave ourselves a lot of time to explore ideas, states Trish, I was very particular about the fact that the format had to be exciting and new, but also in the public domain so that anyone could produce it.

The team at Structural Graphics went to work and pitched several ideas to Trish, who ultimately chose a new format they called The Roundabout. The final plan involved designing a commemorative piece, and then producing 500 samples to distribute to 500 lucky viewers. In an effort to include everyone in the celebration, and to inspire the production of this exciting new format, Foldfactory.com and Structural Graphics together decided to offer the Roundabout production dieline as a free download for all.

Weve always appreciated Trishs excitement, enthusiasm and support when it comes to pushing the boundaries of what paper can do, commented Structural Graphics CEO, Kevin Gilligan. Its a thrill to have one of our designs commemorate her 500thepisode.

When it was time to produce the commemorative design, Witkowski contacted industry friends at Sappi North America. Sappi has been with me for close to nine years, and they have been a big part of my growth and evolution over the years, said Witkowski. So, in my mind the commemorative piece had to be printed on Sappi paper.

What Trish has done this past decade educating the industry on folding innovation is impressive. Her specialized expertise paired with her successful platform provides endless inspiration to us all, said Patti Groh, Director of Marketing Communications for Sappi North America. We were privileged to work with her on our Standard 4 guide on folding and scoring, one of our most requested thought leadership pieces to date, and we look forward to continuing our collaboration with Foldfactory as we celebrate the accomplishments and legacy of this industry staple.

The final product was digitally printed on Sappi McCoy Silk Digital for HP Indigo 100-lb. Cover, diecut and scored, glued, and then hand folded by the team at Structural Graphics.

Many have asked Trish about the future of the series, and whether or not she plans for episode 500 to be her last. Theres such a loyal viewership to the series, she states, and I feel that my work serves as an important resource for the industry. I also have tremendous sponsorship support in Structural Graphics and Sappi North America, along with Standard Finishing Systems, AccuZIP, and my media partners NAPCO Media, Printing News, and PrintMediaCentr. So, as long as there is great work being done, and an audience that wants to watch and interact, Im going to keep Fold of the Week going.

To view the 500th episode, to request a free sample of the Roundabout, and to download the Roundabout dieline for free, visit: http://www.Foldfactory.com/pages/episode500

To view the rest of the Fold of the Week series, visit https://www.youtube.com/foldfactory

Source: Fold Factory

The preceding press release was provided by a company unaffiliated withPrinting Impressions.The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of the staff ofPrinting Impressions.

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Fold of the Week Celebrates 500-Episode Milestone - Printing Impressions

Blizzard Developers Once Prototyped A VR Version Of Hearthstone – UploadVR

Posted on January 30, 2020 by Danzig

In a new interview with PowerUp, Hearthstones Lead Effects Artist Hadidjah Chamberlain revealed that some Blizzard developers once prototyped a VR version of Hearthstone over two weeks at one of the companys annual Free Your Mind events.

The Hearthstone Tavern is an often-mentioned location when talking about places or scenes people would love to explore in VR. While the popular Blizzard card game is playable on PCs and smartphones, playing a round of the game in a VR recreation of the fictional tavern itself would be a whole different experience. Think PokerStars VR, but for Hearthstone.

Well, it turns out that the idea was thrown around by Blizzard developers at one of their annual Free Your Mind events, which are essentially internal hackathons for employees. One year, two developers made a very basic version of Hearthstone in VR. You could walk around The Tavern and sit down to play a game with someone, said Chamberlain, while speaking to PowerUp. They only had two weeks, so they only got as far [allowing you to] throw cards at the table and you could flip the table over!

The prototype wasnt developed any further than that, so its extremely unlikely well ever get to see any footage and even more unlikely we would ever get to try it out. Ultimately, it might be an idea that sounds great in theory, but would be less satisfying in execution. In the same interview with PowerUp, Hearthstone Principle Narrative Designer Dave Kosak said that he felt even though the idea sounds fun, he thinks players would still end up preferring using a tablet or a computer to play Hearthstone games.

What do you think about Hearthstone in VR? Would you be interested?Let us know in the comments below.

No, A VR Developer Did Not Confirm PSVR 2 Is Coming This Year – UploadVR

Posted on January 30, 2020 by Danzig

PSVR 2 rumors snowballed last week when an investor report from a PSVR developer suggested Sony would release a new version of the PlayStation VR headset in 2020. Weve confirmed that this comment was made in error.

The claim was made in a trading update report from Titanic VR developer, Immersive VR Education. The full statement reads: 2020 will see Sony release the PlayStation 5 and a new version of the PlayStation VR headset (PSVR), which will further expand the high-end VR user base; the Group intends to support this device with its current suite of showcase software.

The statement was picked up by some as confirmation that Sony would launch PSVR 2 alongside PS5. The new console is coming holiday 2020, however, previous quotes from Sony itself suggested that we wont see a true PSVR 2 until after the launch of PS5. Sony has said the upcoming PS5 will be backwards compatible with the current generation PSVR.With that in mind, it seemed unlikely that this developer knew a new headset would, in fact, be launching this year.

We reached out to David Whelan, CEO of Immersive VR Education for clarification. He confirmed to us that the original statement was indeed a mistake.

That statement was picked up in error from a trading update sent out to our investors, Whelan told us in an email. We mentioned to our investor relations company that we intend to fully support the PS5 with our current suite of software. We are not confirming that there is a PSVR Version 2 in the works. Our investor relations company picked it up as a new headset for PS5 which might not necessarily be the case.

So there you go, then, this one was a mistake, not a leaked bit of insider information. We still dont have any actual indication of when PSVR 2 will be releasing, but we sure hope its sooner rather than later. Other comments from Sony suggest the eventual headset could have improved resolution, a wider field of view and even wireless support.

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No, A VR Developer Did Not Confirm PSVR 2 Is Coming This Year - UploadVR

What Happened In The ‘Emergence’ Season Finale? – Pajiba

Posted on January 30, 2020 by Danzig

The first season of the Allison Tolman-led sci-fi/family drama Emergence ended last night on ABC, and although it was one of the network shows I was most excited about back in the fall, its struggled to find an audience, which means that I havent had anyone to discuss the show with.

Or so I thought.

Turns out, my nephew, [NAME REDACTED FOR PRIVACY REASONS, but well call him K] is a fan of the show, which was a shock to me, because I assumed that all he did was play Fortnite, or watch Youtube, or watch Fortnite clips on Youtube. You know, like a youth.

But since this is one of the few things we both have interest in (especially since I havent caught up yet on Supernatural, which he also enjoys), I reached out to him after the season finale to get his thoughts. [Spoilers, obviously.]

D: Hey, K.

K: Hey uncle.

D: Before we get into the season finale, how would you describe Emergence as a show?

K: Um, its about this little girl whos kind of like a robot and has special powers, like she can lift things with her mind and protect people. And then this cop finds her and tries to protect her from the bad guys who want her because of her powers.

D: Okay. Whos the bad guys?

K: Well, it started off that there was this bald guy

D: Terry OQuinn. From Lost.

K: I guess?

D: Lost was a popular show about ten years ago.

K: I was very little. I wasnt watching TV yet.

D: Fair enough. Sorry, Ill just insert the names later, so I dont keep interrupting you.

K: What are you talking about?

D: Never mind. You were saying?

K: So the bald guy was after them because he wanted the little girl back, but then his daughter killed him because she wanted the little girl to be her daughter. But the little girl didnt like her and she liked the cop because the cop was nice, and that lady was sad. And then this other lady showed up and she wanted the little girl also, and then the little girl goes with her and the reporter guy

D: Owain Yeoman, from

K: You said you wouldnt interrupt again.

D: Sorry. (Note: from here I actually stopped naming actors, so character names will be inserted as parentheticals)

K: Its okay. Oh, so the reporter guy (Benny, played by Owen Yeomain) was also a robot. And a bunch of other people were robots too. But then the little girl (Piper, played by Alexa Swinton) goes with him and the evil lady (Helen, played by Rowena King) because she wants to save the other robots, but the evil lady keeps killing them.

D: She sounds really evil.

K: Yeah, shes way more evil than the others, I think.

D: So are we caught up to last nights episode?

K: Almost. Umm, the cop (Jo, played by Allison Tolman) was able to get the little girl back and then they decide they want to hunt down the evil lady, so they go to a science lab but then they get trapped there and the evil lady is after them, because they stole the battery she needs for her plan.

D: Okay, so now were at the start of the finale?

K: Yes.

D: Whats the evil ladys plan?

K: Umm, I think shes trying to upload the others to a cloud or something. She tried it once already and it makes their bodies float.

D: Spooky.

K: Yeah.

D: Now that were here, what happens in the finale?

K: So first the cop and the FBI guy (Brooks, played by Enver Gjokaj) are trying to escape with the battery, but the evil lady can turn herself into little nanobots now

D: Wait, could she always do that?

K: I forget.

D: Me too.

K: So she turns herself into nanobots and gets through the door. Then they run some more until one of the nanobots gets inside the cops skin.

D: Oh, I remember that part. That was gross.

K: I liked it.

D: You did?

K: Um, obviously. It was crawling around inside her. That was so creepy and cool!

D: I guess so.

K: Well anyway, the FBI guy had to cut the nanobot out of her, but luckily they were in the kitchen so there was a knife he could use.

D: That is lucky.

K: I know! So thats when the little girl, the reporter, the dad (Alex, played by Turk Donald Faison), and the young cop (Chris, played by Robert Bailey, Jr.) show up and they all seal themselves inside a lab because thats the only place where the evil robot cant get in. But then the reporter left with the poison because he wanted to stop the evil lady himself.

D: Okay, I have a question here. When he left, did you think he was doing it because he wanted to be on their side? Or because he was still helping the evil lady?

K: Umm, I wasnt sure to be honest. But because the little girl said that he was good, I figured he probably was.

D: That seems reasonable. So then what happened?

K: So the cop finds him but he tells her to let him try to kill the evil lady, and he does, but it doesnt work and she kills him, and then the evil lady tries to trick the dad and the FBI guy into giving her the battery by pretending to be the cop, and they figure out its not her, but she gets the battery back anyway.

D: I have another question. Did you think it was the cop?

K: No. She looked kind of weird.

D: Yeah, I thought so too. And she wasnt with Chris.

K: Yeah.

D: Alright, so what happened next?

K: So then evil lady tries to start her big upload, and the girl starts to float, but then the cop put that bracelet on the evil lady so she couldnt turn into nanobots and punched her. But then the orb thing got broken, and was about to explode, so the little girl built a shield around it so everyone else would live, but she got destroyed.

D: That was pretty sad.

K: I guess, except I knew already that she was going to come back, because they had another copy of the girls code.

D: Oh right, the copy that the government was after, right?

K: Yeah. So then they use that code on the evil lady

D: Sorry, I have to interrupt one more time here. Didnt that seem like a bad idea?

K: Why?

D: I mean, shes pretty powerful, and it didnt seem like they knew if it would even work. What if they accidentally just wake up the evil lady?

K: I guess, but they wanted the little girl back, so they had to do it. And anyway, it worked, because she did come back, and now she has nanobots, and she said she can cure the grandpas cancer!

D: Oh right, I forgot that he (Clancy Brown) was sick.

K: Me too, to be honest.

D: So it had a happy ending?

K: Well, mostly. But the dad said he was moving for a job, and then at the very end the government people looked like they had a remote control or something that could connect to the girl, so she might be evil now!

D: Now THAT was scary.

K: Yeah, I hope she doesnt turn evil.

D: So what did you think of the show overall?

K: Um, I thought it was fun. And there were a lot of twists the whole time. Did you like it?

D: I did, mostly. I was confused at some points, but I want to know what happens next.

K: Me too.

D: Now that the shows done, is there something else youre going to watch?

K: I dunno. Oh, but let me show you this Fortnite video

[He then proceeded to show me a series of Fortnite videos. I have never played Fortnite. I do not understand Fortnite, beyond the vague notion of its popularity. I dont know how long I was watching Fortnite videos. An hour, perhaps a week. A month? Time means nothing now. Eventually, I woke up in a small puddle of drool, which thankfully missed both my laptop and my notes of the conversation, since that was the point of the call in the first place.]

Dan is a Staff Contributor. You can listen to him scream into the void on Twitter, or listen to him host the weekly TV podcast Podjiba.

Header Image Source: Hulu/ABC

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What Happened In The 'Emergence' Season Finale? - Pajiba

Fold of the Week Celebrates 500-Episode Milestone with Special Giveaway – What They Think

Posted on January 30, 2020 by Danzig

Thursday, January 30, 2020

Press release from the issuing company

Trish Witkowski of Foldfactory Partners with Structural Graphics and Sappi North America to Produce an Exciting Commemorative Giveaway.

Hunt Valley, Md. This morning, Trish Witkowski of Foldfactory.com will go to the Foldfactory channel on YouTube and upload the 500th episode of her well-known video series 60-Second Super-Cool Fold of the Week. In doing so, she will also celebrate 10 years of shooting the groundbreaking vlog series that is enjoyed by tens of thousands of designers and print industry professionals around the world.

In anticipation of the upcoming milestone, she reached out to long-time Foldfactory sponsor Structural Graphics to design a new and exciting format to feature on the 500th episodewith plans to distribute samples for free in limited edition to the audience. I wanted to do something special, so we gave ourselves a lot of time to explore ideas, states Trish, I was very particular about the fact that the format had to be exciting and new, but also in the public domain so that anyone could produce it.

The final product was digitally printed on Sappi McCoy Silk Digital for HP Indigo 100lb Cover, die-cut and scored, glued, and then hand folded by the team at Structural Graphics.

To view the 500th episode, to request a free sample of the Roundabout, and to download the Roundabout dieline for free, visit: http://www.Foldfactory.com/pages/episode500.

To view the rest of the Fold of the Week series, visit https://www.youtube.com/foldfactory.

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Fold of the Week Celebrates 500-Episode Milestone with Special Giveaway - What They Think

Bitcoin Cash Sees no Blocks for 5 Hours, No Significant Backlog Due to Low Usage – Cointelegraph

Posted on January 30, 2020 by Danzig

The Bitcoin Cash (BCH) blockchain has seen no new block for five hours earlier today. However, due to low usage, the transaction backlog was cleared without difficulty and normal activity resumed.

Data available on advanced blockchain explorer Blockchair show that BCH block number 620025 was mined at 2:14 on Jan. 30. The next block, number 620026, was found at 7:33 of the same day with 6,950 transactions in 2.33 megabytes, an unusually high number. The following block carried 1,590 transactions in 0.56 megabytes, after which another block has seen a standard amount of about 100 transactions, with regular activity resuming.

For comparison, according to Blockchain.com data, a Bitcoin (BTC) block on average carries about 2,000 transactions. Blockchair shows that Bitcoin Cash, on the other hand, usually sees up to 500 transactions in a single block.

This data means that Bitcoin Cash which has an average block time of 10 minutes has seen no new blocks for 5 hours and 19 minutes. Twitter user Whale Panda, a cryptocurrency enthusiast well known by the crypt community, pointed out earlier today that the number of transactions in the block makes it apparent how little use Bitcoin Cash sees:

BCH has so few transactions that after 5.5 hours of no block it still only fills up 2.3MB.

Cointelegraph has been unable to determine why the mining anomaly above took place. Slower than usual blocks occasionally happen on the Bitcoin blockchain as well, as shown by occasional reports on the matter.

Earlier this week, the Bitcoin blockchain saw a stale block that was later pushed out of the main blockchain and resulted in a double-spend of about $3. The research arm of cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX explained on Jan. 27 that this is unlikely to be the result of a malicious attack given the low value involved.

Such an event is the opposite of a slow block, since it sees two blocks being discovered very near each other in time, resulting in the need for the community to choose one of the two. Such occurrences are also the reason why transactions are considered completely confirmed only after six blocks on the blockchain include them and not just one.

Proof-of-work blockchains, due to the variety of their users and the random nature of the mining process, often show rare events recognized as occasional anomalies. For instance, in mid-November, Bitcoins blockchain mempool was at its highest level since January last year without the expected accompanying spike in transaction number.

Another notorious case of an anomalous Bitcoin block is block number #528249, which had a hash that is very unlikely for a miner to compute. More precisely, it was found that there is about a 0.4699% chance of this block hash being discovered.

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Bitcoin Cash Sees no Blocks for 5 Hours, No Significant Backlog Due to Low Usage - Cointelegraph

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