6 Reasons Why I Gave Up On Libertarianism

These days, libertarianism tends to be quite discredited. It is now associated with the goofy candidature of Gary Johnson, having a rather narrow range of issueslegalize weed! less taxes!, cucking ones way to politics through sweeping all the embarrassing problems under the carpet, then surrendering to liberal virtue-signaling and endorsing anti-white diversity.

Now, everyone on the Alt-Right, manosphere und so wieser is laughing at those whose adhesion to a bunch of abstract premises leads to endorse globalist capital, and now that Trump officially heads the State, wed be better off if some private companies were nationalized than let to shadowy overlords.

To Americans, libertarianism has been a constant background presence. Its main icons, be them Ayn Rand, Murray Rothbard or Friedrich Hayek, were always read and discussed here and there, and never fell into oblivion although they barely had media attention. The academic and political standing of libertarianism may be marginal, it has always been granted small platforms and resurrected from time to time in the public landscape, one of the most conspicuous examples of it being the Tea Party demonstrations.

To a frog like yours trulyKek being now praised by thousands of well-meaning memers, I can embrace the frog moniker gladlylibertarianism does not have the same standing at all. In French universities, libertarian thinkers are barely discussed, even in classes that are supposed to tackle economics: for one hour spent talking about Hayek, Keynes easily enjoys ten, and the same goes on when comparing the attention given to, respectively, Adam Smith and Karl Marx.

On a wider perspective, a lot of the contemporary French identity is built on Jacobinism, i.e. on crushing underfoot organic regional sociability in the name of a bureaucratized and Masonic republic. The artificial construction of France is exactly the kind of endeavour libertarianism loathes. No matter why the public choices school, for example, is barely studied here: pompous leftist teachers and mediocre fonctionnaires are too busy gushing about themselves, sometimes hiding the emptiness of their life behind a ridiculous epic narrative that turns social achievements into heroic feats, to give a fair hearing to pertinent criticism.

When I found out about libertarianism, I was already sick of the dominant fifty shades of leftism political culture. The gloomy mediocrity of small bureaucrats, including most school teachers, combined with their petty political righteousness, always repelled me. Thus, the discovery oflaissez-faire advocates felt like stumbling on an entirely new scene of thoughtand my initial feeling was vindicated when I found about the naturalism often associated with it, something refreshing and intuitively more satisfying than the mainstream culture-obsessed, biology-denying view.

Libertarianism looked like it could solve everything. More entrepreneurship, more rights to those who actually create wealth and live through the good values of personal responsibility and work ethic, less parasitesbe they bureaucrats or immigrants, no more repressive speech laws. Coincidentally, a new translation of Ayn Rands Atlas Shrugged was published at this time: I devoured it, loving the sense of life, the heroism, the epic, the generally great and achieving ethos contained in it. Arent John Galt and Hank Rearden more appealing than any corrupt politician or beta bureaucrat that pretends to be altruistic while backstabbing his own colleagues and parasitizing the country?

Now, although I still support small-scale entrepreneurship wholeheartedly, I would never defend naked libertarianism, and here is why.

Part of the Rothschild family, where nepotism and consanguinity keep the money in

Unity makes strength, and trust is much easier to cultivate in a small group where everyone truly belongs than in an anonymous great society. Some ethnic groups, especially whites, tend to be instinctively individualistic, with a lot of people favouring personal liberty over belonging, while others, especially Jews, tend to favor extended family business and nepotism.

On a short-term basis, mobile individuals can do better than those who are bound to many social obligations. On the long run, however, extended families manage to create an environment of trust and concentrate capital. And whereas individuals may start cheating each other or scattering their wealth away, thanks to having no proper economic network, families and tribes will be able to invest heavily in some of their members and keep their wealth inside. This has been true for Jewish families, wherever their members work as moneylenders or diamond dealers, for Asians investing in new restaurants or any other business project of their own, and for North Africans taking over pubs and small shops in France.

The latter example is especially telling. White bartenders, butchers, grocers and the like have been chased off French suburbs by daily North African and black violence. No one helped them, everyone being afraid of getting harassed as well and busy with their own business. (Yep, just like what happened and still happens in Rotheram.) As a result, these isolated, unprotected shop-owners sold their outlet for a cheap price and fled. North Africans always covered each others violence and replied in groups against any hurdle, whereas whites lowered their heads and hoped not to be next on the list.

Atlas Shrugged was wrong. Loners get wrecked by groups. Packs of hyenas corner and eat the lone dog.

Libertarianism is not good for individuals on the long runit turns them into asocial weaklings, soon to be legally enslaved by global companies or beaten by groups, be they made of nepotistic family members or thugs.

How the middle classes end up after jobs have been sent overseas and wages lowered

People often believe, thanks to Leftist media and cuckservative posturing, that libertarians are big bosses. This is mostly, if not entirely, false. Most libertarians are middle class guys who want more opportunities, less taxation, and believe that libertarianism will help them to turn into successful entrepreneurs. They may be right in very specific circumstances: during the 2000s, small companies overturned the market of electronics, thus benefiting both to their independent founders and to society as a whole; but ultimately, they got bought by giants like Apple and Google, who are much better off when backed by a corrupt State than on a truly free market.

Libertarianism is a fake alternative, just as impossible to realize as communism: far from putting everyone at its place, it lets ample room to mafias, monopolies, unemployment caused by mechanization and global competition. If one wants the middle classes to survive, one must protect the employment and relative independence of its membersbankers and billionaires be damned.

Spontaneous order helped by a weak government. I hope they at least smoke weed.

A good feature of libertarianism is that it usually goes along with a positive stance on biology and human nature, in contrast with the everything is cultural and ought to be deconstructed left. However, this stance often leads to an exaggerated optimism about human nature. In a society of laissez-faire, the libertarians say, people flourish and the order appears spontaneously.

Well, this is plainly false. As all of the great religions say, after what Christians call the Fall, man is a sinner. If you let children flourish without moral standards and role models, they become spoiled, entitled, manipulative, emotionally fragile and deprived of self-control. If you let women flourish without suspicion, you let free rein to their propensities to hypergamy, hysteria, self-entitlement and everything we can witness in them today. If you let men do as they please, you let them become greedy, envious, and turning into bullies. As a Muslim proverb says, people must be flogged to enter into paradiseand as Aristotle put forth, virtues are trained dispositions, no matter the magnitude of innate talents and propensities.

Michelle The Man Obama and Lying Crooked at a Democrat meeting

When the laissez-faire rules, some will succeed on the market more than others, due to differences in investment, work, and natural abilities. Some will succeed enough to be able to buy someone elses business: this is the natural consequence of differences in wealth and of greed. When corrupt politicians enter the game, things become worse, as they will usually help some large business owners to shield their position against competitorsat the expense of most people, who then lose their independence and live off a wage.

At the end, what we get is a handful of very wealthy individuals who have managed to concentrate most capital and power levers into their hands and a big crowd of low-wage employees ready to cut each others throat for a small promotion, and females waiting in line to get notched by the one per cent while finding the other ninety-nine per cent boring.

Censorship by massive social pressure, monopoly over the institutions and crybullying is perfectly legal. What could go wrong?

On the surface, libertarianism looks good here, because it protects the individuals rights against left-hailing Statism and cuts off the welfare programs that have attracted dozens of millions of immigrants. Beneath, however, things are quite dire. Libertarianism enshrines the leftists right to free speech they abuse from, allows the pressure tactics used by radicals, and lets freethinking individuals getting singled out by SJWs as long as these do not resort to overt stealing or overt physical violence. As for the immigrants, libertarianism tends to oppose the very notion of non-private boundaries, thus letting the local cultures and identities defenseless against both greedy capitalists and subproletarian masses.

Supporting an ideology that allows the leftists to destroy society more or less legally equates to cucking, plain and simple. Desiring an ephemeral cohabitation with rabid ideological warriors is stupid. We should aim at a lasting victory, not at pretending to constrain them through useless means.

Am I the only one to find that Gary Johnson looks like a snail (Spongebob notwithstanding)?

In 2013, one of the rare French libertarians academic teachers, Jean-Louis Caccomo, was forced into a mental ward at the request of his university president. He then spent more than a year getting drugged. Mr. Caccomo had no real psychological problem: his confinement was part of a vicious strategy of pathologization and career-destruction that was already used by the Soviets. French libertarians could have wide denounced the abuse. Nonetheless, most of them freaked out, and almost no one dared to actually defend him publicly.

Why should rational egoists team up and risk their careers to defend one of themselves after all? They would rather posture at confidential social events, rail at organic solidarity and protectionism, or trolling the shit out of individuals of their own social milieu because Ive got the right to mock X, its my right to free speech! The few libertarian people I knew firsthand, the few events I have witnessed in that small milieu, were enough to give me serious doubts about libertarianism: how can a good political ideology breed such an unhealthy mindset?

Political ideologies are tools. They are not ends in themselves. All forms of government arent fit for any people or any era. Political actors must know at least the most important ones to get some inspiration, but ultimately, said actors win on the ground, not in philosophical debates.

Individualism, mindless consumerism, careerism, hedonism are part of the problem. Individual rights granted regardless of ones abilities, situation, and identity are a disaster. Time has come to overcome modernity, not stall in one of its false alternatives. The merchant caste must be regulated, though neither micromanaged or hampered by a parasitic bureaucracy nor denied its members right for small-scale independence. Individual rights must be conditional, boundaries must be restored, minority identities based on anti-white male resentment must be crushed so they cannot devour sociability from the inside again, and the pater familias must assert himself anew.

Long live the State and protectionism as long as they defend the backbone of society and healthy relationships between the sexes, and no quarter for those who think they have a right to wage grievance-mongering against us, no matter if they want to use the State or private companies. At the end, the socialism-libertarianism dichotomy is quite secondary.

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Dec 1, 2016Andr du Ple

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6 Reasons Why I Gave Up On Libertarianism

At spirited Ottobar show, Future Islands share victory lap with Baltimore – Baltimore Sun (blog)

Triumph embodies many forms.

Fittingly, for Future Islands, theirs took on a sweat-drenched, workmanlike quality at the Ottobar in Remington Friday night, the first of four sold-out album release shows in the synth-pop bands adopted hometown. The tested road warriors proved why theyre still one of the most consistent and rewarding live acts the city has seen since the trio moved from Greenville, N.C., to Baltimore nearly a decade ago.

A specific kind of joy emanated from the stage throughout the bands 25-song set the type earned after scoring an unlikely hit, touring the world, releasing a new album (The Far Field) and commemorating it at a smaller-than-expected venue in front of friends, family and fans.

Thank you for bringing your souls here tonight, a beaming Samuel Herring told the crowd. But then it was quickly back to business: We just wanna play, said the singer, taking a rare break from his seemingly perpetual motion.

The night a spirited homecoming that music website Pitchfork broadcast live online didnt require much banter. This was an intimate celebration of the bands fifth LP, released Friday via the label 4AD.

As usual, the band which features bassist William Cashion, keyboardist Gerrit Welmers and touring drummer Michael Lowry burst into the set with a fervor that has become their greatest asset and most recognizable trait. They leaned on new material early on, with six of the first eight songs coming from The Far Field, like highlights Cave and North Star, which inspired sensual body-rolls from Herring.

The new songs blended seamlessly with older material like 2010s Walking Through That Door and Grease, a 2011 album cut the group hadnt played live in a while, Herring said. Its not surprising: Nearly all Future Islands songs are built on the pillars of Cashions bass-heavy grooves, Welmers new wave-inspired landscapes and Herrings captivating presence as a vocalist. On Friday, it was all on display, and the hometown crowd giddily bounced and sang along in response.

Between occasional sips from a Tecate tallboy, Herring and the band continued to strike a balance between new (Ancient Water, Through the Roses) and older cuts (Vireos Eye during the encore, Balance).

The most powerful moment came toward the end, when the group vigorously delivered Long Flight and Tin Man, two songs from 2010s In Evening Air that still encapsulate what Future Islands do best. Though the themes are darkbetrayal and failed love, respectively they wholly embrace human vulnerability and emotional expression. Dance to keep from crying, basically. And it works.

Future Islands played their biggest hit to date, Seasons (Waiting on You), midway through, which inspired some of the audiences highest pogoing and loudest sing-alongs.

The song took on new meaning, too. Baltimore had pined for one of its favorite bands to return after conquering the international touring circuit. On Friday night, the crowds appreciation for this group its modesty, its hard work, its often-greatcatalog and for always representing Baltimore with pride (further evidenced by their choice in local opening acts Soul Cannon and Nerftoss) felt palpable in every full-throated cheer. The victory lap felt shared between artist and consumer. The wait was worth it.

For more photos from the concert, check out Baltimore City Paper's gallery.

wesley.case@baltsun.com

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At spirited Ottobar show, Future Islands share victory lap with Baltimore - Baltimore Sun (blog)

China ‘concerned’ over Duterte’s order to occupy islands in South China Sea – ABS-CBN News

A Filipino soldier patrols the shore of Pagasa island (Thitu Island) in the Spratly group of islands in the South China Sea, west of Palawan, Philippines, May 11, 2015. Ritchie B. Tongo, Reuters

MANILA- China has expressed concern over President Rodrigo Duterte's order for the military to occupy islands in the South China Sea, urging Manila to "properly manage" the maritime dispute.

In a press briefing Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying said that Beijing hopes Manila would work to maintain bilateral ties between the two countries.

"Having noted the report, the Chinese side is concerned about it. We hope the Philippine side will continue to properly manage maritime disputes with China and work with us to maintain the sound and steady growth of China-Philippines relations," Hua said in a presser.

Her remarks were posted on the Chinese Foreign Ministry website.

Duterte on Thursday said he has ordered the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to occupy all islands the country claims in the South China Sea.

"We have to maintain our jurisdiction over South China Sea," Duterte told reporters in Palawan.

The President also instructed the military to build structures and raise the Philippine flag on islands within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone.

He said he intends to mark Independence Day at the Philippine-occupied Pag-asa Island in June.

AFP Chief of Staff General Eduardo Ao on Friday said the military would have no problem carrying out the President's orders, citing the United Nations arbitration ruling that was favorable to the Philippines.

Hua said Beijing remains firm to its commitment of defending its interests in the disputed waters.

"The Chinese side is committed to defending its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea, and safeguarding peace and stability there," she said.

Hua also noted that the overall situation in the South China Sea is "getting better" and that this development "has not come easily and deserves to be cherished and preserved by all parties."

Beijing has rejected Manila's arbitral victory, reiterating indisputable sovereignty over almost all of the waters and stepping up militarization and reclamation activities in the South China Sea.

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China 'concerned' over Duterte's order to occupy islands in South China Sea - ABS-CBN News

Everything You Need to Know About Dubai’s Man-made Islands – Travel+Leisure

Dubai may boast the tallest building in the world (the Burj Khalifa at 2,717 feet), the worlds largest indoor theme park, and soon the worlds first rotating skyscraper, but most impressive are the citys man-made archipelagos, all in various stages of completion: Palm Jumeirah, Deira Islands, Palm Jebel Ali, The World, and Bluewaters Island.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the United Arab Emirates prime minister and Emir of Dubai, is the mastermind behind these massive projects, which are meant to pique tourism and expand Dubais coastline.

So just how were the islands made? A process called land reclamation, which involves dredging sand from the Persian and Arabian Gulfs floors. The sand was then sprayed and vibro-compacted into shape using GPS technology for precision and surrounded by millions of tons of rock for protection.

Perhaps the most recognized of the bunch, Palm Jumeirah is aptly shaped like a palm tree, consisting of a trunk and 17 fronds, and surrounded by an almost 7-mile-long crescent-shaped island which is home to Atlantis, The Palm (just one of many luxury hotels and resorts that dot the archipelago). The project was kicked off by Nakheel Properties in 2001, and ultimately added 40 miles of much-needed beaches.

Today, travelers can access Palm Jumeirah from mainland Dubai via a monorail, and an underwater tunnel connects the topmost frond to the crescent. Upcoming debuts for Palm Jumeirah include The Palm Tower, with floors occupied by St. Regis Dubai and Nakheel Mall, which are set to open in 2018 and late 2017, respectively. No need to settle for Google Earth views: admire the handiwork while free-falling over it at 120 mph via a skydiving excursion.

Work on a second Palm island, Palm Jebel Ali, began in 2002, but due to the 2008 financial crisis, construction halted. Nakheel has since reassured reporters that Jebel Ali is not canceled, but a long-term project."

If and when the island is complete, it will be 50 percent larger than Palm Jumeirah and feature homes built on stilts, a water park, villas, six marinas, and sprawling boardwalks shaped into the words of a poem written by Sheikh Mohammed himself.

The idea of a third Palm Island, Palm Deira, set to dwarf the other two at eight times the size of Palm Jumeirah, was introduced in 2004. However, in 2013, Nakheel shifted gears, and renamed the project to Deira Islands, opting to create four smaller, man-made isles. Late 2018 will see the opening of Deiras first large-scale debut, its Night Souk, the worlds largest (of course) night market with over 5,000 shops and almost 100 restaurants and cafes.

If shopping indoors during a UAE summer is more your style, Deira Mall, with its retractable roof atrium and over 1,000 stores, might just be paradise. The mall will serve as the centerpiece of Deira Islands Boulevard, which will feature retail space and at least 16 residential towers. By 2020, two of the four islands will hopefully be developed and completed, with 250,000 people living on them, to boot.

The World (another Nakheel project) kicked off in 2003, and consists of 300 small islands constructed into a world map. Another victim of the 2008 financial crisis, the Worlds progress halted. By 2013, only Greenland and Lebanon had been developed, and unfortunately, NASA images suggested that the islands were sinking back into the ocean.

Despite this erosion issue, developer Kleindienst Group is hoping to revive The World in a big way, with the launch of The Heart of Europe by 2020. Six Kleindienst-owned islands round out the project, each providing visitors a slice of (very high-end) European life, complete with underwater villas (aka Floating Seahorses), five-star hotels, and even streets lined with manufactured snow. The St. Petersburg island, which is shaped like a heart, promises to be the worlds premiere honeymoon destination.

Giving Nakheel a run for its money is Meraas Holdings, with its Bluewaters project that began in 2013. Opening by late 2018 or early 2019 with an observation wheel, Ain Dubai, that will put the London Eye to shame youve guessed it, it will be the worlds largest Bluewaters is aiming to become Dubais family-friendly tourism hotspot. The island will be broken into zones, featuring over 200 retail and dining options, apartment complexes and townhouses, and hotels with prime beach access.

Did you know that one of Dubais most iconic structures sits on its very own man-made isle? The Burj Al Arab Jumeirah, standing at 1,053 feet (just shy of the Empire State Building) is supported by 250 columns underwater, held together by sand. Completed in 1999, including two full years to reclaim its land, the Burj features a private beach for its guests, its own helipad, and a new outdoor terrace that juts out over the ocean, all perks of having an island all to itself.

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Everything You Need to Know About Dubai's Man-made Islands - Travel+Leisure

Chef Leif Srensen brings culinary prestige to the Faroe Islands – The Splendid Table

Remote and rocky, The Faroe Islands are an archipelago located between Iceland and Norway, between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic. With their many waterfalls, dreamy green grass landscapes, and snow-topped volcanic peaks, the islands are place of unique beauty. However, almost literally nothing resembling food grows on the islands, not even trees. The local diet was always a subsistence diet of fermented lamb and dried fish, until one chef opened a fine dining restaurant using native ingredients and traditions. By doing that, chef Leif Srensen ended up essentially inventing Faroese haute cuisine all by himself. Host Francis Lam shares his memories of a visit to the Faroe Islands and the food prepared by Srensen.

Hearing Sheldon Simeon talk about the richness of Hawaii, it seems like such an obvious place to have a vibrant cuisine. All the ingredients are there, you have this fantastic climate and rich soil, and all these different cultures that have come there. But it also made me think of the cuisine of the Faroe Islands, because the Faroes are pretty much the opposite of Hawaii. Smack dab between Iceland and Norway, its a country of just 50,000 people, almost all of them the descendants of Vikings who landed there 1,000 years ago, and theyre quick to tell you that there are more sheep than people.

Flag of the Faroes Islands (Illustration: Wavebreakmedia/Thinkstock)

Its one of the most beautiful places Ive ever been. Theres this vastness to the sky and sea, but theres also this intense feeling that anywhere you can lay your eyes on you can just get up and walk to. Its a magical feeling, almost like youre floating above the earth. It was summer when I was there a few years ago, which is to say it was 50 degrees, but brilliantly, just incredibly green. Glowing, neon green.

But for all their intense green and beauty, the Faroes are one of the most barren places Ive ever been. In the 1600s, a Danish priest moved there and wrote home about it, writing: Countries are praised for their great wealth, several metals, minerals, precious stones, pearls, wine, and grain. But all this God denied the Faroes. Which is really cold coming from a priest!

Top Left: Salmon caught in large farm nets is often allocated for export. (Photo: Gitte13/Thinkstock) Bottom Left: Stockfish drying under a roof. (Photo: OPHfoto/Thinkstock) Right: Faroese sheep on a hill overlooking the ocean and salmon farm nets. This breed of sheep is native to the Faroe Islands. (Photo: Polhansen/Thinkstock)

Potatoes are about the only thing that people actually try to grow there. Most of the traditional food is basically a subsistence diet of fish or lamb, fresh or air-dried potatoes, birds if you can get them, and some medicinal herbs that grow in the warm months. There are hardly any vegetables, no fruit to speak of, not even salt, because it doesnt get enough sun to evaporate seawater into salt. And yet, when I was there, I met a man named Leif Srensen who was single-handedly inventing a fine dining cuisine of the Faroe Islands.

In his restaurant, I had an unreal tasting menu. He knew one man on the island who grew turnips in his dads yard, and for some magical reason, they tasted, I swear, like pears and cantaloupes. I had turnip juice that tasted like pears and cantaloupes to go with my dinner. I had an insanely fat mussel with seaweed smoke. And the sweetest langoustine ever, which hed seasoned with dried seaweed instead of salt. [Ed. Note: Srensen founded the restaurant Koks, which is where Francis dined during his trip. But Srensen has since left for other projects.]

Left: Chef Leif Srensen (Photo: Matthew Workman/The Faroe Islands Podcast) Right: Freshly caught langoustine, also known as Norway lobster. (Photo: Francis Lam)

Underneath each dish was a story of how hard Leif had to work to make this cuisine almost out of thin air. The Faroes have some of the best seafood in the world, but Leif couldnt get local fish in his restaurant because all the seafood vendors were geared for export, so he asked his dad to go out and fish for him. He could serve me that mussel because he happened to know a guy who was a construction worker on a bridge, who looked down while working one day, saw some shells in the water, and went diving for them it was a mussel! Leif was so excited he went to the prime ministers house to lobby to change the laws so he could serve local shellfish, and like that, he invented a Faroese shellfish industry.

He couldnt get enough people to work in the restaurant with him, so he was serving tables while running the kitchen. His sous chef was actually an old protg of his who was home for vacation from his real job, cooking in Copenhagen.

Chef Leif Srensen searches for edible plants in the village of Gjgv on the island of Eysturoy. The tracks on the incline you see are used to haul boats and goods up the hill. Boats do sail out of this small harbor, although mostly small rowing and fishing boats. There is a modern port in Runavik on the other side of the island. (Photos: Francis Lam)

Honestly, a lot of his neighbors didnt get it. They can get imported food now in a grocery store, so they didnt understand why Leif wanted to cook Faroese food. Or on the other end, people were like, Oh what, our food isnt good enough so you have to make it fancy? His cousin came in for dinner once and laughed at the portions. When the server delivered his dish, he said, Dont go anywhere, then ate the whole thing in one swipe of his fork and handed him the plate back.

But through all this, Leif kept working, kept inventing, kept finding new foods in his tiny home country. He eventually left the restaurant, with his protg deciding to move home to the Faroes and taking over. Just earlier this year, the Michelin Guide, Frances old-line arbiter of taste, came and gave the restaurant a star. It made the news all over Scandinavia: the Faroe Islands, where so little grows, has one of the most coveted awards in food.

Cuisines are always built on the happenstances of history, culture, environment, and climate. But sometimes, every once in a while, theyre built on the vision of just one person. Amazing.

The Splendid Table would like to thank Matthew Workman for providing us with a photo and additional information for this article. Workman is the producer of The Faroe Islands Podcast, a podcast that explores the news, culture, and politics of the Faroe Islands. In 2012, his show was named European Podcast of the Year. Food-related episodes include a lobster feast and an interview with Gutti Winther, who stars in a TV show where he travels to all 18 islands and cooks something caught or harvested from each island.

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Chef Leif Srensen brings culinary prestige to the Faroe Islands - The Splendid Table

Japan to Repopulate 148 Remote Islands, as Confrontation with China Looms – Breitbart News

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This mornings key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

The Senkaku Islands are thought to be in the midst of vast gas and oil resources (Reuters)

Japans government has announced plans to repopulate a cluster of 148 small, rocky islands in the hope of deterring China from unilaterally declaring that they are Chinas sovereign territory, as it has done illegally in the South China Sea.

Among these are the Senkaku Islands, which have been the focus military near-confrontations in the past few years. The population of the remote islands has declined by 51.3% since 1955, and restoring even small population on 71 of the outlying islands could deter China.

The announcement calls for the construction of civic facilities, the purchasing of land, the improvement of ports and stopping foreign vessels from illegally visiting the islands.

The greatest focus has been on the Senkaku Islands, a chain of five uninhabited islets and three barren rocks in the East China Sea were uninhabited until 1895 when Japan laid claim to them. In the ensuing decades, the Japanese populated the chain and even set up a fish-processing plant on one of the islands. The United States took control of the islands during the occupation of Japan following World War II, and handed them back in 1972. At that time, China claimed the islands, citing ancient texts and maps, and claiming that Japans actions in 1895 were illegal.

In early February, three Chinese warships sailed into the water near the Senkaku Islands, risking a military confrontation and stoking tensions between the two countries.

Even riskier is the increased intrusion into Japanese airspace of Chinese military aircraft, usually other fighter jets, sometimes a bomber or reconnaissance plane. The number of such intrusions is now averaging two per day since April of last year, nearly twice as many as in the prior 12 months. Japan responds to each such intrusion by scrambling up to four F-15 fighter jets to intercept the Chinese military aircraft.

Analysts are concerned that the situation in the East China Sea is becoming more and more volatile, more so than even in the South China Sea, where China has illegally built artificial islands nad military bases, and that a war in the East China Sea could break out at any time.

The populations of Japan and China have become highly nationalistic over their respective claims to these islands, in this generational Crisis era. The frequency of these intrusions by both warships and warplanes and the resulting intercepts raise the possibility of an accident or miscalculation that could spiral into something bigger. Japan Times and CNBC and Fox News and American Interest

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Last week, a report from a nationalist Japanese media source accused Taiwan to sending a record high number of scientific research vessels to intrude into Japans Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) near the Senkaku Islands, which are claimed by Taiwan as well as by China and Japan. The report suggested that Taiwans unauthorized activities included fishing in addition to illegal maritime research.

If this kind of dispute had arisen between China and Japan, there might have been a military confrontation by now. But Taiwan and Japan, who presumably want to cooperate because of their common enemy (China), have a history of settling these kinds of disputes peacefully in recent years.

In April 2013, Taiwan and Japan signed a fisheries agreement to address a decades-long dispute over fishing in contested waters in the East China Sea. On October 31 of last year, the two sides agreed to meet at least once a year and to establish two working groups one on fishery cooperation and another regarding cooperation in scientific research. China Post (Taiwan) and Japan Times and The Diplomat

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KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Japan, Senkaku, Senkaku Islands, Taiwan, East China Sea, South China Sea Permanent web link to this article Receive daily World View columns by e-mail

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Japan to Repopulate 148 Remote Islands, as Confrontation with China Looms - Breitbart News

Debbie Harry Duets With Future Islands’ Samuel T. Herring On Shadows – MERRY JANE

Debbie Harry doesnt need to prove to anyone that shes cool. Her work in the 70s and 80s as Blondies iconic frontwoman, which among may other things involved sneaking unabashed pop music into CBGBs and befriending early hip hop and graffiti icons Grandmaster Flash and Fab Five Freddy, has her set for life. But in case you needed a reminder, Harrys spent the past year collaborating with some of her hip stylistic offspring.

The first instance of this came on Blood Oranges 2016 album Freetown Sound, in which Harry lent vocals to the track E.V.P. Then just a few weeks ago, she again collaborated with Blood Orange mastermind Dev Hynes, this time granting him a co-writing credit on new Blondie track Long Time. That song was produced by indie rock veteran John Congleton, who also manned the boards for Baltimore synthpop group Future Islands new album, on which Harry also guests. How many more degrees of separation do you think there are in this scenario until we get to Kevin Bacon?

Shadows is taken from The Far Field, Future Islands fifth album and their first since gaining unprecedented fame with 2014s Singles. In general, its a much more subdued and melancholic listen than its eclectic and often-joyous predecessor, and penultimate track Shadows is no exception. Frontman Samuel T. Herring trades vocals with Harry, the duo playing the part of a doomed couple comparing their waning romance to lengthening shadows in the corner of their room.

Although Shadows is more depressing than your average Blondie song, you can still hear definite strains of the seminal groups synth-streaked, dance beat-fueled sound in its stately sorrow.

The rest of The Far Field, just released today, is also very much worth your time-- check it out on Spotify.

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Debbie Harry Duets With Future Islands' Samuel T. Herring On Shadows - MERRY JANE

Sighting of the World’s Rarest Snake at Maria Islands – St. Lucia Times Online News (press release)

Press Release:On an island which relaxes the mind, with birds chirping, anoles and whiptails scurrying over leaf litter; Maria Islands Nature Reserve is home to five endemic reptiles including the elusive Saint Lucia Racer.

Date: March 28, 2017, weather: a bit overcast and sunny with heavy showers in the wee hours of the morning. Task at hand- Biosecurity monitoring on Maria Major its absolutely critical we keep those non-native predators off the island!

A three person team set out to bait 12 stations and carry out surveillance for those predators by walking transect lines.

Transects lines are done by walking from station to station and keeping an eye out for predators and reptiles within a 5 feet radius; the findings are recorded on animal observation data sheets.

On-board today, Lanson Paul and Saphira Hunt of the Saint Lucia National Trust (SLNT) along with Mathurin James of the Department of Forestry (DOF). One man short, the teamsplit in two leaving me, dubbed (not by me!) Mademoiselle Snake-Whisperer, to work the tour trail and bait stations in the surroundingareas, while Mathurin and Lanson set out on a mission to bait the farther end of the island.

We use bait in stations (boxes that encourage rats to enter if rats are present which they arent, touch wood) as a way of detecting any invasions.

Maria Major had a quietness I couldnt place (maybe because I was alone in this tranquil place). There was something calming about being on the island at 9:00am working alone. I carried on with my task and walking transects.

Having done stations #6 and #3, I walked my next transect to station #1. Keeping my eyes peeled to the ground for any Saint Lucia Whiptail sightings, as I was in the area where they are most abundant on the tour trail.

With bait station #1 now in sight I did a final check before ending the transect, and there I spotted a greyish colored Saint Lucia Racer scurrying away from me. Down on my knees I crawled beneath the hedge along the trail with hope of capturing my elusive friend. They are gentle reptiles that dont bite and are not poisonous, so I wasnt worried.

True to its name the racer got away from me trops vit, speeding under the leaf litter and out of sight. Being the worlds rarest snake, its understandable theyre nervous. Having remained quiet for 10 minutes, I was hoping my friend would resurface. But, with no luck, I continued with servicing station #1.

Under the canopy, I went to access the remaining bait stations. Station #2 done and onwards to #4. On that transect I spotted five Saint Lucia Anoles; about to record them on the data sheet and Voila! Another Racer racing by- this one brownish in color and bigger than the first.

The kit I was carrying goes crashing to the ground as I gave chase through a jungle of vines, slippery leaf litter and small trees. The Racer again was victorious in this 100 meter dash. Still I am elated two Racers the Worlds rarest snake in a mere 10 minutes; talk about luck!

Added to these two sightings this year, another racer was caught on March 16, 2017. Lanson Paul, playing the role of Tour Guide for a two-person tour to the island, returned to Maria Majors beach after the hike. On the beach they found Richie Robert, the boatman, resting in one of the small caves by the shore. A plump rock gecko suddenly races past Richie sporting the stub of a freshly missing tail, and a juvenile Racer hot in pursuit.

Three Racer sightings in two weeks; what a treat! They say a black cat crossing your path is good luck; but give me a Racer any day.

More news from Saint Lucias offshore islands next time

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Sighting of the World's Rarest Snake at Maria Islands - St. Lucia Times Online News (press release)

Japan’s cat islands aren’t the paradise they seem because they’re … – Metro

(Picture: The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)

Every cat lovers heard of Japans amazing cat islands.

Theyre whole pieces of land completely overrun with kittens and cats where even the buildings are cat shaped.

And people have been flocking over to these feline paradises for years, in order to be surrounded by the blessed creatures.

Cats were originally brought to the 11 islands by fishermen as a way of controllingthe rodent populations, and today, dogs are strictly forbidden.

But it turns out that life on the islands isnt all catnip and light.

The reality is that many of the cats are suffering from health problems that could be easily treated if the resources were readily available.

Cat photographer Andrew Marttila went out there with his partnerHannah Shaw, who founded cat rescue group, Kitten Lady, to find out what was going on.

For us cat lovers, theres something pretty special about an area littered with dozens of cats, Marttila told The Huffington Post.

What youre not seeing, however, are all the cats and kittens suffering from very treatable illnesses.

So whats the problem?

Basically, there are just too many cats.

As the islands populations grow without any vets on hand,the animals are stuck in a cycle of giving birth and dying early.

Roughly one-third of the cats were young kittens struggling with untreated upper respiratory infections, said Hannah.

Eyes and noses crusted, the kittens huddled together on the warm pavement.

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People on the islands (there are very few) are apparently resistant to intervene because they believe that nature should just run its course despite the fact that the cats are there because of human intervention in the first place.

Not only are the cats suffering from health problems but tourists also bring a lot of food to feed them and thats resulted in brutal turf warfare between males.

But some of the islands are finally stepping in and doing something about the problem.

Tokonoshima Island is home to around 3,000 felines and the government has implemented a trap-neuter-return programme.

Cats are trapped, neutered or sprayed andgiven the necessary veterinary treatment before being returned to the wild.

By doing that, officials are not only dealing with the overpopulation issue but also helping curb stressful behaviour. Cats are less likely to scrap if theyre neutered.

Lets hope the other islands follow suit.

MORE: Why does this Japanese cat love to eat so much?

MORE: Single men are adopting cats to try to get more dates

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Japan's cat islands aren't the paradise they seem because they're ... - Metro

Human Genetics Market Analysis and Global Forecast to 2024 … – Press Release Rocket

Human Genetics Market Research Report Global Forecast to 2024

Human genetic market, by instruments (Accessories, Device), by end-user (Hospital, Clinic, Research center), by method (Prenatal, Molecular, cytogenetic, presymptomatic), by application (Forensic science institute) Global Forecast 2024

Human Genetics Market:

Genetics is the study of genes, their functions and their effects. Among the various types of genetics such as molecular genetics, developmental genetics, population genetics and quantitative genetics, human genetics is the study that deals with the inheritance occurs in human beings. It encompasses a variety of overlapping fields such as classical genetics, cytogenetic, molecular genetics, genomics and many more.

The study of human heredity occupies a central position in genetics. Much of this interest stems from a basic desire to know who humans are and why they are as they are. It can be useful as it can answer questions about human nature, understand the diseases and development of effective disease treatment, and understand genetics of human life. At a more practical level, an understanding of human heredity is of critical importance in the prediction, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases that have a genetic component.

Request a Sample Copy @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/714

Key Players of Human Genetics Market:

Market Segmentation:

Major Human Genetics Market by Methods: Cytogenetic, Molecular, Presymptomatic and Prenatal.

Human Genetics Market by Product: Consumables, Devices and Accessories.

Human Genetics Market by Applications: Research, Diagnostic and Forensic Science and Others.

Human Genetics Market by End-Users: hospitals, clinics, research centers and forensic departments.

Human Genetics Market Growth Influencer:

The growth driver includes advancement of genetics testing technologies, rising genetic diseases, and rising awareness in terms of increasing knowledge about the potential benefits in genetic testing. Furthermore, aging population and increasing incidence of cancer cases are the other factors propelling growth of human genetics market.

The market for screening the newborns, diagnosing rare and fatal disorders, and predicting the probability of occurrence of abnormalities & diseases are likely to expand. Particularly, genetic tests to screen the newborns are expected to expand immensely over the coming years. Furthermore, the genetic disorders caused by microorganisms such Zika virus is one of the major concern behind of microcephaly. Microcephaly is a birth defect that is associated with a small head and incomplete brain development in newborns that transferred from mother to her child. Such, diseases are expected raise the application of the human genetic studies there by driving by the market. However, the high costing instruments and lack of experienced professionals are the major restraints for the growth of Human genetics market.

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MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.

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Human Genetics Market Analysis and Global Forecast to 2024 ... - Press Release Rocket

Students present novel concepts at IdeaFest – The Volante

Students present their research projects during a poster session at the 2017 IdeaFest. This is the 25th year the event has been held. Morgan Matzen / The Volante

IdeaFest, an annual showcase of graduate and undergraduate student research, was held on Wednesday and Thursday for its 25th year at USD.

Wednesdays events included a poster session on the main and secondfloors of the Munster University Center where students posted their work for anyone interestedto interact with and ask questions.

Jeff Beck, a graduate student studying basic biomedical sciences, conducted research on twin genetics.

What we want to do is associate genetic information with that genotypic information that has been collected over time, Beck said. Weve created a microarray which is able to assess the genetic differences between individuals.

Beck said hes interested in research because he gets to see how humans are directly impacted instead ofusinganimal models to study human conditions.

The biggest thing for me is the opportunity of being able to study human genetics, Beck said. It takes out the common argument that a lot of people have against science is using animal models to associate their studies with humans. By studying humans directly, we can directly translate our findings into human conditions.

Sophomore health sciences major Jonni Buckman researched Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) because of a personal connection. She said she joined IdeaFest for her class on diseases.

I did my research on SIDS because my grandma lost a baby to SIDS, and its a curiosity of mine because they still havent found a cause for it, Buckman said. I also chose it because Im Native American, and Native American babies are more likely to have it happen to them than any other race.

First-year Elena Freeman is triple-majoring in international studies, philosophy and French, and she chose to research commonalities in cross-cultural identity. Freeman conducted six interviews with completely different people for her study.

Our main goal was just to find people who were different from each other with as little similarities as possible, she said. We asked very open-ended questions that had to do with identity. We wanted to see through their stories how their experiences were transferred into their identity, and we wanted to see if there were any common themes through all the interviews.

Freeman found that openness was a common, positive trait as well as turning points and environment. She said she plans to make a documentary on the subject.

We found that each one throughout their life was more open to theidentities that theyve had, and each saw that openness was a positive trait in their growth in their identities, Freeman said. They each had turning points in their life where they would find a new aspect of their identity that they wanted to be dominant. Depending on where these people were and where the story took place, they would describe their identities differently.

Brennan Jordan, an earth sciences professor, delivers a keynote address at IdeaFest on Thursday. His address focused on sustainability issues in Iceland. Clay Conover / The Volante

Brennan Jordan, an Earth sciences associate professor, gave a lecture about Icelands unique geography, ecology and history as the keynote speaker in the MUC ballroom on Thursday.

Jordans research focused on the relationship between volcanoes and plate tectonics. Over the course of his career, Jordan has spent time in Iceland doing research.

Jordan teaches an Iceland Volcanology Field Camp course every summer, where he takes students from across the country to Iceland to study its unique geology and ecology.

In 2012, I started to develop a Volcanology Field Camp, Jordan said. Geologists, as they near the completion of their undergraduate degrees, often do an intensive field course called a geology field camp, and I have taught quite a few of those Including this year, I will have taken 134 students to Iceland over the years.

Jordans lecture, titled Iceland: From an Unsustainable Past to Sustainable Future, focused on Icelands history of sustainability. He explained how earlier in its history Iceland didnt have the sustainable practices its now famous for.

At one point, Jordan said, Iceland had up to 40 percent forest coverage, but deforestation has taken many of the trees. Now, Iceland hasonly about one percent forest coverage.

Iceland, when you encounter it today, you see this stark tree free landscape thats beautiful, but at the time that settlement occurred, it is estimated that 25 to 40 percent was covered by berch forest, Jordan said. Between that time and 1950, the forest dropped to as low as one percent or even half a percent.

Since then, Iceland has adopted many sustainable practices, Jordan said. Now, Iceland makes almost all its power from geothermal and hydro-electric power.

When people talk about Iceland as an example of a sustainable nation, energy is usually first and foremost on their minds, Jordan said. Nearly 100 percent of the electricity generation in Iceland is by renewable methods. Its basically by hydro-electric power and geothermal power.

Jordan ended the lecture with what he called a reality check.He tried to dispelcommon misconceptions about Icelands politics, history and culture.

With the center-right governments pretty pro-business perspective, the environment is pretty much constantly being threatened by new developments, Jordan said. In this sense, its not quite the politically progressive place we might think.

By Morgan Matzen and Clay Conover

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Students present novel concepts at IdeaFest - The Volante

3 key questions from the health care town hall in Lancaster County – LancasterOnline

On Thursday, a panel of health, business and advocacy leaders gathered in Lancaster for a public town hall on health care.

The event covered a wide range of topics within health care.

Here are three key questions that arose.

Would Medicare for more be better?

Dr. David Silbert, a local ophthalmologist, told panelists Medicare seems to be effectively controlling medical costs, and he thinks expanding the program could be helpful.

If Medicaid pays 30 cents on the dollar, she said, everyone ends up paying the remaining 70 cents, because that cost gets distributed for other people that are paying for health insurance and buying health care services.

Chuck Pennacchio, executive director of Healthcare For All PA, said Medicare having much lower administrative costs than other payers makes a good argument for expanding it.

Akash Chougule, deputy director of policy of Americans for Prosperity, said government underwriting things automatically makes them more expensive.

Can people make good enough health care choices?

One audience member questioned whether its possible for individual choice to result in good overall outcomes for Americas health care, given the complexity of the issues.

Another person from the audience said as she has seen more and more people left behind by the choice model, she has begun to view health care as a moral challenge confronting America.

Do we need to do better on health insurance literacy and understanding? Absolutely, said Paula Bussard, chief strategy officer of the Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania.

But, she said, the industry also has to do more to empower patients.

Marc Stier, director of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, said America collectively pays for health care, including the tax deduction that benefits everyone who has job-based health insurance, and thats an argument for universal health care.

Would more local control be better?

Asked what they liked about the recent American Health Care Act proposal, the panel had little to say.

Lifting taxes was a positive, said Gene Barr, president & CEO of Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry. Taking coverage away from people was problematic.

Bergen said while shes wary of the impact of block-granting Medicaid, the effort to try to drive decision-making, control, etc. at the state and a more localized level could have some very tremendous benefits that should be fully considered.

Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, who organized the event with Treasurer Joe Torsella, asked later about regulations.

How do we get to a place politically where we actually go through the regulatory process to see what works and what doesnt? he said.

Barr said he sees a need to frame the conversation in terms of tradeoffs, instead of good and bad.

With economic regulation, theres almost always going to be a drag on economic development, he said. Am I willing to accept additional protection for a little less economic development?

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3 key questions from the health care town hall in Lancaster County - LancasterOnline

St. Joseph’s/Candler still growing health care 20 years later – Savannah Morning News

Its been 20 years since Savannahs two oldest hospitals joined in a remarkable journey to expand their provider network throughout the region and better serve their communities.

The merger of two faith-based hospitals St. Josephs in southside Savannah and Candler in midtown avoided potential hurdles in what Paul P. Hinchey, president/CEO of St. Josephs/Candler Health System Inc., called really a great Savannah success story that provided a textbook model for such collaborations.

It was remarkable, Hinchey said. There was no acrimony. (Trustees) just cared about what was good for the merger and the community.

The combination, driven by a common philosophy and vision, provided a springboard to rapid growth that is still vibrant, Hinchey said.

Today, the system has 87 provider locations spanning 33 counties in southeast Georgia from Wayne County to Statesboro and Hilton Head, S.C. There are 714 patient beds St. Josephs Hospital with 330 and Candler Hospital with 384 beds in what Hinchey called the largest health care provider in the region.

It employs 4,000 people and last year provided almost $75 million in community assistance, including $27 million in traditional charity care and $2.4 million in community health improvement service and community benefits, according to its 2016 Community Benefits Report.

Were still growing, Hinchey said.

Most recently St. Josephs/Candler unveiled a planned $62 million micro-hospital in Pooler with the first step to open in early 2019 on an 18-acre parcel on Pooler Parkway near the intersection with Interstate 16.

When built out over a 10-year period, the 170,000-square-foot facility will provide a health care campus that addresses the needs of west Chatham County and surrounding communities.

Pooler Mayor Mike Lamb said in February that the St. Josephs/Candler Pooler Campus is the type of expansion of services he has sought since he became mayor in 2004.

We constantly are looking for more and more medical facilities and doctors because it helps our citizens not to have to travel all the way to Savannah, Lamb said. Any steps that will help our citizens has got to be a big plus for our community.

The mergers goals

From the start, Hinchey said the merger, technically a joint operating agreement, is built on three goals:

Consolidating clinical services to pool talented caregivers in one location rather than have them fragmented

Eliminating duplication of services to provide care more efficiently

Creating a more robust community outreach to the underserved

It worked seamlessly, Hinchey said, adding the boards of the respective hospitals quickly moved from a St. Josephs Hospital, Candler Hospital mentality and morphed into a single entity. The two words became one word.

It required some shifts in programs between the hospitals. For example, St. Josephs moved its obstetrics and pediatrics programs to the Mary Telfair Hospital at Candler. Most cardiology moved to St. Josephs Heart Hospital as well as orthopedics.

The April 1, 1997, agreement came at a time when the three major local hospitals Memorial Medical Center (now Memorial University Medical Center) within blocks of Candler were involved in revolving talks to restructure the local health care provider systems.

Candler and St. Josephs began their talks about possible collaboration in March 1996, shortly after and partly because of Memorials announcement that it would enter into exclusive affiliation talks with Columbia/HCA, the nations largest for-profit hospital chain.

Shortly afterward, Candler ended its 18-month-old talks with Memorial and opened talks with St. Josephs and, on Jan. 7, 1997, formally approved creation of a proposed unified health system that would rival the countys largest health care provider in size.

Everybody had to give up something

Cecil Abarr, a retired Braniger Organization executive and community volunteer, was chairman of the Candler Hospital board of trustees when discussions began on joining with St. Josephs.

The environment for hospitals was bad all over the country at the time, he said. There were just too many of them. We were starting to feel the pinch here.

A group of hospital board members began kicking around what the future held, and a series of meetings followed. Among the concerns were the proposed merger of the Catholic and Methodist hospitals and how it would work, he said.

A lot of things about the structure (of the merger) had to be worked out, he said.

A series of frequent meetings involving Abarr, Harvey Granger, who chaired the St. Josephs board, Walton Nussbaum Jr. and Archie Davis, among others, resulted in the merger within 16 months.

After getting along with the discussions, they decided they needed to meet with Sister Margaret Beatty at St. Josephs and get her approval, Abarr said.

She wasnt a part of the final planning, she just approved it, Abarr said. She was very excited about how we got along.

Beatty then was president of the Baltimore Regional Community of the Sisters of Mercy in the Southeast and a board member at St. Josephs Hospital. She now is vice president for mission services at St. Josephs/Candler. St. Josephs is a Sisters of Mercy hospital.

Everybody had to give up something, Beatty said of the merger. Everybody was taking a risk. We formed these human relationships where it didnt make any difference which hospital was involved.

Board members were all prominent citizens of Savannah all extraordinary leaders, she said. We came at it as a team, I think.

Another key issue was who would be named to head the new entity, and Abarr said Hinchey was named by agreement of both boards.

This is a real merger because were all really intertwined with key department officials all working for the benefit of both hospitals.

I think thats one of the key things that worked, Abarr said. Really we look at it as one operation now. Its pretty much a joint deal.

He said concerns of working two faith-based groups has long since past, he said.

That hasnt impacted the whole situation, Abarr said. Oh, it has been a tremendous success. They really work well together. Theres no question.

The stars were aligned

The Catholic Church- based St. Josephs and United Methodist Church-based Candler shared very similar cultures. Both are faith-based with a common philosophy and vision, Hinchey said.

It was, he said, a textbook example of a board-driven operating agreement rather than a CEO-driven agreement.

He said such collaborations should proceed not too fast, but dont drag your feet either.

You lose momentum through delay, he said. You need to start acting like a good married couple.

And Hinchey said the local agreement allowed for a rapid consolidation with the first steps completed within six months, not the 18-24 months commonly seen in similar mergers nationally.

Hinchey, who had been president of St. Josephs since May 1993, became president/CEO of St. Josephs/Candler on April 1, 1997.

A new 19-member board of trustees was elected with seven by Candler, six by St. Josephs and three by the Sisters of Mercys Baltimore Community. After six years it became a self-perpetuating board representing everybody.

The stars were aligned in this deal, Hinchey said. We had the right people here at the right time a perfect governance match. They (trustees) thought St. Josephs/Candler, not St. Josephs and Candler.

Looking back, Hinchey said, I wouldnt change a thing about it. I never had any doubts about it, but I do have a healthy respect for the amount of work it takes to do it.

As I start my 25th year as CEO, I was blessed to be there from day one and am gratified to see where it is 20 years later.

Timeline:

Since St. Josephs/Candler was created in an April 1, 1997, joint operating agreement, the health system has expanded across the region and increased services to include 87 provider locations spanning 33 counties in southeast Georgia and South Carolina in addition to the 714 patient beds at St. Josephs Hospital and Candler Hospital. The locations span from Wayne County to Statesboro to Hilton Head Island.

The St. Josephs/Candler Medical Group has added primary care practices in Claxton, Abercorn-Southside, Pooler, Plaza D by St. Josephs Hospital, the Islands, Metter, Hilton Head Island, Bluffton and the office of Dr. Jose Rendon.

1997: Consolidation of Obstetrical Service. Mary Telfair Womens Hospital Birthplace is expanded at Candler Campus.

1998: Surgical Services at both hospitals are consolidated. Home Health agencies are consolidated - CareSouth/Advantage and CareSouth/Quality were formed. Health System begins management of Appling HealthCare System, Baxley, Ga. S.A.N.E. (Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner) program formed at Candler Hospital to help preserve forensic evidence in sexual assault cases. CareCall Center, a telephone health information, community resource and physician referral hotline, begins operations. Opened The Childrens Place, a comprehensive pediatric acute care program tailored to serve the special needs of children who are sick as well as the concerned parents.

1999: Earned the rigorous Network Accreditation from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of HealthCare Organizations. At the time, SJC was one of only 3 networks in the state to be accredited and one of only 55 in the country. Opened the African-American Health Information and Research Center to help improve the health of African Americans in Chatham County and address health disparities.

2000: Opened the St. Marys Community Center in the Cuyler-Brownville neighborhood

2002: Became the first in the region and second in Georgia to earn the Magnet Designation for Excellence in Nursing Service from the American Nurses Credentialing Center. Opened a Level II neonatal intensive care unit called the Special Care Nursery. The Screen Machine, a mobile cancer screening vehicle, begins operations to reach local and outlying populations.

2004: Completed $2 million renovation and expansion of the Georgia Infirmary. The St. Marys Community Center earned the prestigious Achievement Citation from the Catholic Health Association for connecting people in need with vital and life-changing services.

2006: Nancy N. and J.C. Lewis Cancer & Research Pavilion opens.

2007: The Lewis Cancer & Research Pavilion is named to the National Cancer Institutes Community Cancer Centers Program, now called the Community Oncology Research Program, to bring the latest research and treatments to Savannah.

2007: Opened the Good Samaritan Clinic in Garden City to serve patients without insurance.

2008: Was the first to bring the da Vinci Robotic Surgical System to the region. Opened the St. Marys Health Center on Drayton Street to serve those without insurance.

2009: Opened west Chathams first hospital-operated imaging center in Pooler, located next to the Medical Group Pooler practice. Acquired radiation oncology practice in Hilton Head.

2010: Acquired the regions first CyberKnife. Nancy N. and J.C. Lewis Cancer & Research Pavilion became the first institution of its kind to become a member of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG), a cooperative network of cancer researchers, physicians, and health care professionals at public and private institutions across the country offering state of the art clinical cancer trials.

2011: Begins major expansion into the Bluffton and Hilton Head area with the addition of a wound and hyperbarics practice and later adding an imaging center and a specialty physician office space in addition to the primary care doctors already there.

2012: Partnered with a chemotherapy and infusion oncology practice in Hilton Head and Okatie to create the St. Josephs/Candler SC Cancer Specialists practice. Collaborates with Wayne Memorial Hospital to open a physician.

2013: Earned the Foster G. McGaw Prize for Excellence in Community Service. The Heart Hospital becomes the first in the region to receive full accreditation as a Chest Pain Center. St. Josephs/Candler becomes the first in the region to complete a Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement.

2014: $15 million renovation to the tower at St. Josephs Hospital completed.

2017: Completed a $21.6 million expansion and renovation of St. Josephs Hospital. Announced plans for a Pooler micro-hospital to open in 2019.

2016 St. Josephs/Candler Community Benefits

TRADITIONAL CHARITY CARE

Charity Care: $26,516,391 (Outpatient and inpatient services provided at cost for indigent patients)

Unreimbursed Care: $12,812,265 (Medicaid uncompensated care at cost for the underinsured and GA hospital tax)

TOTAL TRADITIONAL CHARITY CARE: $39,328,656

Other benefits

Community Health Improvement Services & Community Benefit Operations: $2,430,578

Health Professions Education: $53,761

Subsidized Health Services: $961,341

Financial and In Kind Contributions: $844,798

Community Building Activities: $282,844

TOTAL OTHER BENEFITS: $4,573,322

TOTAL COMMUNITY BENEFITS: $43,901,978

In addition to the nearly $44 million dollars in formal community benefits, St. Josephs/Candler provided $30,929,422 in uncollected service cost and uncompensated Medicare cost in Fiscal Year 2016.

TOTAL COMMUNITY ASSISTANCE: $74,831,400

2015 Total Community Assistance $67,932,941

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St. Joseph's/Candler still growing health care 20 years later - Savannah Morning News

Health-care access critical – The Robesonian

One of my most important jobs is making sure your tax dollars are spent wisely. We must restore fiscal sanity in Washington, forcing bureaucrats to live within a budget and focus on priorities just like you do with your personal finances.

Last week, every member of Congress submitted official requests to the Appropriations Committee listing priorities for federal spending in their home districts. This lays the groundwork for building a responsible budget. Here in North Carolinas 9th Congressional District, supporting access to rural health care is a priority.

Why? Six out of eight counties are eligible for rural health grants (Anson, Richmond, Scotland, Robeson, Cumberland, and Bladen). Four of those counties recently ranked in the bottom 10 in North Carolina for quality of health.

In much of our district, access to quality health care services can be difficult for patients. Funds for rural health care programs play a critical role in solidifying the fragile health care infrastructure in these communities.

One of my priority requests is the Rural Hospital Flexibility Program, which provides Critical Access Hospitals with crucial funding for updating equipment, delivery models, and care. Bladen County Hospital would benefit from this program.

Another request is for the State Offices of Rural Health, which in 2016 provided assistance to HealthQuest of Union County, Scotland Community Health Clinic, Southeastern Regional Medical Center, Cape Fear Valley Medical Foundation, and many other providers.

The State Offices of Rural Health helps rural communities, including technical assistance, recruitment of health care professionals to come serve in rural communities, and coordinating rural health needs statewide.

Technology is also improving how we provide health care to rural areas. Telehealth services allows patients to be diagnosed and monitored in their homes instead of requiring them to drive long distances to see their doctor. This not only increases access, but reduces costs since care doesnt always have to take place in an expensive setting, or involve expensive transportation.

To make telehealth services more widely available, I have requested support for the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth, which develops partnerships between the federal government, state agencies, and the private sector to create telehealth projects. These grants help reduce the isolation of rural health providers.

Some of my other priority projects include Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants, which is a big long name for a program to help rebuild transportation infrastructure. Specifically, Im working to support a request by the town of Pembroke and UNC Pembroke. To support economic development in Lumberton, Ive also requested flexibility with the population requirements of a USDA grant program which has previously provided vital assistance in Robeson County.

As a fiscal conservative, I will fight to ensure your tax dollars are spent wisely, including ongoing efforts to reduce wasteful spending and eliminate outdated programs. As your congressman, I will also fight on your behalf for appropriate, useful programs which deliver real results for our communities.

Our neighbors near Charlotte and Monroe live in what meteorologists describe as a radar gap, where the distance to the nearest National Weather Service Doppler radar and the curvature of the Earth mean meteorologists dont have consistently reliable data about storms.

On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously approved the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act (H.R. 353), which includes my legislation requiring the Commerce Department to study and quickly develop a solution to the radar gap. Last week, the U.S. Senate also gave unanimous approval to this legislation with support from Senator Burr.

Without local, reliable data, the National Weather Service has actually missed at least two tornados and issued warnings for the wrong neighborhood, among other problems. This legislative solution now heads to President Trumps desk to be signed into law.

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U.S. Rep. Robert Pittenger represents the 9th District in the U.S. House of Representatives, which includes of all Robeson County.

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Health-care access critical - The Robesonian

John Andersen: Get educated about your local health care options – Chippewa Herald

Its time to pull up a chair and talk about health care in our area. I know it is a pretty dry subject, but after driving around Chippewa Falls and Lake Hallie seeing Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers smiling face on billboards, if Aaron can discuss it so can we.

Over the weekend of March 18-19 I was made aware of a statement by Mayo Health System CEO Dr. John Noseworthy. Were asking if the patient has commercial insurance, or theyre Medicaid or Medicare patients and theyre equal, that we prioritize the commercial insured patients enough so we can be financially strong at the end of the year. (Pioneer Press)

As I am writing this article, Dr. Noseworthy is trying to clarify his remarks to assure that everyone will be treated the same by the Mayo Health Care System. As they say, the cat is out of the bag and is bounding across the barnyard.

At this point in my writing I would usually give out additional facts and figures from noted newspapers and other sources. But Dr. Noseworthy saved me both the time and the trouble. Additionally, I doctor at Mayo Clinic and will keep his statement in mind. Thanks, Doc.

As President Trump and Congress learned once again, health care is a complex issue. In Lake Hallie sits a small urgent care center of the Marshfield Clinic. Down Highway 53 Oak Leaf Surgical Hospital rests against the hills. Eau Claire has the Mayo System and Sacred Heart Hospital. On the northeast side of Chippewa Falls, St. Josephs Hospital stands as a symbol of health care for over a century.

The competition for a health care dollar is intense, and with the number of providers in the area, our health care costs should be the lowest in the state, but they are not. That honor goes to Madison and the Fox Valley area, which includes Green Bay. Perhaps that is why Aaron Rodgers is smiling.

We really should thank our Congress, Rep. Paul Ryan and President Trump for killing the Trump Care bill. It appears that people want to see their doctor on a regular basis and dont want to go bankrupt doing it. But there is far more to the story.

We are headed to what every other civilized country has: National Health Insurance. It may not be pretty and it may not be easy at first, but it will our secure our future as a country that cares about its people.

The problem in health care is on display right now as two area health care providers take on each other in the newspapers and the courts. Marshfield Clinic Health System and the Hospital Sisters Health System are at odd over costs. I believe it is not a cost issue but a philosophy issue.

While Marshfield and HSHS fight, we are urged every night on TV and radio to see our doctor about some new cure, pill or procedure. We are part of the problem. Drug companies are part of the problem, advertising at all levels for health care related products are part of the problem. Insurance companies are part of the problem. Politicians are part of the problem.

Do I dare say it? Aaron Rodgers may be part of the problem. I am sure Aarons smiling face on those billboards cost something. I wonder what kind of health plan the Packers offer for their employees and players? If Aaron gets hurt on the field, is it a workmans comp injury?

I do not have all the answers, but I know something has to change. I know gas prices dropped in the area when a grocery store that has a gasoline station with it opened in Altoona. Perhaps that is not how things work in health care. As long as people do not have health insurance or single payer health care, maybe the law of supply and demand cant work.

However I have a hunch if the Mayo brothers or the six doctors who founded the Marshfield Clinic came back they would not approve of how health care is run now. Have a good week and stay healthy. If you see Aaron Rodgers, say Hi for me.

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John Andersen: Get educated about your local health care options - Chippewa Herald

‘Job-killing’ Obamacare actually created 240000 well-paying healthcare jobs – Los Angeles Times

Of all the shibboleths used to denigrate the Affordable Care Act, perhaps the most persistent is to label it a job-killer.

The label was strong on the wing during the presidential campaign, when one could hear it uttered by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who called it the biggest job-killer in this country, and Donald Trump, who said repealing the law would save 2 million American jobs. The notion had a long history: In January 2011, only a few months after the law had been passed and three years before its major provisions went into effect, the newly Republican House was trying to pass a measure entitled the Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act.

This attack on the ACA never was based on facts. But a new report from the Altarum Institute, a nonprofit healthcare think tank in Ann Arbor, Mich., adds evidence that, in fact, the law is a job-creator. From 2014 through 2016, the researchers found, the law triggered the creation of 240,000 jobs in the healthcare field alone. The main reason is that increased insurance enrollments spurred more demand for healthcare services.

It really was the total change in coverage that made the difference, Ani Turner, one of the reports authors, told me. Turner wrote the report with Charles Roehrig of Altarum and Katherine Hempstead of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, who have been tracking job statistics in healthcare for several years.

These are good jobs too, Turner says. Although the available statistics breaking down jobs by occupation are a bit sketchier than the overall job growth numbers, its clear that more growth is happening among physicians, registered nurses, nurse practitioners and therapists the practitioners who interact with patients.

That reflects the long-term trend of job growth in healthcare, according to another paper published by Turner, Roehrig and Hempstead in March. They found that growth in 2007 to 2015 was strongest among the diagnosing/treating categories of employment (doctors, nurses, et. al.), at more than 20%, followed by other health occupations and non-health support occupations such as clerical workers.

The strong growth in healthcare professional employment has been accompanied by expanded enrollment in medical and nursing schools, as one would expect the demand for doctors and nurses has to be filled somehow. Enrollment in U.S. medical schools reached a record 20,630 in 2015, up 25% from 2002, according to the Assn. of American Medical Colleges. Nursing schools reported 320,000 enrollees in 2014, a 7% increase over the previous year.

The Altarum researchers warn that the job gains could be reversed if the ACA is repealed, whether through the GOPs misbegotten and (thankfully) moribund American Health Care Act or some other device. Providers and health systems may have already begun to slow hiring in early 2017, they observe, though theyre not sure whether the reason is the uncertainty about the ACAs future created by Republican dithering, or merely a return to the average growth rate of the pre-ACA era.

The Altarum paper measured the ACA-generated job growth in healthcare by examining the growth rate in healthcare jobs in 2015 and 2016, when coverage expansion began, compared to the average 1.7% growth rate in 2010-2013. They found that the increase in jobs lagged the coverage expansion by several quarters, but on the whole the rate jumped to 2.5% in 2015 and 2016. That yielded the figure of 240,000 new jobs directly attributable to Obamacares coverage expansion, which was about one-third of all the job growth in healthcare in those years.

When they checked the national trend against state average, they found that the that their expectations held: States with the highest percentage gains in their insured populations, such as Kentucky and California, also tended to experience the largest increases in healthcare job growth rates.

The anti-Obamacare crowd has been trying to torture job statistics almost from the inception to try to justify their job-killer meme. As part of their campaign, theyve claimed that the law has pushed more Americans into part-time work, since the mandate requiring employers to provide employees with coverage wont apply to part-timers.

Right-wing billionaire Charles Koch floated this claim via USA Today in 2014 and Andy Puzder, the CEO of the Carls Jr. and Hardees fast-food chains who was briefly a nominee for Trumps Labor secretary, tried it on for size last year. They were wrong. The truth is that the ranks of workers who are part-time for economic reasons that is, because they cant find work or are given fewer hours than they want or need has come down sharply since the enactment of the ACA to 5.5 million in March 2017 from 9.1 million in March 2010, a reduction of 40%.

The voluntary part-time workforce, however, has increased. These are people who choose not to take full-time jobs because they have better things to do, such as caring for their children or elderly family members. Theyve increased to 20.4 million last March from 17.9 million in March 2010. Full-time employment, meanwhile, has increased to 153 million in March 2017 from 138.8 million in the same month in 2010. (All these figures are from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.)

The trend was well understood by the Congressional Budget Office, which projected in 2014 that the ACA would shrink the supply of labor, not the availability of jobs, by about 2.5 million full-time equivalents by 2024. The reason is that the ACA would decouple health coverage from employment, allowing more people to stay home without losing their insurance. Its not the CBOs fault that its projection was misinterpreted by politicians and business leaders like Trump, who were either too ignorant to understand it or deliberately out to mislead the public.

Keep up to date with Michael Hiltzik. Follow @hiltzikm on Twitter, see his Facebook page, or email michael.hiltzik@latimes.com.

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'Job-killing' Obamacare actually created 240000 well-paying healthcare jobs - Los Angeles Times

‘Fix It: Healthcare at the Tipping Point’ Screens at Cinema Arts Centre – Long Island Press

Health care is one of the most virulent issues of our time.

After former President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law in 2011, Republicans in Congress pledged to repeal it. After winning the presidential election in November and holding onto control of both houses of Congress, Republicans vowed to replace the law with their own version of health care, one that would purportedly be more favorable to Americans.

Led by President Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the GOP failed to even bring their legislation to the floor for a vote, however, marking a stunning defeat for the new president less than three months into his term.

On Long Island, the promised repealing of Obamacare could have severe ramifications, with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo characterizing Republicans recent changes as potentially devastating statewide.

Politics aside, health care is a major issue that affects all Americans: the uninsured, those with high premiums, insured citizens hobbled by burdensome hospital or prescription drug bills.

On Sunday, April 9, Long Islanders will get a chance to view the pitfalls of the American health care system firsthand during a screening of the documentary, Fix it: Healthcare at the Tipping Point at Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington. The viewing will include state Assemb. Charles Lavine (D-Glen Cove) as a guest speaker.

The documentary provides an in-depth look into how our dysfunctional healthcare system is damaging our economy, suffocating our businesses, discouraging physicians and negatively impacting on the nations health, while remaining un-affordable for a third of our citizens, according to the venue.

The film will also highlight the very real ramifications for Americans struggling to choose between paying for drugs they need and other items they need to survive. The documentary not only covers the problems with Americas health care industry, but it also offers a way out: a single-payer system.

The event is co-sponsored by Action Together Long Island and Long Island Activists.

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'Fix It: Healthcare at the Tipping Point' Screens at Cinema Arts Centre - Long Island Press

Too Much Information? FDA Clears 23AndMe to Sell Home Genetic Tests for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s – Scientific American

Genetic testing company 23AndMe is back with a controversial new offering, after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday green-lighted the companys request to market a fresh batch of direct-to-consumer tests. Soon, with a simple saliva swab dropped in the mail, customers will be able to get answers about their genetic risk for developing 10 maladiesincluding Parkinsons disease and late-onset Alzheimers.

The FDA approval will likely reignite a long-simmering debate about when and how such tests should be used. Even when there are strong links between certain gene variants and medical conditions, genetic information often remains difficult to interpret. It must be balanced against other factors including health status, lifestyle and environmental influences, which could sharpen or weaken risk. If disease risk news is delivered at homewithout a genetic counselor or doctor on hand to offer contextmany geneticists fear it can lead to unnecessary stress, confusion and misunderstandings.

Against that backdrop, the FDAs decision came with caveats: Results obtained from the tests should not be used for diagnosis or to inform treatment decisions, the agency said in a statement. It added that false positive and false negative findings are possible.

But geneticist Michael Watson, executive director of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics, thinks consumers will have trouble making such distinctions and says he doubts people will view them as a mere novelty. Watson also worries 23AndMes wares may create other problems: Follow-up testing for some of these conditions may be quite pricey, he says, and insurance companies might not cover that cost if a person has no symptoms. He also notes that some of the conditions involved may have no proved treatments, leaving consumers with major concernsand few options to address them, aside from steps like making some lifestyle changes.

The makeup of 23AndMes reports to consumers is still being finalized, but the company says it does not expect to grade or rank a persons risk of developing any of the 10 conditions approved for analysis. Instead it will simply report a person has a gene variant associated with any of the maladies and is at an increased risk, the company told Scientific American.

The FDA decision may significantly widen the companys market and top off a years-long debate about what sort of genetic information should be available to consumers without professional medical oversight. After the FDAs 2013 decision to stop 23AndMe from sharing data about disease risk with its customers, the company was still able to offer them information about their genetic ancestry. It has also been selling consumer tests for genes that would indicate whether people are carriers for more than 30 heritable conditions, including cystic fibrosis and Tay-Sachs disease.

This month 23AndMe plans to release its first set of genetic health-risk reports for late-onset Alzheimers disease, Parkinsons disease, hereditary thrombophilia (a blood-clotting disorder), alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency (a condition that raises the risk of lung and liver disease), and a new carrier status report for Gauchers disease (an organ and tissue disorder). Reports for other tests will follow, the company says.

In considering whether to approve the tests, the FDA says it reviewed studies that demonstrated the 23AndMe procedures correctly and consistently identified variants associated with the 10 conditions. Further data from peer-reviewed scientific literature demonstrated the links between these gene variants and conditions, and supported the underlying science.

The FDA also announced on Thursday that it plans to offer the company exemptions for similar genetic tests in the future, without requiring them to be submitted for premarket review. That decision could leave the door open to offering tests for other conditions that have questionable reproducibility, says Jim Evans, a genetics and medicine professor at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

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Too Much Information? FDA Clears 23AndMe to Sell Home Genetic Tests for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's - Scientific American

Meningitis bacteria adapting to STI niche, genetic analysis shows – Medical Xpress

April 3, 2017 The growth of Neisseria meningitidis colonies on New York City Medium Agar. Credit: Wikipedia

Neisseria meningitidis, a bacterium usually associated with meningitis and sepsis, is the cause of a recent cluster of sexually transmitted infections in Columbus, Ohio and in other US cities. The bacterium appears to be adapting to a urogenital environment, an analysis of the organism's DNA shows.

The DNA analysis helps doctors track the spread of this type of bacteria, distinguish it from others, anticipate which vaccines might be protective, and understand how it has evolved.

The findings are scheduled for publication in PNAS.

Genetic changes make this "clade" of N. meningitidis look more like relatives that are known to cause gonorrhea, says lead author Yih-Ling Tzeng, PhD, assistant professor of medicine (infectious diseases) at Emory University School of Medicine.

In particular, the bacteria have lost their outer coat-capsules, potentially enhancing their ability to stick to mucosal surfaces in the body, and have gained enzymes that promote growth in a low-oxygen environment.

Some good news is that the capsule-less organism is less likely to cause invasive diseases such as meningitis, because the capsule protects the bacteria against components of the immune system found in the blood, Tzeng says.

N. meningitidis is carried at the back of the nose and throat, without symptoms, in 5 to 10 percent of people. As its name suggests, when N. meningitidis invades other parts of the body, it can cause meningitis, an infection of the lining of the brain and spinal cord, as well as deadly bloodstream infections.

In 2015, N. meningitidis began to appear in heterosexual men coming to the Sexual Health Clinic in Columbus as the cause of urethritis: inflammation leading to painful urination. These infections were initially presumed to be gonorrhea, caused by N. gonorrhoeae. More than 100 cases have been reported in Columbus, and the same type of N. meningitidis infection has appeared in Michigan, Indiana and Georgia.

Jose Bazan, DO, the Clinic's medical director and assistant professor of medicine (infectious diseases) at Ohio State University and Abby Norris Turner PhD, assistant professor of medicine (infectious diseases) teamed up with Tzeng and David Stephens, MD, professor of medicine of Emory University School of Medicine, and colleagues from Indiana University School of Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to investigate.

The Columbus clinic is part of the CDC's nationwide Gonococcal Isolate Surveillance Project (GISP), which monitors antibiotic resistance. Emory co-authors include Carlos del Rio, MD, professor of medicine and global health and director of the Atlanta GISP laboratory, and Timothy Read, PhD, associate professor of medicine and human genetics.

The scientists looked at the genomes of 52 N. meningitidis samples from Columbus, and two from Indianapolis and two from Atlanta. All 56 genomes had many common features, so they're closely related, but they are continuing to evolve.

N. meningitidis is usually classified by serogroups, based on the structure of the capsule. . Vaccines against the A, C, Y, and W serogroups have been available in the US for years, and vaccines against serogroup B were introduced in 2014.

Outbreaks of N. meningitidis serogroup C meningitis and sepsis have been observed in several countries among men who have sex with men. In contrast, the bacteria described in the PNAS paper could not be assigned to any serogroup based on initial screening tests.

The loss of several genes for synthesizing components of the capsule explains the blank result, Tzeng says. However, clues in the DNA of the capsule-less bacteria make them look like they were originally derived from a serogroup C ancestor.

It is possible that vaccines that were approved in the last few years against the B serogroup might still be effective against this meningococcal clade, because the capsule-less bacteria continue to produce other proteins targeted by those vaccines, the scientists found. A vaccine against gonorrhea has been a challenge, because repeat infections are common.

N. meningitidis doesn't usually encounter low-oxygen conditions, but this clade, linked to urethritis, has picked up genes that help them to grow in the environment of the urogenital tract. Based on their sequences, the genes appear to have come directly from N. gonorrhoeae, suggesting that on at least one occasion, the two types of bacteria were in the same place and exchanged DNA.

"All the urethritis patients responded to standard treatments for gonorrhea and there were no alarming resistance markers," Tzeng says. "However, as the gene conversion demonstrates, this clade can readily take up DNA from gonococci and it is not unthinkable that gonococcal antibiotic resistance genes could jump into this clade by gene transfer, if it is to its advantage."

Explore further: Harmless bacteria may be helpful against meningococcal outbreaks

More information: Emergence of a new Neisseria meningitidis clonal complex 11 lineage 11.2 clade as an effective urogenital pathogen, PNAS, http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1620971114

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Meningitis bacteria adapting to STI niche, genetic analysis shows - Medical Xpress