Category Archives: News to use

Useful news for all to advance knowledge of the world and how it works

Desde mi buhardilla y mi destierro voluntario

Santiago Galicia Rojon Serrallonga

SANTIAGO GALICIA ROJON SERRALLONGA

Derechos reservados conforme a la ley/ Copyright

Desde mi silencio interior y mi destierro voluntario, aquí, en mi buhardilla de artista, entre papeles y retratos, asomo a mi alma, veo mi mirada, volteo a los otros días, siempre con la nostalgia de los rostros, los nombres y los apellidos que tanto he amado. ¿Dónde están quienes eran adultos durante mi infancia y mi pubertad doradas, en mi juventud azul, en mi días y en mis años alegres y tristes? ¿En qué ruta se perdieron esas caras con identidad, señales e historia? ¿En qué lugar quedaron sus biografías? ¿Por qué las sillas están marcadas con ausencias? La lista de faltantes es extensa. Camino nostálgico, mientras el viento sopla y balancea las frondas de los árboles y toca las plantas y las flores, entre gotas de cristal que las nubes plomadas arrancan del cielo como un regalo que…

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Keith Says (Reblog)

First, do no harm

NANMYKEL.COM

Image added by Nan

On Fri, Sep 3, 2021 at 8:38 AM Keith Wilson  wrote:

When laypeople are asked to say a key tenet of the Hippocratic Oath, we usually will stumble then say a doctor is asked to do no harm.
Per Wikipedia, The Hippocratic Oath is an oath of ethics historically taken by physicians. It is one of the most widely known of Greek medical texts. In its original form, it requires a new physician to swear, by a number of healing gods, to uphold specific ethical standards. The oath is the earliest expression of medical ethics in the Western world, establishing several principles of medical ethics which remain of paramount significance today. These include the principles of medical confidentiality and non-maleficence. As the seminal articulation of certain principles that continue to guide and inform medical practice, the ancient text is of more than historic and symbolic value…

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L.A. firefighters, police officers challenge vaccine mandate – Los Angeles Times (Me: Fire those who risk everyone else!)

“I basically stated in the union meeting that I will not submit to this. I will come to work every day, as long as I’m healthy,” Knox said on “The Kate Dalley Show.” “I will not wear a mask. I’m not going to test. And I will not get a shot.”

Source: L.A. firefighters, police officers challenge vaccine mandate – Los Angeles Times

Waste From Mine in Angola Kills 12 Downstream in Congo, Minister Says – The New York Times

Now, 12 people have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in what researchers have called “an unprecedented environmental and human disaster” along the Kasai River, a southern tributary of the mighty Congo River. Researchers and officials with the Congolese government say that the cause was a toxic leak upstream, from the biggest diamond mine in Angola, run by Catoca, a joint venture owned by Endiama, the Angolan state mining company, and the Russian mining giant Alrosa. The company admitted in a statement last month that there was a leak from its facility, but said that it was only water and sand — not anything toxic. In addition to the 12 fatalities, about 4,500 people got sick from diarrhea as a result of the pollution and nearly one million were affected overall, said Eve Bazaiba, Congo’s minister of environment and sustainable development in a news conference on Thursday.

Waste From Mine in Angola Kills 12 Downstream in Congo, Minister Says – The New York Times

Now, 12 people have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in what researchers have called “an unprecedented environmental and human disaster” along the Kasai River, a southern tributary of the mighty Congo River. Researchers and officials with the Congolese government say that the cause was a toxic leak upstream, from the biggest diamond mine in Angola, run by Catoca, a joint venture owned by Endiama, the Angolan state mining company, and the Russian mining giant Alrosa. The company admitted in a statement last month that there was a leak from its facility, but said that it was only water and sand — not anything toxic. In addition to the 12 fatalities, about 4,500 people got sick from diarrhea as a result of the pollution and nearly one million were affected overall, said Eve Bazaiba, Congo’s minister of environment and sustainable development in a news conference on Thursday.

Child COVID hospital cases up in low-vaccination states | CIDRAP

Among persons aged 17 or younger, COVID-19–related emergency department (ED) visits and hospital admissions in the states with the lowest vaccination coverage were 3.4 and 3.7 times that in the states with the highest vaccination coverage during the most recent 2-week period (Aug 14 to 27). “Since July 2021, after Delta had become the predominant circulating variant, the rate of new COVID-19 cases and COVID-19–related ED visits increased for persons aged 0–4, 5–11, and 12–17 years,” the CDC wrote. The highly transmissible Delta (B1617.2) variant has caused a summer surge of activity across the United States. The country reported 153,143 new COVID-19 cases and 1,588 deaths yesterday, according to the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 tracker, and the 7-day average of new daily cases is 163,339, according to the Washington Post tracker.

Source: Child COVID hospital cases up in low-vaccination states | CIDRAP

The Fridge the Vaccines Have Been Waiting For

the SureChill fridge, a solar-powered device that in some models can last for up to two weeks without electricity, even in sweltering external temperatures up to 43C. During the day solar power is used to freeze a stock of water inside the refrigerator, which then maintains the cool, steady interior temperature overnight. Today, SureChill is one of the world’s largest producers of these fridges, known as “solar direct drives” (SDD). The concept has been adopted widely — there are around 20 models using similar technology that are on the World Health Organization’s list of devices approved for use in the vaccine cold chain. They are now being deployed in over 50 countries. Tansley’s research all those years ago helped spawn a new generation of solar fridges that is revolutionizing the fight against Covid-19 and other treatable diseases around the world. The Pfizer vaccine must be stored at approximately minus-100 degrees Fahrenheit — a huge challenge for countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, South America and beyond, where heat and humidity are abundant but, particularly in remote regions, electricity often isn’t. UNICEF and GAVI, the vaccine alliance, have as a result been pushing to

Source: The Fridge the Vaccines Have Been Waiting For

Largest study of its kind finds face masks reduce COVID-19 | Berkeley News

Wearing face masks, particularly surgical masks, is truly effective in reducing the spread of COVID-19 in community settings, finds a new study led by researchers from Yale University, Stanford Medical School, the University of California, Berkeley, and the nonprofit Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA). The study, which was carried out among more than 340,000 adults living in 600 rural communities in Bangladesh, is the first randomized trial to examine the effectiveness of face masks at reducing COVID-19 in a real-world setting, where mask use may be imperfect and inconsistent. The results show that increased mask-wearing –– the result of a community-level mask distribution and in-person promotion campaign –– led to a significant reduction in the percentage of people with COVID-19, based on symptom reporting and SARS-CoV-2 antibody testing.

Source: Largest study of its kind finds face masks reduce COVID-19 | Berkeley News