Category Archives: News to use

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

FDA Approves First-of-its-Kind Automated Insulin Delivery and Monitoring System for Use in Young Pediatric Patients | FDA

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the MiniMed 770G System, a hybrid closed loop diabetes management device that is intended to automatically monitor glucose (sugar) and provide appropriate basal insulin doses with little or no input from the users or their caregivers for use by individuals aged 2 to 6 with type 1 diabetes. The 770G System is a first-of-a-kind device for patients aged 2 to 6 years. It is the first legally marketed device that can automatically adjust insulin delivery based on continuous glucose monitor values for this patient population.

Source: FDA Approves First-of-its-Kind Automated Insulin Delivery and Monitoring System for Use in Young Pediatric Patients | FDA

Health agency recommends testing kids for Covid-19 – Radio Sweden | Sveriges Radio – (Yo! Covidiots – Sweden has learned from errors – will you?)

The Public Health Agency this week recommended that Sweden’s regional health authorities test school-age children with symptoms of Covid-19 for the virus. But this is not because they have changed their view on the role of children in the pandemic, they say.

Source: Health agency recommends testing kids for Covid-19 – Radio Sweden | Sveriges Radio

NYC Public School Reopening Delayed To September 21st – Gothamist

The exterior of Bronx Elementary School 75, seen through chain link fence, playground

The change from a planned September 10th in-person school reopening comes after weeks of mounting pressure from educators who insisted they need more time to prepare, and the escalating possibility of a strike mounted by the United Federation of Teachers, the powerful union representing tens of thousands of NYC public school teachers.

The delay in reopening buildings will allow for more instructional preparation and to allow more testing for the students, teachers and staff who will be inside school buildings

 

Source: NYC Public School Reopening Delayed To September 21st – Gothamist

Boris Johnson seeks to mollify Tory MPs dismayed by U-turns

Said to be planning Y-Me moves and no-turn expressways to know-where?

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PM admits government has backtracked on multiple issues but insists it is on right course

Boris Johnson has moved to mollify angry backbenchers disillusioned by the number of government U-turns, admitting the government has been forced to backtrack on multiple issues throughout the pandemic but insisting it is on the right course.

The prime minister has been facing a restive party as MPs return to Westminster, with several senior Conservatives expressing public dismay over the disaster of A-Level grading and chaotic communication over quarantine periods and the use of masks in schools and shops.

Continue reading…

Plants going extinct faster than we thought

Franklin Tree, (Franklinia alatamaha), NatureServe Global Conservation Status: Possibly Extinct (GX) in the Wild.

Plants: They seem more resilient than we are. And there are so many wild places in the world that they can take over. But a new study reveals that along with large mammals, amphibian and creatures of the sea, plants are going extinct faster than we thought possible.

Time to start saving seeds. And not just in war times as Syria has been doing at the Svalbard Global Seed Bank in Norway. Every plant is a medicinal plant. Losing one could mean losing a universe of opportunities.
 
A new study reveals that 65 plant species have gone extinct in the continental United States and Canada since European settlement, more extinctions than any previous scientific study has ever documented.  Led by Wesley Knapp of the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program, a group of 16 experts from across the United States collaborated to document the extinct plants of the continental United States and Canada for the first time in history.

Their report has been published by the international journal Conservation Biology

The team found that most plant extinctions occurred in the western United States, where the vegetation was minimally explored before widespread European settlement. Because many extinctions likely occurred before scientists explored an area, it is extremely likely the 65 documented extinctions vastly underestimate the actual number of plant species that have been lost.
 
Previous studies documented far fewer plant extinctions on the North American continent.

“Preventing extinction is the lowest bar for conservation success we can set, yet we are not always successful,” Knapp said. “This study started as an academic question but later developed into an opportunity to learn from what we have lost. By studying the trends and patterns of plants that have already gone extinct, hopefully we can learn how to prevent plant extinction going forward.”

Of the 65 documented extinctions in the report, 64% were known only from a single location. While conservation often focuses on protecting entire landscapes, this finding points to the importance of small-scale site protection in order to prevent extinctions.

Because plants serve as the foundation for most terrestrial ecosystems, the urgency for documenting plant extinctions is especially great if extinction rates rise as predicted over the next century. Anne Frances, lead botanist at NatureServe, states, “In most cases, we can stop plants from going extinct, we just need the resources and commitment to do so.”

Action items? What you can do? 
Read Braiding Sweetgrass to understand more about plant and human life
Read this New Times article on a man who is saving heirloom apples
Start by growing these healing herbs at home 

Face masks and more restrictions could be introduced locally this autumn

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Lyssna: Face masks and enforced isolation could be introduced this autumn

The government and Public Health Agency presented updated policy for the autumn today, depending on how the spread of Covid-19 develops.

With local outbreaks likely, the agency says the use of local restrictions is being looked at, including local recommendations to use face masks and possible restrictions on the movements for those living together with people diagnosed with the virus.

The current recommendations of washing hands, physical distancing, staying home when sick, working from home where possible and not meeting new people would continue for the foreseeable future, they added.

Press play to hear more.

Keith Foster
english@sverigesradio.se