A new report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommends that eight preventive health services for women be added to the services that health plans will cover at no cost to patients under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA).

Americas progress in arresting its obesity epidemic has been too slow, and the condition continues to erode productivity and cause millions to suffer from potentially debilitating and deadly chronic illnesses.

It is now possible to estimate the influence of climate change on some types of extreme events, such as heat waves, drought, and heavy precipitation, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Bullying is a serious public health problem, with significant short- and long-term psychological consequences for both the targets and perpetrators of such behavior, and requires a commitment to developing preventive and interventional policies and practices that could make a tangible difference in the lives of many children, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Across the current military and civilian trauma care systems, the quality of trauma care varies greatly depending on when and where an individual is injured, placing lives unnecessarily at risk, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Good morning. Welcome to the release of the report Preparing for Future Products of Biotechnology, from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Consumer access to effective and affordable medicines is an imperative for public health, social equity, and economic development, but this need is not being served adequately by the biopharmaceutical sector, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Sexual harassment in science, engineering, and medicine diminishes the integrity of the U.S. research enterprise.

A systemwide change to the culture and climate in higher education is needed to prevent and effectively respond to sexual harassment, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Medications to Treat Opioid Addiction Are Effective and Save Lives, But Barriers Prevent Broad Access and Use, Says New Report

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine have joined with over 40 colleges, universities, and research institutions to launch an Action Collaborative on Preventing Sexual Harassment in Higher Education.

PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are ubiquitous fluorinated organic compounds found widely in manufactured products, from firefighting foam to stain-resistant carpets. These water- and oil-repellent compounds are known to degrade slowly over time, and have been found in humans, drinking water, and even in Arctic ecosystems.

The National Academy of Sciences, in partnership with The Kavli Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, will host a symposium to consider the future of science in the U.S. and how it can best serve society in the 21st century.

“Reports & Events” is a monthly tip sheet for the news media that highlights selected meetings of interest and reports from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Over the next five years, the U.S. Department of Defense’s Biological Threat Reduction Program (BTRP) should encourage and be among co-leaders in the federal government’s development of an enduring interagency mechanism to address an array of biological threats – including natural disease outbreaks, accidental releases, and intentional attacks -- to deployed U.S. forces and to the nation itself, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

“Reports & Events” is a monthly tip sheet for the news media that highlights selected meetings of interest and reports from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

National Academy of Medicine President Victor J. Dzau will provide remarks on behalf of the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board during a virtual event on May 4 to launch an online pledging effort, the Coronavirus Global Response.

The immersive Haus of Creep opens at ROW DTLA this weekend.; Credit: Courtesy of Just Fix It Productions

Read the full article at LAist

Frank Romero with one of his French paintings, in his home in the South of France. But every year, he and his wife Sharon throw a big studio sale for Christmas, and you're invited.; Credit: John Rabe

"Live! Life's a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!" - Auntie Mame.

Your calendar is filling up, but here are four holiday events you'll want to make room for:

Every year, pioneering Chicano artist Frank Romero and his wife Sharon throw a big studio sale that includes works by a wide group of artists, and a lot of food and drink. It's just as much a party as a sales event, and Frank and the other artists are always there to meet and greet. And now that the couple is spending more time at their home in France, it's a chance for their old friends to catch up with them, so who knows who you'll see from L.A.'s arts community.

RELATED: See Frank's new works - French scenes with an East LA flavor

The Romero Studio annual Christmas party and sale is Saturday, Dec. 6, 6-10pm; and Sunday, Dec. 7, 1-5pm, at Plaza de la Raza, Boathouse Gallery, 3540 North Mission Rd., LA CA 90031 (in Lincoln Park across from the DMV — which BTW is a very good DMV).

Then, on Sunday, Dec. 14, at 4:30pm,  it's the Advent Procession of Lessons and Carols, at St. James Episcopal Church, which a friend describes as "one of the truly beautiful choral events of the season," and the highlight of the Choir of St. James' season. It's free and it's at St. James' Episcopal Church in Koreatown (3903 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles 90010).
 

"Auntie Mame," the 1958 Rosalind Russell movie with more quotable quips than a weekend getaway with Oscar Wilde, has become something of a Christmas tradition. It's screening at the American Cinematheque's Egyptian Theatre on Wednesday, Dec. 17, at 7:30. As delightful as this movie is any day of the week on your TV at home, this is a film to be seen in 35mm with a theater full of people reacting to every bon mot and heart-touching moment.

GO INSIDE: The Disney Hall organ, "Hurricane Mama," turns 10

Last year, my husband and I blindly went to Disney Hall for the Holiday Organ Spectacular. We expected some music and a little fun. But it really was spectacular. It's back this year, on Friday, Dec. 19, with organist David Higgs leading the evening from the console of Hurricane Mama.

If you've never seen or heard the organ in person, this is a great evening because Higgs — a teacher as well as master organist — gives you a guided tour of every stop, and every mood the organ can produce, from cathedral-loud to country-church-quiet. At the end of the night, he breaks the audience into parts to sing "The Twelve Days of Christmas," and you may sing as loud as you like.

These are just a few curated selections, but they're just the tip of the iceberg in Southern California; please make your own holiday event recommendations in the comments below. 

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

An aerial photograph of the San Gabriel Mountains in Southern California.; Credit: Bruce Perry, Department of Geological Sciences, CSU Long Beach; Courtesy National Park Service

A friend who has one of those cabins in the San Gabriels that you have to ride a mule into sent Off-Ramp a note about an event for fans of L.A.'s mountains ... which is pretty much everyone:

"The Sierra Madre Historical Preservation Society and First Water Design present the finest assembly of experts of our magnificent mountains and their impact on our history, culture, and way of life." It's a long list of historians, authors, and others who've spent their lives studying and writing about the mountains.

• John Robinson: "The San Gabriels," "Trails of the Angeles: 100 Hikes in the San Gabriels," "Sierra Madre’s Old Mount Wilson Trail"
• Michele Zack: "Southern California Story: Seeking the Better Life in Sierra Madre," "Altadena: Between Wilderness and City"
• Elizabeth Pomeroy: "John Muir: A Naturalist in Southern California," "San Marino: A Centennial History"
• Nat Read: "Don Benito Wilson: From Mountain Man to Mayor," "Los Angeles 1841 to 1878"
• Michael Patris:  "Mount Lowe Railway"
• Glen Owens: "The Heritage of the Big Santa Anita"
• Paul Rippens: " The Saint Francis Dam"
• Willis Osborne: "A Guide to Mt. Baldy & San Antonio Canyon"
• Christopher Nyerges: "Enter the Forest"
• Norma Rowley: "The Angeles Was Our Home"
• Chris Kasten: cartographer and former manager of Sturtevant Camp

The event takes place on Saturday, Jan. 24, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m, at Pritchard Hall at the Sierra Madre Congregational Church, 170 West Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre, CA 91024.

And it's free! Email Jeff Lapides for more info, or call him at 626-695-8177.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Most people infected with the novel coronavirus develop antibodies in response.

But scientists don't know whether people who have been exposed to the coronavirus will be immune for life, as is usually the case for the measles, or if the disease will return again and again, like the common cold.

"This to me is one of the big unanswered questions that we have," says Jeffrey Shaman, a professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University, "because it really says, 'What is the full exit strategy to this and how long are we going to be contending with it?' "

He's one of many scientists on a quest for answers. And the pieces are starting to fall into place.

Antibodies, which are proteins found in the blood as part of the body's immune response to infection, are a sign that people could be developing immunity. But they are by no means a guarantee they will be protected for life – or even for a year.

Shaman has been studying four other coronaviruses that cause the common cold. "They're very common and so people seem to get them quite often," Shaman says. Ninety percent of people develop antibodies to those viruses, at least in passing, but "our evidence is those antibodies are not conferring protection."

That may simply because colds are relatively mild, so the immune system doesn't mount a full-blown response, suggests Dr. Stanley Perlman, a pediatrician who studies immunology and microbiology at the University of Iowa. "That's why people get colds over and over again," he says. "It doesn't really tickle the immune response that much."

He's studied one of the most severe coronaviruses, the one that causes SARS, and he's found that the degree of immunity depended on the severity of the disease. Sicker people remained immune for much longer, in some cases many years.

For most people exposed to the novel coronavirus, "I think in the short term you're going to get some protection," Perlman says. "It's really the time of the protection that matters."

Perlman notes that for some people the symptoms of COVID-19 are no worse than a cold, while for others they are severe. "That's why it's tricky," he says, to predict the breadth of an immune response.

And it's risky to assume that experiences with other coronaviruses are directly applicable to the new one.

"Unforutunately, we cannot really generalize what kind of immunity is needed to get protection against a virus unless we really learn more about the virus," says Akiko Iwasaki, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at the Yale University School of Medicine.

An immunobiologist, she is part of a rapidly expanding effort to figure this out. She and her colleagues are already studying the immune response in more than 100 patients in the medical school hospital. She's encouraged that most people who recover from the coronavirus have developed antibodies that neutralize the coronavirus in a petri dish.

"Whether that's happening inside the body we don't really know," she cautions.

Research like hers will answer that question, eventually.

But not all antibodies are protective. Iwasaki says some can actually contribute to the disease process and make the illness worse. These antibodies can contribute to inflammation and lead the body to overreact. That overreaction can even be deadly.

"Which types of antibodies protect the host versus those that enhance the disease? We really need to figure that out," she says.

The studies at Yale will follow patients for at least a year, to find out how slowly or quickly immunity might fade. "I wish there was a shortcut," Iwasaki says, "but we may not need to wait a year to understand what type of antibodies are protective."

That's because she and other immunologists are looking for patterns in the immune response that will identify people who have long-term immunity.

Researchers long ago figured out what biological features in the blood (called biomarkers) correlate with immunity to other diseases, says Dr. Kari Nadeau, a pediatrician and immunologist at the Stanford University School of Medicine. She expects researchers will be able to do the same for the new coronavirus.

Nadeau is working on several studies, including one that seeks to recruit 1,000 people who were previously exposed to the coronavirus. One goal is to identify people who produce especially strong, protective antibody responses. She says the antibody-producing cells from those people can potentially be turned into vaccines.

Another critical question she's zeroing in on is whether people who become immune are still capable of spreading the virus.

"Because you might be immune, you might have protected yourself against the virus," she says, "but it still might be in your body and you're giving it to others."

That would have huge public health implications if it turns out people can still spread the disease after they've recovered. Studies from China and South Korea seemed to suggest this was possible, though further studies have cast doubt on that as a significant feature of the disease.

Nadeau is also trying to figure out what can be said about the antibody blood-tests that are now starting to flood the market. There are two issues with these tests. First, a positive test may be a false-positive result, so it may be necessary to run a confirmatory test to get a credible answer. Second, it's not clear that a true positive test result really indicates a person is immune, and if so for how long.

Companies would like to be able to use these tests to identify people who can return to work without fear of spreading the coronavirus.

"I see a lot of business people wanting to do the best for their employees, and for good reason," Nadeau says. "And we can never say you're fully protected until we get enough [information]. But right now we're working hard to get the numbers we need to be able to see what constitutes protection and what does not."

It could be a matter of life or death to get this right. Answers to these questions are likely to come with the accumulation of information from many different labs. Fortunately, scientists around the world are working simultaneously to find answers.

You can contact NPR Science Correspondent Richard Harris at rharris@npr.org.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller announces the new iPhone 6 during an Apple special event at the Flint Center for the Performing Arts on September 9, 2014 in Cupertino, California. Apple unveiled the two new iPhones the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.; Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Apple's latest mobile operating system — iOS 8 — is now available, and with it, a new technical hurdle for law enforcement. The company says it will be technologically impossible to access data on phones and iPads running iOS 8, because it won't allow user passcodes to be bypassed.

Our phones, of course, contain troves of information — contacts, messages, recordings — which can be helpful for investigative or prosecutorial purposes. The Supreme Court earlier this year ruled law enforcement cannot access that kind of data without a warrant. Prosecutors had already feared the warrant hurdle would be too much — Rockland County, N.Y., District Attorney Thomas Zugibe told the Wall Street Journal in June that technology "is making it easier and easier for criminals to do their trade," while the court "is making it harder for law enforcement to do theirs."

Now, even with a warrant, data from Apple devices running iOS 8 will be tough — and, Apple says, impossible — for law enforcement to get its hands on.

As The Washington Post reports, the move "amounts to an engineering solution to a legal quandary: Rather than comply with binding court orders, Apple has reworked its latest encryption in a way that prevents the company — or anyone but the device's owner — from gaining access to the vast troves of user data typically stored on smartphones or tablet computers."

Not so fast, writes an iOS forensics expert, Jonathan Zdziarski. Just because Apple will no longer help police doesn't mean police can't find ways to use existing commercial forensics tools to extract the data themselves. Wired Magazine describes how Zdziarski proved his own point:

Zdziarski confirmed with his own forensics software that he was still able to pull from a device running iOS 8 practically all of its third-party application data — that means sensitive content from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, web browsers, and more — as well as photos and video. The attack he used impersonates a trusted computer to which a user has previously connected the phone; it takes advantage of the same mechanisms that allow users to siphon data off a device with programs like iTunes and iPhoto without entering the gadget's passcode.

"I can do it. I'm sure the guys in suits in the governments can do it," says Zdziarski.

And, Apple will still be able to turn over user data stored outside its phones, for example, on its iCloud service, The Washington Post notes. Users often back up photos, videos, emails and more to iCloud, as the recent nude photo theft reminded us.

Apple, in creating plausible deniability for itself, is also using its strongly worded new privacy stance as a marketing opportunity. It's reinforcing what it says is a commitment to privacy and transparency when it comes to government data requests. Apple says so far this year, it has received fewer than 250 government requests for data, including requests to unlock encrypted iPhones.

Full Text:

A new study shows that graphene sheets can block the signals mosquitoes use to identify a blood meal, potentially enabling a new chemical-free approach to mosquito bite prevention. Researchers showed that multilayer graphene can provide a twofold defense against mosquito bites. The ultra-thin yet strong material acts as a barrier that mosquitoes are unable to bite through. At the same time, experiments showed that graphene also blocks chemical signals mosquitoes use to sense that a blood meal is near, blunting their urge to bite in the first place. The findings suggest that clothing with a graphene lining could be an effective mosquito barrier.

Image credit: Hurt Lab/Brown University

Approximately 88 megatonnes (Mt) of food are wasted every year in the European Union, causing 186 metric tons (Mt) carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-eq) — a universal measure for all greenhouse gases. The impact of food waste on the climate, acidification and eutrophication is around 15–16% of the environmental impact of the entire food chain. In developed countries, food waste is high at the point of consumption— so significantly reducing food losses would require a food-waste reduction in households and the food-services sector.

A bug is making it so users are unable to enable HDR video streaming after upgrading to Windows 10 1903 or later if they previously disabled the setting. [...]

The Deepwater Horizon accident raised concerns about the safety of deepwater drilling. From an analysis of risk assessments in the Norwegian Oil & Gas (O&G) Industry, a new study suggests that current safety approaches and indicators are limited and more extensive monitoring of drilling operations is needed to avoid events similar to Deepwater Horizon.

Alien plant invasions can have significant environmental, ecosystem and economic implications. Since ornamental horticulture is the primary pathway for invasive alien plant introductions, it is a suitable focus for prevention policies. A recent review of published evidence has examined the effectiveness of four major instruments: pre-border import restrictions, post-border sales bans, industry codes of conduct, and consumer education. The study highlights that, while each instrument has the potential to contribute to a reduction in plant invasion risk, none is sufficient to achieve this goal alone. The researchers, therefore, describe how the four instruments can be integrated along the ornamental horticulture industry supply chain to reduce risk more effectively, and outlines the role that government, industry and other stakeholders must play to achieve this goal.

While extreme environmental events — such as floods and tsunamis — may trigger migrations, the underlying drivers of migration are far more complex and diverse, says new research. The research reviewed the available evidence on population movements associated with extreme weather events and found that people could find themselves ‘trapped’ and vulnerable, whether they stayed at their homes or moved to new locations.

Waste management policy in the EU is successfully reducing the proportion of waste that is sent to landfill and cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by inefficient waste management, according to a new study. However, the study also supports greater efforts channelled into waste prevention.

The challenge of measuring the ‘absence of waste’ makes it particularly difficult to monitor and evaluate waste prevention policies. Researchers have examined the strengths and weaknesses of nine methods of assessing waste prevention, and recommend a hybrid approach, which combines the best of many methods, as particularly valuable.

Over a third of all food waste in Sweden is avoidable, according to new research. If such waste minimisation were achieved, there would be less potential for biogas production, but the researchers suggest that this does not represent a compromise because it is currently performed on only a very small amount of waste food.

Eco-innovations which help prevent the production of waste are explored in a recent German study. It considers the drivers and barriers to the uptake of material efficiency measures in businesses, green procurement and product leasing schemes.

As well as providing renewable energy, wave farms can help protect coasts against erosion by reducing the force of waves. However, it remains unknown whether they can provide this complementary service under future climate change when sea levels will be higher. A new study, based upon computer simulations, concludes that a wave farm off the south coast of Spain could indeed protect the coastline under higher sea levels, and cause the local beach to grow in size after storms.

BT decided to showcase its technology by hosting a virtual media summit for AMEA and we knew that we could save money and invite more people if we made it virtual.

Despite the contribution that large-scale, intensive agriculture has made to global food production, food shortages still occur with particularly severe consequences for the poor. More investment in locally-led, small-scale farming would help ensure longer-term food security for the world’s most vulnerable under a changing climate and bring environmental benefits, according to a recent analysis of adaptation work in Uganda.

Soil conditions play a crucial role in determining water runoff and retention in forested sites, according to new research. Soil characteristics, such as compaction, play a greater role than forest type in determining water dynamics.

By identifying leaks using ‘smart’ water meters, and then encouraging householders to fix the problem, water companies can reduce the volumes of wasted water dramatically, new research suggests. In a case study in Australia, households reduced water loss by up to 91% after being informed of leaks in their homes and offered a rebate on repairs.

Small field wetlands are a simple and effective way to reduce soil erosion and nutrient pollution, recent research suggests. The authors adapted Norwegian designs for the UK environment and created a series of small rectangular lakes on the edges of agricultural fields. After three years, the wetlands had prevented tonnes of soil from leaving the land, and helped alleviate some of the nutrient run-off that would have affected neighbouring waterways.

Belgrad, Daniel, author

A proactive approach to biodiversity loss ??? where conservation of a species starts before it becomes endangered ??? could save millions of euros compared to the cost of recovering a population already in serious decline, according to new research.

Biodiversity could play a key role in preventing future outbreaks of malaria in tropical forests, according to a new study. Results indicate that a greater number of mosquito species could increase competition for mosquitoes that spread malarial parasites, whilst more vertebrate species could increase the likelihood that malarial parasites end up in 'dead-end hosts' that are unable to transmit the disease any further.

Biodiversity is declining in freshwater ecosystems across the globe, a new study has shown. The researchers created a mathematical model, called GLOBIO- aquatic, which builds a picture of the threats to the biodiversity of rivers, lakes and wetlands that are posed by a variety of human activities. The most crucial of these are land-use changes, nutrient and chemical pollution, and disturbances to the water cycle — which could be from infrastructure such as dams, or from climate change. The authors hope that the model will help policymakers identify regions which are most at risk from these pressures.

Use of the rodenticide bromadiolone to control water voles in France may also result in population declines of the near-threatened red kite, a new study suggests. The researchers propose a range of alternative forms of controlling vole populations, limiting the need for environmentally-damaging poisons.

A recent analysis highlights advances in the field of synthetic biology and efforts to develop approaches that will prevent non-natural organisms from interfering with natural organisms and ecosystems. It suggests that synthetic organisms could be developed with inbuilt ‘firewalls’ that prevent genetic interactions with other organisms.

Grey buys a travel computer, Myke keeps making new podcasts, and they both discuss collaborating with others.

This summer sees an impressive roster of events taking place at The Stables restaurant at The Grove Hotel, Hertfordshire, running from June right through to the end of August.

All parkrun events in the UK have been suspended until the end of March because of the coronavirus pandemic, organisers have announced.

This file is in PDF format, requiring the Adobe Acrobat Reader to open.