Source: theweek.com - Saturday, May 09, 2020
1. The Labor Department on Friday said that 20.5 million jobs were lost in April, and the unemployment rate climbed to 14.7 percent. The staggering report showed that a decade of job gains were wiped out in just one month. The report also notes that if it included workers classified as furloughed or temporarily laid off, "the overall unemployment rate would have been almost 5 percentage points higher than reported." The Labor Department's March report showed the unemployment rate climbing to 4.4 percent, from 3.5 percent in February. Weekly data previously showed that more than 33 million Americans have filed initial jobless claims over the course of seven weeks, a number that's equivalent to about 21 percent of the labor force. The ADP National Employment Report also said earlier this week that 20.2 million private sector jobs were lost from March to April. President Trump, who was live on Fox & Friends the moment the report was released, described the unemployment numbers as "fully expected" and "no surprise." [ U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics , The Washington Post ] 2. The Office of Special Counsel is recommending that ousted vaccine official Dr. Rick Bright be reinstated while it investigates his case, his lawyers announced Friday. Bright, while leading coronavirus vaccine development, was recently removed from his position as the director of the Department of Health and Human Services' Biomedical Advanced Research and Devel

Two things are true as I sort through my reflections on transformative learning experiences: We need intensive, immersive opportunities for learning (such as a trip to Kenya) and we also need to build in mini-opportunities for transformative learning every day.

In the wake of anti-immigrant violence, we must help make sure that all students feel welcomed, writes Susana Cordova.

Lipid II is an essential precursor of the bacterial cell wall biosynthesis and thereby an important target for various antibiotics. Several lanthionine-containing peptide antibiotics target lipid II with lanthionine-stabilized lipid II-binding motifs. Here, we used the biosynthesis system of the lantibiotic nisin to synthesize a two lipid II binding motifs-containing lantibiotic, termed TL19, which contains the N-terminal lipid II binding motif of nisin and the distinct C-terminal lipid II binding motif of one peptide of the two-component haloduracin (i.e. HalA1). Further characterization demonstrated that (i) TL19 exerts 64-fold stronger antimicrobial activity against E. faecium than nisin (1-22), which has only one lipid II binding site, and (ii) both the N- and C-terminal domains are essential for the potent antimicrobial activity of TL19, as evidenced by mutagenesis of each single and double domains. These results show the feasibility of a new approach to synthesize potent lantibiotics with two different lipid II binding motifs to treat specific antibiotic-resistant pathogens.

As resistance to artemisinins (current frontline drugs in malaria treatment) emerges in south East Asia, there is an urgent need to identify the genetic determinants and understand the molecular mechanisms underpinning such resistance. Such insights could lead to prospective interventions to contain resistance and prevent the eventual spread to other malaria endemic regions. Artemisinin reduced susceptibility in South East Asia (SEA) has been primarily linked to mutations in P. falciparum Kelch-13, which is currently widely recognised as a molecular marker of artemisinin resistance. However, 2 mutations in a ubiquitin hydrolase, UBP-1, have been previously associated with artemisinin reduced susceptibility in a rodent model of malaria and some cases of UBP-1 mutation variants associating with artemisinin treatment failure have been reported in Africa and SEA. In this study, we have employed CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing and pre-emptive drug pressures to test these artemisinin susceptibility associated mutations in UBP-1 in P. berghei sensitive lines in vivo. Using these approaches, we have shown that the V2721F UBP-1 mutation results in reduced artemisinin susceptibility, while the V2752F mutation results in resistance to chloroquine and moderately impacts tolerance to artemisinins. Genetic reversal of the V2752F mutation restored chloroquine sensitivity in these mutant lines while simultaneous introduction of both mutations could not be achieved and appears to be lethal. Interestingly, these mutations carry a detrimental growth defect, which would possibly explain their lack of expansion in natural infection settings. Our work has provided independent experimental evidence on the role of UBP-1 in modulating parasite responses to artemisinin and chloroquine under in vivo conditions.

The onus is on you to uncover any defects before you buy, writes Angelique Ruzicka.

UEFA Futsal EURO 2018 runs until 10 February in Ljubljana with 12 teams aiming for the title: we give you the key pointers to following a tournament full of skill and passion.

Holders Spain face neighbours Portugal for the second time in a UEFA Futsal EURO final, putting their title on the line in Ljubljana on Saturday: read the full lowdown, including where to watch.

When the novel coronavirus pandemic prompted the transition to remote learning at Penn State, faculty and administrators in the Department of Mechanical Engineering were prepared for the challenge.

New iPods can be a critical part of Apple's strategy. Just don't think of them as music players.

Superheroics. Crime capers. Historical fiction. Conspiracies. Put a world of wonderful stories in your pocket with these 10 excellent digital comics.

The need for materials, training, guidance from district administrators, and access to staff with expertise in serving students with disabilities is especially acute in schools that serve primarily black and Latino students, a new survey finds.

The FDA estimates that between 45 and 50 students at a Massachusetts school for students with autism, emotional disturbances, and intellectual disabilities are subjected to electrical shocks through electrodes attached to their skin.

IT’S a bank holiday weekend and we are now several weeks into a gruelling lockdown.

Without rigorous research that accurately reflects the current population, early education won't deliver for all students, write two education researchers.

Paul W. Newacheck
Jul 1, 1998; 102:117-123
ARTICLES

Merle McPherson
Jul 1, 1998; 102:137-139
COMMENTARY

CNA Staff, May 4, 2020 / 03:53 pm (CNA).- When he was just 15 years old, Fr. Geison Gerardo Ortiz Marín had to quit school and find a job to help support his family.

Faced with a difficult economy, Ortiz’s family was struggling financially. He quit school and found a job opportunity at a neighboring family’s bakery, where he worked for five years.

The priest told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish language news partner, that he learned important life skills from the job, such as “knowing what it is to meet a schedule, getting up at dawn and working overtime. In short, it was an enriching experience.”

He took those life skills with him when he entered seminary at age 21. He has now been a priest for 10 years and serves as pastor of Saint Rose of Lima parish in Ciudad Queseda in northern Costa Rica.

Recently, however, Ortiz has returned to his roots as a baker to raise funds for the needy in his parish during the coronavirus pandemic.

Public Masses were suspended a month ago in Costa Rica due to the pandemic. As the lockdown continued, the priest could see the financial strain mounting on members of the community.

“A lot of people starting knocking on the rectory door asking for help, while the parish and local charitable groups weren’t getting any income from the collection,” he explained.

So Ortiz began baking. He uses around 55 lbs. of flour each workday to bake different kinds of bread, rolls and other items. A bag of baked goods sells for 1500 colones, or about $2.65.

“With 1500 colones here we can buy perhaps a 5-pound package of rice,” he said, adding that he has been able to help about 60 families so far.

From the sale of baked goods, he was able to raise extra funds, he said, which have ensured that anyone who has knocked on the rectory door has left with a package of rice, sugar or beans.

No one has been sent away empty handed, the priest said.

“I work all day long baking bread, selling it, and in the evenings I celebrate the Eucharist. I always tell the Lord, 'Thank you for the true bread that gives eternal life, which is the greatest of riches and is what I want our people to have, receive, taste and feel',” he said.

Ortiz encouraged other priests to find creative ways to help serve those in need during the challenging times presented by the pandemic.

“I believe that this is a special moment,” he said. “God has allowed me to return to my origins. God has allowed me to help meet the needs of our brothers. This is a moment in which the Lord is allowing us to live in solidarity and to reach out in a very special way.”

When we talk about VPNs, it's often in the context of unsafe situations. Senior Security Analyst Max Eddy argues that these tools are still valuable, even when the risk is low.

NordVPN and TorGuard VPN have suffered security breaches. Here's what happened and what it means for you (and our VPN reviews).

When a patient comes through the Penn State Hershey Medical Center drive-through COVID-19 testing site, they're asked if they are worried about running out of food during isolation. If they say yes, they drive away with a box full of 25 meals.

Little Richard, the self-proclaimed “architect of rock ‘n’ roll,” has died

"When the day came to administer the first test I had designed," writes Brandon Lewis, "my heart sank."

'With no incentive to innovate or invest, these conglomerates charge sky-high internet prices to reap profits from consumers,' the Democratic Presidential candidate said in unveiling his 'high-speed internet access for all plan' on Friday.

Two weeks of thrilling football in Italy ended with Spain clinching their fifth Under-21 title.

An initiative to improve the use of apps and mobile technology in the instruction of special education students finds that teachers aren't receiving the professional development they want.

The cell phone can be a powerful distraction or an educational tool. You have to decide which it will be in your classroom.

UEFA Best Women’s Player in Europe 2012/13 – Shortlist of top three announced

Real Madrid will take on Atlético in Tallinn, Estonia, on Wednesday.

Successful intervention for inborn errors of metabolism (IEMs) is a triumph of modern medicine. For many of these conditions, medical foods are the cornerstone of therapy and the only effective interventions preventing disability or death. Medical foods are designed for patients with limited or impaired capacity to ingest, digest, absorb, or metabolize ordinary foods or nutrients, whereby dietary management cannot be achieved by modification of the normal diet alone. In the United States today, access to medical foods is not ensured for many individuals who are affected despite their proven efficacy in the treatment of IEMs, their universal use as the mainstay of IEM management, the endorsement of their use by professional medical organizations, and the obvious desire of families for effective care. Medical foods are not sufficiently covered by many health insurance plans in the United States and, without insurance coverage, many families cannot afford their high cost. In this review, we outline the history of medical foods, define their medical necessity, discuss the barriers to access and reimbursement resulting from the regulatory status of medical foods, and summarize previous efforts to improve access. The Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children asserts that it is time to provide stable and affordable access to the effective management required for optimal outcomes through the life span of patients affected with IEMs. Medical foods as defined by the US Food and Drug Administration should be covered as required medical benefits for persons of all ages diagnosed with an IEM.

After months of hard work and preparation, nearly a dozen Penn State Hazleton seniors are now one step closer to graduating after presenting their Capstone Research and Design Thesis projects.

Chelsea and Barcelona contested the 2018 UEFA Youth League final in Nyon on Monday.

By Bishop Arthur Serratelli

In February 1915, only six months after the beginning of World War I, Lancet, a British medical journal, used for the first time the expression “shell shock.” This newly coined expression was used to describe the feeling of helplessness that soldiers felt after exposure to constant bombardment. The term was new, but not the reality. After every war, soldiers return from combat, suffering “shell shock.” 

Watching their comrades mowed down by enemy fire or left maimed and strewn on the battlefield, combatants become immune to feelings of connectedness and concern. Today, this phenomenon is becoming an epidemic. We are constantly being bombarded by bad news. The catastrophic and inhumane events that interrupt our everyday life are causing many people to escape from the brutality by becoming shell shocked. 

Terrorist attacks in Belgium, Syria, Africa, and in England; daily violence on the streets of Chicago, New York, Paterson; the massacre of our children in their schools and of believers in their churches, synagogues and mosques; the interminable disputes and rancor over immigration; allegations of racism and sexism; the incessant reporting of scandals, present and past!  Moment by moment these evils confront us. So fast does news travel that one story stumbles over the other with images of the dead, the wounded, the homeless imprinted on our minds. These problems do not admit of simple solutions. And, since we are more aware of them today than in the past and yet less able to find solutions, many, left numb and disillusioned, drift into apathy.  

In addition, newspapers, blogs and TV commentaries flash before us cause after cause, such as global poverty and climate change. “Every cause seems urgent, but nobody has the time, the energy, or the information necessary to make an impact. Knowing all the ways in which the world is flawed in a very real, raw, up-close kind of way without the ability to make any sort of important change is perhaps the most unwelcome symptom of the digital age” (Jamie Varon, “Generation apathy: How internet outrage is making us all numb and hopeless,” August 20, 2015).

Some Christians have drunk the hemlock of apathy. They are becoming more and more indifferent to evil in the world and, sadly, more and more detached from religion. Unconnected. Not invested. Religion may be good; but, when it comes to God, they have hung up a “Do Not Disturb Sign.” For them, weddings, funerals, First Communions, Confirmations, if even celebrated, are mostly social occasions. 

Apathy within the Church is far more devastating than outside the Church. The Church is the sign and sacrament of salvation for the world. It is an instrument in God’s hands. But if the instrument is dull and listless, it hinders God’s activity. When people become apathetic, something more is needed than telling them to be kind and compassionate. Such preaching falls on deaf ears and hardened hearts. What is needed today is the bold proclamation of the kerygma, that is, the love of God given us in the death and resurrection of Jesus.  

God is not apathetic. He is intensely passionate about his relationship with us and his world. He is the lover who pursues his beloved. He never gives up on us, despite our sins. He woos us back to himself (cf. Hosea 2:11). He did not turn his back on the evil of our world, but sent his Son to be our Redeemer.

 “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son” (Jn 3:16). In the death and resurrection of Jesus, God’s love is a fact. In Jesus, God has begun the work of forgiving sins and recreating the world. And, he gifts us with the Holy Spirit so that, together with him, we make all things new. We are not helpless. We are not alone. Apathy makes people murmur a half-silent “No” to the world in which we live. But, faith in Jesus Crucified and Risen makes us shout a resounding “Yes” to God’s work of the New Creation. Faith is the antidote to apathy.


 

Mothers and children in Bangladesh’s refugee camps tell horrifying stories from recent months, many needing a place where they can be reminded of hope.

It's 2020 and time to upgrade your business skill set. Creativity and persuasion are the most desirable soft business skills, while blockchain and cloud computing skills dominate as the most in-demand hard skills as we begin the new decade.

From bicycle culture to electric vehicles, the automotive industry is changing and Covid-19 may be accelerating the pace of change.

DSHA has partnered with the Department of Education (DOE) to offer reduced interest rates on mortgages for teachers in the Delaware Talent Cooperative, a group of high performing educators who have committed to work in schools with a significant proportion of disadvantaged students

Governor Jack Markell today joined Delaware State Housing Authority (DSHA) for the release of the Delaware Housing Needs Assessment 2015-2020. The report, prepared by GCR Incorporated of New Orleans, Louisiana and The Reinvestment Fund (TRF) of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, will drive planning for housing resources at DSHA and in communities around the State. With this new analysis of housing needs and market conditions in the state for years 2015-2020, DSHA will be identifying priorities for the next five years and evaluating its programs and strategies.

State Rental Assistance Program has housed 1,200 clients on 5th anniversary of collaboration NEW CASTLE, Del. – Governor John Carney celebrated Monday the fifth anniversary of the State Rental Assistance Program, which has provided housing for 1,200 Delawareans through a unique collaboration supporting those in special need of help. The anniversary event took place at […]

A young Kurd struggles with feeling unimportant in the world, while another no longer worries because he knows who he is in Christ.

OM’s Xenos team in Heilbronn ministers to immigrants in a holistic way by proclaiming the gospel and supporting them in their physical and emotional needs.

With thousands of people out of work due to the COVID-19 crisis — and food banks working tirelessly to feed an ever-growing number of hungry families — Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences is doing its part to fill empty shelves and refrigerators.

Three students received scholarships in industrial and mechanical engineering from the Material Handling Education Foundation for the 2020-21 academic year.

Michael Hillman, L. Robert and Mary L. Kimball Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Penn State, received a NSF CAREER Award to develop new computational methods to simulate fracture.

Mark Alpert made a generous gift $200,000 in memory of his late wife, Claire, to establish the Mark E. and Claire L. Alpert Graduate Fellowship in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Penn State.

If you own a quadcopter or are planning to buy one, you should be aware of FAA rules for flying outdoors. Here's everything you need to know about owning and flying a drone for fun.