Category: Health – Happiness

‘Times have changed’: some Afghan women defiant as Taliban return

‘Times have changed’: some Afghan women defiant as Taliban return

Rupam Jain and Lucy Marks                      

Afghan women wait to receive free wheat donated by the Afghan government during a quarantine, amid concerns about the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Kabul.

 

(Reuters) – Afghan women and girls who have won freedoms they could not have dreamt of under the last Taliban rule that ended 20 years ago are desperate not to lose them now the Islamist militant movement is back in power.

Taliban leaders have made reassurances in the build-up up to and aftermath of their stunning conquest of Afghanistan that girls and women would have the right to work and education, although they have come with caveats.

Some women have already been ordered from their jobs during the chaos of Taliban advances across the country in recent days. Others are fearful that whatever the militants say, the reality may be different.

“Times have changed,” said Khadija, who runs a religious school for girls in Afghanistan.

“The Taliban are aware they can’t silence us, and if they shut down the internet the world will know in less than 5 minutes. They will have to accept who we are and what we have become.”

That defiance reflects a generation of women, mainly in urban centers, who have grown up being able to attend school and university and to find jobs.

When the Taliban first ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, their strict interpretation of sharia, or Islamic law – sometimes brutally enforced – dictated that women could not work and girls were not allowed to attend school.

Women had to cover their face and be accompanied by a male relative if they wanted to venture out of their homes. Those who broke the rules sometimes suffered humiliation and public beatings by the Taliban’s religious police.

During the past two years, when it became clear that foreign troops were planning to withdraw from Afghanistan, Taliban leaders made assurances to the West that women would enjoy equal rights in accordance with Islam, including access to employment and education.

On Tuesday, at the Taliban’s first press conference since seizing Kabul on Sunday, spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said women would have rights https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/evacuation-flights-resume-kabul-airport-biden-defends-us-withdrawal-2021-08-17 to education, health and employment and that they would be “happy” within the framework of sharia.

Specifically referring to women working in media, Mujahid said it would depend on what laws were introduced by the new government in Kabul.

On Tuesday, a female anchor for the private Afghan channel Tolo TV interviewed a Taliban spokesman live on air.

WOMEN FORCED FROM WORK

Afghan girls’ education activist Pashtana Durrani, 23, was wary of Taliban promises.

“They have to walk the talk. Right now they’re not doing that,” she told Reuters, referring to assurances that girls would be allowed to attend schools.

“If they limit the curriculum, I am going to upload more books to (an) online library. If they limit the internet … I will send books to homes. If they limit teachers I will start an underground school, so I have an answer for their solutions.”

Some women have said that one test of the Taliban’s commitment to equal rights would be whether they give them political and policy making jobs.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, who survived being shot in the head by a Pakistani gunman in 2012 after she campaigned for girls’ rights to education, said she was deeply concerned https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/malala-yousafzai-urges-world-leaders-take-urgent-action-afghanistan-2021-08-17 about the situation in Afghanistan.

“I had the opportunity to talk to a few activists in Afghanistan, including women’s rights activists, and they are sharing their concern that they are not sure what their life is going to be like,” Yousafzai told BBC Newsnight.

The United Nations’ children’s agency UNICEF expressed cautious optimism https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/unicef-says-some-taliban-support-education-afghan-girls-2021-08-17 about working with Taliban officials, citing their early expressions of support for girls’ education.

It is still delivering aid to most parts of the country and has held initial meetings with new Taliban representatives in recently seized cities like Kandahar, Herat and Jalalabad.

“We have ongoing discussions, we are quite optimistic based on those discussions,” UNICEF’s chief of field operations in Afghanistan, Mustapha Ben Messaoud, told a U.N. briefing.

But U.N. chief Antonio Guterres warned on Monday of “chilling” curbs on human rights under the Taliban and mounting violations against women and girls.

Reuters reported https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/afghan-women-bankers-forced-roles-taliban-takes-control-2021-08-13 last week that in early July, Taliban fighters walked into a commercial bank branch in Kandahar and ordered nine women working there to leave because their jobs were deemed inappropriate. They were allowed to be replaced by male relatives.

(Writing and editing by Mike Collett-White)

Climate change: Europe’s 2020 heat reached ‘troubling’ level

Climate change: Europe’s 2020 heat reached ‘troubling’ level

Matt McGrath – Environment correspondent      
Fire
Fire. Last year was the warmest on record across Europe, breaking the previous high mark by a considerable distance, say scientists.

Temperatures across the region were more than 1.9C above the long-term average between 1981 and 2010.

The State of the Climate 2020 report from the American Meteorological Society says temperatures in the Arctic are also rising rapidly.

The temperature over land there was the highest since records began in 1900.

Reports earlier this year had confirmed that 2020 was Europe’s warmest on record and one of the three hottest globally.

This new data shows that Europe’s temperature margin over previous years was significantly greater than previously thought.

Not only was the year 1.9C above the long-term average, it was more than 0.5C greater than the previous high mark.

“This level of difference to the previous long-term average, which is a large difference, is something that is concerning,” said Dr. Robert Dunn, a senior climate scientist at the UK Met Office.

“It is something to sit up and take notice of, but it’s not just the temperatures that are increasing, the extreme events, the heat waves we’re seeing this year, and last year as well. We’re seeing these responses across the world.”

Other researchers agreed that the scale of the record-breaking heat in Europe was troubling.

“The amount by which the previous record has been exceeded should worry us all,” said Prof Gabi Hegerl, professor of climate system science at the University of Edinburgh, who was not involved with the study.

“European temperatures are well measured and can be tracked back to the beginning of industrialization and beyond, using documentary evidence and proxy records. This long-term context emphasizes how unusual this warmth is.”

river
River. The warmth across Europe brought huge temperature differences from the long-term average in some countries with Estonia, Finland and Latvia all recording anomalies of 2.4C.

 

Overall, Europe has seen its five warmest years on record all occur since 2014.

One other area of the world experiencing rapid warming is the Arctic.

Temperatures over land reached worrying new heights, getting to 2.1C above the 1981-2010 average. This was the highest since the series of records began 121 years ago.

It was also the seventh year in succession with an annual average temperature more than 1C above the average.

“The Arctic, we see warming incredibly rapidly. It was the warmest average surface temperature in the Arctic in a series going back 121 years, in 2020,” said Dr Dunn.

“That, of course feeds down into places nearby, which includes Europe to some level. But we’re seeing these effects throughout the world.”

Key findings from the State of the Climate 2020
  • Earth’s greenhouse gases were the highest on record. Despite the global pandemic that slowed economic activity, the major atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations including carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and nitrous oxide rose to a new record high in 2020.
  • CO2 levels were the highest in both the modern 62-year record and in ice cores dating back as far as 800,000 years.
  • Global sea level was the highest on record. For the ninth consecutive year, global average sea level rose to a new record high and was about 91.3mm higher than when satellite observations began.
  • Earth’s warming trend continued. The year 2020 was among the three-warmest years since records began (around 1850) and was the warmest year on record without an El Niño event (a warming climate pattern in the Pacific).
  • The last seven years (2014-20) were the seven warmest years on record.

While rainfall around the world wasn’t exceptionally high during 2020, the authors say that there’s a clear response from the hydrological cycle to sustained heating.

Total atmospheric water vapor was well above average. The extra moisture adds to the impact of higher temperatures on humans.

Drought
Dry conditions were seen in many parts of Europe in 2020

 

Taken together, the indicators show what one of the study’s editors calls “our new normal”.

“This report follows closely on the latest [UN] IPCC [climate] report which could not be clearer in its messaging,” said Dr. Kate Willett, from the Met Office.

“Our climate has changed and is likely to continue changing unless the key driver, greenhouse gases, are curbed, and what we’re seeing now is already straining our society and our environment.”

A Florida teacher who couldn’t get vaccinated because of her cancer treatment died of COVID-19.

A Florida teacher who couldn’t get vaccinated because of her cancer treatment died of COVID-19. Her union says she caught it from her classroom, which had no mask mandate.

Ashley Collman                         
Lake Shipp Elementary
Lake Shipp Elementary School in Florida Google Street View
 
  • Florida elementary school teacher Kelly Peterson died of COVID-19 complications on Monday.
  • She was advised not to get a COVID-19 vaccine by her doctor due to her leukemia treatment.
  • Her sister and union believes Peterson got infected in the classroom, where masks were not mandatory.

A 41-year-old Florida teacher whose doctor had advised her against getting vaccinated has died of COVID-19 complications after she was forced to return to in-person teaching where there was no mask mandate, local outlets say.

Kelly Peterson was not vaccinated against the coronavirus because she had leukemia and her doctor advised against getting the shot in her already weakened state, her sister, Christin, told KTVU.

Lake Shipp Elementary School announced Peterson’s death in a Facebook post on Monday, saying she “touched hundreds of students’ lives” and “made a lasting impression on us all.”

Both Peterson’s sister and the Polk County teacher’s union said that she contracted COVID-19 in the classroom, KTVU reported. However, it should be noted that it’s almost impossible to know how someone contracted COVID-19.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has banned mask mandates in the state, but several schools have defied the order.

Peterson’s sister told KTVU of the doctor’s warnings against the COVID-19 vaccination: “Because her leukemia was so bad at this point, their concern was by getting the vaccine that potentially could put too much stress on her body.”

Cancer patients and survivors are encouraged to get the vaccine, but to discuss the decision with their doctor first, according to the American Cancer Society. ACS said the main question about vaccines and cancer is not whether the vaccine is safe, but whether it is as effective in people with already compromised immune systems.

Last year, Peterson worked remotely, but her sister said she was forced to return to in-person learning this school year, even though she’s immunocompromised.

“With all the COVID cases this year and her medical situation, she should have been a virtual teacher this year. The school didn’t offer that,” Peterson’s sister told The Ledger.

Both the Polk County School District superintendent and the Lake Shipp principal did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.

Lorinda Utter, one of Peterson’s coworkers, told The Ledger that Peterson took every precaution in the classroom, wearing a mask at all times and sanitizing surfaces regularly.

“She did everything she could to try to stay away from COVID,” Utter said.

Peterson was terrified of getting COVID-19, her sister said, and knew the effects it would have on her if she contracted it.

“She had voiced concerns many times that if she contracted COVID, she was afraid that it would kill her, and unfortunately that’s what happened,” Christin Peterson told KTVU.

Christin Peterson also said she hopes her sister’s story will encourage more people to get vaccinated.

Stephanie Yocum, president of the Polk County Teachers union, said she hopes parents “set good examples” for their kids by wearing masks.

“If wearing a mask can keep somebody from dying, that should be something that every person should do right now,” Yocum told KTVU.

Pristine Lake Tahoe shrouded in smoke from threatening fire

Pristine Lake Tahoe shrouded in smoke from threatening fire

Sam Metz and Brian Melley                

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP) — Ash rained down on Lake Tahoe on Tuesday and thick yellow smoke blotted out views of the mountains rimming its pristine blue waters as a massive wildfire threatened the alpine vacation spot on the California-Nevada state line.

Tourists ducked into cafes, outdoor gear shops and casinos on Lake Tahoe Boulevard for a respite from hazardous air coming from an erratic blaze less than 20 miles (32 kilometers) away.

The Caldor Fire erupted over the course of a week into the nation’s No. 1 firefighting priority and was “knocking on the door” of Tahoe, said Thom Porter, California’s state fire chief. A major wildfire has not penetrated the Lake Tahoe Basin since 2007.

Tourists typically come to swim and hike, relax along the lake’s calm shores or take their chances gambling, not risk their lives in the face of a potential disaster.

Although there were no evacuations ordered and Porter said he didn’t think the fire would reach the lake, it was impossible to ignore the blanket of haze so thick and vast that it closed schools for a second day in Reno, Nevada, which is about 60 miles (100 kilometers) from the fire.

Visitors wore masks outdoors — not because the coronavirus pandemic, but because of the toxic air and inescapable stench of fire. The gondola that ferries summer passengers to the summit of the Heavenly Mountain ski area was closed until winter due to the wildfire risk.

Cindy Osterloh, whose husband pushed a relative in a wheelchair beneath the idled cables, said she and family members visiting from San Diego were all on allergy medications to take the sting out of their eyes and keep their noses from running so they can ride out the smoke for the rest of their vacation.

“We got up and it was a lot clearer this morning. We went for a walk and then we came back and now it’s coming in again,” she said of the smoke. “We’re going to go and see a movie and hopefully it clears up enough that we can go do our boat rides.”

An army of firefighters worked to contain the blaze, which has spread explosively in a manner witnessed in the past two years during extreme drought. Climate change has made the West warmer and drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make the weather more extreme and wildfires more destructive, according to scientists.

Massive plumes have erupted in flames, burning embers carried by gusts have skipped miles ahead of fire lines, and fires that typically die down at night have made long runs in the dark.

Northern California has seen a series of disastrous blazes that have burned hundreds of homes and many remain uncontained. On Tuesday, President Joe Biden declared that a major disaster exists in California and ordered federal aid made available in four northern counties ravaged by blazes dating back to July 14.

The Caldor Fire had scorched more than 190 square miles (492 square kilometers) and destroyed at least 455 homes since Aug. 14 in the Sierra Nevada southwest of Lake Tahoe. It was 11% contained and threatened more than 17,000 structures.

Nationally, 92 large fires were burning in a dozen states, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. Although many fires are larger, the Caldor Fire has become the top priority to keep it from sweeping into the Tahoe.

As the fire grew last week, politicians, environmentalists, and policy makers gathered on the shore for the 25th annual Lake Tahoe Summit dedicated to protecting the lake and the pine-covered mountains that surround it.

With the Caldor Fire burning to the southwest and the Dixie Fire, the second-largest in state history with a 500-mile (804-kilometer) perimeter, burning about 65 miles (104 kilometers) to the north, the risk to the lake was top of mind.

“The fires that are raging all around us nearby are screaming this warning: Tahoe could be next,” said Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif.

The last major blaze in the area took South Lake Tahoe by surprise after blowing up from an illegal campfire in the summer of 2007. The Angora Fire burned less than 5 square miles (13 square kilometers) but destroyed 254 homes, injured three people and forced 2,000 people to flee.

Scars from the fire can still be seen not far from the commercial strip where South Lake Tahoe meets the Nevada border in Stateline, where tourists go to gamble.

Inside the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, cocktail waitresses in fishnet stockings and leopard-print corsets served customers playing slots and blackjack who said they weren’t overly concerned about the fire.

Sitting at a slot machine near a window looking out at cars driving through the haze on Lake Tahoe Boulevard, Ramona Trejo said she and her husband would stay for their 50th wedding anniversary, as planned.

Trejo, who uses supplemental oxygen due to respiratory problems, said her husband wanted to keep gambling.

“I would want to go now,” she said.

Melley reported from Los Angeles. Sam Metz is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues.

I served in Afghanistan as a US Marine, twice. Here’s the truth in two sentences

I served in Afghanistan as a US Marine, twice. Here’s the truth in two sentences

Lucas Kunce                       

What we are seeing in Afghanistan right now shouldn’t shock you. It only seems that way because our institutions are steeped in systematic dishonesty. It doesn’t require a dissertation to explain what you’re seeing. Just two sentences.

 

One: For 20 years, politicians, elites and D.C. military leaders lied to us about Afghanistan.

Two: What happened last week was inevitable, and anyone saying differently is still lying to you.

I know because I was there. Twice. On special operations task forces. I learned Pashto as a U.S. Marine captain and spoke to everyone I could there: everyday people, elites, allies and yes, even the Taliban.

The truth is that the Afghan National Security Forces was a jobs program for Afghans, propped up by U.S. taxpayer dollars — a military jobs program populated by nonmilitary people or “paper” forces (that didn’t really exist) and a bevy of elites grabbing what they could when they could.

You probably didn’t know that. That’s the point.

And it wasn’t just in Afghanistan. They also lied about Iraq.

I led a team of Marines training Iraqi security forces to defend their country. When I arrived I received a “stoplight” chart on their supposed capabilities in dozens of missions and responsibilities. Green meant they were good. Yellow was needed improvement; red said they couldn’t do it at all.

I was delighted to see how far along they were on paper — until I actually began working with them. I attempted to adjust the charts to reflect reality and was quickly shut down. The ratings could not go down. That was the deal. It was the kind of lie that kept the war going.

So when people ask me if we made the right call getting out of Afghanistan in 2021, I answer truthfully: Absolutely not. The right call was getting out in 2002. 2003. Every year we didn’t get out was another year the Taliban used to refine their skills and tactics against us — the best fighting force in the world. After two decades, $2 trillion and nearly 2,500 American lives lost, 2021 was way too late to make the right call.

You’d think when it all came crumbling down around them, they’d accept the truth. Think again.

War-hungry hawks are suggesting our soldiers weren’t in harm’s way. Well, when I was there, two incredible Marines in my unit were killed.

Elitist hacks are even blaming the American people for what happened this week. The same American people that they spent years lying to about Afghanistan. Are you kidding me?

We deserve better. Instead of politicians spending $6.4 trillion to “nation build” in the Middle East, we should start nation building right here at home.

I can’t believe that would be a controversial proposal, but already in Washington, we see some of the same architects of these Middle Eastern disasters balking at the idea of investing a fraction of that amount to build up our own country.

The lies about Afghanistan matter not just because of the money spent or the lives lost, but because they are representative of a systematic dishonesty that is destroying our country from the inside out.

Remember when they told us the economy was back? Another lie.

Our state of Missouri was home to the worst economic recovery from the Great Recession in this part of the country. I see the boarded-up stores and the vacant lots — one of which used to be my family’s home. When our country’s elites were preaching about how they had solved the financial crisis and the housing market was booming, I watched the house I joined the Marine Corps out of sit on the market for two years. My dad finally got $43,000 for it. He owed $78,000.

The only way out is to level with the American people. I’ll start. With the two-sentence truth about what we are seeing in Afghanistan right now:

For 20 years, politicians, elites and D.C. military leaders lied to us about Afghanistan.

What happened last week was inevitable, and anyone saying differently is still lying to you.

Cole County native Lucas Kunce is a Marine veteran and antitrust advocate. He is a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate.

Rural NC counties are shrinking. Republican policies aren’t helping at all.

Rural NC counties are shrinking. Republican policies aren’t helping at all.

Ned Barnett                        

 

The General Assembly’s Republican majority overwhelmingly represents rural North Carolina, but rural North Carolina has little to show for it.

Actually, it has less to show for it. Of the state’s 100 counties, 51 mostly rural counties lost population in a census report issued this month, even as booming urban areas increased the state’s population by 9.5 percent. Rebecca Tippett, the director of Carolina Demography at UNC-Chapel Hill, said, “More counties than expected lost population and the losses were larger than expected.”

The shift refutes the low-tax, low-spending policies Republican legislative leaders have slavishly followed since taking control of the General Assembly in 2011. While the movement from rural to urban areas is a national trend, the legislative majority has accelerated the exodus by blocking or neglecting policies and investments that would spur rural job growth.

Norris Tolson, a former Democratic state legislator and former state secretary of transportation and secretary of commerce, now leads Carolinas Gateway Partnership, a group trying to boost economic development in Tolson’s native Edgecombe County. Since 2010, the county has lost 14 percent of its population. “The migration of the population speaks for itself,” he said. “People are moving to where they think the jobs are.”

Republicans have hurt the very people who elected them. Consider what the majority has done:

• Blocked Medicaid expansion for seven years. That has left hundreds of thousands of working poor without medical insurance and denied the state billions of dollars in federal aid. The impact has fallen hardest on rural hospitals. Since 2010, five of North Carolina’s 50 rural hospitals have closed and another nine are considered at risk of closing, according to a report from the Chartis Center for Rural Health.

• Slowed spending on public schools. Public schools are the main employer in 59 counties. Starving them for operating and capital funds stymies the local economy. Urban counties have raised property taxes to compensate. Rural counties don’t have the tax base to do that.

• Cut income taxes in ways that give the biggest breaks to large corporations and higher earners. The reductions mostly benefit white-collar urban workers even as they reduce the state’s ability to invest in rural areas.

• Opposed state borrowing. Republican leaders prefer a pay-as-you-go approach over approving state bond issues. What rural governments need most is money for roads, water and sewer, but the legislature has not supported the level of borrowing needed to fund major rural infrastructure projects.

• Bungled broadband expansion. In 2011, the legislature, kowtowing to telecommunications companies, blocked municipalities from operating their own broadband networks. Ten years later, access to high-speed internet – an essential tool for businesses, remote work, virtual schooling and telemedicine – is still unavailable or of poor quality in much of rural North Carolina.

• Targeted undocumented immigrants. Hispanic immigrants are a key part of the rural workforce in meatpacking and agriculture and their share of the rural population is growing. In Duplin, Sampson and Lee counties, for instance, 20 percent of the population is Hispanic, and that’s likely an undercount. Rather than helping the undocumented among the Hispanic population gain legal status, Republicans have encouraged their arrest and deportation.

Tolson said there is no single “silver bullet” to help rural counties, but “good, conscientious government policy” can make a difference.

On the other side, bad, callous government policy also has an effect.

Ten years ago, rural voters put their faith in Republican promises to lift their communities. Now, feeling the effects of those broken promises, rural residents are increasingly voting with their feet.

Associate opinion editor Ned Barnett can be reached at 919-829-4512, or nbarnett@ newsobserver.com

U.S. report finds multiple problems with Keystone pipeline

U.S. report finds multiple problems with Keystone pipeline

 

A supply depot servicing the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline lies idle in Oyen.

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. government watchdog found multiple problems with the construction, manufacture and design of the Keystone pipeline, validating President Joe Biden’s decision to revoke the permit for a Keystone XL extension, leaders of several House Democratic committees said on Monday.

The lawmakers requested the Government Accountability Office report in November 2019 after more than 11,000 barrels of oil leaked from the pipeline system in two releases in less than two years.

“GAO found that preventable construction issues contributed to the current Keystone pipeline’s spills more frequently than the industry-wide trends,” they said in a statement.

Keystone’s four largest spills were “caused by issues related to the original design, manufacturing of the pipe, or construction of the pipeline,” the GAO report said.

Biden canceled Keystone XL’s permit on his first day in office on Jan. 20, dealing a death blow to a project that would have carried 830,000 barrels per day of heavy oil sands crude from Alberta to Nebraska. [L1N2JX1D8]

“TC Energy’s record among its peers is one of the worst in terms of volume of oil spilled per mile transported,” a statement from the lawmakers said. The lawmakers included Representative Frank Pallone, energy and commerce committee chair.

TC Energy Corp officially canceled the $9 billion Keystone XL in June. It filed a notice of intent in July to begin a legacy North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) claim and is seeking more than $15 billion in damages from the U.S. government.

The company did not immediately respond on Monday to a request for comment.

Pipeline opponents want to slow the movement of Canadian oil to the United States. But pipeline supporters say it will be shipped anyway and that oil sent by rail has caused numerous fiery accidents.

Biden “was clearly right to question this operator’s ability to construct a safe and resilient pipeline, and we support his decision to put Americans’ health and environment above industry interests,” the U.S. representatives said.

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Timothy Gardner; Editing by Barbara Lewis and Dan Grebler)

The Creative Habit That Might Ward Off Dementia Symptoms, Even if You Start Later in Life

Re-Post, in light of Tony Bennett retirement:

The Creative Habit That Might Ward Off Dementia Symptoms, Even if You Start Later in Life

Arielle Weg                     August 22, 2021  (Pub. 
Photo credit: Jolygon - Getty Images
Photo credit: Jolygon – Getty Images
  • New research suggests that actively playing music may have a small but positive impact on cognitive function, even in older adults who already show signs of dementia.
  • Playing music works multiple areas of the brain at the same time.
  • Other crucial habits, like staying active and being social, can also help mitigate your risk of cognitive decline.

Music does wonders for your mood, but did you know it might give your brain a boost, too? In fact, playing music—not just listening to it—has a positive effect on your cognition, even if you’re already showing signs of dementia, new research suggests.

For a new meta-analysis published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh examined nine studies with 495 participants over age 65 who have mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia. The studies specifically evaluated older adults with MCI who took part in improvising music, playing existing music, singing, playing instruments, or other forms of music making.

Mild cognitive impairment was defined as “a preclinical state between normal cognitive aging and Alzheimer’s disease.” Dementia, an umbrella term for various age-related cognitive symptoms, was defined as a “debilitating disease that can dramatically alter the cognitive, emotional, and social aspects of a person’s life.”

The finding? Making music has a small but statistically significant effect on cognitive functioning, such as thinking and memory, says lead author Jennie L. Dorris, a Ph.D. student in rehabilitation science and a graduate student researcher in the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Occupational Therapy.

That’s because playing music works multiple areas of your brain at the same time. “You are coordinating your motor movements with the sounds you hear and the visual patterns of the written music,” explains Dorris. “Music has been called a ‘full-body workout’ for the brain, and we think that it’s unique because it calls on multiple systems at once.”

As a bonus, music-making habits also had a positive effect on mood and quality of life—so go ahead and get musical, no matter your age. “Because we saw a positive effect across all different active music-making activities, we know that people have options and can choose the activity that they prefer,” says Dorris, “Whether it’s singing in a choir, joining a drum circle, or registering for an online music class where you learn how to compose, it’s just important that you are actively participating in the music-making process.”

Of course, reconnecting with the guitar that’s gathered dust in your basement is just one step you can take to keep your brain sharp. And the sooner you start, the better: Of older adults who don’t already have Alzheimer’s disease, 15% of them likely have mild cognitive impairment. Up to 38% of them will then go on to develop Alzheimer’s within five years, the researchers note.

To mitigate your dementia risk, it’s also important to stay active most days of the week, eat a Mediterranean-style diet, stay social by connecting with loved ones, and seek help for chronic health issues like depression, high cholesterol, and sleep disorders. All of these pieces add up over time, ensuring a healthier body—and mind—for years to come.

Though young and healthy, unvaccinated father dies of COVID

Though young and healthy, unvaccinated father dies of COVID

Kim Chandler                     August 21, 2021

 

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Healthy and in their 30s, Christina and Josh Tidmore figured they were low-risk for COVID-19. With conflicting viewpoints about whether to get vaccinated against the virus filling their social media feeds and social circles, they decided to wait.

On July 20, Josh came home from work with a slight cough initially thought to be sinus trouble. On Aug. 11, he died of COVID-19 at a north Alabama hospital as Christina Tidmore witnessed a doctor and her team frantically try to resuscitate her husband.

“She would say, ’I need a pulse. ’I would hear, ‘no pulse,’ “Christina Tidmore said through tears. “They were trying so hard.”

“Nobody should go through this. He was only 36 and I’m 35 and we have three kids.”

She is now imploring young adults not to dismiss the risk and to consider getting vaccinated.

“Josh was completely healthy, active, not a smoker.” He would have turned 37 on Saturday.

Doctors say they are seeing a spike in cases among young adults and children as the highly contagious delta variant sweeps through unvaccinated populations. Medical officials say there is conflicting information on whether it makes people more severely ill or whether young people are more vulnerable to it, but it’s clear the contagiousness means more young people and children are getting sick.

“There is no question that the average age of people who are being hospitalized is going down,” State Health Officer Scott Harris said Friday.

“I don’t know if it’s clear that delta is worse in that age group or worse than any of the strains we’ve seen before. … But what you have though is one that is just much, much more transmissible. Because seniors are the ones that are predominately the vaccinated population in our state, the most vulnerable are these younger people. So you see them getting infected at much higher rates than we had before.”

In the past four weeks, people ages 25 to 49 years, made up 14% of all COVID deaths in the state. And people 50 to 64 years made up about 29%.

The state is also seeing a surge in COVID cases among children, although deaths so far have been rare. The state this week set a record for pediatric hospitalizations with 50 children hospitalized with COVID-19.

In the past four weeks, 6% of cases of COVID-19 in Alabama have been among children under five while 8% have been among children between the ages of five and 17, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health.

“I am very concerned that the children of Alabama are experiencing more illness and hospitalizations as a result of COVID-19. Children can and do contract and spread COVID-19 disease. COVID-19 can be a very serious illness in children with at least 6% of children experiencing long-term consequences of this disease,” said Dr. Karen Landers, a pediatrician with the Alabama Department of Public Health.

The Alabama Hospital Association said this week that 85% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients are unvaccinated.

Christina Tidmore also had COVID-19 but recovered. She said she and her husband were not anti-vaccine, but heard conflicting information — including, she said, from doctors.

“It’s just a fight out there. This side and that side, and political garbage. … You don’t know who to believe,” she said.

A jokester with a heart of gold, Josh loved to help others and to make people laugh, especially kids. He sauntered into Easter and Christmas gatherings wearing an inflatable dinosaur costume and ran around hugging family members. He would cheerfully photobomb beachgoers. He didn’t hesitate to rush to help a motorcyclist injured in an accident near the north Alabama church his grandparents founded.

“He could make you feel better when nobody else could. He would listen. He genuinely cared about everybody,” Christina Tidmore said.

The family is relying on their faith to get through and Christina Tidmore wants to share her husband’s story to help people — as Josh would have wanted.

“If you can try to save your life, then you probably should,” she said of vaccinations.

“I have lots of feelings and lots of regret and lots of what ifs,” she said. “”you don’t want to do that. You don’t.”

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This story corrects the first sentence in the summary to read Alabama, not Mississippi.

Related video: Unvaccinated single mom dies of COVID, leaving 4 kids behind

California hiker dies in Death Valley, heatstroke suspected

California hiker dies in Death Valley, heatstroke suspected

In this Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2021, photo provided by the National Park Service, an inter-agency search and rescue crew walks past a sign reading” “Stop, Extreme Heat Danger,” with park rangers responding on foot near Red Cathedral along the Golden Canyon Trail in Death Valley National Park, Calif. Authorities say 60-year-old Lawrence Stanback died Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2021, while hiking near Red Cathedral along the Golden Canyon Trail. That day temperatures reached 108 degrees Fahrenheit. (National Park Service via AP).
DEATH VALLEY, Calif. (AP) — A San Francisco man died while hiking in Death Valley National Park, where temperatures can be among the hottest on Earth, authorities said Saturday.

 

Lawrence Stanback, 60, died Wednesday while hiking near Red Cathedral along the Golden Canyon Trail, according to a joint statement from the park and the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office. That day temperatures reached 108 degrees Fahrenheit (42 Celsius).

Park rangers received a report of a suspected heatstroke Wednesday afternoon and set out on foot to look for Stanback. He was already dead when the rangers found him, officials said.

A helicopter with the California Highway Patrol tried to fly in to recover the body but strong winds prevented it from landing. Park rangers recovered Stanback’s body during the cooler evening hours, they said.

The Inyo County Sheriff’s Office and Inyo County coroner are investigating the cause of death.

Last month, the National Weather Service said Death Valley recorded a high temperature of 130 F (55 C). Death Valley holds the record for the highest recorded temperature on Earth at 134 F (57 C), set in 1913, although some dispute its accuracy.

Park rangers urged visitors to hike only before 10 a.m. or at high elevations. They also said hikers should stay safe by drinking plenty of water, eating snacks, and staying close to an air-conditioned building or vehicle to cool down when necessary.