Category: Intersection

Biden administration to cancel another $1.2 billion of student loans

By Trevor Hunnicutt and Jeff Mason: Click through for the full post…

President Joe Biden said on Wednesday his administration is cancelling $1.2 billion worth of student loans for nearly 153,000 people who are eligible under a program used to make good on his promises to increase loan forgiveness.

Biden, a Democrat, last year pledged to find other avenues for tackling debt relief after the Supreme Court in June blocked his broader plan to cancel $430 billion in student loan debt.

Left-leaning progressive and young voters, whose support Biden needs to win re-election in November, have been vocal in advocating for student loan forgiveness on a wide scale. Republicans largely oppose such actions.

“While a college degree is a ticket to a better life, that ticket is too expensive,” Biden said during a trip to California that has been focused primarily on fundraising for his re-election campaign.

Over-the-counter drug that reverses hearing loss nears clinical testing

by StudyFinds: Click through for the full post…

We’ve all experienced that ringing feeling in our ears after a loud concert or construction work. For some, the effects are temporary; for others, the hearing damage is permanent. Now, new research from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine has uncovered the molecular mechanism behind noise-induced hearing loss, pointing to possible treatment options. That includes a potentially game-changing over-the-counter medication that’s now under development.

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh say they are testing a drug that has the potential to reverse hearing impairment due to loud noise and also offer protection against future damage.

The researchers identified that noise-induced hearing loss is a result of cellular damage in the inner ear, linked to an excess of free-floating zinc — a mineral crucial for cell function and hearing. They discovered that medications acting as molecular sponges to absorb excess zinc can either recover lost hearing or, when used preemptively, can safeguard against hearing loss.

“Noise-induced hearing loss impairs millions of lives but, because the biology of hearing loss is not fully understood, preventing hearing loss has been an ongoing challenge,” says Professor Thanos Tzounopoulos from the Pittsburgh Hearing Research Center, in a media release.

More Than 40 Percent of Americans Know Someone Who Died of Drug Overdose; 13 Percent Say Deaths Have Disrupted Their Lives

From RAND: Click through for the full post…

More than 40 percent of Americans know someone who has died of a drug overdose and about one-third of those individuals say their lives were disrupted by the death, according to a new RAND study.

Analyzing a national representative survey of American adults, researchers found that the lifetime exposure to an overdose death is more common among women than men, married participants than unmarried participants, U.S.-born participants than immigrants, and those who live in urban settings as compared to those in rural settings.

Rates of exposure were significantly higher in New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont) and in the East South Central region (Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee) than in other parts of the nation.

The findings are published by the American Journal of Public Health.

“The experiences and needs of millions of survivors of an overdose loss largely have been overlooked in the clinical and public health response to the nation’s overdose crisis,” said Alison Athey, the study’s lead author and a behavioral scientist at RAND, a nonprofit research organization. “Our findings emphasize the need for research into the prevalence and impact of overdose loss, particularly among groups and communities that experience disproportionate rates of loss.”

‘Fourth wave’ of opioid epidemic crashes ashore — propelled by Fentanyl and Meth

By Colleen Deguzman: Click through for the full post…

The United States is knee-deep in what some experts call the opioid epidemic’s “fourth wave,” which is not only placing drug users at greater risk but is also complicating efforts to address the nation’s drug problem.

These waves, according to a report out today from Millennium Health, began with the crisis in prescription opioid use, followed by a significant jump in heroin use, then an increase in the use of synthetic opioids like fentanyl.

The latest wave involves using multiple substances at the same time, combining fentanyl mainly with either methamphetamine or cocaine, the report found. “And I’ve yet to see a peak,” said one of the co-authors, Eric Dawson, vice president of clinical affairs at Millennium Health, a specialty laboratory that provides drug testing services to monitor use of prescription medications and illicit drugs.

The report, which takes a deep dive into the nation’s drug trends and breaks usage patterns down by region, is based on 4.1 million urine samples collected from January 2013 to December 2023 from people receiving some kind of drug addiction care.

Its findings offer staggering statistics and insights. Its major finding: how common polysubstance use has become. According to the report, an overwhelming majority of fentanyl-positive urine samples — nearly 93% — contained additional substances. “And that is huge,” said Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health.

The most concerning, she and other addiction experts said, is the dramatic increase in the combination of meth and fentanyl use.

LEAD’s Leadership Cohort begins March 15th!

From the MDRC LEAD Program: Click through for the full post…

MDRC’s Leadership Engagement & Advocacy Development (LEAD) Program is accepting applications for BIPOC Adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities. This program is for those that are interested in developing leadership and advocacy skills to dismantle oppression in the disability community.

The GOAL of the LEAD Program is to make change in the BIPOC disability community. During the leadership cohort we will empower and equip adults with disabilities to feel confident while advocating for themselves and telling their own stories. Participants will develop disability pride, strengthen their advocacy skills, and explore more advocacy needs in the BIPOC Community.  

LEAD’s programming is developed to bring leaders together to build community and disability pride throughout Michigan.

Those that participate in the program and attend all sessions will receive up to a $200 stipend.

Participants will also receive mentorship and guidance to assist with obtaining employment and paid leadership opportunities.

More than 500 deaths may be linked to recalled Philips sleep apnea machines, FDA says

By Mary Walrath-Holdridge Adrianna Rodriguez: Click through for the full post…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an update to a recall affecting millions of Philips sleep apnea machines, saying that they may be linked to at least 561 reported deaths.

In a statement issued Wednesday, the agency said it has received more than 116,000 reports about the respiratory devices since April 2021, which have been found to break down and cause serious health hazards including choking, inhalation of foreign particles and increased risk of cancer.

The devices, used for sleep apnea and similar sleep disorders, were made with polyester-based polyurethane (PE-PUR) foam, which has been found to break down over time and enter the airways of people using them. According to the FDA notice, the foam, which is used to reduce sound and vibration, degrades with use, causing “black pieces of foam, or certain chemicals that are not visible” to be “breathed in or swallowed by the person using the device.”

Autoimmune Diseases

From NIEHS: Click through for the full post...

A healthy immune system defends the body against disease and infection. But if the immune system malfunctions, it mistakenly attacks healthy cells, tissues, and organs. Called autoimmune disease, these attacks can affect any part of the body, weakening bodily function and even turning life-threatening.

Scientists know about more than 80 autoimmune diseases. Some are well known, such as type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis, while others are rare and difficult to diagnose. With unusual autoimmune diseases, patients may suffer years before getting a proper diagnosis. Most of these diseases have no cure. Some require lifelong treatment to ease symptoms.

Collectively, these diseases affect more than 24 million people in the United States.1 An additional eight million people have auto-antibodies, blood molecules that indicate a person’s chance of developing autoimmune disease. Autoimmune diseases are affecting more people for reasons unknown. Likewise, the causes of these diseases remain a mystery.

Studies indicate these diseases likely result from interactions between genetic and environmental factors. Gender, race, and ethnicity characteristics are linked to a likelihood of developing an autoimmune disease.2 Autoimmune diseases are more common when people are in contact with certain environmental exposures, as described below.

Defense Department Expands ID Card Renewals by Mail to US-Based Retirees, Dependents

From Military News: Click through for the full post…

The Next Generation USID military dependent card incorporates an updated design and security features to deter counterfeiting and fraud, and is printed on a plastic cardstock. (Department of Defense)

Military retirees and their dependents based in the U.S. may now renew their military ID cards online and receive them by mail, relieving them of a trip to the on-base ID card office.

The Defense Department announced Tuesday that it’s expanding a pilot program that began in 2023 and initially allowed certain dependents’ Uniformed Services Identification cards, or USID, to be renewed by mail.

Portions of the renewal process have previously been available online. However, the pilot program allows online ordering from start to finish. While in the past the renewed card had to be retrieved in person at a local ID card facility, it will instead be delivered by mail under the pilot program.

Internet Privacy Is A Disability Rights Issue

By ARIANA ABOULAFIA: Click through for the full post…

Imagine being forced to disclose sensitive data related to your health or identity to access basic activities and services needed to fully participate in society. Then, imagine disclosing that information repeatedly, as new services you’d like to take advantage of come online. Unfortunately, this scenario is the lived experience of many people with disabilities. On top of it being essentially impossible for anyone to understand online data practices, disabled people in particular are often in situations where they are unable to protect information about their health status, as they are often forced to choose between accessing necessary services and technologies (like standardized tests, rideshares, or assistive apps) and keeping their information private. This “choice,” of course, is hardly a choice at all.

People with disabilities may affirmatively reveal sensitive and private health information to receive an accommodation, including in rideshares and standardized testing. They may also incidentally (and largely unintentionally) share their disability status simply by using assistive or adaptive technology. The “choice” for a person with a disability is to divulge that information, or to either receive an inaccessible version of a service, or to not use that service at all – which impacts that person’s ability to live a full and independent life. Not only do disabled individuals have little control over whether or not to share this information in the first place, they also may have little knowledge as to how that data is processed, stored, and shared after its initial disclosure. For these reasons, advocates for disability rights and disability justice should prioritize the protection of personal and digital privacy as a central issue, and organize towards solutions.

There are ways to protect the data and personal privacy of individuals with disabilities, along with everyone else. Data minimization (the idea that companies collect should only the data that is necessary to provide a service’s essential functions), and purpose limitation (the idea that companies should use data only for the original purpose for which it was collected), would allow disabled people to receive the accommodations and services they need, and to which they are entitled, while better protecting their privacy. The inclusion of these protections is one of many reasons my organization, the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), supported the 2022 American Data Privacy and Protection Act (ADPPA), a comprehensive federal privacy bill that would protect the privacy of “health information,” including disability information.

AI-based fall detection system may transform care for people with dementia

From Texas A&M: Click through for the full post…

Dr. Marcia Ory, Regents and University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the Texas A&M University School of Public Health, has been awarded $1.3 million to collaborate on testing an automated fall detection and fall risk prediction system for persons living with dementia. The funding is part of a Small Business Innovative Research Grant obtained by her industry partner, Clairvoyant Networks, Inc.  

The funding, from the  National Institute on Aging, will be used to develop a system that simplifies and improves risk assessment for, and detection of, mobility-based falls, and quickly sends alerts after a person living with dementia falls. 

The Clairvoyant Networks project will develop and test an automated fall detection system using artificial intelligence in a neural-network to understand the highly precise data from ultra- wideband (UWB) technology, a radio technology that collects data related to sensors, location and tracking and is used in smartphones and similar devices. 

This project will move from lab studies to real-world applications in two phases. In phase 1, the team will test the ability of Clairvoyant’s fall detection system Theora® 360 to detect simulated falls in a laboratory setting. 

Phase 2 will begin once 90 percent sensitivity to falls and 90 percent specificity in fall detection in the lab are reached and the protocols, AI/neural network, data platforms and other data are codified. In this phase, the team will assess Theora® 360’s ability to detect mobility-based falls and to predict changes in fall risk over time among people living with dementia in real-world community settings. For the latter, the team will develop an algorithm for activity modeling and risk profiling based on the overall mobility, gait and daily routines of 60 care recipients who live at home with a caregiver.