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There are still kinks to iron out in neuroimaging technology before doctors can translate images of the brain to psychiatric disorders such as PTSD, researchers report.
Several years ago, the National Institutes of Mental Health launched a multi-billion-dollar research effort to locate biomarkers of brain activity that point to the biological roots of a host of mental health diseases, which today are typically identified by clinical evaluation of a constellation of often overlapping symptoms reported by patients.
“The idea is to forget classification of disease by symptoms and find underlying biological causes,” says Ilan Harpaz-Rotem, professor of psychiatry and psychology at Yale University and senior author of the study in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
For the new study, the research team attempted to replicate the findings of an earlier nationwide neuroimaging study, in which Emory and Harvard scientists linked clusters of brain activity to a variety of outcomes among patients who had arrived at United States emergency departments following traumatic events.
Specifically, when researchers measured patients’ brain activity during the performance of simple tasks—including ones that probe responses to threats and rewards—they detected a cluster of brain activity that showed high reactivity to both threat and reward signals and seemed to predict more severe symptoms of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) later on.
However, when Yale researchers analyzed similar neuroimaging data collected from recent trauma survivors in Israel, they were not able to replicate these findings. While they did identify the different clusters of brain activity observed in the earlier study, they found no association with prospective PTSD symptoms.
“That is not to say one set of data is right and the other is wrong, just that there is a lot of fundamental work that needs to be done to develop reliable models that could generalize across different studies,” says Ziv Ben-Zion, a postdoctoral associate at Yale School of Medicine and the corresponding author of the study.
In fact, Yale researchers are currently working with the investigators of the original Emory-Harvard study to merge datasets “to search for common underlying patterns of brain activity associated with different responses to trauma,” Ben-Zion says.
“It took about 100 years to come up with current classifications of mental illness, but we’ve only been exploring refining psychiatric diagnoses using biomarkers for the last 10 years,” says Harpaz-Rotem. “We still have a long way to go.”
Source: Yale University
EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., introduced a bipartisan bill Wednesday to boost coordination between federal, state and local authorities to crack down on organized crime across the nation.
The “Improving Federal Investigations of Organized Retail Crime Act” directs the attorney general, secretary of homeland security and postmaster general to submit a joint report on how relevant federal agencies can coordinate to counter “organized retail crime networks.”
These agencies would include the FBI and Customs and Border Protection.
“In my district, we see businesses victimized by organized retail crime nearly every week,” Kim told Fox News Digital. “This cannot become our new normal.”
IDAHO MURDERS SUSPECT BRYAN KOHBERGER WILL CHALLENGE EVIDENCE, LAWYER SAYS
Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif, introduced a bill to counter organized crime.
(Fox News )
Kim said nine businesses in her district were victims of smash-and-grab attacks this week alone.
The bill directs agencies to focus on how to assist state and local law enforcement in “compiling materials and evidence necessary for prosecution of organized retail crime” and “increase cooperation and information sharing.” The plan from agencies would be required to be published within a year by the comptroller general.
MISSING MICHIGAN GIRL, 4, RESCUED IN OHIO DURING TRAFFIC STOP, BODYCAM VIDEO SHOWS
Rep. Maria Salazar, R-Fla., said organized crime decimates neighborhoods across the nation.
(Getty Images)
The bill is cosponsored by Reps. Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., Maria Salazar, R-Fla., and Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y. Salazar said organized crime decimates neighborhoods across the nation and must be stopped through a full, collaborative effort.
“Retail crime is a billion-dollar underground industry whose negative effects hurt businesses in Miami and across our country,” Salazar told Fox News Digital. “I’m proud to be working with my colleagues in a bipartisan manner to bring federal and state counterparts together in a united fight against criminals looking to chip away at the American dream.”
Federal agencies under the bill would be directed to draft a plan on how to coordinate with state and local police.
(Getty Images)
According to the National Retail Federation, retailers lost an average of $719,548 per $1 billion dollars in sales in 2020 due to organized retail crime.
Garbarino said greater efforts must be taken to counter the violence and illegal business of organized crime networks.
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“Businesses throughout Long Island and New York City were plagued by smash-and-grab robberies and other retail crime over the last several months,” Garbarino told Fox News Digital.
“Retail crimes not only greatly impact the livelihoods of business owners big and small but can also lead to additional crime, such as the sale of stolen goods on black markets to fund drug and human trafficking crimes. Federal law enforcement needs the tools and authority to collaborate with all law enforcement agencies, coordinate a response and execute a plan of action to thwart these organized criminal efforts.”
CNN
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Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president Dana White said he does not expect punishment after a video emerged of him in a physical altercation with his wife earlier this month. White made the comments Wednesday at a media day for UFC Fight Night 217.
Asked whether he expects there to be repercussions from the company, White said: “What should the repercussions be? You tell me. I take 30 days off? How does that hurt me?
“Me leaving hurts the company, hurts my employees, hurts the fighters. It doesn’t hurt me.
“What is my punishment? Here’s my punishment: I have to walk around for however long I live … and this is how I’m labeled now.
“The punishment is that I did it, and now I have to deal with it.”
In the video, obtained by TMZ, White and his wife, Anne, are seen arguing before exchanging slaps in a nightclub in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, on New Year’s Eve. Neither White nor his wife are facing legal charges over the incident.
White claims that conversations had been held between himself, Endeavor chief executive and UFC owner, Ari Emanuel, and broadcaster ESPN over what action was appropriate.
“We’ve had plenty of discussions internally – with Ari, with ESPN – nobody’s happy,” the 53-year-old said. “Nobody’s happy about this. Neither am I. But it happened.”
White also said he was not looking to make excuses for his behavior and reiterated his stance on domestic violence.
“There’s never an excuse … There’s no defense for this and people should not be defending me over this thing, no matter what.”
On Monday, the California Legislative Women’s Caucus wrote an open letter to Emanuel and Endeavor calling for White to be replaced as UFC president.
“Given Mr White’s previous remarks against domestic partner violence, we believed that Endeavor and the UFC shared this commitment to safety, respect and accountability,” the letter reads.
“And yet, we have seen the video of UFC president Dana White, where he strikes his wife at a New Year’s Eve celebration … We were appalled. It was alarming to say the least. In the days since the video was released, you have remained silent.
“We are calling for the immediate removal of Mr White as president of UFC.”
CNN reached out to Endeavor for comment but did not immediately get a response.
When contacted for comment, ESPN gave only a short statement saying: “We have been covering the story on our platforms since it broke and will continue to do so.”
TBS has delayed the premiere of a reality series from Dana White – Power Slap: Road to the Title – by one week to January 18. TBS and CNN are part of the Warner Bros. Discovery network.
An orthopedic clinic in north Mississippi and its owner have agreed to pay more than $1.8 million to resolve allegations that the health care provider knowingly submitted false claims to Medicare and Medicaid, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
New Albany, Mississippi-based Mitias Orthopaedics, PLLC, its owner, Dr. Hanna “Johnny” Mitias, and a subsidiary, Champion Orthopedics, allegedly submitted false claims to the federal programs between Jan. 1, 2008, and Dec. 31, 2015 for brand-name medication used for knee injections that were not administered, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Mississippi said in a news release.
Instead, a much cheaper, compounded agent was alleged to have been used, and the defendants improperly claimed compensation for the higher-priced products, the news release said.
MISSISSIPPI PRIVATE SCHOOLS GRANT PROGRAM FACED WITH A LAWSUIT
A Mississippi health care worker has been accused of submitting false claims to federal programs. The employee made claims for a medication that was not administered.
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“Taxpayers deserve to receive the products and services billed to their federal health insurance programs. The viability of Medicare and Medicaid is threatened by each wasted dollar. Our people come before profits,” U.S. Attorney Clay Joyner said. “This settlement sends a clear message that the Department of Justice will hold healthcare providers accountable if they knowingly overbill federal healthcare programs.”
Joyner said the settlement is an example of how whistleblowers and the government can work together to recoup and deter overbilling. The settlement resolves allegations in a 2015 lawsuit by a medical device sales representative filed under the whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act, which allows private individuals to sue on behalf of the government for false claims and to share in any recovery, he said.
CNN
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Alabama’s Republican attorney general said this week that women in the state who use prescription medication to terminate their pregnancies could be prosecuted under a chemical-endangerment law, even though Alabama’s anti-abortion law does not intend to punish women who receive abortions.
Steve Marshall made the comments in the wake of a decision earlier this month by the US Food and Drug Administration to allow certified pharmacies to dispense the abortion medication mifepristone to people who have a prescription.
“The Human Life Protection Act targets abortion providers, exempting women ‘upon whom an abortion is performed or attempted to be performed’ from liability under the law,” Marshall said in a statement to AL.com on Tuesday. “It does not provide an across-the-board exemption from all criminal laws, including the chemical-endangerment law—which the Alabama Supreme Court has affirmed and reaffirmed protects unborn children.”
The chemical endangerment law was passed in 2006 amid high drug usage in Alabama with aims of protecting children from chemicals in the home, but district attorneys have successfully applied the law to protect fetuses of women who used drugs during pregnancy.
It’s unclear if there are any pending cases against women in Alabama in the wake of the FDA’s announcement. CNN has reached out to Marshall’s office for comment.
At least one Democrat, Alabama state Rep. Chris England, argued on Twitter that the chemical endangerment law is “extremely clear” and under it, a woman could not be prosecuted for taking a lawfully prescribed medication.
“Any prosecutor that tries this, or threatens it, is intentionally ignoring the law,” England wrote on Thursday morning.
Emma Roth, an attorney with Pregnancy Justice, a nonprofit that provides legal representation for women charged with crimes related to pregnancy, said on Twitter that the effect of Marshall’s comments will be to create “a culture of fear among pregnant women.”
The comments are “extremely concerning and clearly unlawful,” Roth elaborated in a statement to CNN. “The Alabama legislature made clear its opposition to any such prosecution when it explicitly exempted patients from criminal liability under its abortion ban.”
The chemical endangerment law says it does not require reporting controlled substances that are prescription medications “if the responsible person was the mother of the unborn child, and she was, or there is a good faith belief that she was, taking that medication pursuant to a lawful prescription.”
Mifepristone can be used along with another medication, misoprostol, to end a pregnancy. Previously, these pills could be ordered, prescribed and dispensed only by a certified health care provider. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the FDA allowed the pills to be sent through the mail and said it would no longer enforce a rule requiring people to get the first of the two drugs in person at a clinic or hospital.
Marshall’s comments underscore the legal uncertainty wrought by the Supreme Court’s decision last year to end the federal right to an abortion. In the wake of the Dobbs decision, several Republican-led states passed strict anti-abortion laws, while several others, including Alabama, that had passed so-called trigger laws anticipating an eventual overturn of Roe v. Wade, saw their new restrictions go into effect.
While the anti-abortion movement seeks to prevent abortions from taking place, it has often opposed criminalizing the women who undergo the procedure.
Prosecutors and attorneys for a Wisconsin man accused of killing his wife with antifreeze in 1998 delivered opening statements Wednesday in his retrial, nearly two years after a judge vacated his previous conviction.
Mark Jensen, 63, was convicted in 2008 of killing his wife, Julie Jensen, at their home in the Kenosha County village of Pleasant Prairie and was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
But a Kenosha County judge vacated his conviction in April 2021 after the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that Jensen deserved a new trial. The court found that a letter his wife wrote incriminating him in the event something should happen to her could not be used by the prosecution.
WISCONSIN MAN GETS LIFE IN PRISON FOR WIFE’S POISONING DEATH
Jensen, who is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in his wife’s death, remains in custody on a $1.2 million cash bond, the Kenosha News reported.
Prosecutors allege that he began poisoning his wife with antifreeze in December 1998, drugged her with a sleeping medication and later suffocated her to death over a three-day period.
Mark Jensen, 63, of Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, has maintained his innocence since his conviction for the 1998 death of his wife.
(Sean Krajacic/The Kenosha News via AP, Pool)
Jensen has maintained his innocence, with his attorneys arguing that Julie Jensen was depressed and killed herself after framing her husband.
Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney Carli McNeill told the jury during her opening statements that prosecutors would present evidence “that the defendant murdered his wife with ethylene glycol, that this was not Julie Jensen ingesting that substance to commit suicide.”
MASSACHUSETTS WOMAN CHARGED WITH FATALLY POISONING BOYFRIEND WITH ANTIFREEZE CHEMICAL
“She lived for her kids, and she died because the defendant murdered her,” McNeill said.
Jensen’s defense attorneys said Julie Jensen’s infidelity and depression strained the couple’s marriage and led her to take her own life.
“What brings us here today is Julie Jensen’s suicide,” said Mackenzie Renner, Mark Jensen’s attorney. “The suicide of a woman who was in declining mental health.”
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Jurors began hearing testimony from witnesses after Wednesday’s opening statements. Jensen’s trial is expected to last four to five weeks.
Read a version of this article in Spanish here.
CNN
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Shakira feels stronger after a recent breakup. At least, that’s what the Colombian singer says in her new song, “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53,” with Argentine producer, Bizarrap.
The Grammy-winning singer begins the song by saying she doesn’t want to be disappointed again and continues with the phrase: “women don’t cry anymore, they bill,” referring to female empowerment after a breakup.
Shakira seems to point to her ex, former football player Gerard Piqué, in a series of puns.
The singer says in Spanish, “Yo solo hago música, perdón que te sal-pique,” (I only make music, sorry that it splashes you).
Shakira and Piqué ended their 12-year relationship last year. The couple has two kids, Sasha and Milan.
The song has surpassed more than 34 million views on YouTube in less than 24 hours.
Bizarrap is known for creating viral hits like the “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 52” with Spanish singer Quevedo, which spent at least four weeks as No. 1 song on Billboard’s Global 200. The summer hit, also known as “Quedate,” topped Spotify’s Global chart.
This is not Shakira’s first hit since her separation. In October last year, she released “Monotonía” feat. Ozuna, in which she openly sang about the end of a relationship.
According to Sony Music Latin, Shakira’s label, “Monotonía” was the biggest Spanish-language female solo debut on YouTube.
In September, Shakira talked to Elle Magazine about how music helps her deal with her emotions.
“I think everyone has their own processes or their own mechanisms to process grief or stress or anxiety. We all go through stuff in life. But in my case, I think that writing music is like going to the shrink, only cheaper [laughs],” the Colombian singer said.
Hong Kong’s massive island airport is about to get a whole lot bigger. See better results, project after project, with Bluebeam Revu …
Satellite data can reveal large individual fossils from the air, allowing field researchers to embark on more targeted searches on the ground, research finds.
“Organizing field work is very expensive, and there are lots of safety and security risks,” says Elena Ghezzo, who led the work as a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of University of Oregon paleontologist Edward Davis. “So any additional information you can have from the field before you go is useful. My method seems be really good at ruling out regions that don’t have fossils.”
The team analyzed multispectrum satellite imagery, which includes not just visible light, but also other wavelengths like ultraviolet and infrared. By looking at how the landscape absorbs or reflects all these different types of light, researchers can pick out specific features, like fossils, from the background.
This kind of satellite data is often used to do aerial surveys of cities and track patterns of land use. But it hasn’t been used before to search for single fossils, Ghezzo says.
The researchers tested their idea with data from Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. More than 200 million years ago, this landscape was a lush coniferous forest. Today, it’s a colorful desert, dotted with fossilized logs. Based on a reference map they created by hand, the researchers could identify the signatures in the satellite data that distinguished a fossil from the background or from other landscape features.
To be picked out via satellite, a fossil must be bigger than a single pixel in the image. And its mineral composition must respond differently to light than the surrounding material. It’s easier when the landscape is flat and open, with relatively few obstructions, as the Petrified Forest is. But other data about the geology and topography of the region can also be factored in, to help researchers distinguish a fossil from, say, a tree or a big rock.
Ghezzo is now testing the technique on a variety of fossil sites around the world, from Peru to Egypt to Mongolia. And closer to home, Davis is particularly interested in applying the approach to some of his team’s field sites in Eastern Oregon.
“There’s a lot of places in the interior of Oregon that are very difficult to access even today,” Davis says. “Having the ability to use aerial photography to find fossils could help us allocate our resources.”
More broadly, a technique of this kind could be part of a shift within the field of paleontology. The practices of the past, which included blowing up hillsides with dynamite, have, in some cases, irreparably damaged the landscape. A new generation of paleontologists is working to make the field more sustainable and preserve the context in which fossils are found.
“We don’t do a lot of digging anymore,” Davis says. Instead, researchers often wait for fossils to be exposed by erosion, and then excavate in a more targeted manner. And satellite data can help them out.
Their findings appear in the journal Geological Magazine. Ghezzo had a Marie Skłodowska-Curie global fellowship to pursue the project.
Source: Laurel Hamers for University of Oregon
