- UK schools will not be required to use students’ preferred pronouns under new guidelines — and must inform parents New York Post
- Teachers in England instructed they don’t have to accept all student gender transition requests Fox News
- ‘Transphobic bullying is rife’: a 15-year-old trans boy’s view of coming out at school The Guardian
- Please God, this new school guidance will be the beginning of the end of the trans lunacy The Telegraph
- Teachers in UK don’t have to address students by their preferred pronouns under new guidance WION
Tag Archives: guidelines
Nintendo’s Updated Guidelines For Tournaments & Content Creation Sparks Community Backlash – Nintendo Life
- Nintendo’s Updated Guidelines For Tournaments & Content Creation Sparks Community Backlash Nintendo Life
- Nintendo’s New Community Tournament Guidelines Worry Competitors CBR – Comic Book Resources
- Nintendo’s new tournament controller rules are ‘a huge step back for accessibility’, it’s claimed | VGC Video Games Chronicle
- Smash Bros Tournament Guidelines Updates – Harsh Resections Esports.net News
- Nintendo’s Updated Social Media Guidelines Put New Restrictions on Content Creators ComingSoon.net
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Atlus Releases Strict Streaming Guidelines For Persona 3 Portable & Persona 4 Golden
As popular as streaming is nowadays, a number of companies enforce a certain set of rules when it comes to new-release games. The Japanese company Atlus is one that’s done this time and time again with games like 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim and Persona 5 Royal, and now it’s released its guidelines for Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden. This information comes from the company’s Japanese website, so the rules may be slightly different here in the west.
Despite being enhanced re-releases from 2009 and 2012, it’s still asking streamers to be courteous of viewers by placing spoiler warnings in their stream. One example (as highlighted by Siliconera) is to insert a spoiler alert when streaming Persona 4 Golden’s culprit’s dungeon. Anyone streaming or uploading video footage of these returning games is also asked to make sure they feature the Atlus and Sega copyright.
For anyone who wants to make revenue off the videos, they’ll need to make sure they go through a partnership program, like the YouTube one. Users are also forbidden from streaming or putting video footage of these games behind a paywall, and videos exclusively focused on the background music is not allowed.
And if that wasn’t enough – Atlus doesn’t want to see users uploading videos showing content like mods or cheats for the games, or anything it else deems offensive. And if you’re told to take down a video, you’ve got to do it right away. Yikes!
Right, got all that? We hope you do! Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden arrive on Switch next week.
Experts Recommend Drugs, Surgery for Teen Obesity in New Guidelines
For the first time ever, experts with the American Academy of Pediatrics are recommending proactive medical intervention against childhood obesity. The organization’s new guidelines will no longer ask doctors to simply observe or delay treatment in children with obesity, defined as a body mass index over 30. They instead now emphasize a range of options, such as dietary and lifestyle counseling for younger children as well as medications and/or surgery for children 12 and over.
Past standards for treating childhood obesity have called for “watchful waiting,” the hope being that a child’s BMI (a measure of both weight and height) would naturally lower over time as they grew. In 2007, the AAP’s previous recommendations promoted a step-based approach, where doctors might slowly escalate from observation to treatment. But these new recommendations—released Monday—are the first clinical practice guidelines to put obesity treatments front and center.
“There is no evidence that ‘watchful waiting’ or delayed treatment is appropriate for children with obesity,” said Sandra Hassink, one of the authors behind the guidelines and vice chair of the AAP Clinical Practice Guideline Subcommittee on Obesity, in a statement released by the organization. “The goal is to help patients make changes in lifestyle, behaviors or environment in a way that is sustainable and involves families in decision-making at every step of the way.”
The lengthy guidelines outline a multitude of available treatments, depending on a child’s age and other circumstances (children under 2 are not considered eligible for obesity treatment).
For younger children, these options can include intensive health behavior and lifestyle treatment, which can involve regular counseling sessions with the child and family over a 3- to 12-month period. For children 12 and over, doctors are now advised to consider medications as a front-line option. And teens 13 and over can also be evaluated for bariatric surgery as a potential treatment.
In crafting its recommendations, the AAP cites many studies suggesting that the benefits of these treatments outweigh any potential risks they can carry. Patients who have undergone bariatric surgery seem to have a lower risk of developing obesity-related complications such as type 2 diabetes and have a longer life expectancy when compared to non-surgical patients matched in age and baseline BMI, for instance. Long-term health benefits have been seen in teen bariatric patients specifically, too.
A new class of medication, called incretins, has also greatly changed the landscape of obesity treatment in recent years. These drugs, combined with diet and exercise, have led to far larger weight loss on average than most other treatments and are approaching the typical results seen with bariatric surgery.
Last month, the Food and Drug Administration extended the approval of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy, the first drug of this new generation, to children over 12, following clinical trial data showing that teens saw a similar improvement in BMI as adults. The shortages that have plagued Wegovy’s rollout since its approval in June 2021 may finally be over as well, with the company recently announcing that its supply should now be stable. Without insurance coverage, which is often limited, the drug can still cost over $1,000 a month, however.
The AAP’s guidelines arrive at a time when the rise in U.S. obesity rates, including among children, has only accelerated, likely in part due to the covid-19 pandemic. The new recommendations notably do not cover how best to prevent obesity in children, though the organization has promised to release separate recommendations for that in the near future.
“The medical costs of obesity on children, families and our society as a whole are well-documented and require urgent action,” said lead author Sarah Hampl in a statement. “This is a complex issue, but there are multiple ways we can take steps to intervene now and help children and teens build the foundation for a long, healthy life.”
Updated childhood obesity treatment guidelines include medications, surgery for some young people
CNN
—
Updated American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines for treatment of obesity urge prompt use of behavior therapy and lifestyle changes, and say surgery and medications should be used for some young people.
The guidelines, published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, are the first comprehensive update to the academy’s obesity treatment guidelines in 15 years. They provide guidance for treatment of children as young as 2 and through the teen years.
The guidelines acknowledge that obesity is complex, and tied to access to nutritious foods and health care, among other factors.
Treatment for younger children should focus on behavior and lifestyle treatment for the entire family, including nutrition support and increased physical activity. For children 12 and older, use of weight loss medications is appropriate, in addition to health behavior therapy and lifestyle treatment, AAP says. Teens 13 and older with severe obesity should be evaluated for surgery, according to the guidelines.
“There is no evidence that ‘watchful waiting’ or delayed treatment is appropriate for children with obesity,” Dr. Sandra Hassink, an author of the guideline and vice chair of AAP’s Clinical Practice Guideline Subcommittee on Obesity, said in a statement. “The goal is to help patients make changes in lifestyle, behaviors or environment in a way that is sustainable and involves families in decision-making at every step of the way.”
For children and teens, overweight is defined as a body mass index at or above the 85th percentile and below the 95th percentile; obesity is defined as a BMI at or above the 95th percentile.
Myles Faith, a psychologist at the State University of New York at Buffalo who studies childhood eating behaviors and obesity, praised the new report both for acknowledging that the causes of childhood obesity are complex and that its treatments must be a team effort.
“It’s not one cause for all kids,” he says. “There’s not been this kind of report to say that there are more options and that we shouldn’t automatically discount the possibility of medication, that we shouldn’t discount the role of surgery. For some families, it might be something to consider,” said Faith, who was not involved in the creation of the guidelines.
The new guidelines do not discuss obesity prevention; it will be addressed in another AAP policy statement to come, it says.
“These are the most comprehensive, patient-centered guidelines we have had that address overweight and obesity within childhood,” Dr. Rebecca Carter, pediatrician at the University of Maryland Children’s Hospital and assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, said in an email Monday.
“New to these recommendations are several new medication management strategies that have proven very successful in the treatment of obesity as a chronic disease for adults, and are now being recommended for use in children and adolescents,” Carter said. “This is a major step in allowing overweight and obesity to be considered as the chronic diseases that they are.”
She added that the recommendations also are a “major step forward” in helping both parents and medical teams “take ownership” over a child’s long-term health risks related to overweight and obesity.
“They give a variety of tools to help families feel empowered that there are ways to treat these medical conditions, and that there are nuanced causes for these conditions that go beyond easy solutions and certainly take our focus away from outdated or unhealthy dieting strategies,” Carter said.
The new guidelines are designed for health care providers, but Carter said parents should talk with their children’s doctor if there are concerns about weight, and discuss strategies to optimize health and monitor changes.
“It is also appropriate to do this in a child-focused manner, taking care not to stigmatize them or make them feel bad about their body, while empowering the child to feel they have the tools needed to keep their body healthy over time.”
The new guidelines are a “much-needed advancement” to align holistic care with current science, Dr. Jennifer Woo Baidal, assistant professor of pediatrics and director of the Pediatric Obesity Initiative at Columbia University in New York City, said in a separate email Monday.
“Uptake of the new guidelines will help reverse the epidemic of childhood obesity,” she said. “More work at policy levels will be needed to mitigate policies and practices that propagate racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in obesity starting in early life. Although the guidelines support advocacy efforts of pediatricians, we as a society need to voice our support for healthful environments for the nation’s children.”
AAP says more than 14.4 million children and teens live with obesity. Children with overweight or obesity are at higher risk for asthma, sleep apnea, bone and joint problems, type 2 diabetes and heart disease, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Separate research, published last month in the American Diabetes Association journal Diabetes Care, suggests that the number of young people under age 20 with type 2 diabetes in the United States may increase nearly 675% by 2060 if current trends continue.
Last month, the CDC released updated growth charts that can be used to track children and teens with severe obesity.
Growth charts are standardized tools used by health care providers to track growth from infancy through adolescence. But as obesity and severe obesity became more prevalent in the last 40 years – more than 4.5 million children and teens had severe obesity in 2017-2018, the agency says – the charts hadn’t kept up.
The growth chart in use since 2000 is based on data from 1963 to 1980 and did not extend beyond the 97th percentile, the agency said. The newly extended percentiles incorporate more recent data and provide a way to monitor and visualize very high body mass index values.
The existing growth charts for children and adolescents without obesity will not change, the CDC said, while the extended growth chart will be useful for health care providers treating patients with severe childhood obesity.
“Prior to today’s release, the growth charts did not extend high enough to plot BMI for the increasing number of children with severe obesity. The new growth charts coupled with high-quality treatment can help optimize care for children with severe obesity,” Dr. Karen Hacker, director CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, said in a statement. “Providers can work with families on a comprehensive care plan to address childhood obesity.
Stock Market Rally Attempt Begins; Tesla Jumps Amid EV Credit Guidelines
Dow Jones futures tilted lower after hours, along with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures, heading into the final trading day of 2022. The major indexes rose strongly Thursday on jobs data, Apple (AAPL) iPhone news and Tesla (TSLA) continuing to bounce.
X
But the market is in a correction after breaking key levels Wednesday. Thursday marked just day one of a new stock market rally attempt. Investors should be very cautious about taking new positions.
Medpace (MEDP) flashed a buy signal Thursday, while KLA Corp. (KLAC), Starbucks (SBUX), United Rentals (URI), Mobileye (MBLY), Super Micro Computer (SMCI) and Fluor (FLR) are setting up. But these stocks will likely rise or fall with the market.
MEDP stock, Fluor and United Rentals are on IBD Leaderboard. KLAC stock is on IBD Long-Term Leaders. MBLY stock is on the IBD 50. KLA Corp. and URI stock are on the IBD Big Cap 20.
Meanwhile, new Treasury Department guidelines stated that many Model Y vehicles will not qualify for U.S. tax credits starting Jan. 1 without sharp price cuts. But there’s a loophole that may allow all Tesla vehicles — and any EVs — to qualify for hefty tax credits at any price.
Dow Jones Futures Today
Dow Jones futures declined 0.1% vs. fair value. S&P 500 futures fell 0.2%. Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 0.1%.
Remember that overnight action in Dow futures and elsewhere doesn’t necessarily translate into actual trading in the next regular stock market session.
Join IBD experts as they analyze actionable stocks in the stock market rally on IBD Live
Market Rally Attempt
The stock market had a strong rebound, running up during the morning and then holding those gains in the afternoon.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose just over 1% in Thursday’s stock market trading. The S&P 500 index popped 1.75%. The Nasdaq composite and small-cap Russell 2000 jumped 2.6%.
Initial jobless claims rose slightly more than expected in the week ended Dec. 24, but remain low at 225,000. Continuing claims climbed 41,000 to 1.71 million in the latest week, the highest since early February.
AAPL stock popped 2.8% to 129.61 after skidding 3.1% Wednesday to a bear-market low. Apple iPhone production is rebounding, according to The Wall Street Journal, following yet another report of recent iPhone output woes.
U.S. crude oil prices dipped 0.7% to $78.40 a barrel.
The 10-year Treasury yield fell 5 basis points to 3.83%.
ETFs
Among the best ETFs, Innovator IBD 50 ETF (FFTY) rose 1.1%, while Innovator IBD Breakout Opportunities ETF (BOUT) climbed 0.9%. IShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV) bounced 3%. VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF (SMH) popped 3.3%. Reflecting more-speculative story stocks, ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) leapt 5.2% and ARK Genomics ETF (ARKG) 4.1%. Tesla stock is a major holding across Ark Invest’s ETFs.
SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF (XME) advanced 1.9%. U.S. Global Jets ETF (JETS) ascended 2.65%. SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB) climbed 2.4%. The Energy Select SPDR ETF (XLE) was up just over 1% and the Financial Select SPDR ETF (XLF) climbed 1.4%. The Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLV) rose 1.1%.
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Tesla Stock
Tesla stock jumped 8.1% to 121.82 following Wednesday’s 3.3% bounce. TSLA stock is still down slightly for the week and 37% in December. After such a huge sell-off, Tesla stock was due for a bounce, but remains far below key levels.
Tesla Model Y Tax Credits
The Tesla bull case for 2023 relies heavily on new U.S. tax credits of up to $7,500 under the Inflation Reduction Act fueling high-margin domestic sales, offsetting weaker demand and prices in China and possibly Europe.
On Thursday, the Treasury Department listed vehicles that qualify for the U.S. EV credits. Most versions of the Model Y will have a $55,000 price cap to receive EV credits, vs. the $80,000 cap for SUVs, pickup trucks and vans.
But seven-seat Model Y vehicles, which have not been big sellers, will be eligible up to $80,000.
The current base Model Y in the U.S. starts at $65,990, Tesla would need to slash the price, perhaps by reintroducing a lower-range Model Y SR+, to get tax credits — unless it’s a seven-seat variant.
But, there’s yet another twist! The Treasury also said EVs leased by consumers can qualify for commercial EV tax credits. That makes EVs assembled outside of North America eligible, including the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6. Foreign automakers, and U.S. allies in Europe and Asia, had strongly objected to the North America assembly requirement. But the leasing rules also appear to let any EV qualify at any price, without income limits either.
It’ll be interesting to see what Tesla and other automakers do with regard to variants and pricing to maximize the benefit from the new tax credits.
But investors appeared to be pleased with the overall picture.
TSLA stock edged higher.
Tesla Vs. BYD: Which EV Giant Is The Better Buy?
Stocks Near Buy Points
Medpace stock rose 3.4% to 215.62, breaking a downtrend line as it rebounded from its 21-day and 50-day line. MEDP stock has consolidated nicely, forging a 16%-deep consolidation next to the top of a long, deep base. The official buy point is 235, but Thursday offered an early entry.
KLAC stock climbed 3.3% to 379.86, bouncing from its 10-week line. A move above the 21-day line might offer a chance to buy KLAC stock as a Long-Term Leader.
SBUX stock rose 1.2% to 99.77, rebounding from its 10-week and crossing above its 21-day. That could be an early entry into a short not-quite-base. That in turn could be seen as a handle to a 17-month deep consolidation for Starbucks stock.
URI stock advanced 1.2% to 356.21, rebounding from the 21-day line. United Rentals is close to a 368.04 handle buy point on a 13-month consolidation, briefly topped earlier this month. URI stock has traded very tightly in its handle. The relative strength line is at a new high, reflecting United Rentals stock’s outperformance vs. the S&P 500 index.
MBLY stock rose 2.8% to 34.51, rebounding from an intraday undercut of its 21-day moving average. The Mobileye IPO came public in late October at 21 a share. MBLY stock has shown strength in a weak market, but like many new IPOs has had big whipsaw moves. Shares are starting to calm down. An aggressive investor could look for a trendline break for an entry, but ideally Mobileye stock will forge a new base.
FLR stock edged up 0.8% to 34.95, continuing to trade tightly, working on a possible flat base, which would be a base-on-base pattern. Fluor earnings are seen surging 80% in 2023, as infrastructure stocks show strength in public and private projects.
SMCI stock climbed 1.6% to 81.91, rebounding from the 50-day line but finding resistance at the 21-day. A strong move above the 21-day, clearing Wednesday’s high of 84.35, could offer an early entry. One of the strongest growth stocks of 2022, Super Micro Computer stock has been consolidating for several weeks after a Nov. 2 earnings gap-up breakout, with the advance continuing to 95.22 on Nov. 25. SMCI stock could have a new base at the end of next week.
Market Analysis
The stock market had a solid rebound after Wednesday’s sell-off. After tumbling since the Dec. 13 intraday high, the major indexes certainly were “due” for a bounce.
The question is whether they will follow up in the coming days and weeks.
The market moved into correction on Wednesday as the Dow Jones undercut its 50-day moving average and the Nasdaq set a two-year closing low.
So Thursday was just day one of a new market rally attempt. It’s going to take lot more than that to feel more confident.
The Dow Jones is back above its 50-day line, but still below its 21-day line.
The S&P 500 is still below its 50-day, with further resistance at its 200-day line and December peaks.
While Tesla stock, Apple and many beaten-down chip and software names led Thursday’s bounce, some leading stocks flashed buy signals or moved into position, such as MEDP stock.
Time The Market With IBD’s ETF Market Strategy
What To Do Now
It’s tempting to move back into the market when the indexes are up sharply and there’s a sea of green among leading and notable stocks.
But ever since the bear market bottom on Oct. 13, breakouts and buy signals have largely fizzled.
Some sectors, including industrial, metal and medicals, had held up better in recent weeks, so it’s easier to justify nibbling in this areas, either with specific stocks or sector ETFs. But keep any exposure small and be quick to take profits and cut losses.
Bottom line: This is a market correction. Do not operate under bull market rules, especially 2020-esque mad bull rules.
Invest like you’re driving on an icy, windy road, not an open highway. Proceed carefully, or wait it out on the side of the road.
It’s more of a time to plan your journey vs. venturing out. Work on watchlists. A number of stocks from a variety of sectors are showing strength.
Read The Big Picture every day to stay in sync with the market direction and leading stocks and sectors.
Please follow Ed Carson on Twitter at @IBD_ECarson for stock market updates and more.
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One Bay Area county moves into ‘high’ COVID tier, triggering new mask guidelines
COVID-19 community levels continue to rise across the U.S., with 14% of Americans now living in a region classified in the “high” tier Friday, based on
hospitalization and case metrics
used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In the Bay Area, Santa Clara County became the first in the region to slip back into the “high” tier, for which the CDC
recommends people wear a high-quality mask
or respirator in public spaces and counsels those who are high-risk to consider avoiding nonessential indoor public activities.
Last week, only 5% of the U.S. population fell into the “high” category. About 38.1% of people now live in areas with “medium” virus levels, while 48.2% are in “low” areas.
Alameda, Contra Costa, Solano and Napa counties moved from “low” to “medium,” averaging more than 10 new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 residents over the previous week. Under that tier, universal masking is required for specific high-risk settings, including jails and homeless shelters, per
California health department rules.
Health care settings already required rules and are not affected by the latest changes.
“We have observed worsening increases in COVID-19 case reports and hospitalizations since October,” Dr. Nicholas Moss, the Alameda County health officer, said in a statement. “Taking actions like masking and staying home when sick can prevent spreading illnesses like COVID-19, flu, and RSV and help protect our health care system from strain.”
Sonoma and Marin counties moved from “medium” to “low,” while San Francisco and San Mateo remained in “low,” where
masking remains optional.
Counties also move up from “low” if they record a rate of more than 200 new weekly cases per 100,000 residents.
The CDC’s community transmission map, based on a separate metric that tracks the rates of new cases and positive tests, shows all Bay Area counties
in the “high” virus transmission category,
reflecting nationwide trends.
“We are seeing a clear uptick in infections of COVID pretty much in every region of the country, up about 40% over the last couple of weeks,” Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House’s top COVID-19 official, told the Health Action Alliance
at an event Thursday.
“There’s going to be some bumpy days ahead.”
Aidin Vaziri is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: avaziri@sfchronicle.com
The New Heart Health Guidelines You Need To Know About
Maintaining a healthy heart is a challenge for many people. It requires dedication to a workout regimen, eating healthy food and staying in touch with your doctor about your cardiovascular disease risk factors (high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking and more).
Cardiovascular disease ― which includes heart disease, heart attack, stroke, heart failure, arrhythmia and heart valve problems ― is the No. 1 killer of Americans, according to Dr. Leslie Cho, the section head of preventive cardiology at Cleveland Clinic. Every 34 seconds, someone in the U.S. dies of cardiovascular disease.
This all may sound pretty scary, and it is. But “90% of heart disease is preventable,” Cho said. And those preventable measures are outlined in the American Heart Association’s recently updated Life’s Essential 8, which is described by AHA as “key measures for improving and maintaining cardiovascular health.”
Sleep is now included in the guidelines.
For the first time, sleep is included in the heart health guidelines because it is “vital to cardiovascular health,” according to the AHA. Adults should get seven to nine hours of sleep each night to have an optimal immune system, for cell, blood vessel and tissue restoration, to improve brain function and to lessen the risk of chronic disease.
“There’s lots of data about Americans not getting enough sleep or having bad sleep, and we know a lot more about if you have poor sleep, that really increases your risk factor for cardiovascular disease, but also things like high blood pressure and heart failure,” Cho said.
She added that studies show sleep deprivation can also increase cardiovascular risk factors like obesity and diabetes. “It’s a vicious cycle,” she said.
And there is even more risk for people with sleep apnea, a condition in which you stop breathing in your sleep. The condition has “been linked to things like high blood pressure, atrial fibrillation and heart failure,” Cho said, noting that it’s important to talk to your doctors about your quality of sleep to see if you might be suffering from sleep apnea or another sleep issue.
Secondhand smoke and vaping are now official risk factors (though they were already well-known risks).
Quitting smoking has always been an important way to cut your risk of cardiovascular disease, but now the guidelines explicitly include the dangers of secondhand smoke and vaping.
According to the AHA, “about a third of U.S. children ages 3-11 are exposed to secondhand smoke or vaping,” and both are linked to an increased risk of heart disease and certain kinds of cancer.
“In modern America, we’ve been led to believe that vaping is better than smoking, and that’s actually not true,” Cho said. Vaping can cause lung problems and cancer, and delivers nicotine, which is highly addictive, she said.
Tara Moore via Getty Images
The guidelines also underscore the importance of other healthy lifestyle habits.
Beyond quitting smoking and getting good sleep, the guidelines include things that are proven to help maintain and or improve heart health: exercise, eating well, keeping cardiovascular risk factors in check and more.
It may feel pretty daunting to commit to all of these goals, but you can do so little by little until you create a new routine. Try going for a 21-minute walk a few times a week, for example. Once you’re ready, you can up your frequency to every day, which Harvard Health says can cut your risk of heart disease by 30%.
Other ways to start your heart health journey? Make an appointment to check in on your cholesterol and blood pressure or swap in salads for lunch a few days a week.
The American Heart Association encourages everyone to follow these guidelines in addition to those mentioned above:
- Eating well: Maintaining a diet that consists of lean protein (like chicken and turkey), fruit, vegetables, nuts and more. The guidelines also stressed that a Mediterranean diet (a diet rich in veggies, beans, fish and fruit) is good for reducing heart disease.
- Being active: The AHA says adults should get at least 75 minutes of vigorous exercise (like running or swimming) or 2.5 hours of moderate exercise (like gardening or brisk walking) every week.
- Watching your weight: Keeping track of your weight is important because obesity is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
- Monitoring your cholesterol: Having high cholesterol, particularly high low-density lipoprotein or LDL (also known as bad cholesterol), can cause stroke, heart disease and more.
- Watching your blood sugar: High blood sugar levels can cause heart and kidney damage.
- Managing your blood pressure: Having high blood pressure can put you at higher risk of heart attack and heart disease, according to the CDC.
“Honestly, this is not bad news, this is great news … you can do something, you’re in control” of your heart health, Cho said.
For more help on your journey to better heart health, Cho stressed that you’re not alone — you can talk to your physician about your goals and find resources via the American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology or Cleveland Clinic.
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Seoul Halloween crush: South Korean authorities say they had no guidelines for Halloween crowds
Seoul, South Korea
CNN
—
South Korean authorities said Monday they had no guidelines to handle the huge crowds that gathered for Halloween festivities in Seoul, as families in the country and around the world mourn the 156 victims of Saturday night’s crowd crush.
The crush took place in the narrow neon-lit alleyways of the popular nightlife district Itaewon, where witnesses described being unable to move or breathe as thousands of revelers stood shoulder-to-shoulder in a street no more than 4 meters (13 feet) wide.
Frantic families spent much of Sunday gathering at information centers where authorities compiled details of the dead and wounded, and contacting morgues and hospitals in a desperate attempt to locate missing relatives.
With all of the victims now identified, the panic has transformed to national grief as the country grapples with one of its worst-ever disasters – while parents overseas make arrangements for their deceased children in a foreign land.
Official memorial altars were set up in central Seoul Monday, with photos showing crowds visiting to pay their respects. Many were in tears and holding white flowers; others knelt and bowed deeply to the altar.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, his wife, Kim Keon-hee, and top officials including the prime minister and Seoul mayor joined the mourners.
Many shops and businesses were closed to observe a week-long national period of mourning. Parts of central Seoul were nearly deserted – a highly unusual sight in the usually bustling capital that’s home to about 10 million people.
People also paid respects at a makeshift memorial in Itaewon, outside a subway station near the alley where the crush occurred. The station entrance is adorned with rows of flowers, and offerings such as handwritten notes, bottles of the Korean liquor soju and paper cups filled with drinks.
Among the mourners was a civic group of the bereaved families of the Sewol Ferry disaster, which killed 304 people – mostly teens on a school trip – when the vessel sank in 2014.
“As one who had suffered the same pain, my heart is torn and I’m rendered speechless,” one of the group’s members told reporters at the memorial, saying the families were saddened to see “a major disaster like this repeated.”
Just down the street, the entrance to the alley had been cordoned off, with security personnel standing guard as forensic teams clad in white protective suits scoured the area, still littered with trash and debris.
Amid the grief, questions have emerged about the government’s handling of the incident and an apparent lack of crowd control before the tragedy.
One survivor, 22-year-old French exchange student Anne-Lou Chevalier, told CNN she passed out in the crowd after being “crushed” by fellow revelers. “At some point I had no air, and we were so crushed to other people that I couldn’t breathe at all. So, I just passed out,” Chevalier said.
Several eyewitnesses and survivors said they had seen few or no police officers in the area before the situation deteriorated.
Earlier on Sunday, the minister of the interior and safety said only a “normal” level of security personnel had been deployed to Itaewon because the crowd there did not seem unusually large – whereas a “considerable number” of police had been sent to another part of Seoul in response to expected protests.
But – facing a backlash from Korean politicians and on social media – authorities seemed to change tack on Monday, saying they had deployed about 137 personnel to Itaewon that night, compared to about 30 to 70 personnel in previous years before the pandemic.
“For this time’s Halloween festival, because it was expected that many people would gather in Itaewon, I understand that it was prepared by putting in more police force than other years,” said Oh Seung-jin, director of the violent crime investigation division at the National Police Agency.
However, he admitted, “currently there is no separate preparation manual for such a situation where there is no organizer and a gathering of a crowd is expected.” Moreover, the police had been deployed not for crowd control – but for crime prevention and to prevent “various illegal activities.”
Kim Seong-ho, director of the disaster and safety management division at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, echoed these comments, saying they did not have “guidelines or a manual” for such an “unprecedented situation.”
The victims were mostly young people who had gone to Itaewon Saturday night, eager for South Korea’s first Halloween celebrations in years without Covid restrictions.
The death toll rose to 156 on Tuesday following the death of a critically injured woman in her 20s, Seoul police said. In total, 101 women and 55 men were killed.
Twelve of the victims were teenagers and more than 100 were in their 20s, according to authorities.
Among their number were 26 foreign nationals from countries including the United States, China, Iran, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Japan, Australia, Norway, France, Russia, Austria, Vietnam, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
A further 149 people were injured, 33 seriously, including 15 foreign nationals.
Six students who attended schools in Seoul – one middle schooler and five high schoolers – were among the dead, as well as three teachers, said the Korean Ministry of Education.
Three South Korean military personnel were also among those killed, said a Korean Defense Ministry official.
Two American college students were identified – Steven Blesi from Georgia, and Anne Gieske from Kentucky – both in their junior year.
Blesi’s father, Steve Blesi, said his son had “always been an adventurer.” He was an Eagle Scout, liked basketball and wanted to learn multiple languages, he said.
“Maybe in a half hour before this tragedy event took place, I texted him in WhatsApp … ‘I know you’re out and about. Stay safe. I love you.’ And I never got a response back,” Steve said. “He had an incredibly bright future that is now gone.”
Dan Gieske, Anne’s father, said in a statement Sunday evening that the family was “completely devastated and heartbroken,” calling Anne “a bright light loved by all.”
Anne had been a nursing student studying abroad in Seoul this semester, said the president of the University of Kentucky.
The father of Mei Tomikawa, a 26-year-old Japanese exchange student who was killed in the crush, told Japanese public broadcaster NHK he was “prepared for the worst” when he couldn’t reach her.
She was studying Korean before starting school in Seoul, he said, speaking before traveling from Japan to South Korea on Monday.
“I tried calling her to warn her to be careful, but she never answered her phone,” he said, according to NHK. “She was a great daughter … I want to see my daughter as soon as possible.”
The family of an Australian victim, Grace Rached, also released a statement on Monday describing her as “a talented film producer who was passionate about making a difference.”
“We are missing our gorgeous angel Grace who lit up a room with her infectious smile. Grace always made others feel important and her kindness left an impression on everyone she ever met. Grace always cared about others and she was loved by all,” the family wrote.
Authorities are now working with foreign embassies and families overseas, offering support with funeral arrangements. As the week goes on, more names and faces of those who died are likely to emerge, as the nation searches for answers as to how such a disaster – in an area known to be crowded on Halloween, with festivities weeks in the planning – could have unfolded.
How unhealthy is red meat? And how beneficial is it to eat vegetables? A new rating system could help you cut through the health guidelines
The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.
The big idea
We developed a new method for assessing health risks that our research suggests should make it a lot easier for people to determine which health advice to follow – and which to ignore. The approach, recently published in the journal Nature Medicine, offers a straightforward way for both policymakers and the general public to assess the strength of evidence for a given health risk – like consuming red meat – and the corresponding outcome – ischemic heart disease – using a rating system of one to five stars.
The system we developed is based on several systematic reviews of studies regarding risk factors like smoking and health outcomes such as lung cancer. Well-established relationships between risks and outcomes score between three and five stars, whereas cases in which research evidence is lacking or contradictory garner one to two stars.
In our analysis, only eight of the 180 pairs that we analyzed received the top rating of five stars, indicating very strong evidence of association. The relationship between smoking and lung cancer, as well as the relationship between high systolic blood pressure – the higher of the two numbers in a blood pressure reading – and ischemic heart disease were among those eight five-star pairs.
This rating system enables consumers to easily identify how harmful or protective a behavior may be and how strong the evidence is for each risk-outcome pair. For instance, a consumer seeing a low star rating can use that knowledge to decide whether to shift a health habit or choice.
In addition, we created an online, publicly available visualization tool that displays 50 risk-outcome pairs that we discussed in five recently published papers in Nature Medicine.
While the visualization tool provides a nuanced understanding of risk across the range of blood pressures, the five-star rating signals that the overall evidence is very strong. As a result, this means that clear guidelines can be given on the importance of controlling blood pressure.
Why it matters
Clear messages and evidence-based guidance regarding healthy behaviors are crucial. Yet health guidance is often contradictory and difficult to understand.
Currently, most epidemiological analyses make strong assumptions about relationships between risks and health outcomes, and study results often disagree as to the strength of risk-outcome relationships. It can be confusing for experts and nonexperts alike to parse through conflicting studies of varying strength of results and determine if a lifestyle change is needed.
This is where our method comes in: The star-based rating system can offer decision-makers and consumers alike much-needed context before headline-grabbing health guidance is dispensed and adopted.
For example, the average risk of ischemic heart disease with a blood pressure of 165 mmHG – or millimeters of mercury, the basic unit used for measuring pressure – is 4.5 times the risk of the disease with blood pressure of 100 mmHG; but this is just a single estimate. The relative risk of ischemic heart disease increases by more than four times across the blood pressure range, and there is inherent uncertainty in the estimate based on available data. The rating of five stars incorporates all of this information, and in this case means that relative risk of ischemic heart disease across the entire range of exposures increases by at least 85%.
On the other hand, take the example of red meat consumption. Consuming just 100 grams of red meat per day – as opposed to none – results in a very modest (12%) increase in risk for ischemic heart disease. That’s why it scores a rating of just two stars, consistent with only a weak association.
People should be well aware of their levels of exposure to risks classified with three to five stars, such as systolic blood pressure. By monitoring and keeping one’s blood pressure as low as possible, a person can substantially reduce the risk of developing ischemic heart disease.
What’s next
Our hope is that decision-makers will be able to use our star rating system to create informed policy recommendations that will have the greatest benefits for human health. We also hope the public can use the ratings and the visualization tool tool as a way to more clearly understand the current level of knowledge for different pairs of health risks and outcomes.
This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Aleksandr Aravkin, University of Washington; Christian Razo, University of Washington, and Jeffrey Stanaway, University of Washington. If you found it interesting, you could subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
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Jeffrey Stanaway receives funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Aleksandr Aravkin and Christian Razo do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.