Samsung’s Android 13 update train continues to run at full steam, as the Korean giant has now updated another Galaxy smartphone — a budget one at that — to Android 13 and One UI 5.0. The Galaxy M13 is the latest recipient of the update, or at least its 5G variant is. The LTE variant hasn’t gotten the update yet, but we wouldn’t be surprised if that changes within the next week or two.
The Galaxy M13 5G has received the Android 13 update in India. The update comes with firmware version M136BXXU2BVK3 and the November 2022 security patch and is available over the air – you can download it by tapping the Download and install option in the phone’s Settings » Software update menu. You can also upgrade your phone by installing the Android 13 firmware available in our archives using a Windows PC.
As mentioned earlier, the LTE variant of the Galaxy M13 has not received the update yet, but you can be sure we’ll let you know as soon as that changes. You can expect both variants to get the same new features, including improved performance and security, extensive and centralized lock screen customization options along with a better collection of built-in wallpapers, and lots more.
Check out our videos below to see everything that’s new, and do let us know down in the comments section how you’re liking the update if you have already installed it on your Galaxy M13 5G.
Summary: Steroids prescribed for a range of inflammatory conditions alter the structure and volume of grey and white matter in the brain. The findings shed light on why people who use medical steroids may experience psychological problems, including anxiety, mania, and depression.
Source: BMJ
The use of prescribed steroids, including in inhalers, is linked to changes in the structure and volume of white and grey matter in the brain, suggests the findings of the largest study of its kind, published in the open access journal BMJ Open.
The associations found might help to explain the neuropsychiatric effects, such as anxiety, depression, mania, and delirium frequently seen after long term use, say the researchers.
Their immunosuppressive properties mean that glucocorticoids, a class of synthetic steroids, are among some of the most frequently prescribed drugs. They are used to treat a wide variety of medical conditions.
The estimated annual population prevalence in high income countries of systemic (infusions and tablets) medical steroid use is thought to range between 0.5% and 3%.
While very effective, both systemic and inhaled steroids are associated with many potentially serious metabolic, cardiovascular, and musculoskeletal side effects, as well as neuropsychiatric effects.
Previously published research suggests that long term medical steroid use is associated with structural abnormalities and shrinkage of certain areas of the brain. But most of these studies have involved only small numbers of people with specific conditions.
And it’s still not clear if these associations might also be observed in a broader sample of medical steroid users, including those using inhaled steroids for respiratory conditions, such as asthma.
In a bid to find out, the researchers drew on data from the UK Biobank, comprising half a million 40–69 year olds from the general population, to see if there were any detectable differences in brain volume and structure between users and non-users of systemic and inhaled steroids.
The researchers also wanted to know if steroid use might be associated with differences in processing speed and emotional responses.
The MRI brain scans of 222 people using systemic steroids and 557 using inhaled steroids were compared with those of 24,106 non-users.
None of the study participants had previously been diagnosed with neurological, psychiatric or hormonal (endocrinological) disorders or was taking mood altering drugs, such as antidepressants.
Participants filled in a questionnaire to assess certain aspects of mood over the previous fortnight.
Comparison of the MRI scan results showed that both systemic and inhaled steroid use was associated with less intact white matter structure than was seen on the scans of those not on these drugs. White matter has a role in neuronal connectivity and signalling in the brain.
The effects were greater in systemic users than in users of inhaled steroids. And further detailed analysis suggested that the effects might be even larger among long term users.
Systemic use was associated with a larger caudate compared with no use, while use of inhaled steroids was associated with a smaller amygdala. Both the caudate and amygdala are grey matter structures in the brain involved in cognitive and emotional processing.
Systemic steroid users also performed worse on a test designed to measure processing speed than non-users, and they reported significantly more depressive symptoms, apathy, restlessness and fatigue/lethargy than non-users. Inhaled steroid users reported only more tiredness/lethargy, and to a lesser degree than systemic steroid users.
“Although a causal relation between glucocorticoid use and changes in the brain is likely based on the present and previous studies, the cross-sectional nature of this study does not allow for formal conclusions on causality,” caution the researchers.
They also point to certain limitations. Only a few indicators of mood change were assessed, and only for the preceding 2 weeks; and the reported changes might have been related to the condition for which steroids were prescribed rather than to steroid use itself.
The estimated annual population prevalence in high income countries of systemic (infusions and tablets) medical steroid use is thought to range between 0.5% and 3%. Image is in the public domain
Nor were the researchers able to differentiate between steroid tablets and infusions for systemic users, all of which may have influenced the findings.
But they write:“While it remains unclear whether the observed effect sizes have clinical consequences for the population of glucocorticoid users as a whole, these findings are remarkable given the common neuropsychiatric side effects of synthetic glucocorticoids.”
And they conclude: “This study shows that both systemic and inhaled glucocorticoids are associated with an apparently widespread reduction in white matter integrity, which may in part underlie the neuropsychiatric side effects observed in patients using glucocorticoids.”
Given how widely used these drugs, both doctors and patients need to know about the possible effects on the brain, say the researchers, who now call for research into alternative treatment options.
About this neuropharmacology and neuroscience research news
Author: Caroline White Source: BMJ Contact: Caroline White – BMJ Image: The image is in the public domain
Original Research: Open access. “Association between use of systemic and inhaled glucocorticoids and changes in brain volume and white matter microstructure: a cross-sectional study using data from the UK Biobank” by Merel van der Meulen et al. BMJ Open
Abstract
Association between use of systemic and inhaled glucocorticoids and changes in brain volume and white matter microstructure: a cross-sectional study using data from the UK Biobank
Objective
See also
To test the hypothesis that systemic and inhaled glucocorticoid use is associated with changes in grey matter volume (GMV) and white matter microstructure.
Design
Cross-sectional study.
Setting
UK Biobank, a prospective population-based cohort study of adults recruited in the UK between 2006 and 2010.
Participants
After exclusion based on neurological, psychiatric or endocrinological history, and use of psychotropic medication, 222 systemic glucocorticoid users, 557 inhaled glucocorticoid users and 24 106 controls with available T1 and diffusion MRI data were included.
Main outcome measures
Primary outcomes were differences in 22 volumetric and 14 diffusion imaging parameters between glucocorticoid users and controls, determined using linear regression analyses adjusted for potential confounders. Secondary outcomes included cognitive functioning (six tests) and emotional symptoms (four questions).
Results
Both systemic and inhaled glucocorticoid use were associated with reduced white matter integrity (lower fractional anisotropy (FA) and higher mean diffusivity (MD)) compared with controls, with larger effect sizes in systemic users (FA: adjusted mean difference (AMD)=−3.7e-3, 95% CI=−6.4e-3 to 1.0e-3; MD: AMD=7.2e-6, 95% CI=3.2e-6 to 1.1e-5) than inhaled users (FA: AMD=−2.3e-3, 95% CI=−4.0e-3 to −5.7e-4; MD: AMD=2.7e-6, 95% CI=1.7e-7 to 5.2e-6). Systemic use was also associated with larger caudate GMV (AMD=178.7 mm3, 95% CI=82.2 to 275.0), while inhaled users had smaller amygdala GMV (AMD=−23.9 mm3, 95% CI=−41.5 to −6.2) than controls. As for secondary outcomes, systemic users performed worse on the symbol digit substitution task (AMD=−0.17 SD, 95% CI=−0.34 to −0.01), and reported more depressive symptoms (OR=1.76, 95% CI=1.25 to 2.43), disinterest (OR=1.84, 95% CI=1.29 to 2.56), tenseness/restlessness (OR=1.78, 95% CI=1.29 to 2.41), and tiredness/lethargy (OR=1.90, 95% CI=1.45 to 2.50) compared with controls. Inhaled users only reported more tiredness/lethargy (OR=1.35, 95% CI=1.14 to 1.60).
Conclusions
Both systemic and inhaled glucocorticoid use are associated with decreased white matter integrity and limited changes in GMV. This association may contribute to the neuropsychiatric side effects of glucocorticoid medication, especially with chronic use.
“This new study is particularly interesting in showing the extent to which white matter, which is required for neurons to connect with each other, is affected by medication use,” said Thomas Ritz, a professor of psychology at Southern Methodist University who has researched the impact of steroids on people with asthma. He was not involved in the study.
However, “there’s no reason for alarm,” said neuroimmunologistDr. Avindra Nath, the clinical director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, who was also not involved in the study.Doctors have long known that, if you give patients steroids, “the brain does shrink, but when you take them off the steroids, it comes back,” Nath said.
Due to brain plasticity — the ability of the brain to reorganize its structure, functions or connections — “these could be temporary effects,” he said. “They don’t necessarily have to be permanent. White matter can repair itself.”
Widespread use
Glucocorticoids are some of the most frequently prescribed anti-inflammatory medications due to their widespread use in a number of conditions, experts say.
In addition to asthma, both oral and inhaled glucocorticoids can be used to treat allergies, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), Crohn’s disease and other types of inflammatory bowel disease, eczema and other skin conditions, lupus, tendinitis, multiple sclerosis, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis.
However, glucocorticoid inhalers should not be confused with quick-relief inhalers used to stop an asthma attack. Quick-relief inhalers contain non-steroid medications that relax the muscles in the lungs,such as albuterol, levalbuterol and pirbuterol, which can open airways in minutes. Inhaled corticosteroids do not work in emergencies — they are prescribed for longer-term control of inflammatory conditions.
Prior research has linked the long-term use of oral glucocorticoids to structural brain abnormalities and shrinkage of certain areas of the brain, as well asmental health issues such as anxiety, depression, confusion and disorientation. Studies have also shown that people who have lived with asthma have higher rates of cognitive and memory impairment later in life than people without the condition.
But much prior research has been small in scale, and at times, inconclusive, experts say.
The new study used data from the UK BioBank, a large biomedical research center that followed 500,000 residents of the United Kingdom from 2006 to 2010. From that database, the researchers were able to find 222 oral glucocorticoid users and 557 users of inhaled glucocorticoids who did not have a previous diagnosis of any neurological, hormonal or mental health disorder.
Those people underwent cognitive and mental health testing and received a diffusion MRI of the brain. Researchers pulled that data and compared those MRI and cognitive findings to over 24,000 people in the database who did not use steroids.
“To the best of our knowledge, this is the largest study to date assessing the association between glucocorticoid use and brain structure, and the first to investigate these associations in inhaled glucocorticoid users,” wrote the study authors.
Inhalers had smallest impact
The study found the greatest amount of white matter damage in people who use oral steroids regularly over long periods of time. The mental processing speed of chronic oral steroid users tested lower than non-users. People on oral steroids also had more apathy, depression, fatigue and restlessness than non-users of steroids.
The smallest impact on white matter occurred in people who use inhaled steroids, the study found.
That fits with what doctors see in clinical practice, said pulmonologist Dr. Raj Dasgupta, an assistant professor of clinical medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. He was not involved in the study.
“We don’t see side effects as often with the inhaled form of glucocorticoids,” he said. “And of course, mainstay of therapy for allergies and asthma is always going to be avoiding the triggers and making lifestyle modifications.”
Pulmonologists and rheumatologists are cautious about prescribing the smallest dose of steroids needed to control symptoms, Dasgupta said, due to the large number of side effects from steroid use that can also impact health, including brain health.
“As a clinician, the minute you start a person on these medications, you’re immediately thinking, ‘How do I safely take that person off in a timely fashion?’ Steroids cause weight gain, and weight gain is always going to be a risk for developing diabetes and high blood pressure,d” Dasgupta said.
“When you give steroids to people with diabetes, their blood sugar can go up,” he added. “When you take steroids acutely, you could definitely have insomnia and trouble sleeping, and when you’re on long-term steroids, it puts you at a high risk for infections because they are an immunosuppressant.”
More research needed
The new study had limitations. For one, it was not able to determine steroid dose or track adherence, Ritz said.
“We know that only about 50% of patients with asthma take their medication as prescribed, and potential overreporting of intake is also an issue,” Ritz said. “You should take your inhaled corticosteroids, which reduce the inflammation locally, as regularly as possible, albeit at the lowest possible dose that allows you to control you asthma.
“This study gives us another reason to keep the dosages low,” he added.
Another limitation was that it was unable to differentiate between people who take steroid tablets and those who use infusions, according to study authors.
“The study mainly confirms what we know for a long time in asthma management: Take as few systemic (oral) corticosteroids as possible, as long as you are not a patient with severe asthma. Stick to inhaled steroids and discuss with your treating physician plans to step down medication regimens during good times,” Ritz said.
“It’s a very well done study,” Nath said. “But the findings demand another study to be done to see how long these effects last and how they can be reversed.”
In April this year, former Love Island contestant Tom Powell live-streamed his breast reduction operation in an effort to reduce the stigma around enlarged male breast tissue. Gynecomastia is estimated to affect anywhere from 30 to 70 per cent of males at some stage of their lives. And “gyne”, as it’s commonly known, is not only an unwelcome (and ironic) side-effect of anabolic-androgenic – that is, muscle-building and masculinising – steroids: it can also be caused by other hormonal disruptors such as alcohol, cigarettes, cannabis, obesity, puberty (usually temporarily) and old age. But Powell says his gyne was “99 percent” likely due to steroids.
Fitness coach Powell was awake and talking throughout the procedure last month at the Cardiff branch of Signature Clinic, a cosmetic surgery group which for the past year has averaged 100 gynecomastia patients a month across its six locations in UK and Ireland. Original Geordie Shore cast member Jay Gardner, also now a fitness coach, was treated in Signature’s Manchester clinic in December 2021. April 2022 was a bumper month for the group with 170 such procedures performed, including Powell’s. Roughly 40 to 45 percent of Signature’s gynecomastia patients, says co-founder Christian Gotti, are users of Image- and Performance-Enhancing Drugs (IPEDs).
Powell waited for two weeks after his surgery before hitting the gym, but nevertheless after working out one of his nipples became red and irritated. Complication rates with gynecomastia treatment are, says Gotti, “very, very low”. Over more than three years and 3,000 patients, the clinics have reported only a couple of cases of “indents” (which are then filled in with a fat transfer) or of nipples dying (these are replaced by one created from skin grafts, usually from the thigh). Five percent of gyne patients, says Gotti, develop “unfortunate” infections, usually caused by returning to training too soon, which are “easily” resolved by antibiotics. When I spoke to Powell, his infection wasn’t improving after five days of antibiotics and he was starting to regret the operation. But, he said, he’d made the decision: “Now I’ve got to carry on with it.”
Love Island has been blamed, by the Mental Health Foundation and UK Anti-Doping among others, for increasing body image pressure and IPED use. Powell, who was already in cover-model shape before becoming a contestant, says he didn’t take steroids until after his 2016 appearance on the show. Powell met his idols growing up, “shredded” influencers the Harrison twins, who he says told him that “everyone” in the fitness industry was on steroids. Powell “ended up taking” human growth hormone – not a steroid but a Class-C drug (illegal to supply), with its own potential side effects including enlarged jaw, forehead, hands and feet – after he got injured playing rugby for Wales U16s, but claims to have taken nothing between then and leaving Love Island. Still, if he wanted to be a fitness influencer, he reasoned, he had to take steroids too.
Powell estimates 50 percent – if not more – of male gym-goers in his native South Wales are on steroids, which have been “a part of culture” in the area since he was growing up. Still, he’s never heard of so many young lads being on them: “Oh, crazy.” Powell didn’t take steroids until he was 25; the other day, one of his clients (barely 18 and training for just six months) announced he was going on his first “cycle”.
“I’m like, ‘Shit,’” says Powell, now 30. “If all the boys are on it, at [that] age, where are we going?”
The pandemic made keeping tabs on steroid use even more difficult for researchers, although one study showed lockdowns limited dosages and training, impacting users’ mental health. And COVID-19 anxiety has been associated with greater muscularity dissatisfaction in men, the researchers speculated because of increased screen time and restricted opportunities to lift weights in gyms, play sports or otherwise derive “masculine capital” (read: man points). Hegemonic masculinity, that study’s authors wrote, “emphasises toughness, self-reliance and pursuit of status”, so pandemic stress may lead men to place greater emphasis on muscularity.
Joe Kean, Northamptonshire services manager for national drug and alcohol treatment provider Change Grow Live, says he and his colleagues across the country are now seeing more young steroid users – under 30, if not 25 – coming into needle exchanges. The rise is thought to be in anticipation of a post-pandemic summer when they can finally go out and go on holiday.
Kean is also an independent researcher into steroids, and a former user who started after he was sent down in 2003 for smuggling other drugs (heroin, cocaine, amphetamines, cannabis) and got injured playing for the prison rugby team. Young steroid users are, he says, driven primarily by aesthetics and appealing to prospective sexual partners. Despite often feeling confident – even invincible – steroid users are also, he says, at greater risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease.
Anabolic steroids and performance-enhancing drugs. Photo by Simon Hausberger/Getty Images)
For young steroid users, it’s all about body image and confidence, says Andrew Richardson, a researcher at Teesside University, himself a former (clean) powerlifter for Ireland. Older users he’s spoken to meanwhile lament that gym culture has changed, complaining about “kids” who come in, headphones on, and engage more with their phones than other lifters. Instead of “paying their dues” by training for years to max out their natural muscle-building potential, these kids want to go straight on steroids. And they can get them online, no questions asked, rather than having to brave a backstreet gym where the local dealer might give them a small dose to start and some advice, however anecdotal or scientifically unsound. That “pastoral” care (as researchers have termed it) and gatekeeping can now be bypassed.
The new generation of lifters are disparaged as “SARM goblins” for their embrace of the new generation of IPEDs called Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators, which supposedly provide most of the benefits of steroids and fewer of the side-effects, and can be bought online on sites like eBay and Depop. Only available as late as 2015 and classed as “research chemicals”, SARMs are legal to sell, but not for human consumption, the risks of which haven’t yet been extensively researched. Their pill form can nevertheless make them less daunting to newbies than injecting, much like oral steroids, which are in fact more toxic to the liver than injectables. The US Food and Drug Administration has warned that SARMs can cause liver damage, heart attacks and strokes. Powell is, in his words, “not a fan” of SARMs, and wary of the unknown long-term effects.
Steroids can enhance performance in the bedroom, says Richardson, or do the complete opposite. He’s collaborating on a paper about James, whose name has been changed to protect his identity. After starting to use steroids around the age of 25, James experienced increased sex drive and erectile dysfunction, leaving him feeling “like a hamster on a wheel”. Rather than come off steroids, James would excuse himself before sex and go to the bathroom to inject his penis with the ultra-strong erectile dysfunction drug Alprostadil, then endure the subsequent four-hour erection. As Richardson and his colleagues remark, in the pursuit of augmented manhood, James impaired his, well, manhood.
While on “tren” (trenbolone acetate), one of the most potent steroids, Powell couldn’t keep a hard-on as long as he wanted. He had night sweats and nightmares. Normally chilled, he felt jealous, worried and temperamental. And he suspects tren caused his gyne. He’d researched the side effects beforehand and believed he could mitigate them: “But it didn’t work out like I thought.” Most lads, he says, don’t think about the side effects, or think any fallout will be reversible.
What you do under the influence of steroids however may not be reversible. One on-off client of Powell’s ignored his warnings, went on tren and ended up getting into a fight at a festival; also while on tren, Kean found himself ranting and raving at a guy in an Asda car park. Not every steroid user experiences stereotypical “roid rage”, but even a slight increase in irascibility could be the difference between kicking off and walking away, as Kean ultimately did in Asda. Some users, he says, actively want more aggression, fuelling up on steroids, alcohol and cocaine to go out fighting.
Kean says more steroid users are presenting with mental health issues ranging from low-level anxiety to full-blown breakdowns and suicidal thoughts. One user in his early thirties coming off steroids called the police to take his children away because he felt they were unsafe with him. Not to be “alarmist”, says Kean, but a seller may not exactly advertise that risk.
There’s also an increase in steroid users accessing support to come off the drugs. Steroids aren’t acutely intoxicating but do have a hedonic effect: male hamsters will self-inject testosterone (via a nose poke-hole) to death. Steroid users can get addicted to looking and feeling like a superhero, which contrasts starkly to the results when they try to stop using. A surplus of steroids from outside the body shuts down production of testosterone, nature’s own steroid, which can take weeks, months or in some cases years to restart: hypogonadism, as it’s known, can result in erectile dysfunction, low libido, decreased energy and, in some cases, depression. Unsurprisingly, users can opt to go back on steroids and never stop.
Dissuading young steroid users is difficult partly because most of the really life-limiting side effects – persistent hypogonadism, heart problems, toxicity of the liver, kidneys and brain – tend to be long-term, although more 30-year-olds are suffering heart attacks from what Kean and his colleagues call “the holy trinity” of steroids, booze and coke. An 18-year-old steroid user likely doesn’t care that they might drop dead at 50; they may care about more pressing concerns such as STDs, erectile dysfunction and breast tissue.
A 2013 study found the HIV rate among injecting IPED users in England and Wales was 1.5 percent, comparable to 1.2 percent among users of psychoactive drugs like heroin and crack. Steroid users don’t, says Kean, see themselves as drug-users or doing something that could harm their health, so often don’t consider the risks of sharing vials, water or needles. A lot of steroid users, he says, don’t even come into needle exchanges, which they worry about the stigma around, relying instead on secondary distribution: One person might collect ‘“works” – injection equipment – for ten others who then bypass the safety information given out at exchanges.
Published last year, the second part of Professor Dame Carol Black’s independent review on drugs for the government focused on treatment and prevention, and placed an emphasis on harm reduction across the board. Steroids-wise, says Kean, the priority should be getting clean works out there, followed by good information. Needle exchanges often have dedicated clinic times for steroid users, who can learn about safer injection techniques, how to identify fake or low-quality gear and get facts from experts, rather than from a guru in a gym or online forum.
Powell doesn’t, he says, recommend steroids to anyone. But he does advise young lads about their cycles, because otherwise “they’re going to go somewhere else and do whatever they want”. Powell currently “cruises”, which is to say takes a lower dose of testosterone only; he reckons he’ll be on self-prescribed “testosterone replacement therapy” for life. When he started taking steroids, he was “obsessed” with looks and bodybuilding, whereas now he’s more into CrossFit-style functional training and “all-round health and fitness”.
“So, if I knew then what I know now, I probably wouldn’t take them.”
A new map of one of the most massive stars in our galaxy is shedding light on what happens in the final stages of a giant star’s death.
Astronomers created a detailed 3D map of VY Canis Majoris, a dying red hypergiant star located over 3,000 light-years from Earth. They found that the way this rare supergiant star loses mass is analogous to coronal arcs — loops of plasma that erupt from the sun — but on a scale billions of times larger.
Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile, the team, led by University of Arizona researchers Ambesh Singh and Lucy Ziurys, traced the distributions and velocities of molecules as they swirled around VY Canis Majoris and mapped them to structures of ejected material that extend for billions of miles.
Related:Here’s what the supergiant star Betelgeuse will look like when it goes supernova
VY Canis Majoris is a pulsing variable star in the constellation Canis Major with a mass estimated to be 17 times that of the sun and a radius of 10,000 to 15,000 astronomical units (AU). (One AU is the average distance between Earth and the sun: around 93 million miles, or 150 million kilometers.)
Only a few hypergiants are known to exist in the Milky Way, including Betelgeuse and NML Cygni, and VY Canis Majoris is one of the best examples of this rare star type, according to the researchers.
“Think of it as Betelgeuse on steroids,” Ziurys said in a statement. “It is much larger, much more massive and undergoes violent mass eruptions every 200 years or so.”
This means that studying VY Canis Majoris offers a rare opportunity for astronomers to gain a better understanding of the processes that occur when a tremendously large star reaches the end of its life cycle. In particular, the astronomers wanted to understand the mechanisms by which this star sheds mass.
The death throes of these massive stars differ from those of lower-mass stars, such as the sun, which puff up and enter a red giant phase when they exhaust hydrogen — the fuel that powers nuclear fusion — and can no longer support themselves against gravitational collapse.
Instead, massive stars seem to experience mass loss events when they enter this stage of their existence. These events are sporadic and substantial, with the material lost forming complex, highly irregular structures composed of arcs, clumps and knots that can extend thousands of AU from the massive central star.
VY Canis Majoris as imaged by the SPHERE instrument on the Very Large Telescope. (Image credit: ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2/N. Risinger (skysurvey.org))
“We are particularly interested in what hypergiant stars do at the end of their lives,” Singh said. “People used to think these massive stars simply evolve into supernova explosions, but we are no longer sure about that.”
The team thinks that if these massive stars evolve into supernovas, astronomers would, theoretically, observe more of these stellar explosions. So they proposed another hypothesis.
“We now think they [hypergiant stars] might quietly collapse into black holes,” Ziurys said. “But we don’t know which ones end their lives like that, or why that happens and how.”
Imaging VY Canis Majoris
This isn’t the first time astronomers have imaged the arcs, clumps and knots that radiate from VY Canis Majoris; the Hubble Space Telescope and spectroscopy have been used to image these massive structures. With this new work, the team traced certain molecules around the hypergiant star and then mapped these findings to Hubble images of dust around the central star. This revealed hidden details of the processes involved at the end of hypergiant stars’ lives, including details about how VY Canis Majoris sheds mass.
“You don’t see this nice, symmetrical mass loss, but rather convection cells that blow through the star’s photosphere like giant bullets and eject mass in different directions,” Ziurys said. “These are analogous to the coronal arcs seen in the sun, but a billion times larger.”
The team’s observations of VY Canis Majoris with ALMA are still in the early stages. Yet, despite this, even this preliminary map of sulfur oxide, sulfur dioxide, silicon oxide, phosphorous oxide and sodium chloride have helped the researchers construct an image of the molecular outflow structure of the massive star. And this image is large enough to encompass all of the material ejected by the red hypergiant.
“The molecules trace the arcs in the envelope, which tells us molecules and dust are well mixed,” Singh said. “The nice thing about emissions of molecules at radio wavelengths is that they provide us with velocity information, as opposed to the dust emission, which is static.”
By adjusting the configuration of ALMA’s 66 radio telescopes spread across Chile’s Atacama Desert, the astronomers gathered details about the directions and speeds of molecules around VY Canis Majoris.
They did this on individual regions of the hypergiant and then matched the results to a timeline of mass ejection events from VY Canis Majoris . This step required major computer processing power. To get the best possible resolution, the team processed almost a terabyte of data from ALMA, with more yet to come, and detailing each molecule can take as long as two days.
“With these observations, we can now put these on maps on the sky,” Ziurys said. “Until now, only small portions of this enormous structure had been studied, but you can’t understand the mass loss and how these big stars die unless you look at the entire region. That’s why we wanted to create a complete image.”
The team’s findings were presented June 13 at the meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Pasadena, California, and will be detailed in a series of upcoming papers.
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — A tsunami advisory is in effect for the west coast including the Bay Area after a tsunami hit Tonga’s largest island on Saturday, reportedly sending waves flooding into the capital after an underwater volcano in the South Pacific exploded in a violent eruption.
As of 7:54 p.m., the advisory has been canceled for the San Francisco Bay Area coastline according to the National Weather Service. The threat still remains in effect for Santa Cruz coast down to Rincon Point in Santa Barbara County.
East Bay
Berkeley police issued a mandatory evacuation for people living in the Marina as two to three feet waves were expected around 7:30a.m. About 113 people were evacuated, police say. But around 3:30 p.m., Alameda County Sheriff’s office has lifted the evacuation order for boats and docks, but reminds people the advisory is still in effect,
San Francisco
The San Francisco Fire Department advised people to stay away from Ocean Beach.
“Revaluate your plans if you’re going into the water or near our coastline in San Francisco for today,” said SFFD Lt. Jonathan Baxter.
Many people still flocked to the beach, cameras ready to capture any big waves.
“The waves definitely look bigger, but I was kind of hoping for bigger waves,” said Jungah Lee from San Francisco.
“I don’t get this excitement everyday.. wanted to see it for myself,” said Chuck Wagner.
The tsunami advisory forced the closure of Baker Beach and folks on Fort Baker Fishing Pier were told about the possible danger by rangers.
U.S. Coast Guard cutters were patrolling the shoreline most of the day. It was a day, many never saw coming.
“I will take tsunami alerts more seriously now,” said Hatlestad.
There were no reports of injuries.
North Bay
Sunday’s tsunami advisory got the attention of thousands in the Bay Area and left some neighbors running for safety after a surge of water poured into one waterfront community.
It was the scary moment, many neighbors won’t soon forget when tsunami waves arrived in Tiburon ripping the boat dock off the front of Halee Hatlestad’s home, casting two boats and the dock adrift into nearby Richardson Bay.
“The water came in, took the dock off and started pulling the edge of our balconies off, I ran inside grabbed my daughter and packed my car,” said Hatlestad.
For several hours, the tsunami surge returned in cycles, strong enough to send the rogue runaway dock crashing into support beams at the apartment complex.
“The dock was picking up momentum as it was heading towards the building, it was scary,” said Bronia Hill.
“Seeing these waves rolling in, I was thinking king tides but on steroids for lack of a better expression,” said Chase Hill.
Santa Cruz/Capitola
Santa Cruz residents remained on high alert Saturday, while a Tsunami alert threatened the shoreline.
“We stayed about 200-feet up,” said resident Kristy Hughes. “At first we couldn’t see anything but then the harbor and the water rose very high. You can really see it. Police and firemen were everywhere.”
VIDEO: Santa Cruz residents take precautions under tsunami threat
Coast guard crews patrolled the beaches all day Saturday to monitor the water level. In the morning, a series of waves came and brought debris on the shores. Plus, residents say water levels in the harbor rose to concerning levels.
“At first I didn’t see anything,” said Edward Martinez, who was monitoring the levels. “We got near the water and that is where you could really see it. The flume went away, but the water kept going up and up.”
It didn’t deter people from going near the beach. Many surfers were spotted in the water, and others still spent the day near the water. Residents like Hughes waited till it was safe.
“We didn’t any sirens at first,” she said. “Around 11 that’s when we heard all the sirens and we waited for it to stop.”
Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk tweeted it is also closed, out of abundance of caution but is scheduled to reopen on Sunday.
In Capitola, Jacob Beau McLelan was out testing his new iPhone this morning when he came across this sight in Capitola Village. He said he’ll have to plan another day to hit the waves and surf.
At first glance I thought this was Venice Italy.
Jacob Beau McLelan told me he was testing out his new iPhone this morning shooting sunrises, etc. when he came across this sight in Capitola Village.
He said he was going to surf today…maybe not now!#Tsunami #TongaVolcano pic.twitter.com/iE0xXQ87TD
— Dion Lim (@DionLimTV) January 16, 2022
Satellite imagery shows the volcanic eruption and the massive ash cloud and shockwaves spreading from the eruption.
RELATED: New tsunami hazard maps show Bay Area regions most at-risk if ‘worst-case scenario’ were to occur
Tsunami advisories were also issued as far away as New Zealand’s North Island.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said tsunami waves of 2.7-feet high on Tonga’s largest island.
No word yet on any injuries.
RELATED: What to do if there’s a tsunami watch or warning
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — A tsunami advisory is in effect for the west coast including the Bay Area after a tsunami hit Tonga’s largest island on Saturday, reportedly sending waves flooding into the capital after an underwater volcano in the South Pacific exploded in a violent eruption.
As of 9:04 p.m., the advisory has been canceled for the San Francisco Bay Area coastline, as well as the Monterey Bay Santa Cruz, according to the National Weather Service. The threat still remains in effect for Del Norte County and parts of Santa Barbara County.
The Tsunami Advisory has been cancelled. Thank you.
— Santa Cruz County (@sccounty) January 16, 2022
East Bay
Berkeley police issued a mandatory evacuation for people living in the Marina as two to three feet waves were expected around 7:30a.m. About 113 people were evacuated, police say. But around 3:30 p.m., Alameda County Sheriff’s office has lifted the evacuation order for boats and docks, but reminds people the advisory is still in effect,
San Francisco
The San Francisco Fire Department advised people to stay away from Ocean Beach.
“Revaluate your plans if you’re going into the water or near our coastline in San Francisco for today,” said SFFD Lt. Jonathan Baxter.
Many people still flocked to the beach, cameras ready to capture any big waves.
“The waves definitely look bigger, but I was kind of hoping for bigger waves,” said Jungah Lee from San Francisco.
“I don’t get this excitement everyday.. wanted to see it for myself,” said Chuck Wagner.
The tsunami advisory forced the closure of Baker Beach and folks on Fort Baker Fishing Pier were told about the possible danger by rangers.
U.S. Coast Guard cutters were patrolling the shoreline most of the day. It was a day, many never saw coming.
“I will take tsunami alerts more seriously now,” said Hatlestad.
There were no reports of injuries.
North Bay
Sunday’s tsunami advisory got the attention of thousands in the Bay Area and left some neighbors running for safety after a surge of water poured into one waterfront community.
It was the scary moment, many neighbors won’t soon forget when tsunami waves arrived in Tiburon ripping the boat dock off the front of Halee Hatlestad’s home, casting two boats and the dock adrift into nearby Richardson Bay.
“The water came in, took the dock off and started pulling the edge of our balconies off, I ran inside grabbed my daughter and packed my car,” said Hatlestad.
For several hours, the tsunami surge returned in cycles, strong enough to send the rogue runaway dock crashing into support beams at the apartment complex.
“The dock was picking up momentum as it was heading towards the building, it was scary,” said Bronia Hill.
“Seeing these waves rolling in, I was thinking king tides but on steroids for lack of a better expression,” said Chase Hill.
Santa Cruz/Capitola
Santa Cruz residents remained on high alert Saturday, while a Tsunami alert threatened the shoreline.
“We stayed about 200-feet up,” said resident Kristy Hughes. “At first we couldn’t see anything but then the harbor and the water rose very high. You can really see it. Police and firemen were everywhere.”
VIDEO: Santa Cruz residents take precautions under tsunami threat
Coast guard crews patrolled the beaches all day Saturday to monitor the water level. In the morning, a series of waves came and brought debris on the shores. Plus, residents say water levels in the harbor rose to concerning levels.
“At first I didn’t see anything,” said Edward Martinez, who was monitoring the levels. “We got near the water and that is where you could really see it. The flume went away, but the water kept going up and up.”
It didn’t deter people from going near the beach. Many surfers were spotted in the water, and others still spent the day near the water. Residents like Hughes waited till it was safe.
“We didn’t any sirens at first,” she said. “Around 11 that’s when we heard all the sirens and we waited for it to stop.”
Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk tweeted it is also closed, out of abundance of caution but is scheduled to reopen on Sunday.
In Capitola, Jacob Beau McLelan was out testing his new iPhone this morning when he came across this sight in Capitola Village. He said he’ll have to plan another day to hit the waves and surf.
At first glance I thought this was Venice Italy.
Jacob Beau McLelan told me he was testing out his new iPhone this morning shooting sunrises, etc. when he came across this sight in Capitola Village.
He said he was going to surf today…maybe not now!#Tsunami #TongaVolcano pic.twitter.com/iE0xXQ87TD
— Dion Lim (@DionLimTV) January 16, 2022
Satellite imagery shows the volcanic eruption and the massive ash cloud and shockwaves spreading from the eruption.
RELATED: New tsunami hazard maps show Bay Area regions most at-risk if ‘worst-case scenario’ were to occur
Tsunami advisories were also issued as far away as New Zealand’s North Island.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said tsunami waves of 2.7-feet high on Tonga’s largest island.
No word yet on any injuries.
RELATED: What to do if there’s a tsunami watch or warning
By the time June 15 rolled around and San Francisco and the rest of California emerged from the prolonged pandemic lockdown, Peter Johnston was fully vaccinated and ready to have one of the best summers of his life.
He hit bars and clubs in the Castro every Friday and Saturday, and a few weeknights in between. He rented a house in Carmel with some friends, then took a trip up to Guerneville with another group. “It was definitely a Roaring Twenties kind of thing,” said Johnston, 29, who said he found himself relating to the celebrations that followed the end of the 1918-19 pandemic and World War I.
But the party came to an abrupt halt two weeks ago, when Johnston woke up one Monday feeling ill. He developed a bad cough, then fever and chills and body aches. He tested positive for the coronavirus a week later.
“I would definitely say I thought the pandemic was over, or at least firmly in the rearview mirror,” Johnston said from his home in the Castro, where he’s still recuperating. “I knew there was a possibility of getting COVID after being vaccinated, but I didn’t think it would happen to me.”
Evidence is growing that post-vaccination breakthrough cases like Johnston’s are not as rare as once previously thought, or perhaps hoped for. And the culprit appears to be the highly infectious delta variant that’s now dominating San Francisco and pretty much everywhere else in the United States.
To be clear: The vaccines are holding up when it comes to preventing the most dire outcomes, in particular hospitalization, intensive care requiring ventilation, and death. They’re also still very good at preventing infection. Vaccines remain the best protection against COVID-19 and are key to ending the pandemic.
Peter Johnston, who lives in San Francisco’s Castro district, became infected with the delta variant after being fully vaccinated for COVID-19. “I knew there was a possibility of getting COVID after being vaccinated, but I didn’t think it would happen to me.”
Nick Otto/Special to The Chronicle
But delta is proving to be the first variant to test the strength of the vaccines, especially when it comes to stopping transmission. And that, in turn, has led to disheartening setbacks in the public health response as cases rise faster now that at any other time in the pandemic and health officials consider new mask mandates and other measures to stop the spread of disease.
“It is COVID on steroids. In many ways this is a different virus than the virus we were dealing with earlier this year,” said Dr. Grant Colfax, director of the San Francisco Department of Public Health, in a news briefing on Friday during which he implored people who are not vaccinated to get the shots now.
Experts in vaccines and immunology say the breakthrough infections, though disappointing, are not unexpected and do not mean the COVID vaccines are failing. Indeed, studies of post-vaccination cases, and better data on why they may be happening, underscore that the vaccine-induced immune response is robust and multi-layered.
Mounting evidence suggests that delta is so easily transmissible in large part because it replicates much faster than previous variants and exposes people to a much higher viral load.
That larger viral dose may be overwhelming the first-strike antibody response in vaccinated people, who were better able to shake off earlier variants and remain symptom free. It may also mean that they are infectious and able to spread the virus to others, perhaps as easily as those who are not vaccinated — an especially discouraging finding, health experts said.
But antibodies aren’t the only tool of the immune system to fend off the coronavirus. And so far it appears that the next-level response — namely the T cells and B cells that wipe out virus that’s able to evade antibodies — is doing its job well and preventing severe illness.
“The vaccines have maintained full protection against severe and critical illness, even with delta,” said Dr. Catherine Blish, an infectious disease expert at Stanford. “Most of these (post-vaccination) cases we’re seeing are mild or sometimes moderate illness, and that means the vaccine is giving people a head start in clearing the virus but it’s not quite enough to prevent the infection in the first place. But at least it’s keeping them out of the hospital.”
When the vaccines initially were rolled out, although health experts noted that breakthrough infections would happen, the understanding was that they would be rare, and in most cases cause asymptomatic or very mild illness. And that seemed to hold up for awhile, as vaccination rates skyrocketed in the spring and cases plummeted. At the time, two variants were dominating California, both of them more infectious than the original strain of virus — but each, it’s now believed, half as infectious as delta.
In the delta phase of the pandemic, breakthrough infections remain uncommon, but they’re hardly rare. UCSF has reported 140 coronavirus cases among its staff of 35,000 since mid June — and 80% of those infections were among full vaccinated people. Similar scenarios have played out across the country, including at a homeless shelter in Santa Rosa.
Friday’s report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention focused on 469 cases associated with gatherings in one Massachusetts county; about three-quarters of the cases were in fully vaccinated people, and 79% of them had symptomatic illness. Especially concerning to health experts: The viral load was about the same between those who were vaccinated and those who were not, suggesting they may be equally able to spread the virus to others.
That report, along with other evidence worldwide, prompted the CDC to recommend even vaccinated people start wearing masks again.
“This does not bode well for the concept of herd immunity in the face of delta,” said Nadia Roan, an investigator at the Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco, about the CDC report. She said it’s possible that the vaccinated people may be carrying “dead” virus that isn’t able to infect others — which wouldn’t necessarily be apparent in the type of testing the CDC did. “Nonetheless, these data are concerning,” she said.
Scientists are still figuring out how much more infectious delta is, and why. Dr. Charles Chiu, who runs the UCSF-Abbott Viral Diagnostics and Discovery Center, said delta has several mutations that were already associated with increased infectiousness and resistance to vaccines — including the L452R mutation found in the so-called California variant that Chiu discovered in January.
“It’s like a super L452R because of the way it’s developed,” Chiu said. “It’s probably the combination of these mutations that’s conferring all these advantages on delta.”
Its primary advantages seems to be a fast replication cycle — how quickly it can take over cells and establish an infection — and the high viral payload it delivers on exposure. People are infectious over a longer period of time with delta than with other variants, and they have much more virus in their nose and the rest of their upper respiratory tract.
A preprint paper published last week by scientists at Helix — a San Carlos genomic sequencing company that has done coronavirus testing across the U.S. — found evidence that the viral load with delta may be three times higher than with alpha. Another study out of China found a thousand-fold increase in viral load with delta compared to the original strain of the coronavirus.
“The threefold difference in our data, that’s probably big enough that even if you are fully vaccinated, if you get infected you’re maybe not getting seriously ill, but you might still be transmitting to someone else,” said William Lee, vice president for science at Helix.
The COVID vaccines induce a large antibody response — in fact, far more than what’s needed to fend off infection from the original coronavirus strain and most of the variants. But antibodies wane, often within a few months of vaccination. Studies out of Israel have shown a drop in vaccine efficacy within six to ten months, though some experts question that data.
The delta variant is probably able to overcome the antibody response to some degree. That’s why even vaccinated people may get infected and have mild to moderate illness. But vaccines also induce a cellular response, which takes longer to rally than antibodies but is more powerful. That response is probably what keeps the infection from spreading beyond the upper respiratory tract and into the lungs in vaccinated people.
“The vaccine, even if it can’t prevent every cell from getting infected, it can prevent the virus from getting deep and causing disease,” Blish said.
Johnston, who’s been battling symptoms of COVID for nearly two weeks, said this is the worst he’s felt since a bout of pneumonia when he was 13. But “I’m extremely grateful I had the vaccine, because I figure if I hadn’t, I’d be in the hospital right now,” he said.
“Overall I’m a very healthy person. I wasn’t really expecting to have a rough time with COVID were I to get it,” Johnston said. Two fully vaccinated friends he was with on the night he thinks he became infected also tested positive, but their symptoms were much milder, he said.
Johnston was so eager to get vaccinated that he drove four hours to Tulare County for his first shot in April, back when demand still far exceeded supply. Getting sick, even with a fairly troublesome illness, has made him more pro-vaccination.
“I’ve had some frustration, some anger, especially over the not great uptake of vaccinations,” he said. “Vaccination is for the public good. Most of the benefit flows to other people and not yourself. But I guess In order to get people vaccinated, you basically have to mandate it.”
San Francisco Chronicle staff writers Catherine Ho and Danielle Echeverria contributed to this report.
Erin Allday is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: eallday@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @erinallday
Actor Dax Shepard has spent years talking openly about sobriety, building his highly successful Armchair Expert podcast around an ethos of vulnerability. Shepard was in recovery for 16 years when he revealed in September that he had relapsed with prescription pain pills, a fact he was reticent to admit publicly but that he decided was relevant for a fanbase who had come to admire his honesty.
In his latest disclosure, the 46-year-old said on his podcast with guests Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis that he is using “heavy testosterone injections.”
“I spent my whole life as a medium boy,” he said after Kutcher remarked on the size of his biceps, “and now I’m a big boy and I like it.”
Shepard initially said he was using testosterone to bulk up, but when Kutcher and Kunis expressed concern, Shepard said low testosterone runs in his family and that using it has also helped improve his disposition.
Testosterone is a hormone that helps men maintain everything from muscle strength to facial hair to sex drive. While there are medical reasons for using testosterone, experts say steroid use carries many physical and mental health risks.
“Testosterone is an androgen. It is a powerful steroid that can have a lot of effects downstream, that can impact mood, that can then impact anxiety, that can also itself lead to addiction,” said Collin Reiff, an addiction psychiatrist at NYU Langone Health who specializes in substance abuse treatment.
Medical uses for testosterone
Testosterone peaks during adolescence and young adulthood, according to the Mayo Clinic, and declines with age. Shalender Bhasin, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, said testosterone is only approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for one clinical use: treatment of hypogonadism in men (a condition where the body does not produce enough testosterone).
Testosterone treatment is also medically appropriate, Bhasin said, as gender affirming care.
Dessa Bergen-Cico, coordinator of the Addiction Studies program at Syracuse University, says the use of alcohol, cannabis, amphetamines and opioids, which Shepard said he abused during his last relapse, can all lower testosterone. Opioid agonist therapies, including methadone and suboxone, can also suppress testosterone. In these cases, experts say testosterone replacement therapy may be recommended, but only under the care of a medical professional.
But even when testosterone is prescribed, it can include a host of dangerous and unwelcome side effects, including an increased risk of blood clots and cardiac problems as well as enlarged breasts and limited sperm production.
While Shepard said testosterone has helped with his mood – he said he “was depressed after (the 2017 film) ‘CHIPS'” and now is “on fire to work” – Bhasin said its efficacy in treating major depression has not been shown.
“There is agreement that testosterone does not improve major clinical depression,” he said.
Misuse of testosterone
Endocrinologists say the majority of testosterone misuse is driven by body dissatisfaction. Most people who misuse testosterone are young men, almost always weightlifters and recreational bodybuilders who are using testosterone to look leaner and more muscular.
“It’s a body image disorder,” Bhasin said.
Shepard said he wanted to build muscle mass and has “gained about 24 pounds” by working out “six days a week, lifting heavy (weights),” and using testosterone.
Bergen-Cico said exercise is also viewed in the field of behavioral health as a legitimate addiction, and steroids can exacerbate it.
“The use of steroids can play into that and they can become not addictive in the same way as stimulants and depressants but can play into the same reward and reinforcement pathways in the brain,” she said. “It also fosters an increase in adrenaline, aggression and anger, which can have an addictive quality or bite to it.”
Michael Parent, a psychology professor at the University of Texas at Austin, said the paraphernalia required to administer testosterone may add an additional layer of risk for some people in recovery.
“If someone is using injectable steroids, that means they have needles around and for some people those needles are triggers,” he said. “You might have a stock of hundreds of needles and for some people, it just removes one more barrier from a potential relapse.”
Experts stress that no one should use steroids unless under the care of a medical professional. There are significant long-term risks of steroid use.
“One-third of men who use large doses will have profound suppression of testicular function when they stop,” Bhasin said. “It can take months or years to recover. Some may not.”
The rapid spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus has only ratcheted up the pressure.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday that the variant, first identified in India, has accounted for more than half of all new Covid-19 infections in the country.
“We should think about the Delta variant as the 2020 version of Covid-19 on steroids,” Andy Slavitt, a former senior adviser to Joe Biden’s Covid Response Team, told CNN on Wednesday. “It’s twice as infectious. Fortunately, unlike 2020, we actually have a tool that stops the Delta variant in its tracks: It’s called vaccine.”
For fully vaccinated people, the variant “presents very little threat to you, very unlikely that you’re gonna get sick,” he explained.
Slavitt and other experts have said full approval for vaccines from the US Food and Drug Administration could encourage more people to get vaccinated. The current vaccines distributed in the US are authorized for emergency use only. On Tuesday, Slavitt said full approval for the Pfizer vaccine could come as early as this month.
As of Wednesday, less than half of the US population is fully vaccinated.
In a grim reminder of the scale of the pandemic, data from Johns Hopkins University on Wednesday showed that more than 4 million people around the world have died of Covid-19.
In total, three countries account for more than a third of all global deaths. The US, which has the highest number of fatalities at 606,000, accounts for 15% of the global total, followed by Brazil and India.
Fears about more variants if people don’t get vaccinated
But the Delta variant is not the only one worrying health experts.
“I will tell you right now you want to look at who’s getting sick, whether from the Delta variant or any other variant: It’s people who haven’t been vaccinated,” Dr. Megan Ranney told CNN on Wednesday.
“I don’t want it to come to this, but I am hopeful that these surges will drive more people in those states with low vaccination rates to finally go out and get their shot.”
Ranney, who is an emergency physician at Rhode Island Hospital and an associate professor at Brown University, added that vaccinated people don’t have much to worry about, but she offered an unsettling insight on the current surge of cases.
“What worries me more are the variants yet to come, and every time this virus is passed from one person to another, it has a chance to mutate. And it’s only a matter of time until we have a variant against which the vaccines no longer protect us,” she explained.
Some experts have begun asking whether it may be time to start testing vaccinated people to ensure the Delta variant does not evade the effects of vaccines.
Current federal guidelines say fully vaccinated people can refrain from routine testing. Studies and experts have also said the vaccines are still highly protective.
“I think now we should revisit this policy with the Delta variant and determine if the current recommendations hold up,” Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, wrote in an email to CNN on Wednesday.
The CDC is only reporting data on “breakthrough” infections that cause severe disease. That could mean scientists and health officials will not know how many vaccinated people have mild or asymptomatic infections — and it will be very difficult to track whether a new variant such as Delta is causing more vaccine failure.
Local efforts to vaccinate continue
In a move to get more shots into arms, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said the state will provide $1 million in college scholarships beginning July 12 for people between 12 and 17 who get vaccinated.
“I cannot imagine a better incentive than a college education,” said Dr. Jay Perman, the chancellor of Maryland’s university system.
Two scholarships will be awarded every week for eight weeks through Labor Day, Hogan said, when four winners will be picked. Hogan said the winners will receive a Maryland 529 prepaid college trust contract, which locks in today’s tuition rates for the future, or a Maryland 529 College investment plan.
The incentive is an effort by the state’s Department of Health and the Department of Higher Education.
More than half of Marylanders between the ages of 12 and 17 are fully vaccinated, state health data shows.
The announcement comes as the state said in a tweet all Covid-19 deaths in Maryland last month occurred in unvaccinated people
Additionally, 95% of new Covid-19 cases in the state — as well as 93% of new hospitalizations — occurred in people who were unvaccinated, according to Michael Ricci, communications director for the governor.
CNN’s Deidre McPhillips, Jacqueline Howard, Keri Enriquez, Virginia Langmaid and Hannah Sarisohn contributed to this report.
