YouTube superstar MrBeast is making the world clearer – for at least 1,000 people.
The content creator’s latest stunt is paying for cataract removal for 1,000 people who were blind or near-blind but could not afford the surgery.
“We’re curing a thousand people’s blindness,” says MrBeast – real name Jimmy Donaldson – in the Saturday video, which reached over 32 million views as of Sunday afternoon.
The video features touching before-and-after footage of patients seeing with clear vision after finishing the surgery. The YouTuber also gave cash donations and other gifts to some of the participants.
Jeff Levenson, an ophthalmologist and surgeon, worked with Donaldson to perform the first round of surgeries in Jacksonville, Florida. Levenson has coordinated the “Gift of Sight” program for over 20 years, which provides free cataract surgery for uninsured patients who are legally blind due to cataracts.
“Half of all blindness in the world is people who need a 10-minute surgery,” Levenson says in the video, referring to the cataract removal surgery.
Levenson explained to CNN he became inspired to help people access cataract surgery after undergoing his own cataract correction surgery.
“In the days and weeks after my own cataract surgery, I was stunned by how bright and beautiful and vivid the world was,” he said. “But I was shocked by the idea that there are hundreds of millions, probably 200 million people around the world, who are blind or nearly blind from cataracts and who don’t have access to the surgery.”
Levenson got a call from a member of Donaldson’s team in September. “I had never heard of MrBeast,” he said. “So I almost hung up. But I gratefully did not hang up.”
They started by calling homeless shelters and free clinics to create a list of patients in the Jacksonville area who needed cataract surgery but could not afford it. Eventually, they had a group of 40 patients – and Levenson performed all of their surgeries in a single day, starting at 7 a.m. and ending at 6 p.m.
Levenson said that patients were in “disbelief that somebody would actually seek them out to to rescue them from blindness, and then have the kindness and generosity of spirit to offer the surgery.”
The ophthalmologist also connected Donaldson’s team with SEE International, for which he serves as the chief medical officer. The nonprofit provides free eyecare around the world to patients in need. The organization helped Donaldson reach even more patients, for a total of 1,000 surgeries completed around three weeks. The video shows patients receiving the surgery in Jamaica, Honduras, Namibia, Mexico, Indonesia, Brazil, Vietnam and Kenya.
Levenson said he hopes the video and Donaldson’s generosity inspire “a concerted effort to end needless blindness.”
“If MrBeast can light a fire, and if we can get governmental and private support behind it, we can end half of all the blindness in the world,” he said. “Without all that much cost, and with incredible gains in human productivity and human potential.”
“Hawkeye” actor Jeremy Renner is recovering from surgery after suffering “blunt chest trauma and orthopedic injuries” in a New Year’s Day snow plowing accident in Nevada, a spokesperson for the actor said.
As of Monday evening, Renner was in the intensive care unit in “critical but stable condition,” the spokesperson said.
The 51-year-old actor has so far undergone two surgeries to address injuries he sustained in the accident, a source close to the actor previously told CNN.
Renner was hospitalized on Sunday after a “weather related accident” while plowing snow, his representative Sam Mast confirmed to CNN earlier on Monday.
The Washoe County Sheriff’s Office said its deputies responded to a “traumatic injury” involving Renner in the area of Mount Rose Highway in Reno.
Deputies found Renner injured and coordinated his transport to an area hospital, the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release, adding that the actor was the only person involved in the accident.
The Sheriff’s Office did not provide details on how the snow plow accident happened but said its Major Accident Investigation Team is looking into the circumstances of the incident.
At the time of the accident, parts of western Nevada were covered with snow. The Reno area received around 6-12 inches of snow at elevations below 5,000 feet between New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, and up to 18 inches at higher elevations, according to the National Weather Service in Reno.
Renner has shared multiple videos and photos on his verified social media accounts showing him in snowy conditions, including one Instagram video posted two weeks ago in which the actor appears to be driving a snowplow.
Renner’s family released a statement Monday evening thanking hospital staff and first responders as the actor remained hospitalized.
“Jeremy’s family would like to express their gratitude to the incredible doctors and nurses looking after him, Truckee Meadows Fire and Rescue, Washoe County Sheriff, Reno City Mayor Hillary Schieve and the Carano and Murdock families,” a statement from his spokesperson read. “They are also tremendously overwhelmed and appreciative of the outpouring of love and support from his fans.”
Renner stars in the Paramount+ series “Mayor of Kingstown” and is best known for his role as Hawkeye in several Marvel Cinematic Universe films.
The New Zealand parents who refused to allow blood transfusions for their sick 4-month-old child unless they came from donors unvaccinated against COVID-19 have been temporarily stripped of medical custody of the baby.
New Zealand’s High Court on Wednesday ordered that the infant, identified in documents only as Baby W, be placed into the guardianship of health authorities until after he undergoes an urgently needed open-heart surgery and recovers.
The boy’s parents remain his primary guardians and are still in charge of decisions about their boy that don’t relate to the medical procedure, according to the court ruling.
The parents’ legal battle has been taken up by anti-vax activists, who gathered outside the courtroom this week as evidence was presented.
High Court Judge Ian Gault said he accepted the affidavits of health experts who said there have been millions of blood transfusions performed around the world since COVID vaccines were introduced, and the vaccines hadn’t caused any known harmful effects.
Citing evidence from New Zealand’s chief medical officer, the judge ruled that there was “no scientific evidence there is any Covid-19 vaccine-related risk from blood donated” by vaccinated donors.
The 4-month-old baby will be placed into the guardianship of health authorities until after he undergoes an open-heart surgery and recovers. AP
The ruling will likely set a precedent and come as a relief to health care groups that collect and use donated blood.
Baby W’s parents had said they had unvaccinated donors willing to give blood for their son’s surgery, but health officials argued that such directed donations should only occur in exceptional circumstances, such as for recipients with very rare blood types.
Health authorities also said the unvaccinated donors wouldn’t necessarily give them access to all the blood products they might need during the boy’s surgery.
The parents used discredited arguments and fringe theories to try to show that mRNA vaccines were unsafe.
The judge said the baby’s parents were loving and wanted the best for their son and accepted that he needed the surgery.
The judge also noted the relationship between the parents and doctors had suffered and that they should try to improve it before and after the surgery and be respectful of each other.
Doctors will be required to keep the parents informed at all times about their son’s treatment and condition, BBC News reported.
Court rules prevent the baby and parents from being named. Court documents identified the mother as a midwife.
Anti-vax demonstrators support the mother and father of a 4-month-old baby outside the High Court in Auckland, New Zealand.AP
In an interview with anti-vax campaigner Liz Gunn published last month, the baby’s father talked about his concerns surrounding his son’s surgery to treat severe pulmonary valve stenosis.
“We don’t want blood that is tainted by vaccination,” the dad said. “That’s the end of the deal — we are fine with anything else these doctors want to do.”
By delaying some nonemergency pediatric surgeries, hospitals are trying to free inpatient beds to accommodate an unexpected rise in children suffering from common viruses, especially respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.
“I think we’re in uncharted territory,” said Dr. Paul Biddinger, chief preparedness and continuity officer for Mass General Brigham, at a news briefing on Thursday.
Hospital executives said pediatric intensive care unit beds at Massachusetts General for Children were operating at 150 percent capacity, and there were few signs the surge was nearing an end.
In October, Mass General Brigham saw 2,000 cases of the virus. It has seen another 1,000 cases in just the first week of November. Of those, 250 have required some level of hospitalization, and 10 to 20 percent have required intensive care unit beds.
Each year, RSV lands 58,000 to 80,000 children younger than 5 in the hospital, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But this year, the virus has struck earlier than usual, likely because masking and social distancing during the first two years of the pandemic prevented children from developing immunity to RSV and other common bugs. Mass General Brigham clinicians also said this year’s surge is higher than what is typically seen in the winter months.
Clinicians noted that the vast majority of children infected with RSV recover.
“Usually those hospitalizations are brief, but it can be very severe,” said Dr. Brian Cummings, medical director in the Department of Pediatrics at Mass General for Children. “And so some patients may need breathing support in the pediatric intensive care unit.”
Boston Children’s Hospital said it has been at or over capacity for nearly six weeks and expected its number of patients would continue to climb into the winter. The hospital was postponing surgical cases where a delay wouldn’t be detrimental to a patient.
“We reach out to patients and families as soon as we know their case is being postponed,” said Kristen Dattoli, a spokesperson for the hospital. “We recognize this is upsetting to everyone.”
Boston Medical Center said it, too, had postponed several scheduled surgeries and was working daily with hospitals in the area to manage inpatient capacity.
Baystate Children’s Hospital is also delaying what few scheduled surgeries it has. It is also trying to create capacity in other ways. The pediatric hospital has asked community hospitals affiliated with the system to keep 18-to-21-year-old patients instead of sending them to the children’s hospital as they normally would. Overflow pediatric beds are also being put in the adult medical intensive care unit.
Meanwhile, the hospital is warily eyeing the rise in flu infections in Connecticut and the southern part of the country.
“We don’t have the beds for kids now for RSV and other respiratory viruses,” said Dr. Charlotte Boney, pediatrician-in-chief at Baystate Children’s Hospital. “We’re really worried about flu.”
Last Monday, the Department of Public Health issued guidance to hospitals dealing with the capacity crunch. The guidance included a recommendation that all emergency departments be prepared to provide oxygen support to children through high-flow nasal cannula — a treatment that patients would typically receive on a hospital floor after being admitted.
“Hopefully that frees up [beds],” Boney said.
The guidance added that all hospitals with licensed pediatric beds must be staffing them, even if it requires the facility to use temporary or contract labor to do so.
The DPH also suggested that younger patients could be admitted to neonatal intensive care units and that patients 15 and older could be admitted to adult medical-surgical or ICU floors, provided that pediatric experts were available to consult on the children’s care.
Hospitals should also use beds available at community hospitals and transfer patients there as appropriate, the guidance says.
Transferring patients to more intensive beds, however, has become exceedingly tricky. According to a rundown of bed availability provided daily by Boston MedFlight to area hospitals and obtained by the Globe, Massachusetts General Hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit was full on Thursday, as were all of its 21 neonatal intensive care unit beds. Brigham and Women’s Hospital had three of 60 NICU beds available.
No beds were available at Boston Medical Center’s or Baystate Medical Center’s pediatric intensive care units, or PICUs. PICUs were also full at New Hampshire’s Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, and Rhode Island’s Hasbro Children’s Hospital. Maine Medical Center had three available PICU beds.
According to Boston MedFlight, as of Thursday morning, there were only four available PICU beds in all of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Southern Maine, and Rhode Island.
In addition to delaying pediatric surgeries, some hospitals are having to provide care that normally would be delivered in the ICU in lower intensity beds, such as for a child in respiratory distress. And while the use of certain therapies might automatically send a patient to the ICU in the past, now it is a question of whether there is a bed.
“If they need the ICU and a bed is available, we will transfer them there. But we want to make sure we can deliver the care they need if a bed is not available,” Biddinger said. “That’s why lots of systems, including ours, are providing more support from our intensive care physicians and nurses to clinicians on the floor or in the ER, and trying to roll out additional support from respiratory therapists, and increased education on these therapies for clinicians in the pediatric setting overall.”
National data is showing earlier and higher RSV-associated hospitalizations this season than in years past. In the last five years, RSV hospitalizations didn’t peak until December and January. But last month, hospitalizations had already reached or exceeded the peaks of several previous years.
Even hospitals that haven’t yet delayed scheduled surgeries remain concerned about their capacity. South Shore Health said it is not postponing pediatric surgeries, though 14 of its 18 pediatric beds were occupied as of Wednesday morning.
UMass Memorial Medical Center said it was experiencing high pediatric patient volume due to RSV, flu, and COVID, combined with the ongoing behavioral health crisis. On Tuesday, the hospital’s pediatric bed capacity was at 115 percent — meaning that children who have been admitted to the hospital are having to wait in the ER until beds open up.
“At this time, pediatric elective surgeries have not been canceled, however, we continue to monitor the situation and review our bed status and each case to determine whether an elective procedure can be safely deferred or whether we have capacity to proceed,” said Dr. Lawrence Rhein, chair of the hospital’s pediatrics department.
Kay Lazar of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
Jessica Bartlett can be reached at jessica.bartlett@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @ByJessBartlett.
Jimmy Kimmel is sharing an update on his 5-year-old son Billy’s health following multiple heart surgeries.
On Saturday, Oct. 8, the comedian and his wife, former “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” writer Molly McNearney, spoke about their son while attending the 2022 Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Gala.
The talk show host, 54, had previously revealed in a monologue on his show in 2017 that Billy was born with serious heart defects and needed to have open-heart surgery at just three days old.
At the gala, Kimmel gushed that Billy is currently “doing great,” People reported.
“He still needs one open-heart surgery, but he’s doing great,” he explained.
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Gala 2022 (Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images for Children’s Hosp)
Kimmel added that Billy was “one big reason” the couple supports Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Their son was treated for a congenital heart defect called tetralogy of Fallot at the hospital.
“He has no idea what we’re up to (tonight), nor would he care,” the comedian told reporters, laughing. “I tried to explain the heart surgery to him because he has a bit of scar down the center of his chest, and he has almost no interest.”
Kimmel expressed his family’s gratitude for the charity, which he said he and his wife supported before Billy’s surgeries.
“Our son, Billy, had two open-heart surgeries here, he was born with two heart defects, and they fixed them up real good, so we’re very grateful,” he said.
He continued, “We never imagined that this organization that we’d supported financially and by hosting events for them would be a place that we needed to go — so that came as a bit of a shock, but it all worked out.”
The gala — which was held in Santa Monica, Calif. — recognized physicians, researchers and caregivers and the brave children they have healed. Chris and Robert Pine hosted the event and Justin Timberlake performed.
In May 2017, Kimmel shared with his audience that a nurse at Cedars-Sinai had noticed Billy was purple shortly after McNearney gave birth.
The parents later learned that their newborn had “a hole in the wall of the left and right side of his heart” and it was preventing enough oxygen from reaching his blood. The diagnosis meant Billy would need to have multiple surgeries throughout his life.
At the end of his monologue, he encouraged viewers to donate to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles to help other children battling life-threatening conditions.
In December 2017, Billy had his second successful heart surgery at 7 months old.
Throughout the years, Kimmel has repeatedly spoken about his son’s health and the importance of healthcare.
While celebrating Billy’s fifth birthday in April, Kimmel thanked the doctors who saved his son’s life.
He uploaded a picture to Instagram of Billy getting ready to blow out the candles on his miniature birthday cake.
“Happy 5th birthday to our little nut,” he began in the sweet caption. “We are eternally grateful to the brilliant doctors and nurses at @ChildrensLA & @CedarsSinai for saving Billy’s life and to those of you whose donations, prayers and positive thoughts meant everything. Please support families who need medical care.”
Kimmel and McNearney also share 8-year-old daughter Jane. Kimmel and his ex-wife Gina Maddy-Kimmel are parents to 31-year-old artist Katie Kimmel and 29-year-old actor Kevin Kimmel as well.
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
A team of researchers led by Northwestern University has developed a dissolvable implant that rapidly relieves pain without the use of drugs, according to a study published in Science.
The biocompatible implant is controlled by an external pump that allows the patient to activate it at the onset of pain and control its intensity. The implant would not require surgery to remove since it is water-soluble and will simply dissolve.
“The technology reported here exploits mechanisms that have some similarities to those that cause your fingers to feel numb when cold. Our implant allows that effect to be produced in a programmable way, directly and locally to targeted nerves, even those deep within surrounding soft tissues,” Rogers said.
The implant is 5 millimeters long at its widest point. It works by softly wrapping around a single nerve, while another end is attached to the control pump outside of the skin. The implant evaporates a liquid coolant in the targeted area, which numbs the nerve and blocks pain signals to the brain.
Evaporation is achieved via tiny microfluidic channels contained in the implant, one channel contains the coolant perfluoropentane — a clinically approved ultrasound contrast agent which is also used for pressurized inhalers, and another channel contains dry nitrogen, an inert gas. When the coolant and gas flow into the same chamber evaporation instantly occurs, and an integrated sensor monitors the nerve to make sure its temperature does not drop to a level that could cause tissue damage.
The implant is controlled by an external pump that allows the patient to activate it at the onset of pain. Northwestern
“Excessive cooling can damage the nerve and the fragile tissues around it,” Rogers said. “The duration and temperature of the cooling must therefore be controlled precisely. “By monitoring the temperature at the nerve, the flow rates can be adjusted automatically to set a point that blocks pain in a reversible, safe manner.”
“As you cool down a nerve, the signals that travel through the nerve become slower and slower – eventually stopping completely,” said study co-author Dr. Matthew MacEwan of Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis.
Researchers believe it will be a safe alternative to opioids. Northwestern
“We are specifically targeting peripheral nerves, which connect your brain and your spinal cord to the rest of your body. These are the nerves that communicate sensory stimuli, including pain.” Dr. MacEwan said, “by delivering a cooling effect to just one or two targeted nerves, we can effectively modulate pain signals in one specific region of the body.”
The researchers believe their device will be a safe alternative to opioids and other highly addictive medications. They foresee its greatest benefits going towards people who undergo routine surgeries and amputees who require post-surgery medications to manage pain.
“Although opioids are extremely effective, they also are extremely addictive,” Northwestern’s John A. Rogers, who led the device’s development told Reuters. “As engineers, we are motivated by the idea of treating pain without drugs.”
Rogers tells Smithsonian that further studies are necessary before the implant can be tested on humans, it was previously tested on rats. He says more must be learned about the human body to make the device more compatible and prevent possible side effects like overcooling.
”After you stop the cooling, how long does it take the nerve to kind of recover so you can restart the cooling?” he says. “Those are the kinds of studies that I think are the most important ones to conduct before using a device with humans.”
Orthopaedic surgery (surgery for problems related to bones, joints, tendons and ligaments) is the third most common reason Australians go under the knife.
Last year, more than 100,000 orthopaedic surgeries were performed in Australian public hospitals. As most orthopaedic surgeries are performed in private hospitals, the real number is much higher (and unfortunately unknown).
But what most people don’t know is that many common orthopaedic surgeries are not better for reducing pain than non-surgical alternatives that are both cheaper and safer, such as exercise programs. Some surgeries provide the same result as a placebo surgery, where the surgeon only conducts a joint examination, rather than performing the real surgery.
And contrary to popular opinions, placebos are not actually very powerful, so real surgery that isn’t better than a placebo should not be recommended.
In this article we discuss the evidence behind three commonly performed orthopaedic surgeries for back, knee and shoulder pain that might be doing patients (and their pockets) more harm than good.
Read more:
Antibiotics for colds, x-rays for bronchitis, internal exams with pap tests – the latest list of tests to question
Spinal fusion for back pain
Spinal fusion is the riskiest type of surgery for back pain and the most expensive orthopaedic procedure performed in Australia. Depending on your health insurance arrangements, the total cost of the surgery can be around A$58,000 and out-of-pocket costs might be close to A$10,000.
It involves permanently fusing two or more vertebrae together to stop them moving on each other, typically using metal implants and bone from other areas of the body.
It was originally conceived to treat broken spinal bones and some spine deformities, such as severe scoliosis (abnormal curvature of the spine). Surgeons’ justification for using this surgery has expanded over time and it is now the most common surgery to treat everyday back pain that isn’t caused by a serious issue like a fracture or infection.
This is despite evidence that spinal fusion is not more effective than non-surgical treatments (such as an exercise program) and often results in complications. About one in six patients experience a serious complication, such as an infection, blood clot, nerve injury, or heart failure. In New South Wales, only one in five workers who have spinal fusion return to work after two years and one in five have another spine surgery within two years.
Spinal fusion is not more effective than non-surgical treatments like exercise programs, and often results in complications. Shutterstock
Read more:
The coronavirus ban on elective surgeries might show us many people can avoid going under the knife
Arthroscopy for knee and shoulder pain
Arthroscopy is a type of keyhole surgery commonly used to treat knee osteoarthritis and shoulder pain. The surgery is used to remove or repair damaged pieces of bone or cartilage that are thought to cause pain.
Thousands of knee arthroscopies are performed every year. In 2013, more than 33,000 knee arthroscopies were performed in Australian hospitals. Since then, this number has reduced by around 40%.
Australian data shows the number of shoulder arthroscopies increased nearly 50% from 2000 to 2009. Since then, numbers have remained stable, at about 6,500 surgeries per year from 2009 until 2021.
The cost of these surgeries is substantial. Typical out-of-pocket costs for patients with private health insurance is A$400 and A$500 for knee and shoulder arthroscopy, respectively. Sometimes, out-of-pocket costs can be as high as A$1,900 to A$2,400, respectively.
High-quality research shows arthroscopy to treat osteoarthritis, wear and tear of the meniscus in the knee, and to remove inflamed and thickened bone and tissue in the shoulder is no better than placebo surgery.
Even though these surgeries are minimally invasive, they still result in substantial inconveniences. For example, it may take up to six weeks after shoulder arthroscopy for patients to perform simple daily activities like reaching above the head or driving, and up to three months to return to heavy work or sport.
Knee and shoulder arthroscopies for common complaints have been found to be no more effective than placebo – which is to say – not very effective. Shutterstock
Read more:
Surgery rates are rising in over-85s but the decision to operate isn’t always easy
So what are the alternatives?
Knowing what treatment options are available to you, and their benefits, harms, and costs is important to ensure you make the best choice for yourself. Luckily, there are tools available to help you. We’ve developed decision aids to help people with shoulder pain decide whether to have surgery or not (the tool is available here).
Our research has shown that people with back pain who seek a second opinion can avoid unnecessary spine surgery, including spinal fusion.
And avoid Dr Google. Information on the internet usually oversells the benefits and downplays the harms of common surgeries such as spinal fusion, shoulder arthroscopy, and surgery for a torn ACL (ligament in the knee). You will find misleading information even on websites from trustworthy sources such as government and university websites.
Before making a decision, make sure you ask your doctor the following questions:
am I more likely to get better with surgery than without it?
what happens if I choose not to have surgery?
what are the risks of having this surgery? Both during surgery (for example, anaesthesia) and after surgery (for example, complications)
have I received enough information about the benefits and harms of having surgery compared to other treatments (including doing nothing)?
Sometimes surgery is recommended because non-surgical treatment has not worked. Unfortunately, the failure of non-surgical treatment does not make the ineffective surgery any more effective. It still doesn’t work any more than not operating.
The available evidence tells us that the risks and inconveniences of the three surgeries discussed here do not outweigh the potential benefits.
At just 18-years-old, Jessica Pin believed she had an abnormal vagina.
Despite having labiaplasty surgery performed by a respected obstetrician-gynecologist, it went wrong, leaving her with severed nerves.
Because of this, Jessica has no sensation down below, as the dorsal nerves of her clitoris were damaged.
Jessica, who lives in San Francisco said that her whole labia minora was removed – and that the surgeon also reduced the size of her clitoral hood – which she says was performed without her consent.
Labiaplasty is a surgery which aims to reduce the size of the labia minora – the flaps of skin on either side of the opening of the vagina.
The procedure is also known as a “designer vagina” and should not be done on girls younger than 18.
While it’s completely normal to have skin folds at the opening of the vagina, some women opt for it because they don’t like the look of their labia.
According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the average cost for the procedure in the US, where Jessica had hers, is around $3,053, this is excluding anesthesia, operating room facilities or other related expenses.
Now after suffering severe mental health issues following her operation, Jessica is urging women to only go under the knife if it’s for medical reasons.
This could be because the excess labia twists and turns and causes irritation.
“I was in denial for years, thinking [the loss of feeling] was fixable, or there was some way around it.”
“Then I was suicidal for years. Trying to come to terms with it, it has been very difficult”, she told news.com.au.
Mental health problems are a serious issue and can cause people to consider taking their own life, as things can often seem too much.
Now, Jessica believes her operation was botched due to a lack of knowledge in the medical profession surrounding the clitoris.
When complaining about her lack of sensation, Jessica said she wasn’t believed and that doctors told her to “get over it”.
“The gaslighting made it much worse. For a long time, I was told it was all in my head.”
“Then I was told I was ‘making mountains out of molehills’ and asked why I was so obsessed with sex. I was told to just get over it. I was told that I was ‘normal’. I was told it was my fault”, she added.
Jessica said that surgeons underplay the risks linked to the procedure, which can include reduced sensitivity of the genitals, scarring tissue and infection.
Jessica now works as an advocate for women’s health, and has had pieces published about clitoral anatomy in medical journals. Instagram/@jessica_ann_pin
As with any type of operation there is also the risk of a blood clot in the vein and an allergic reaction to the anesthetic.
Since her experience, Jessica has published a complete anatomy of the clitoris in medical literature.
She first described her ordeal on Reddit, where she also asked other women with similar studies to come forward.
She also had a study published in the Aesthetic Surgery Journal.
This details how dorsal nerves in the clitoris are larger than once thought and that knowledge of these nerves should be highlighted before surgery is performed near the clitoris.
This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced here with permission.
Gov. Kathy Hochul continues to push vaccinations and testing as the state battles its worst COVID-19 wave in a year; still, she said Friday she was hopeful NY is seeing the first signs of the start of a plateau
Hospitalizations are the highest since April 2020 but don’t tell the whole story; 37% of admitted NY COVID patients have no symptoms and one CEO say it’s “very, very rare” to see a boosted patient admitted
In New York City, half of hospitalized patients diagnosed with COVID were admitted because of the virus; the other half were admitted for something else and found to have COVID during routine testing
A day after New York Gov. Kathy Hochul shared optimism over COVID case trends showing a slowing rate of growth, the state experienced another record-breaking day with 90,132 new positive cases reported Saturday.
Hochul reported 82,094 new COVID cases on Friday, which was a drop of a few hundred from the previous day and about 3,300 positives shy of the old single-day pandemic record of 85,476 she reported on New Year’s Day.
The 90,132 new positives account for roughly 21% of a whopping 425,782 total COVID-19 tests taken across the state. More than one in five New York COVID tests are coming back positive these days, and the city’s seven-day rolling average for positive tests is currently one in three.
“Our vaccination rate among children is still too low. parents and guardians don’t delay in getting your children vaccinated and boosted, if eligible. It’s safe and widely available. This is the one of the best ways to keep our numbers down, as well as wearing a mask and staying home if sick,” the governor said in Saturday’s daily COVID release.
The nation’s infectious disease expert spoke with NBC New York’s David Ushery, where he said he would be taking a wait-and-see approach when it comes to the possibility of mandating a fourth COVID vaccination later in 2022.
Also on Friday, the state revealed pediatric hospitalizations for COVID-19 increased eight-fold in New York from early December to late month, with the vast majority of those kids unvaccinated.
The new report follows on an ominous Christmas Eve advisory to pediatricians, warning that hospitalizations were quickly on the rise as the omicron variant tore through the state.
Friday’s report indicates the situation only continued to get worse after that. In the week that ended Jan. 1, there were 571 pediatric COVID hospitalizations statewide, the New York State Department of Health said, up from 70 just weeks previously.
Of those admitted, 91% of kids ages 5-11 were unvaccinated, as well as 65% of kids ages 12 to 17.
But overall, more than half of the hospitalizations were in kids ages 4 and under, who aren’t eligible for vaccines yet. Kids under age 4 represent about a quarter of all kids in the state, meaning they’re being hospitalized at about double their proportion of the population.
In New York City alone, COVID hospitalizations in those 18 and under increased 17-fold, more than double the growth rate for the population as a whole.
Hospital concerns have taken a renewed focus in upstate New York, with the state announcing Saturday the suspension of elective surgeries at 40 hospitals. The overwhelming majority of impacted hospitals reside in the Mohawk Valley, Finger Lakes and Central New York regions, according to the state announcement. No hospitals in New York City were added to the list.
Those hospitals in the state’s “high risk regions” must postpone the surgeries for at least two weeks while officials track the latest incoming data and hospital capacity.
“We will use every available tool to help ensure that hospitals can manage the COVID-19 winter surge,” Acting State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett said Saturday.
The head of the CDC, meanwhile, said Friday she doesn’t think the United States has hit omicron’s peak yet. But that could happen sooner than expected if the numbers in New York this week are any indication of what might come next.
A quick look at New York City’s case trends shows what appears to be a downtick in new cases, but the data is behind by four days. That blip on the seven-day average could reflect lower COVID testing numbers around the holidays rather than the first indications of omicron’s decline — or maybe not. Time will tell.
At the same time new cases slow from the exponential increases — doubling daily in New York City at times — the two lagging indicators, the ones about which officials are most concerned, hospitalizations and deaths, are rising considerably.
NYC Health Department
That has happened in nearly every wave of the pandemic so far. The governor reported 154 new COVID deaths on Saturday, one less than the day before which saw the highest single-day toll since the mass vaccination rollout.
Hospitalizations stand at 11,843 statewide as of Saturday, the highest total since April 28, 2020, and mark a nearly 300-patient increase over the last day. Nearly half of current admissions are in New York City.
“It’s still a number that’s very high. If this correlates properly to our number of cases then hospitalizations should start to see the beginnings of a plateau,” Hochul said.
Handout
Data showing non-COVID vs COVID share of NYS hospitalizations
The balance of COVID patients in New York hospitals as a share of the total has doubled since just before Christmas, state data shows, but those ratios alone do not tell the whole story. Forty-two percent of hospitalized COVID patients weren’t admitted because they were positive for COVID, state data shows.
They were admitted for another illness, tested as part of the routine admissions process and found to be positive for COVID. COVID still accounts as the primary diagnosis for hospitalized patients with the virus across the state (58% vs 42%), but a high relative share of people in the hospital with COVID didn’t go there because of it. That suggests the milder nature of omicron versus earlier variants, especially — again — when it comes to people who are fully vaccinated.
Manhattan emergency room Dr. Craig Spencer touched on that element in a lengthy Twitter thread earlier this week, when he said that with omicron, “people are getting really sick in a different way” — as in they come to the hospital because they’re sick from an underlying illness — and then they got COVID on top of that.
It’s not an all-out wave of omicron patients, he and others say. And that’s playing out in different ways across New York.
New York City, for example, where the split is most notable at 50-50, has the second-highest adult full vaccination rate (84.3%) of the state’s 10 regions behind only Long Island (86.6%), where one of the two county executives has been warring with the state over mask and other enhanced COVID protocol as of late.
Vaccination rates among children, whose hospitalization rates soared statewide in New York last month, vary more widely. More than 19.4% of NYC kids aged 5-11 are fully vaccinated, as are 71.8% of kids aged 12 to 17. On Long Island, those numbers are 16.2% and 64.6%, respectively.
Hochul called that a “very interesting snapshot” of what she’s seeing across the state. Thirty-seven percent of current state COVID hospitalizations are asymptomatic, the governor added.
Ultimately, fatalities will likely rise as a default consequence of the soaring hospitalization rates, but the milder nature of omicron vs. delta, along with the power of vaccinations to prevent severe illness and death, should mitigate the increases. And some of those who die may not be dying primarily of COVID at all.
Public health experts have said they don’t expect this latest COVID wave’s peak until February, though they acknowledge the virus’ unpredictability.
The head of the CDC says there certainly could be a rapid down-surge instead of a slow easing of cases, given how omicron has played out in countries that it hit first, like South Africa. But she doesn’t think the U.S. is at that point just yet.
“The number of cases are rising faster than the number of hospitalizations and deaths, although we’re now starting to see the number of hospitalizations rise as well,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky told NBC’s “TODAY” in a Friday interview. “The way it has peaked in other countries, in South Africa, it has come down rapidly as well, but I don’t believe we’ve seen the peak yet here in the United States.”
“I will say that our hospitals right now are full of people who are unvaccinated and that you are 17 times more likely to be in a hospital and 20 times more likely to die if you’re unvaccinated compared to if you’re boosted,” she added. “There’s a lot we can do in this moment, getting vaccinated, getting boosted. We have 99% of our counties in high transmission, wear your mask in public indoor settings.”
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky says she doesn’t believe the U.S. has reached the peak of the omicron coronavirus wave impacting the country.
Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order Friday to postpone elective hospital surgeries — something that hasn’t been done since the worst of the initial coronavirus outbreak last year.
Hochul said she made the move to deal with staffing shortages and boost bed capacity amid an anticipated “spike” in new cases and the emergence of the new Omicron variant in South Africa. The strain is named after a letter of the Greek alphabet.
“We’ve taken extraordinary action to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and combat this pandemic. However, we continue to see warning signs of spikes this upcoming winter, and while the new Omicron variant has yet to be detected in New York State, it’s coming,” Hochul said.
“In preparation, I am announcing urgent steps today to expand hospital capacity and help ensure our hospital systems can tackle any challenges posed by the pandemic as we head into the winter months. The vaccine remains one of our greatest weapons in fighting the pandemic, and I encourage every New Yorker to get vaccinated, and get the booster if you’re fully vaccinated.”
The governor decided to implement these measures in response to the emergence of the new COVID variant Omicron found in South Africa.AP
The edict curbing non-essential surgeries will kick in for hospitals with a limited capacity — defined as at or below 10 percent of available staffed bed capacity.
The new protocols will take effect on Friday, Dec. 3, and will be re-evaluated based on the latest COVID-19 data on Jan. 15.
The executive order will also enable the state to more quickly any critical supplies to combat the pandemic, she said.
Gov. Kathy Hochul says her executive order will increase New York’s ability to fight a projected rise in COVID cases. Robert Miller
Hochul’s action comes as her upstate neighbors have been ignoring her pleas to get vaccinated.
The upstate regions have both the highest COVID-19 positivity rates and stubbornly lowest vaccination rates compared to New York City, state Department of Health Department data reveal.
While advising residents to continue mask-wearing indoors and to practice good hygiene and get tested for COVID-19, she added, “The vaccine also remains one of our greatest weapons in fighting the pandemic, and this news further emphasizes the need for each of us to get vaccinated and get the booster if you’re fully vaccinated.”
Upstate New York has the highest COVID rates but the lowest vaccination rates in the state. NurPhoto via Getty Images
But the COVID-19 positivity rate has been soaring upstate entering the Thanksgiving weekend while remaining low in New York City.
“The virus is still lurking among us,” said Ayman El-Mohandes, dean of the CUNY School of Public Health. “The low vaccination rates and high positivity rate upstate is very concerning.”
The highest COVID-19 positivity rate in the state was in her Hochul’s backyard — the Buffalo/Western New York region, where 9.67 percent of residents test positive as of Thursday. Erie County has re-imposed a mask mandate indoors to address the flare-up in cases.
There are counties in upstate New York where fewer than 70% of eligible people have been vaccinated. REUTERS
The three-days average COVID positivity rate by other regions: Finger Lakes, 8.85 percent; North Country/Adirondacks: 7.82 percent; Mohawk Valley, 7.7 percent; Syracuse/Central NY, 6.46 percent; and the Albany/Capital Region, 6.96 percent.
Meanwhile the positivity rate in New York City — where there are strong mandates for government workers to get vaccinated — the positivity rate 1.65 percent. That’s less than half the state’s 3.84 percent average.
Elsewhere, the positivity rate is 3.14 percent in the mid-Hudson Valley and 4.40 percent in Long Island, the analysis shows.
Meanwhile, the state DOH’s vaccine tracker finds there are 18 counties upstate where fewer than 70 percent of adults have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine.
Only 52.9 percent of adults ages 18 and over in Allegheny County in the Southern Tier region have been vaccinated, followed by Tioga County in the North Country, where just 57.5 percent residents got at least one jab.
The statewide adult vaccination rate average is 90 percent.
The vaccination rate in Eric County, which includes Hochul’s native Buffalo is 80 percent — meaning one in five adults has not gotten a shot. In neighboring Niagara County, one in four adults are unvaccinated.
By comparison in New York City, 97 percent of Queens adults and 94 percent of Manhattan adults are vaccinated, followed by the Bronx, Staten Island and Brooklyn with vaccination rates of 86.4 percent, 84.4 percent and 82.9 percent respectively.
A recent CUNY School of Public Health survey of five U.S. metro areas found that households with lower incomes and expressing more conservative ideology were strongly linked to vaccine resistance. El-Mohandes said opposition to vaccination could be a contributing factor to the lower vaccination and higher coronavirus positivity rates upstate.
“Leaders of all political stripes should encourage their communities to get vaccinated. The more we are protected, the less likely we will see variants,” El-Mohandes said.
