Month: October 2021

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Losing visceral fat more important than overall weight

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According to a small study, even people of moderate weight can reverse diabetes by losing visceral fat. EMS-FORSTER-PRODUCTIONS/Getty Images
  • Researchers have shown that for people with overweight or obesity, losing weight can reverse type 2 diabetes.
  • In a small study, the team found that weight loss reversed type 2 diabetes in participants, even though their body mass index (BMI) was in a moderate range.
  • The study authors believe that lowering levels of fat around the organs may be more important than lowering BMI.

In a small, preliminary study, researchers have found that people with type 2 diabetes who also have a BMI that falls within a moderate range can reverse their diabetes by losing weight.

The researchers reported their findings at the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes, accounting for around 91.2{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of diabetes cases in the United States.

The condition occurs when a person’s body does not produce enough insulin or if the insulin no longer works effectively. Insulin normally helps glucose enter the cells of the body. In the absence of insulin, glucose stays in the blood, where it can damage organs and tissues.

This means that a person with type 2 diabetes has an increased risk of several health issues, including stroke, heart disease, issues with their feet, kidney disease, dental issues, and bladder problems.

According to researchers writing in the journal Nutrients, scientists for a long time believed that type 2 diabetes was incurable, so they primarily focused on how people should manage symptoms of the condition.

However, evidence now suggests that if individuals who are overweight or have obesity achieve and maintain weight loss, they can reverse type 2 diabetes.

In the present small, preliminary study, researchers have gone one step further and examined whether weight loss might reverse type 2 diabetes even in those whose weight falls within the moderate BMI range.

Medical News Today spoke with the study’s first author, Dr. Ahmad Al-Mrabeh, a Transitional Research Fellow at the Centre for Cardiovascular Science at Queen’s Medical Research Institute at the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom.

He explained that they decided to explore whether weight loss could be effective at reversing type 2 diabetes for people with moderate BMI after looking at the results of their previous research.

“We observed that the metabolic profile changed markedly after following a low calorie diet even when the change in body weight was […] minor. We, therefore, wanted to test whether inducing modest weight loss could achieve remission in those who are non-obese,” said Dr. Al-Mrabeh.

According to the principal investigator of the study, Prof. Roy Taylor, Director of the Newcastle Magnetic Resonance Centre at Newcastle University, U.K., “[o]ur previous research has shown that weight loss of 10–15{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} can achieve remission in people with type 2 diabetes who are overweight or obese.”

“Doctors tend to assume, however, that type 2 diabetes has a different cause in those who aren’t overweight. This means that, unlike those who are overweight, those who are of [moderate] weight aren’t usually advised to lose weight before being given diabetes drugs and insulin.”

“Instead, there’s a tendency to start them on insulin and other medication at a much earlier stage.”

“What we’ve shown is that if those of [moderate] weight lose 10-15{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of their weight, they have a very good chance of getting rid of their diabetes.”

“This should be a wake-up call to doctors, and, with 1 in 10 of the 4.5 million people with type 2 diabetes in the U.K. of [moderate] weight at diagnosis, there is no time to be lost in getting the message across.”

– Prof. Taylor

The study involved just 23 people. Of these, 12 individuals had a type 2 diabetes diagnosis with an average age of 58.3 years and an average BMI of 24.5. The remaining 11 did not have diabetes and were of similar age and BMI. This group acted as the control.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) classify BMI scores of 18.5–24.9 as “healthy.”

All participants followed a low calorie diet for 2 weeks, consuming no more than 800 calories each day. The researchers then supported them to maintain their new weight for 4–6 weeks.

They completed this cycle two or three times until all participants had reduced their body weight by 10–15{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809}.

The researchers measured each participants’ visceral fat and insulin sensitivity before, during, and after the study.

At the end of the study, the researchers matched the people with diabetes with control participants of the same age, sex, and BMI. The scientists found that the individuals with diabetes lost more than twice as much fat in their liver compared with the controls.

In the diabetes group, fat in the pancreas reduced from 5.1{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} to 4.5{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809}. Also, their average triglyceride levels fell from 1.6 millimoles per liter to 1.0 millimoles per liter — a significant reduction similar to the control group.

Most significantly, two-thirds of the participants found that their type 2 diabetes went into remission and could stop taking their medication.

Prof. Taylor says that “[t]hese results, while preliminary, demonstrate very clearly that diabetes is not caused by obesity but by [carrying too much weight] for your own body. It’s due to having too much fat in your liver and pancreas, whatever your BMI.”

“In the liver, this excess fat prevents insulin from working normally. In the pancreas, it causes the beta cells to stop producing insulin.”

Dr. Al-Mrabeh said to MNT that the results may be reproducible in larger studies, “however, it is important to understand the mechanisms of excess fat buildup within these vital metabolic organs (liver and pancreas) in non-obese people.”

Speaking with MNT, Prof. Pål R. Njølstad, Leader of the Center for Diabetes Research at the University of Bergen, Norway, said that “[t]he findings are interesting and indicate that weight loss is also important in non-obese individuals with type 2 diabetes.”

Prof. Njølstad added that “[m]ore studies are needed with an increased number of study participants and increased time of follow up, in addition to investigating the effect of other factors, such as age, sex, and ethnicity.”

Dr. Al-Mrabeh said to MNT that he will continue developing the initial findings.

“I have recently moved to the University of Edinburgh to establish an independent research program looking into the mechanisms of how excess fat causes damage to the pancreas in type 2 diabetes. My aim is to dissect these mechanisms using both human and animal studies.”

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Eating fruit and veg associated with kids’ mental well-being

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A recent review appeared for backlinks concerning diet and psychological nicely-getting in small children. xavierarnau/Getty Illustrations or photos
  • Several things impact psychological effectively-becoming, together with nutrition.
  • A modern examine uncovered that feeding on extra fruits and veggies was connected to much better mental effectively-becoming amongst little ones.
  • On the other hand, young children who skipped foods were being additional likely to have lower perfectly-remaining scores.

Despite the fact that nicely-becoming between adults and youngsters is identical, it is not exactly the similar for both equally groups. Little ones are even now escalating, and various things require to be taken into account when analyzing children’s well being.

A single place of fascination is the affiliation in between diet and children’s psychological properly-being. A new study, which appears in the journal BMJ Diet, Prevention & Well being, indicates that kids who eat much more fruits and vegetables are far more probably to have a improved perception of psychological nicely-remaining than those who take in less.

The Facilities for Ailment Command and Avoidance (CDC) offer the adhering to definition of what it means for kids to be mentally healthy:

“Being mentally balanced during childhood usually means reaching developmental and psychological milestones and discovering healthier social techniques and how to cope when there are challenges. Mentally healthful little ones have a good quality of daily life and can perform nicely at home, in faculty, and in their communities.”

Psychologist and effectively-currently being specialist Lee Chambers further more stated the affect of children’s mental very well-becoming to Health care Information Now:

“Mental very well-staying in small children performs a critical part in more than their health outcomes. Constructive psychological perfectly-getting is affected by a range of things, and, in transform, impacts a selection of results, from instruction to health [and from] friendships to determination making.”

Chambers carries on, “It also gives the platform to acquire resilience, cope with stressors, and grow to be rounded and wholesome grownups. It is also pivotal in their ability to be harmless and for balanced interactions.”

“In an more and more dynamic and unsure planet, mental nicely-being provides the foundations for little ones to create upon, to explore and find out, to engage in and have fun, and to navigate the challenges and adversity that arrive with staying human.”

Investigation is ongoing when it arrives to understanding the factors that affect mental health and fitness and very well-getting. The connection in between nourishment and psychological health and fitness is an space of fantastic interest — notably concerning how nourishment is linked to the mental very well-staying of small children.

The authors of the current study notice that:

“Nutrition, a modifiable component at both equally an specific and societal level, is an significant affect on health in the course of the everyday living training course, is intricately included in [the] growth and standard working of the overall body, and thus has the opportunity to have an affect on both actual physical health and fitness and psychological perfectly-currently being.”

The the latest examine was a cross-sectional study that examined the affiliation in between children’s intake of fruits and veggies, their food decisions, and their psychological properly-staying.

Researchers collected facts from a lot more than 50 faculties, including major colleges, secondary schools, and further more schooling schools.

In the United Kingdom, major college young children are aged 5–11 several years, and secondary college children are aged 11–16 yrs.

Based on the U.K.’s process, the oldest youngsters involved in the review would be the equal of seniors in United States high universities. The youngest young children included in the analysis had been 8 years outdated.

These knowledge arrived from The Norfolk Small children and Younger People’s Health and fitness and Wellbeing Survey 2017. A full of 10,853 youngsters crammed out this study.

For learners in secondary college, the researchers utilised a psychological wellbeing evaluation known as the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale. For college students in key university, they used an assessment termed the Stirling Children’s Well-Becoming Scale.

Equally of these assessments use a program whereby a greater rating indicates a higher degree of well-getting.

The study also requested about the children’s consumption of fruits and veggies and the forms of breakfasts and lunches they ate.

The researchers also gathered facts on other covariates, these types of as:

  • nourishment, together with alcohol intake, free of charge faculty food status, and weight gratification
  • demographics, which includes age, ethnicity, and degree of deprivation
  • wellbeing, such as very long-phrase sicknesses and disability standing
  • residing scenario, like no matter if or not children had their possess rooms and whether or not or not their mothers and fathers or caregivers smoked
  • adverse ordeals, including difficulties such as experience harmless and bullying

Some of these covariates, these kinds of as alcoholic beverages use, were not provided in the study for primary faculty youngsters due to the fact the researchers deemed them inappropriate.

The analyze discovered that better amounts of fruit and vegetable usage ended up associated with larger mental very well-currently being scores amid secondary faculty small children.

It also found that, in secondary school kids, only consuming an strength consume as a substitute of breakfast was related with decreased mental very well-staying scores than not taking in breakfast at all.

For both of those principal and secondary university young children, the researchers uncovered that mental very well-currently being scores ended up higher for these who experienced breakfast or lunch than for kids who did not eat these meals.

Study co-writer Prof. Ailsa Welch highlighted the next conclusions to MNT:

“In a course of 30 secondary faculty kids, we observed that [four] had absolutely nothing to eat or drink in advance of starting off lessons in the early morning, and [three] had nothing to take in or drink ahead of the afternoon. Only 25{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of youngsters ate [five] or additional fruits and veggies a day, and 1 in 10 ate none.”

“These stats are concerning, as weak nourishment is possible to effects on academic overall performance at college as nicely as development and growth,” Prof. Welch included.

“The decreased mental nicely-getting scores of individuals who had no breakfast and of those people who experienced no lunch were being of the very same scale as individuals who witnessed frequent arguing or violence at house on a frequent foundation.”

– Prof. Ailsa Welch

The researchers notice a couple restrictions to their examine. For starters, because the small children only took the questionnaires once, the scientists could not monitor changes in effectively-becoming and diet regime over time.

Secondly, the data collection relied on self-reporting from small children, which has the opportunity to be inaccurate. They also observe that some of the thoughts associated to the children’s diet programs were simplistic.

Based on past research and the study’s results, the examine authors advocate for educational institutions to work to make certain that that healthy food items is offered to all children.

Prof. Welch emphasised to MNT that:

“Good quality nourishment demands to be offered to all young children of faculty age to optimize psychological properly-getting and empower children to satisfy their full likely. The associations found between diet and psychological properly-becoming in our research mean that approaches to strengthen nutrition in university kids need to have to be investigated and applied.”

Prof. Welch also famous that we need to have to comprehend the causes that some college students are not consuming meals. She informed MNT:

“Further investigations are expected to uncover the good reasons why some kids are not possessing breakfast, and/or lunch, or are consuming electricity drinks only. These may possibly involve social, cultural, expertise, and financial aspects, such as provision and obtain to [fruits] and veggies getting constrained in locations of deprivation.”

Over-all, this hyperlink in between nutrition and mental nicely-becoming emphasizes the great importance of addressing the nutritional demands of little ones when considering their psychological perfectly-being.

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PCOS in Women of Color: Its true impact

In the United States and the United Kingdom, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) affects 1 in 10 women. This condition disproportionately affects Women of Color. To find out more, Medical News Today spoke with three Women of Color living with this condition to learn how the disorder has affected their health. We also sought the opinions of two medical experts.

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How does PCOS affect Women of Color? We investigate. Image credit: Jasmin Merdan/Getty Images

Existing research indicates that PCOS, which is an endocrine system disorder, affects approximately 8–13{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of women of reproductive age worldwide.

PCOS can cause the ovaries to become covered with small cysts or fluid-filled sacs, sometimes leading to symptoms such as irregular periods, weight gain, and acne.

The variability in symptoms and how they present in different people means that up to 75{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of women with PCOS do not receive a diagnosis for their condition.

This is significant because PCOS is linked to other serious health conditions, such as metabolic and cardiovascular comorbidities, infertility, pregnancy complications, psychological disorders, and cancer.

Moreover, racial bias in medical settings, as well as sociocultural taboos around infertility and weight gain — two of the effects of PCOS on health — can also negatively affect the way in which doctors perceive PCOS and treat the condition in Women of Color.

Medical News Today has spoken with three women living with this condition to learn more about their experiences of getting a diagnosis and navigating PCOS despite receiving little or no treatment. We also found out about the subsequent impact on their health.

For an expert outlook on the misconceptions surrounding PCOS and how it affects certain people, we spoke with Dr. Cindy Duke and Dr. Dominique Warren, both of whom are certified obstetricians and gynecologists.

Many people regard PCOS as an invisible illness because it sometimes — particularly in Black and Asian groups —produces “silent” metabolic symptoms, such as insulin resistance and impaired glucose metabolism.

This can be an issue for these groups because, as some studies have shown, from a biological point of view, PCOS may manifest differently for them, which can complicate the process of receiving a correct diagnosis.

Dr. Duke explained to MNT: “There are many [doctors] who use metabolic syndrome as part of their criteria for diagnosing PCOS, which is inaccurate and goes against diagnostic guidelines. Those who may not demonstrate the usual [symptoms] or happen to be on the leaner side have what looks like normal glucose metabolism, and depending on the type of test you’re told to have done, you could be incorrectly told you don’t have PCOS.”

Without early interventions, PCOS can lead to serious long-term health conditions, partly due to the complexity that causes misdiagnosis and lack of care.

This is what happened to Monica, a 46-year-old Black woman from the U.S., who told us about her experience as a young adult:

“I visited the doctor after having sporadic periods […]. I wasn’t diagnosed with PCOS because then, it [irregular periods] wasn’t enough to be considered a characteristic of PCOS. You had to be overweight.”

Monica continued: “I went to a physician’s office. He handed me a [prescription] for birth control pills [and] told me to prepare for adoption.”

At the time, she weighed 110 pounds — approximately 50 kilograms — and doctors considered her to be underweight. She continued to have irregular cycles before seeking medical advice again at the age of 27.

“I had an adverse reaction to the medication […] and also gained 30 pounds in a month,” Monica told us.

Once a test detected high levels of estrogen, the doctor suspected PCOS and referred Monica to an endocrinologist for a formal diagnosis.

Obtaining a PCOS diagnosis has improved over the years since the Rotterdam Criteria established that a woman might have the disorder if she experiences any two out of the three major symptoms: polycystic ovaries, high androgen levels, and irregular menstrual cycles.

However, Dr. Warren commented, “some primary care doctors may find it difficult to understand the criteria and what to look out for,” as PCOS tends to present as a spectrum of symptoms, and it has had various descriptions over the years.

She explained that “you might have a person that has a period every 5 weeks, so they seem to be quite regular but are just outside the norm. Then, the other spectrum of people don’t have periods at all.”

“Those [with seemingly regular periods] may not realize there is an issue until they try to get pregnant. They [may] go to the [doctor] because they have an issue with acne, facial hair, or weight […] but may be told to go on the pill because they have regular periods.”

– Dr. Dominique Warren

MNT spoke with another contributor, 22-year-old Nikita, who is Asian and from the U.K. In line with Dr. Warren’s insight, she recounted how PCOS symptoms can vary and present differently among individuals.

Nikita had to wait for 7 years to receive a diagnosis.

At the age of 13, after speaking with a family member with diagnosed PCOS, she suspected that she had it, as she had symptoms such as irregular periods and excessive facial hair growth.

However, she stated, “[Over the next few years], I made numerous […] trips [to the doctor], and the doctors weren’t doing anything”. Doctors also told her that the issues with facial hair were due to puberty.

“At one point, I saw my doctor because I was having bad dizzy spells. He asked me what I wanted him to diagnose me with. I was so offended. Then, [at the age of 19], I went back for vaginal discharge issues, and that’s when they [the doctor] looked into it and found bacterial vaginosis.”

She added that “[t]hey did a cervix check and other tests,” which finally confirmed her PCOS diagnosis.

June-Ann, a 32-year-old Black woman, also from the U.K., was the only one of our contributors who received her diagnosis relatively quickly, at the age of 17, despite having regular cycles.

Her doctor referred her for a vaginal ultrasound to investigate the severe pelvic pain she was experiencing during ovulation.

“I was told there were cysts on my ovaries, and the blood test [indicated] PCOS,” she told us.

The experiences of two of the three women we interviewed are consistent with concerns about the impact of “healthcare gaslighting” — the repeated denial of someone’s reality in an attempt to invalidate or dismiss their health concerns.

A study published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes in 2015 suggests that delays in diagnosis can also occur as a result of women’s anxiety about doctors construing their complaints as trivial.

It could partly explain the low rates of recorded diagnoses of PCOS among women with at least two of the three Rotterdam criteria.

There is often a misconception that PCOS symptoms only affect physical health. As a result of cultural taboos and stigmas associated with body image and mental health in Communities of Color, metabolic symptoms tend to be overlooked due to their “invisibility.”

This affects how quickly these groups seek medical intervention and consequently increases the risk of other health conditions developing later in life.

Dr. Duke suggested, “[c]linicians themselves sometimes have weird cultural biases and cultural norms because PCOS is poorly or inadequately taught in medical school and training.“

“If you’re an OB-GYN [obstetrician-gynecologist], you may come across it again after medical school, […] but even for most OB-GYN, unless they’re going into a subspecialty that focuses on PCOS, many decide it’s too complicated because there are variations,” she pointed out.

A 2015 study showed that unconscious bias and other race-related disparities are associated with differences in access to care and the use of treatment.

The change in Monica’s experience since diagnosis is consistent with this finding. She reflected on her experience, noting, “[n]ow that I am overweight, my treatment is very different.”

Due to relocating several times over the years, Monica saw several physicians and revealed that “most were dismissive” of her health concerns and usually commented on her weight but did not provide the appropriate healthcare for her PCOS.

She sought care from an endocrinologist, assuming her treatment would be more robust due to their specialism: “[She] constantly berated me, telling me I needed to lose weight. I remember I went in for one visit […], and she told me I look[ed] like I was eating whatever I wanted to eat. I never went back to her again after that.”

Monica was a U.S. size 8 (U.K. size 12) at the time. “I’m a Black female. I had big thighs […]. I just had certain things that were part of my heritage that I couldn’t get rid of,” she said.

Women of Color frequently report incidents of weight bias during medical consultations. Healthcare professionals often make assumptions about their diets being poor and do not offer them helpful advice on nutrition or exercise.

June-Ann referred to a time she struggled to lose weight, despite making efforts to exercise. “My doctor insinuated that I’m not trying hard enough,” she recalled.

“I never went to the doctor about my sleep apnea because I was scared that they would also correlate it with being overweight [as opposed to PCOS being the cause],” she added.

Assumptions about Black women’s body weight and diet persist despite the fact that their weight is often actually within the range classified as healthy.

Dr. Warren pointed out that “Black women aren’t always associated with obesity. They can be what I would consider a ‘normal’ BMI [body mass index] but with PCOS […].”

This suggests that medical professionals are not always considering the medical history of their patients and the sociodemographic and lifestyle factors that contribute to their health status.

Data published in the Journal of Women’s Health investigated the disparities in the extent to which people belonging to different ethnic groups underestimate their weight. The authors conclude that these disparities are due to differences in weight perception or a knowledge gap in interpreting what constitutes excess body weight.

Dr. Duke reiterated that weight is not necessarily an indicator of PCOS. She further explained how misdiagnosis, when inappropriately applying weight as a diagnostic criterion, occurs.

“[W]omen who present with polycystic ovaries but nothing else [are correctly] told they do not have PCOS [in the eyes of some healthcare professionals] […], yet when [they are] overweight, the doctor decides [they have] PCOS even though they don’t meet any other actual diagnostic criteria,” she noted.

“It’s very complex [when it comes to associating body weight with a health diagnosis], due to what we call ‘phenotypes‘[…]. To keep up-to-date and informed, we need to also have what I call ‘multidisciplinary teams.’”

This involves input from physicians, culturally competent nutritionists, fitness professionals, and mental health practitioners, as the international PCOS guidelines propose.

The impact of PCOS on Women of Color — specifically the way in which it affects their body image, could sometimes also be due to how family members and others within their community perceive and treat them.

Nikita revealed how much emphasis is placed on taking care of your image in her Trinidadian culture. “Bodily hair is so frowned upon […], and [it comes across as] a woman is choosing to not look after herself,” she said.

After family members mocked her during a visit to Trinidad, she said: “I finally paid £1,000 for laser treatment [to remove body hair] […]. I was devastated [when it grew back] because I had saved that money for so long.”

Dr. Duke demystified how cultural taboos inform negative body constructs. “We all grew up knowing of women who have hairy faces […], and instead of a conversation about the [possible] underlying condition, there’s a tease,” she said.

In some cases, the cultural silence and stigma around these issues could be what causes disinformation and prevents Women of Color from seeking healthcare.

Nikita expressed the relief she felt on learning to embrace her facial hair through support from her mother, who had had a similar experience.

Dr. Duke endorsed the importance of normalizing conversations across generations to educate families and communities, emphasizing her hopes for a better-informed future: “30 years from now, I don’t want to hear that young women didn’t know about their PCOS until later.”

A study featuring in Nature Medicine, which looked at the transgenerational risks for PCOS, suggests that facilitating earlier lifestyle and medical interventions could reduce the risk of other health conditions in those with this condition.

The lack of satisfactory care after diagnosis is also a major barrier for women from historically marginalized groups who live with this condition.

All the contributors spoke with MNT about the lack of treatment and how it caused other issues, affecting their mental health and quality of life.

For her part, June-Ann complained: “There has been no aftercare. I had anxiety and depression, and I was just given medication [birth control pills].”

“I was warned, ‘You may not be able to have kids’ […] so come back [for advice] when you’re ready,” she also told us. As this was not June-Ann’s personal priority at the time, she was left to manage her condition on her own.

To do so, she focused on lifestyle changes such as exercise, dietary supplements, and therapy.

Another observation that all our contributors made was that doctors placed more emphasis on the reproductive problems attributed to PCOS, even though none of the women had mentioned this as a future health concern after diagnosis.

MNT asked both health experts why this was the case, and Dr. Warren suggested that it might be “because you can do something to treat that [infertility] with a baby as an outcome.”

Dr. Duke elaborated on this issue, saying:

“Most of [what] we use to treat PCOS is re-appropriated from other medical conditions. They’re not putting research and development into therapies specific for PCOS because there’s no money in it as a field, [but] there’s money if you’re infertile and you need treatment.”

There were parallels in the experiences of all our contributors, who talked about how the lack of satisfactory aftercare caused their depression.

Both Monica and Nikita, in particular, were transparent about how they experienced other long-term health issues due to the lack of treatment they received, which further decreased their mental well-being.

Nikita recalled the time she sought advice from her doctor, who referred her for cognitive behavioral therapy.

Nikita only had two sessions until she stopped attending. She described her counselor as “dismissive” and “insensitive” whenever she spoke about her period.

Like June-Ann, she is now relying on personal lifestyle adjustments to improve her mental health.

Our other contributor, Monica, referred to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as the worst period of her depression, saying that “[t]he biggest part [of PCOS] that has affected me is the weight gain and the depression […].”

At the start of the pandemic, she noted, it was “through the roof, and I no longer cared about my health so didn’t seek help. That is how I developed hypothyroidism.”

Their experiences demonstrate that there needs to be a focus on how to support people with PCOS-associated mental health problems, with attention to weight, body image, and fertility, as these are often prevalent taboo topics.

All or most of the contributors who spoke with MNT mentioned healthcare gaslighting, the perpetuation of cultural taboos and stigmas, as well as the lack of treatment as causes behind the inadequate care that Women of Color who live with PCOS continue to experience.

MNT asked all our contributors how they think that PCOS care can be improved. The consensus was that educating the wider PCOS community, receiving empathy and compassion from support networks, and finally allowing people with the condition to feel heard could improve ongoing care.

The lack of support from the medical community would explain why 30{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of women with PCOS rely on online forums for support, according to some U.K. data.

Both of the medical experts we interviewed explained how beneficial online platforms can be, offering their own advocacy work as an example.

Dr. Warren is the founder of The Ovary Story, an online platform that empowers girls and women to educate themselves about their reproductive system and the health conditions that can occur from puberty through to postmenopause. The platform exists to encourage open conversation.

Dr. Duke talked about My Dynamic Uterus, her online movement reaching 18,100 members, which is “intended to explore the […] often unheard narratives of people born with a uterus or ovaries, or those who care for them, through diverse and guided perspectives; from expert professionals and affected individuals around the globe.”

June-Ann, who remarked that “there are a lot of [resources for] African Americans, but there [aren’t] a lot of British Black people talking about PCOS,” started her own successful Black Broke & Anxious Podcast, born out of her therapeutic journey.

Likewise, “suffering in silence” inspired Nikita to create her Instagram awareness page. Since sharing her journey, she has received messages from women worldwide who say they feel “less alone.”

Demonstrating that advocacy and awareness go beyond social media, Monica volunteers for PCOS Challenge: The National Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Association, a leading nonprofit organization that provides support and advocacy for people dealing with PCOS globally.

As a member of the patient advisory board, she is currently part of a project creating a registry to house data in one space so that research is more readily accessible for clinicians and researchers.

In speaking with MNT, she also strongly encouraged Black women to be more vocal about their health concerns: “To be taken more seriously […], we have to [reveal] doctors’ dismissiveness. [Otherwise], nothing’s ever going to change.”

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Today’s coronavirus news: Ontario cracks down on businesses that flout vaccine certificate rules; Province reports 1,315 new COVID-19 cases over the past two days

The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Friday. This file will be updated throughout the day. Web links to longer stories if available.

7.06 p.m. The COVID-19 pandemic has made a bad situation worse for the homeless and housing resources in British Columbia’s capital, where shelter spaces are scarce for those who test positive for the virus, the province’s housing minister says, The Canadian Press reports.

David Eby said Friday he had hoped that once tent encampments were dismantled, the Crown agency BC Housing and provincial staff would be able to find more permanent solutions for the homeless, but a surge in COVID-19 cases hasn’t made that possible, according to CP.

“As the pandemic continues … we’re faced with a very real prospect, again, of not being able to provide supportive shelter for everyone who is COVID-positive and living in Victoria,” he said.

Many resources, such as non-profit organizations, were nearly overwhelmed as tent encampments around the region were dismantled and shelter spaces had to be found for those residents, he said.

“While this was a critical COVID response, and that response has helped ensure we don’t have COVID ripping through outdoor encampments across the city of Victoria today, it pushed many resources to the breaking point,” Eby said.

The province, along with the local health authority and city, announced the creation of 50 new COVID-19 isolation shelter spots to help those who have contracted the virus and want to live indoors.

The new spaces will be split between 30 spots in existing shelters and 20 in pop-up locations, Eby said. They will be temporary, and there are no plans to continue operating them after the pandemic.

Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps said the city has been working with the provincial government and Island Health to find a solution.

The city has been put in the difficult position of trying to keep parks open for the public as well as allowing homeless people to stay as they may be struggling with mental or other health conditions, she said.

“Sleeping in a tent in a park is neither a housing nor health solution,” Helps said.

3.09 p.m. British Columbia’s provincial health officer has mandated masks for all schoolchildren across the province after three school districts announced their own policies to include kindergarten-to-Grade 3 students, reports The Canadian Press.

Dr. Bonnie Henry says she has heard the concerns of parents as COVID-19 cases have risen over the last couple of weeks among kids, especially those between the ages of five and 11, and in communities with lower vaccination rates, according to CP.

Henry says her school mask mandate will be in place until at least January, when it will be assessed based on whether vaccines would be available for children under 12.

She says school staff who were prioritized for vaccination should be immunized, as well, to reduce the risk of COVID-19 entering schools at a time when more respiratory illnesses are circulating and so that families can gather for Thanksgiving.

School districts in Vancouver, Surrey and Burnaby had already announced that a provincial mask mandate for students in Grade 4 and up would be extended to younger kids, leaving 57 other school districts to either introduce policies independently or wait for Henry to impose a province-wide measure.

2:45 p.m. Following the suspension of a Kingston pub’s liquor licence, Ontario’s alcohol regulation agency says there will be “consequences” for businesses that do not comply with the province’s new vaccine certificate rules.

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario suspended the sports pub’s liquor licence on Thursday after the Kingston Public Health Unit received complaints that J.A.K.K. Tuesdays was not asking customers for their proof-of-vaccination, a requirement of all indoor dining businesses.

J.A.K.K. Tuesdays is the first business to have its liquor licence revoked since the certificate rules went into effect last week, but it might not be the last.

In a statement to the Star, the AGCO said that businesses that do not comply with the regulation could face fines, temporary suspensions of their liquor licence, or — in the most extreme circumstances — a complete revocation of the licence.

Read the full story here from Jacob Lorinc

2 p.m. Alberta’s Opposition NDP is urging Premier Jason Kenney to make sure every member of his United Conservative caucus is vaccinated against COVID-19.

Thomas Dang, the NDP’s deputy house leader, says anyone who is not vaccinated should be removed from caucus.

Dang says with Alberta hospitals overcrowded with infected patients, it’s imperative that political leaders set the right example and get their shots.

Dang says all the NDP’s legislature members and staff have received both doses.

It’s not clear how many UCP members have been vaccinated, but there has been division in the caucus over health restrictions and vaccinations.

Kenney says the government is pursuing mandatory vaccinations or proof of negative tests for all house members, but adds there are constitutional issues that must be worked out.

2 p.m.: The surge in COVID-19 cases is continuing in Atlantic Canada, with Newfoundland and Labrador reporting 41 new cases and two more deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus since the province’s last update.

Officials said today the two new deaths involve a man in the central health region and a woman in the eastern health region who were both 70 years old or older.

The new cases include 31 in the central health region and 10 in the eastern region.

Newfoundland and Labrador has 180 active reported cases of COVID-19 and seven people in hospital with the disease, including four in critical care.

1:45 p.m. California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday announced the nation’s first coronavirus vaccination mandate for schoolchildren, a plan that will have all elementary through high school students get the shots once the vaccine gains final approval from the U.S. government for different age groups.

The government has fully approved the COVID-19 vaccine for those 16 and over but only granted an emergency authorization for anyone 12 to 15. Once federal regulators fully approve the vaccine for that group, the state will require students in seventh through 12th grades to get vaccinated in both public and private schools, Newsom’s office said.

The state will require the COVID-19 vaccine for students in kindergarten through sixth grade only after the federal government has given final approval for anyone 5 to 11.

The announcement comes as infections in most of California have dropped markedly in the last month. But Newsom has been emboldened after easily defeating a recall effort last month following a campaign where he emphasized his commitment to vaccine mandates to end the pandemic.

In Los Angeles County — the nation’s largest, with more than 10 million residents — just 1.7{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of people tested for the virus have it and daily infections are down by half in the last month, when most kids went back to school.

“These numbers are amazingly low given that 3,000-plus schools are now open countywide,” county Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Thursday.

1:30 p.m. The Manitoba government is tightening COVID-19 public health orders, especially for people who are not fully vaccinated.

Starting Tuesday, a cap of 25 people will be placed on indoor events that include unvaccinated people, although there will be a one-week grace period for weddings and funerals.

People who allow unvaccinated people on their property will only be allowed 10 guests outdoors, while indoor gatherings will be restricted to one other household.

In the southern health region, where vaccination rates are low, retail businesses will be limited to half capacity.

Across the province, outdoor public gatherings will be capped at 50 people.

Chief public health officer, Dr. Brent Roussin, says most of the orders will not affect the majority of Manitobans because they are vaccinated.

The province already requires people to show proof of vaccination to attend a range of venues, including sporting events, concert halls and restaurants.

1:11 p.m. (updated) Ontario is reversing course and introducing a mandatory vaccination policy for staff at long-term-care homes.

The government’s previous policy was to require regular testing for those not vaccinated against COVID-19.

Long-Term Care Minister Rod Phillips announced today that all in-home staff, support workers, students and volunteers must be vaccinated by Nov. 15 unless they have a valid medical exemption.

He says any staff not fully vaccinated by then will not be able to enter a long-term-care home to work.

Phillips says vaccination rates of staff in many homes are not high enough in the face of the Delta variant.

Homes will also start randomly testing fully vaccinated staff, caregivers and visitors to try to detect breakthrough cases early.

1:06 p.m. The union representing flight attendants at Canada’s major airlines says reducing on-board food and drink service might help combat a rise in unruly passenger behaviour.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees says flight attendants are being subjected to verbal abuse from some passengers who don’t want to comply with the federal requirement to wear a mask on board.

The union says some passengers are taking their masks off to eat or drink and then leaving them off for longer than they should. It says this can lead to confrontations and also potentially exposes flight attendants to the virus.

Many airlines have restored most of their food and beverage service this summer after reducing service during the first stage of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But Transport Canada still recommends that airlines limit non-essential tasks, including in-flight service.

The union says Transport Canada should take a stricter stance. It says the regulator should reduce food and drink service on short-haul flights or set a limit on the amount of time a passenger can have their mask off to eat and drink.

12:15 p.m. Ontario is reporting another 668 COVID-19 cases and 11 more deaths. Of the 11, three of the deaths occurred more than one month ago and have been added due to a data cleanup, according to the province’s latest report released Friday morning.

Ontario is also reporting 647 COVID-19 cases for Thursday, as the data was not released on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Nine deaths were also reported on Thursday, five of which occurred more than one month ago and were added as part of a data cleanup.

Ontario has administered 29,704 vaccine doses since its last daily update, with 21,809,713 vaccines given in total as of 8 p.m., Thursday night. The total also includes 37,553 vaccine doses administered on Wednesday.

Read the full story from the Star’s Urbi Khan

11:30 a.m. Tokyo’s train stations were packed with commuters Friday as Japan fully came out of a coronavirus state of emergency for the first time in more than six months.

Emergency measures had been in place for more than half of the country, including Tokyo. Outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga thanked the people for their patience and co-operation. Cases are declining, but he asked them to stick to their basic anti-virus measures.

The emergency measures have mainly involved requests for eateries to curb alcohol and hours. They can now serve alcohol and operate an hour longer but still close at 9 p.m.

Daily reported cases fell below 1,600 this week nationwide after the mid-August peak of 25,000. Health experts attributed the declining numbers to vaccinations and increased social distancing after alarm from the near collapse of medical systems during the summer.

Nearly 59 per cent of Japanese people have been fully vaccinated. Japan has reported 1.6 million cases and 17,641 confirmed deaths.

11:15 a.m. Quebec’s legislature will soon only be accessible to people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

The National Assembly announced the new health order targeting staff, visitors and politicians on Thursday evening, following a heated debate among the parties.

The governing Coalition Avenir Québec party as well as the Opposition Liberals voted in favour, arguing that elected officials should set an example for the rest of the population regarding vaccination.

Québec Solidaire and the Parti Québécois, the third and fourth parties in the legislature, opposed the measure because the public health department has not recommended it.

The vaccine passport requirement is expected to come into effect later in October.

The rule will require political personnel, legislature staff, journalists and visitors to show a piece of ID as well as proof they have been adequately vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to access the legislature.

11 a.m. A surge in demand has caused the Nova Scotia government to hit the pause button on Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) referrals, at least temporarily.

The province’s clinical lead for MAID, Dr. Gord Gubitz, said this week that Nova Scotia Health would put a 30-day hold on assisted-dying requests as the province works through a “significant backlog” caused by increased demand exacerbated by COVID-19 strains on the health-care system.

So far in 2021, referrals for MAID have already outstripped those from all of last year. In 2020, there were a total of 373 referrals; as of September of this year there were already 395 referrals.

“We know that recent changes in legislation made MAID an option for more people who were seeking it. We also know that with time grows awareness,” said Gubitz in an emailed statement.

Read the full story from the Star’s Steve McKinley

10:20 a.m. (updated) Ontario is reporting 1,315 cases of COVID-19 over the last two days and 12 more deaths.

The province says 668 cases of the virus and eight deaths were reported Friday, and 647 new cases and four deaths were reported on Thursday.

The Ministry of Health had not released updated data on Thursday because it was a federal holiday.

Health Minister Christine Elliott says that 502 of today’s new cases are in people who are not fully vaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status.

She says that 496 of Thursday’s cases were in unvaccinated people.

Elliot says 278 people are hospitalized because of COVID-19, with 163 people in intensive care because of the virus.

The ministry says that 86.3 per cent of Ontarians over the age of 12 have one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 81 per cent have two doses.

9:55 a.m. Justice Brett Kavanaugh tested positive for COVID-19 after taking a routine test Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court said. Kavanaugh, 56, who learned of the test results Thursday night, has no symptoms and has been fully vaccinated since January, the court said. His wife and daughters tested negative on Thursday.

The court said that “as a precaution,” Kavanaugh and his wife will not attend a formal investiture ceremony at the court Friday for the newest justice, Amy Coney Barrett.

The court is scheduled to begin its nine-month term on Monday, returning to the courtroom for arguments for the first time in a year and a half.

Kavanaugh is the first sitting justice known to have tested positive for COVID-19, although the Washington Post reported Barrett tested positive before she joined the court. All nine have been fully vaccinated.

9:25 a.m. India said Friday that British nationals arriving in the country will be subjected to COVID-19 tests and a 10-day mandatory quarantine, in response to the same measures imposed on Indians visiting the U.K.

India has been demanding that Britain revoke what it called a “discriminatory” advisory that includes Indians even if they are fully vaccinated with the Indian-made AstraZeneca shots.

India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had discussed the issue with British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss in a meeting in New York earlier this week.

India was irked that while the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has been recognized by Britain, its version produced by Serum Institute of India has been excluded.

A foreign ministry official said that starting on Monday, all British arrivals, irrespective of their vaccination status, will have to undertake RT-PRC test within 72 hours before travel, another test on arrival in India and the third one eight days later.

8:21 a.m. The British Columbia ministries of health and education plan a joint news conference Friday to announce what are described as enhanced health and safety guidelines for B.C. schools.

A joint release from the ministries says provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Education Minister Jennifer Whiteside will make the announcement at 10:30 this morning.

It comes as school trustees in Vancouver, Surrey and Burnaby have moved beyond provincial regulations and tightened mask mandates in their districts to require face coverings for all students, regardless of grade level, in order to slow the spread of COVID-19.

B.C. currently requires masks for students in Grades 4 to 12 and Henry has resisted calls from parents and teachers to make face coverings mandatory in kindergarten to Grade 3.

She says masks are just one tool in containing COVID-19, while good ventilation and limits on intermingling between classes are other keys ways to curb the spread of the virus.

Members of a fourth Metro Vancouver school board meet later today to discuss a mask mandate for students in all grades in the New Westminster district, and to consider a recommendation to seek a legal opinion regarding mandatory vaccinations for staff members.

7:55 a.m. Pakistan banned unvaccinated adults from flights Friday as it tries to push vaccinations and avoid further lockdowns to contain the coronavirus.

Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan announced the ban on Twitter, saying “only fully vaccinated passengers of age 18 years and above will be allowed to undertake domestic air travel within Pakistan.”

The government said last week unvaccinated people will not be allowed to work from offices and will not be eligible to enter shopping malls as of Friday. However, it was unclear how they would be stopped from entering such venues.

The bans don’t apply to children, who are not yet eligible for Pakistan’s vaccination campaign.

Nearly 30 million people are fully vaccinated in the country of 220 million. There is no shortage of vaccine, but many people have been hesitating, and the new measures are aimed at pushing them to get the shots.

Pakistan has reported 1.2 million COVID-19 cases and 27,785 deaths since the pandemic began last year.

7:40 a.m. Coronavirus deaths in Russia hit a record on Friday for the fourth straight day, and confirmed cases continued to surge as well.

Russia’s state coronavirus task force reported 887 deaths, the country’s highest daily number in the pandemic. The previous record, from a day earlier, stood at 867.

The task force also reported 24,522 new confirmed cases from Thursday — the highest daily tally since late July.

“The dynamic is bad. It elicits concern,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday.

The Russian government has no plans to impose a lockdown, according to Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, the head of the task force.

Russia has had only one nationwide lockdown, at the beginning of the pandemic in the spring of 2020. The country’s authorities have shunned imposing tough restrictions ever since.

Peskov pointed out that many regional governments have their own infection-control measures, but he wouldn’t say whether the Kremlin considered those rules sufficient.

7:20 a.m. A fire at a hospital in the Romanian port city of Constanta killed at least nine COVID-19 patients, authorities said Friday.

All the victims were in the intensive care unit of Constanta’s Hospital for Infectious Diseases, said Constantin Amarandei, head of the city’s emergency inspectorate. Only one patient from the ICU survived.

The Health Ministry said in a statement that 113 patients were in the medical unit of the hospital and all the survivors have now been evacuated. The fire was extinguished by mid-morning but its cause is not yet known.

6:15 a.m.: Merck & Co. said Friday that its experimental COVID-19 pill reduced hospitalizations and deaths by half in people recently infected with the coronavirus and that it would soon ask health officials in the U.S. and around the world to authorize its use.

If cleared, Merck’s drug would be the first pill shown to treat COVID-19, a potentially major advance in efforts to fight the pandemic. All COVID-19 therapies now authorized in the U.S. require an IV or injection.

Merck and its partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics said early results showed patients who received the drug, called molnupiravir, within five days of COVID-19 symptoms had about half the rate of hospitalization and death as patients who received a dummy pill. The study tracked 775 adults with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 who were considered higher risk for severe disease due to health problems such as obesity, diabetes or heart disease.

Among patients taking molnupiravir, 7.3{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} were either hospitalized or died at the end of 30 days, compared with 14.1{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of those getting the dummy pill. There were no deaths in the drug group after that time period compared with eight deaths in the placebo group, according to Merck. The results were released by the company and have not been peer reviewed. Merck said it plans to present them at a future medical meeting.

6:05 a.m.: Japan fully came out of a coronavirus state of emergency for the first time in more than six months as the country starts to gradually ease virus measures to help rejuvenate the pandemic-hit economy as the infections slowed.

At Tokyo’s busy Shinagawa train station, a sea of mask-wearing commuters rushed to their work despite an approaching typhoon, with some returning to their offices after months of remote work.

The emergency measures, in place for more than half of the country including Tokyo, ended Thursday following a steady fall in new caseloads over the past few weeks, helping to ease pressure on Japanese health care systems.

Outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga thanked the people for their patience and co-operation, and asked them to stick to their basic anti-virus measures.

“Once again, I seek your co-operation so that we can return to our daily lives feeling safe,” he said.

5:45 a.m.: Toronto Public Health has declared a COVID-19 outbreak at Toronto East Detention Centre in Scarborough, according to a spokesperson from the Ministry of the Solicitor General.

Ontario is reporting 34 active COVID-19 cases among inmates at the correctional facility, as of Thursday.

According to provincial data, the detention centre reported four confirmed cases on Sept. 12. By Sept. 23, there were 17 active cases. An additional 17 confirmed infections were reported Monday.

Located near Eglinton Avenue East and Birchmount Road in Scarborough, the correctional facility has a capacity of 473 inmates.

Read more from the Star’s Joshua Chong.

5:30 a.m.: Somalia has opened the country’s first public oxygen plant as the Horn of Africa nation with one of the world’s weakest health systems combats COVID-19.

The oxygen plant was installed Thursday at a hospital in the capital, Mogadishu. It is expected to produce 1,000 cylinders of oxygen a week.

The scarcity of medical oxygen has hurt response efforts across many African nations as the Delta variant of the coronavirus now drives the bulk of infections on the continent of 1.3 billion people.

Insecurity in Somalia poses an added challenge to efforts to fight the pandemic. A COVID-19 ward recently set up at the hospital was partially destroyed weeks ago in an attack by the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group, which controls parts of Somalia and frequently targets the capital.

Part of the work around the oxygen plant’s installation focused on repairing that damage.

Somalia has one of the highest case fatality rates from COVID-19 in Africa, and few measures are enforced to slow the spread of the virus.

5:15 a.m.: Saskatchewan’s proof-of-vaccination policy is now in effect, meaning residents will have to show they have been immunized or have a negative COVID-19 test to access several businesses and event venues.

Public service employees are also required to provide proof of vaccination or provide a negative COVID-19 test result at least every seven days.

It comes a day after Saskatchewan recorded its highest daily case count of COVID-19 and its highest number of people needing intensive care.

Businesses that will be requiring proof of vaccination include restaurants, bars, nightclubs, theatres, casinos and entertainment venues.

Children under the age of 12 are exempt from the requirements.

5 a.m.: On Thursday, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has announced about 35 out-of-province health-care staff will be brought in to help deal with the province’s growing COVID-19 crisis.

The move comes after the premier spent the week resisting calls from health-care professionals for a hard circuit-breaker lockdown in the province as well as playing down the immediate need for outside help.

But at a press conference on Thursday, Kenney said Alberta was working to bring in five or six workers from Newfoundland and Labrador, eight to 10 from the Canadian Armed Forces and about 20 from the Canadian Red Cross. The workers would likely head to Fort McMurray, Edmonton and Red Deer to assist with the province’s overwhelmed ICUs, Kenney said.

“It’s a helping hand,” said Kenney. “It will help to provide some relief. In some of our hospitals, that is very welcome.”

For weeks, Alberta has been grappling with the worst COVID-19 crisis in the country. About 200 additional ICU beds have been opened up while hospitals have struggled to keep up with the onslaught of mostly unvaccinated patients being admitted.

Read more from the Star’s Kieran Leavitt.

4:30 a.m.: A third school district in British Columbia has announced its own policy extending a provincial mask mandate for kindergarten-to-Grade 3 students starting Monday.

The Burnaby School District followed the lead of the Vancouver and Surrey districts in mandating masks for all grades as concerns mount about the rising number of COVID-19 infections among children who are not eligible for vaccination.

The district says in a letter sent to parents Thursday that the Burnaby Board of Education made a unanimous decision on the change after requesting an urgent meeting Wednesday night with Dr. Ariella Zbar, the medical health officer of Fraser Health.

“Her assurance that masks are an effective layer of protection for all students when used in concert with other health and safety measures informed the board’s decision to promptly implement this new mask requirement,” the letter says.

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STARTING TODAY, SMALL BUSINESSES IN KING AND PIERCE COUNTIES MAY APPLY FOR $10,000 GRANTS FROM COMCAST RISE

100 Compact Organizations Owned By People today Of Colour will Receive $10,000 Grants From Comcast Rise Totaling $1 Million

SEATTLE –News Immediate– Comcast Washington

Comcast these days announced that compact businesses owned by individuals of colour in King and Pierce Counties, could now implement for a $10,000 grant from the Comcast Rise Financial commitment Fund. Comcast will award $1 million in grants to 100 suitable corporations in these two counties, as nicely as technological innovation and advertising sources to qualified businesses statewide.

Comcast Increase Financial investment Fund

Starting up these days, October 1, and through October 14, suitable corporations can implement for Comcast Rise monetary grants, and, or advertising and technological innovation solutions at www.ComcastRISE.com. Winners will be notified in November. Neighborhood tiny companies trying to find extra details about the $10,000 grants, could study extra about the Comcast Increase Investment decision Fund, eligibility prerequisites, and how to utilize by looking at this video: https://www.youtube.com/enjoy?v=QXVAf3-Mxys&t=21s

The Financial investment Fund is an extension of Comcast Increase, the multi-yr, multi-faceted initiative released in October 2020 to assist little businesses owned by individuals of coloration and supply the methods and equipment they will need to thrive for many years to come. The Comcast Increase Financial investment Fund is focused on little enterprises that have been in enterprise for three or more years with 1-25 employees.

Comcast Rise Internet marketing and Know-how Companies

In addition to the Financial commitment Fund, Comcast Increase, which stands for “Representation, Investment, Power, and Empowerment,” gives the possibility for tiny enterprises owned by people of shade nationwide to utilize for a person or extra of the subsequent support aim locations with the chance to get a person.

  • Marketing and advertising Services: The next companies from Effectv, the advertising revenue division of Comcast Cable, and its creative agency, Mnemonic, are built to help recipients with their marketing and media strategies, such as:

    • Media: A linear Tv set media campaign to operate in excess of a 90-day period.

    • Artistic Generation: Turnkey :30 Tv professional output, furthermore a media tactic session and 90-working day media placement agenda.

    • Consulting: Marketing and internet marketing consultations with area Effectv advertising and marketing, exploration, and artistic teams to attain insights on how to generate small business.

  • Technologies Makeovers: The condition-of-the-artwork tools and know-how improve from Comcast Company features personal computer machines as very well as World-wide-web, Voice, and Cybersecurity expert services for up to a 12-thirty day period period. (Taxes and other expenses may perhaps even now apply for technologies makeover companies.)

  • Monetary Grants: In spherical one particular, which was announced in April of 2021, the Comcast Rise Financial investment Fund delivered $5 million in grants to 500 little corporations owned by folks of color in 5 towns: Philadelphia/Chester, Houston, Atlanta, Chicago, and Detroit. The Comcast Increase Investment Fund will now give an added $6 million in grants to 600 modest firms owned by folks of coloration in six metropolitan areas: Miami, Houston, Oakland, Seattle, the Twin Metropolitan areas, and Washington, D.C.

All eligible candidates will receive a regular Comcast Rise e-newsletter with instructional material, and all compact enterprise proprietors can stop by the Comcast Increase vacation spot on the X1 platform showcasing aggregated tiny business enterprise news, tips, insights, and far more. Just say “Comcast RISE” into the X1 voice distant.

To aid push consciousness about the plan and supply further assist and teaching in King and Pierce Counties, Comcast is partnering with the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, Seattle Latino Chamber of Commerce, Seattle Southside Chamber of Commerce, Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce, and Greater Seattle Business enterprise Association (GSBA).

Comcast’s Ongoing Dedication to Advancing Electronic Equity

Comcast Rise is section of an expanded Variety, Fairness, and Inclusion (DE&I) dedication that Comcast introduced in June 2020, as perfectly as an ongoing cross-business energy to deal with electronic inequities. Around the following 10 several years, Comcast is pledging $1 billion to programs and partnerships that will hook up an estimated 50 million people today with the skills, chances, and resources they need to have to do well in an significantly digital environment. Far more data and the applications to apply for both the grant system or marketing and advertising and technology expert services are offered at www.ComcastRISE.com.

About Comcast Small business

Comcast Business offers Ethernet, Web, Wi-Fi, Voice, Tv set and Managed Company Solutions to help companies of all measurements renovate their business. Driven by an state-of-the-art network, and backed by 24/7 customer help, Comcast Enterprise is 1 of the premier contributors to the growth of Comcast Cable. Comcast Small business is the nation’s biggest cable provider to compact and mid-measurement organizations and has emerged as a force in the Company industry identified around the previous two a long time by leading field associations as just one of the quickest-escalating vendors of Ethernet providers. For a lot more info, check out www.company.comcast.com or get in touch with 866- 429-3085. Stick to on Twitter @ComcastBusiness and on other social media networks at http://enterprise.comcast.com/social.

About Effectv

Effectv, the advertising sales division of Comcast Cable, can help area, regional and nationwide advertisers use the greatest of electronic with the power of Tv to improve their organization. It provides multi-screen marketing alternatives to make advertising strategies much more helpful and easier to execute. Headquartered in New York with offices all through the state, Effectv has a existence in 66 marketplaces with virtually 35 million owned and represented subscribers. For far more facts, pay a visit to www.effectv.com.

About Comcast Company

Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA) is a world wide media and technological innovation business that connects people today to moments that make a difference. We are principally centered on broadband, aggregation, and streaming with over 56 million shopper associations across the United States and Europe. We produce broadband, wi-fi, and online video as a result of our Xfinity, Comcast Company, and Sky makes develop, distribute, and stream top entertainment, sporting activities, and news via Universal Filmed Leisure Group, Common Studio Team, Sky Studios, the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, numerous cable networks, Peacock, NBCUniversal News Group, NBC Sporting activities, Sky News, and Sky Sporting activities and supply unforgettable experiences at Universal Parks and Resorts in the United States and Asia. Check out www.comcastcorporation.com for much more details.

Contact Specifics

Andy Colley

Andy_Colley@Comcast.com

Business Site

https://washington.comcast.com/

Check out resource variation on newsdirect.com: https://newsdirect.com/information/starting off-currently-tiny-companies-in-king-and-pierce-counties-may-utilize-for-10-000-grants-from-comcast-rise-755958798

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Risky Business: Risk Management and Insurance

A lot of points in life — driving a car, traveling, getting a residence, increasing crops, starting a business, even picking out the place to reside — carry an ingredient of threat. And though not each hazard is insurable, insurance plan solutions exist to support mitigate and guard towards uncertainty and the potential for loss, injury, or destruction from a lot of of the typical and not-so-popular risks we acquire as persons and as companies. As portion of the risk management procedure, we routinely acquire insurance coverage for everything from our autos and homes to our well being and life. Beyond the price of our premiums, most of us will under no circumstances give coverage much considered until eventually we obtain ourselves in the regrettable place of owning to make a declare against a plan. And, when it arrives to considering about a occupation, insurance and the broader risk administration business may appear like a trusted, but most likely unexciting, possibility. Assume once more.

As a graduate of Troy University’s danger management and insurance coverage (RMI) software, Dr. Courtney Baggett, who now is effective as the method director, was initially attracted to the degree by the interesting opportunities it introduced when compared to other small business plans. Insurance plan, she uncovered, is not at all monotonous.

“I wished to do one thing in enterprise, but I experienced no plan what,” says Dr. Baggett. “What definitely captivated me to risk administration had been the options that the software supplied. Pupils in the application had been going to London each individual calendar year, they were attending conferences and profession fairs all above the United States, they were being finding these fantastic internships — and they have been getting paid actually effectively.”

By means of these prospects, Dr. Baggett soon uncovered that the insurance coverage and risk management field was so a great deal far more than the “standard” vehicle, household, and well being insurance coverage policies that absolutely everyone is aware of about.

“As an intern, I labored with a girl who was an underwriter on the World Trade Middle when 9/11 happened,” says Dr. Baggett. “There were several firms concerned in insuring the towers, but she was the particular person who took the decline for her enterprise when they were attacked. I worked with a further dude who underwrote coal mines. I under no circumstances even understood that you could get insurance plan for some thing like that. It immediately became distinct to me that this was this kind of an appealing and exciting field, and that you would in no way be undertaking the exact factor each individual day.”

What is Risk Management?

Dr. Baggett explains that risk administration and insurance are elaborate. It commences with being familiar with: What is hazard?

“Risk in our globe just means uncertainty,” says Dr. Baggett. “Risk management is running that uncertainty and trying to make points far more predictable. In its purest kind, chance management accomplishes two matters. The first stage identifies what losses could come about in the party a ‘What if?’ situation occurs. The second phase appears to be at how to regulate that possibility.”

According to Dr. Baggett, insurance plan is usually the answer to how possibility can be managed.

“Insurance is one way to finance risk, but there are a lot of other methods to finance threat,” suggests Dr. Baggett. “I could use derivatives, I could have ‘hold harmless’ agreements, or I could transfer danger in lots of different techniques aside from insurance coverage, and often it is much more economically feasible to do that. Nonetheless, for the reason that of regulation, businesses and folks are often necessary to present that they have coverage for certain exposures, so insurance coverage will normally be a incredibly large aspect of the chance administration process.”

The Surplus Traces Coverage Marketplace

The insurance plan market place Dr. Baggett found herself immersed in throughout her internships is termed the surplus strains insurance policy market. 

“The surplus lines current market insures the risks the common sector is unable to protect,” says Dr. Baggett. “We began this program far more than 20 several years in the past and have often positioned pupils into that surplus lines market place. So yes, whilst insurance coverage could possibly glimpse dull, it’s by no means tedious in the surplus strains sector, and that is where by our pupils at TROY have a tendency to go.”

For the danger management qualified, one of the most important differences amongst the common and surplus traces insurance plan markets is the sum of facts easily obtainable to underwriters to deliver quotations for insurance policies. When the standard insurance business has obtain to vast quantities of anonymized info to automate the method of marketing automobile, property, health and fitness, and everyday living insurance policies, the surplus traces marketplace demands a great deal much more human enter to determine.

“A ton of people really don’t recognize that coverage at this scale will involve so quite a few distinctive get-togethers,” says Dr. Baggett. “I had an intern this summertime who was wanting at the oil industry’s distribution networks. She was performing with engineers and folks who had in-depth expertise about the oil sector. The threat manager’s job is truly to pull all these people jointly and get the info you need to have to figure out a system about how we can deal with the chance.”

Dr. Baggett points out that the accomplishment of the surplus traces industry depends on the encounter of underwriters who move their know-how on to the upcoming generation of underwriters.

“There’s unquestionably an apprenticeship component of underwriting at this amount,” suggests Dr. Baggett. “It’s as a lot an artwork as it is a science, where the capabilities and awareness are handed from generation to era.”

This doesn’t imply that the surplus lines market isn’t embracing new systems.

“Risk modeling, primarily catastrophic threat modeling, is an progressively crucial technological part of possibility management,” claims Dr. Baggett. “It is genuinely neat. You put in an handle, you see a map, and it runs all these simulations that finally inform the underwriter what high quality you require to get on this residence for earthquake, for flood, for wind and other extraordinary temperature activities.”

Ensuring the Not-So-Typical Threats: COVID-19, Possibility Administration and Insurance plan

“Who would have thought we ended up about to get strike by a pandemic that lasts 20 months and counting?” says Dr. Baggett. “Well, a hazard supervisor would have thought about that, and right after they experienced discovered almost everything that could have long gone incorrect in such a situation, they could have figured out how to manage it.”

Dr. Baggett thinks quite a few companies underestimated the threat a pandemic posed to their firms. She describes that there is nothing new about pandemic insurance, but unfortunately, not quite a few men and women procured it.

“Before COVID, I would have explained, ‘No way, it is not worth the expense,’” states Dr. Baggett. “Part of possibility management is you can treat possibility to dying. You can just commit and invest and spend on mitigating, but at the stop of the working day, you are doing work for a organization that is out to make a earnings. So, any insurance policies has to be value the mitigation price.”

A person major event did recognize the benefit of pandemic insurance  — the yearly Wimbledon tennis tournament. Subsequent the outbreak of SARS in 2003, the risk of a world wide pandemic became a major-of-brain concern for the event organizers.

“The All England Lawn Tennis Association, the organizers of Wimbledon, experienced been having to pay about $2 million a year in pandemic insurance policy for the previous 17 many years,” states Dr. Baggett. “ As a final result, they recouped more than $100 million of their losses connected with canceling the match through the coronavirus pandemic. So, is it worth it? It was for Wimbledon due to the fact they can manage it, but it probably would not have been feasible for the common organization.”

When Wimbledon’s “bet” on pandemic insurance coverage paid out off, Dr. Baggett is adamant about retaining length concerning the danger administration and coverage marketplace and gambling.

“Insurance can from time to time be in comparison to gambling by some folks,” states Dr. Baggett. “The argument towards that is that you never financial gain from insurance policy until you are committing fraud. If I’m gambling, I could reduce, I could break even, or I could revenue. If I’m acquiring coverage, it is neutral: I want to stay clear of a decline or split-even — I’m never truly in a better position economically than in advance of I experienced a decline.”

The Worth of Comfortable Expertise in Coverage and Chance Administration

Dr. Baggett highlights a number of unique vocation solutions available to graduates of the threat management and insurance policy system at TROY.

“You can function in income, you can function as an underwriter or as an individual in statements,” suggests Dr. Baggett. “But there are so several other paths you can observe. For example, I lately had a college student who was schooling to run drones for crop coverage. They would just take the drones out and see how much damage experienced been finished to the crops.”

Regardless of the path a graduate chooses, Dr. Baggett is keen to spotlight the worth of comfortable capabilities in the risk administration and insurance policy field, some thing the TROY system, an AACSB-accredited method in the Sorrell Higher education of Business enterprise emphasizes.

“This is a software that places the most top quality on delicate techniques,” suggests Dr. Baggett. “It is great when students are truly sharp academically since that helps us get them wonderful placements. But the marketplace also values learners who are maybe academically regular but have great smooth skills, do the job well in teams, and are curious by character.”

Dr. Baggett describes her more social students as “classic insurance policy brokers and salespeople.”

“This is a task exactly where you will have to be snug with the people aspect of the business,” states Dr. Baggett. “We conclusion up with a whole lot of incredibly social college students, and the sector unquestionably has a house for them.”

Dr. Baggett believes that if a college student possesses the suitable tender competencies, she can educate them anything else they have to have to be successful in the industry.

“I’m self-assured that I could train any really hard-performing college student what they have to have to know about the coverage marketplace,” claims Dr. Baggett. “However, it is substantially more challenging to train somebody to ask questions and to be curious.”

While Dr. Baggett isn’t necessarily hunting for a 4. GPA, she is hunting for a college student who is truly engaged.

“I need them to want to know how points get the job done,” claims Dr. Baggett. “They will need to be inquisitive in the coverage business for the reason that, regardless of in which you match in that subject, you genuinely need to recognize the mother nature of the dangers that you are taking.”

The ROI of Education and learning

Dr. Baggett recognizes that at a time when some parents and learners are questioning the value of larger instruction, the TROY software needs to confirm its return on expense.

“If I were being a mother or father sending a baby to college, I would be inquiring one particular question: ‘Where are they going to have a occupation?’” says Dr. Baggett. “This method can response that dilemma much better than most. Most of our college students are coming to the application straight out of higher college. It normally takes a whole lot of out-of-class notice to get learners to the point the place the sector usually takes discover and invests in them as people today.”

As a new graduate of the chance administration and insurance policy software, Ellie Norton believes her expertise at TROY set her up for her initial occupation as a junior broker.

“Graduating from a chance administration and coverage software served to established me apart from other candidates for my work,” claims Norton. “When you occur from an field-unique software like TROY’s, employers choose notice of the truth that you have, at the bare bare minimum, a typical comprehension of functions in the insurance plan business. Having said that, the TROY plan does not prevent at the bare bare minimum.”

Norton took the skills she learned in the classroom and instantly place them to work. “The two classes that I identified the most handy for what I do specifically are Assets & Casualty, and Surplus Lines,” she states. “The terminology by yourself from individuals classes is the primary rationale that I could recognize the basics of what was heading on when I started my job. I use the terminology and fundamental data from both of those people courses each working day.”

The return on expense in schooling is key for the two parents and students. Being familiar with wherever their degree will choose them is particularly a precedence for a lot of learners who are having to pay for their have education.

“Many of our college students in this article are funding their possess education and learning,” suggests Dr. Baggett. “They may possibly have some money assist or some scholarships, but quite a few do not have obtain to economical support from their dad and mom. It is crucial that we do as a lot as we can to make guaranteed that the pupils are not only getting a superior practical experience even though they are in faculty but that we are also putting them on the path to being monetarily impartial, thriving older people.”

Norton highlights how her professors inspired and mentored her to make the most out of her university experience. She also designed reliable friendships and remained in regular speak to with her cohort soon after graduation.

“Being surrounded by the suitable people today can do miracles for serving to you realize your ambitions,” suggests Norton.

Internships and Networking Possibilities

Dr. Baggett highlights the worth the TROY application locations on internships — at TROY, they are usually the 1st stage to employment.

“Eighty-five p.c of our graduates comprehensive at least a person internship whilst they are listed here,” says Dr. Baggett. “Many of them do a number of internships, and they are all compensated. That usually potential customers to whole-time placement even a year just before they graduate, so we strongly motivate that internship knowledge all over the application.”

Because of to the ongoing talent scarcity, Dr. Baggett has no dilemma positioning pupils with providers.

“My major difficulty ideal now is I have a lot more organizations wanting for students than I have learners looking for firms,” states Dr. Baggett.

Learners are also taught the value of networking in the program.

“I’m having students to Ohio future thirty day period,” says Dr. Baggett. “They have absent to Seattle, to Boston, and all above the put. By way of generous donations of sector partners and alumni, we can include these charges. Our students have a good deal of publicity to building connections very early in the plan, and all those connections also support them obtain internships and jobs.”

Norton observed the job aim of the TROY system to be essential when it came to employment. “Another aspect that I discovered notably handy was the RMI job fair and quite a few networking functions that the school sponsors,” she claims. “Those events are helpful for not only finding employment but also conference people today that will be your friends following graduation.”

Norton advises prospective students in the application to “ask queries and soak up as significantly facts as you can.” She also reinforces the importance of creating your social techniques.

“One of the principal requirements of a broker, and really any person else in the industry, is the capacity to talk with other individuals plainly,” claims Norton. “The classroom is a great placing to hone your conversation expertise before it is vital to use them on the position.”

The Chance Administration Recruitment Crisis

The chance administration industry is not immune to chance by itself. In accordance to Dr. Baggett, the most substantial threat the business is at this time facing is the ongoing recruitment crisis.

“It was believed that there were 400,000 vacant positions in the insurance policy business very last 12 months,” claims Dr. Baggett. “People are delaying retirement to fill the void, but the business is seeing big gaps in their expertise pool.”

This crisis creates major chances for any one intrigued in working in the business.

“Younger pros are advancing so a great deal faster than they at any time would in the earlier,” suggests Dr. Baggett. “We’ve witnessed learners go away this software and in less than 5 a long time advance to the situation of senior underwriters. It utilized to acquire a lot for a longer period to pay your dues and wait around for someone else to retire for these possibilities to open up.”

The talent disaster also forces insurance plan businesses to be considerably a lot more generous in conditions of wage and other added benefits.

“As a youthful expert in the coverage industry, you will find by yourself quite marketable,” states Dr. Baggett. “I’ve experienced lots of graduates start off out at a lot more than $70,000 a year. For any 4-12 months undergraduate program, I assume that’s pretty outstanding. It just goes to demonstrate that the threat management and insurance policies business presents a genuinely entertaining vocation route, with a large amount of upward mobility.”

Study Additional TROY’S application is an AACSB-accredited BSBA and part of the Sorrell College of Small business. To study far more about launching your occupation in the possibility administration and insurance business, take a look at the Bachelor of Science in Enterprise Administration with a focus in Danger Administration and Insurance plan webpage on our web-site.