SUNDAY, Oct. 13, 2019 — If you suffer from the winter blues, there are things you can do to make the season less depressing.
Clinically known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD), it happens when there is less sunlight during the day, according to Jeannie Larson, an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Spirituality and Healing.
Less sunlight may affect your serotonin level, which affects your mood, and lower levels of serotonin are linked to depression, she said in a university news release.
About 10% of people living in northern areas experience SAD. That’s about 5% of the population of the United States, Larson said. SAD is more common among women, and starts in one’s 20s and 30s.
SAD can make you depressed, anxious and moody. It can also cause sleep and eating problems. You may sleep too much or too little, or gain weight. And you may feel too tired to carry out normal routines. People suffering from SAD also may avoid socializing and lose their sex drive.
To combat SAD, Larson recommends spending 30 minutes outdoors every day.
Colorado marijuana sales continued their hot streak in August, according to the state Department of Revenue, reaching the highest monthly total ever.
Medical and recreational dispensaries accounted for over $ 173.2 million in sales in August, DOR data shows. That number is easily the highest for monthly sales since recreational pot stores opened in January 2014, passing July 2019’s previous high mark (approximately $ 166.3 million) by about 4 percent. This is the third straight month that dispensary sales have broken Colorado’s monthly record.
Recreational sales on their own also set another record, hitting nearly $ 141.87 million in August. Medical sales, while still hovering in the $ 30 million range, saw a slight bump, increasing just under $ 1 million from the previous month to hit $ 31.3 million.
August is one of three months in 2019 to have five Fridays and five Saturdays on the calendar, and weekends are extremely important to dispensary sales, according to marijuana-industry sales trackers. With cooler weather and fewer weekend days in September, don’t be surprised if the next monthly sales figure drops.
Through the first eight months of 2019, Colorado has already seen over $ 1.15 billion in dispensary sales, and it’s on a clear path to breaking last year’s overall sales of $ 1.55 billion.
THURSDAY, Oct. 10, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Married folks not only live longer than singles, but the longevity gap between the two groups is growing, U.S. government health statisticians report.
The age-adjusted death rate for the married declined by 7% between 2010 and 2017, according to a new study from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Not only is the rate for married lower, but it’s declining more than any other group,” said lead author Sally Curtin, an NCHS statistician.
Statistically, death rate is the annual number of deaths for every 100,000 people. It’s adjusted so that a 26-year-old and an 80-year-old married or widowed or divorced are on equal footing.
The new study reported that the death rate for never-marrieds declined only 2%, while that for divorced people hasn’t changed at all.
Worst off were the widowed, for whom the death rate rose 6%. They have the highest death rate of all the categories, researchers said.
Married men in 2017 had an age-adjusted death rate of 943 per 100,000, compared to 2,239 for widowers. The death rate was 1,735 per 100,000 for lifelong bachelors and 1,773 for divorced men.
Married women had a death rate of 569 per 100,000, two-and-a-half times lower than the 1,482 rate for widows. The death rate was 1,096 for divorcees and 1,166 for never-married women.
Part of the marriage benefit could be explained by the fact that people in good health are more likely to marry, said Katherine Ornstein, an associate professor of geriatrics and palliative medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.
Once you’re in a marriage, there are a host of tangible and intangible benefits that give you a health advantage, experts said.
Married people are more likely to have health insurance, Ornstein said, and therefore, have better access to health care.
Being married also means you have someone looking out for you and reinforcing healthy behaviors, said Michael Rendall, director of the Maryland Population Research Center at the University of Maryland.
Continued
“Having somebody there who’s your spouse will tend to promote positive health behaviors — going to the doctor, eating better, getting screened,” he said.
This is particularly true of men, who previous studies have shown derive more health benefits from marriage than women.
“Men tend to have fewer skills than women in terms of looking after themselves,” Rendall said.
Finally, the companionship of marriage staves off health problems associated with loneliness and isolation, Ornstein said.
“Social support and the social engagement that comes with being married is a huge benefit for mental health and physical health,” she said.
All these benefits also explain why widowed people tend to do so badly after the death of their spouse, Ornstein said.
Widows and widowers have to deal with heartache, loneliness and financial stress, she said. They no longer have a partner looking after them, so they are more likely to neglect their health.
The study found some gender differences in trends.
While the death rate for married men and women declined by the same 7%, women’s overall death rate was much lower.
But the death rates among men in all other marital categories remained essentially the same between 2010 and 2017, researchers found.
On the other hand, the death rate for widowed women rose 5%, while the rate for never-married women declined by 3% and remained stable for divorced women.
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FRIDAY, Oct. 11, 2019 — More than 2 billion people worldwide suffer vision problems that range from impairment to blindness, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO).
And at least 1 billion of those people have problems such as short- and far-sightedness, glaucoma and cataracts — all of which could have been prevented or have not been treated.
“Eye conditions and vision impairment are widespread, and far too often they still go untreated,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said in a news release from the organization.
“People who need eye care must be able to receive quality interventions without suffering financial hardship. Including eye care in national health plans and essential packages of care is an important part of every country’s journey towards universal health coverage,” he said.
Aging populations, changing lifestyles and limited access to eye care — particularly in low- and middle-income countries — are among the main reasons for increasing numbers of people with vision problems, according to the report released Tuesday in advance of World Sight Day on Oct. 10.
“It is unacceptable that 65 million people are blind or have impaired sight when their vision could have been corrected overnight with a cataract operation, or that over 800 million struggle in everyday activities because they lack access to a pair of glasses,” he added.
Eye conditions and vision impairment tend to be much more common among people in rural areas, those with low incomes, women, older people, people with disabilities, ethnic minorities and indigenous populations, according to the WHO’s first report on vision worldwide.
Untreated distance vision impairment in low- and middle-income regions is about four times higher than in high-income regions, and $ 14.3 billion (U.S. dollars) is needed to treat the 1 billion people with vision impairment or blindness due to cataracts, and short- and far-sightedness, the report said.
According to Alarcos Cieza, who leads WHO’s efforts on blindness and deafness prevention, disability and rehabilitation, “Millions of people have severe vision impairment and are not able to participate in society to their fullest because they can’t access rehabilitation services. In a world built on the ability to see, eye care services, including rehabilitation, must be provided closer to communities for people to achieve their maximum potential.”
Dear Stoner: I was recently celebrating Jewish New Year, and my family and I began wondering if cannabis can be kosher? What about edibles? Joe
Dear Joe: Happy New Year! If you want to celebrate your next Rosh Hashanah with reefer and feel strongly about respecting your religion, there do appear to be some safety nets or loopholes. Keeping kosher means that no products or ingredients from non-kosher animals or other substances proscribed by Jewish law are used. In a vacuum, cannabis is just vegetation and so appears to qualify. But if you consider growing nutrients and cannabis product additives, then things might not be so kosher.
Smoking cannabis could find a gray area in the Jewish faith, but eating has more challenges.
Jacqueline Collins
The answer also depends on the rabbi you ask. Although some rabbis still consider cannabis a forbidden substance, an influential rabbi once told Israeli newspaper Haaretz that smoking cannabis “isn’t not kosher,” while the Times of Israel reported that a rabbi proclaimed marijuana okay for medical reasons. Edibles, obviously, are another story, as they can contain cooking and diary products from animals that may not be kosher. There are several cannabis edible companies that claim to have kosher certification, but we’re not aware of any in Colorado. Easy answer: Make your own and keep things kosher.
Oct. 10, 2019 — Twenty-two online sellers of flavored e-cigarettes are being sued by New York City for allegedly targeting young people through social media.
The defendants created “a public nuisance” by selling e-cigarettes to people under 21 even though such sales have been illegal in the city since 2013, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday, CNN reported.
“Preying on minors and hooking them on a potentially lethal, lifelong nicotine addiction is unconscionable,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement. “This lawsuit sends a message: we will do whatever it takes to protect our kids and the health of our city.”
Nationwide, state and local governments have taken action to limit children’s access to e-cigarettes, CNN reported.
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FRIDAY, Oct. 11, 2019 — Certain eating habits, high levels of stress and exposure to pollution are among the greatest factors associated with acne, researchers say.
They studied links to acne in more than 6,700 people from six countries in Europe and the Americas. The analysis showed that many more people with acne consume dairy products each day than those without acne — 48.2% versus 38.8%.
The same was true for soda, juices or syrups (35.6% versus 31%); pastries and chocolate (37% versus 27.8%); as well as other sweets (29.7% versus 19.1%).
The study also found that 11% of acne sufferers consume whey proteins compared to 7% of those without acne. And 11.9% of acne sufferers use anabolic steroids versus 3.2% of others.
Exposure to pollution and stress was also more common among people with acne, and they were also more likely to use harsh skin care practices.
The findings reflected an association with acne, but not a cause-and-effect link. The study was scheduled to be presented Saturday at a meeting of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV), in Madrid.
Lead author Dr. Brigitte Dreno, head of dermatology at University Hospital of Nantes in France, noted that acne is one of the most common reasons people see a dermatologist.
“Its severity and response to treatment may be influenced by internal and external factors, which we call the exposome,” Dreno said in a meeting news release. “For the first time, this study allows us to identify the most important exposome factors relating to acne from patient questioning prior to any treatment prescription.”
Previous research has suggested that tobacco use is an acne trigger, but this study did not link tobacco with acne.
Acne affects about 1 in 10 people worldwide, and as many as 40% of adult women.
“Understanding, identifying and reducing the impact of exposome is important for an adequate acne disease management as it may impact on the course and severity of acne as well as on treatment efficacy,” said Dreno, who is also chair of the meeting’s Scientific Programming Committee.
Research presented at meetings is typically considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
More information
The American Academy of Family Physicians has more on acne.
Once you reach a certain level of regular cannabis consumption, your tolerance doesn’t always allow your body to react to strains as sensitively as less frequent users might. So a hit of Super Lemon Haze won’t make my mind race like it once did, nor does a small bowl of Banana Kush knock me out with the same efficiency. I can still experience the intended effects from particular strains, though I usually have to consume more.
But any little bite of Chemdog will shoot up my spine and zap my brain no matter how big my tolerance and ego get. Whatever it is about Chemdog and the family of chemical-smelling, brain-dicking strains that it has produced over the years, my mind sure can’t handle them.
Such an unproductive bliss isn’t as welcome as it once was now that I have more big-boy responsibilities, but it’s certainly fun for a night or a solo Saturday morning full of cartoons. So when I came across Chem De La Chem, I prepared myself for a session with the head of the class — the Chem of the crop, if you will — and the strain’s forest-inspired funk, gasoline influence and halfwit high didn’t disappoint. Sessions with Chem De La Chem consistently produced a short-lived energy with a long-lasting euphoria, leaving me incapable of giving a shit about answering emails and texts or taking the trash to the curb. Such a vacation from life can be detrimental if taken all the time, but every once in a while, it enables helpful self-help retreats at home over the weekend.
Chem De La Chem hasn’t risen to the top of Denver’s pot hierarchy yet, but a lineage of Chemdog, a northeastern classic, and I-95, a strain named after the East Coast’s main interstate highway, points to roots at the far end of the country. We’ve seen the strain around town at the Giving Tree of Denver, Good Chemistry, Kind Love, Lightshade and Seed & Smith, with wholesale flower further distributed by Willie’s Reserve, and concentrate made by Green Dot Labs. My favorites so far have come from Kind Love and Green Dot, both of which might as well have had gas fumes rising from their bottles.
Marijuana Deals Near You
Looks: Chem De La Chem typically grows chunky, oblong-shaped buds made up of spiky, dense calyxes. Those buds range from bright green to wintergreen, with above-average trichome coverage.
Smell: Like twisting a lime over an old carpet in a forest cabin and shoving your nose in it. Chem De La Chem is a great balance of Chemdog and OG qualities, with dank, earthy whiffs of sandalwood and pine leaves layered with funky, sour notes of rubber and gas.
Flavor: Expect a more piney, floral taste than the traditional gasoline flavor of Chemdog, but the classic chemical taste undoubtedly makes an appearance. Those earthy, fuel-like flavors are covered in subtle, spicy notes of wood.
Effects: The powerful, disorienting head high also leaks into the body, calming anxious limbs and, in my case, relaxing the stomach to the point of insatiability. I don’t recommend any important social interactions or complex chores after a session, but Chem De La Chem is a prime candidate for anyone seeking relaxation or stress relief.
Home grower’s take: “That Triangle Kush influence in I-95 is likely behind that musty OG scent, but Chem De La Chem smells like straight fuel in the grow. Took about eight or nine weeks to cut down once it started blooming, I think, but I did have to grow this one from seed. Not sure if it’s available in clones out there, but it’s worth a try if you find it. Those Chem-y flavors and the happy head high are worth the time; I don’t care what the yield is.”
Is there a strain you’d like to see profiled? Email marijuana@westword.com.
Oct. 11, 2019 — “The flu shot is NOT always about you. It’s about protecting those around you, who cannot always protect themselves.”
A nurse’s Facebook post is going viral after she penned a powerful statement urging everyone to get a flu shot.
Amanda Bitz writes that we shouldn’t just get vaccinated to keep ourselves healthy. Instead, it’s “for the grandparents, whose bodies are not what they used to be, and they just can’t kick an illness in the butt like when they were young. For the 30 year old, with HIV or AIDS, who has a weakened immune system. For the 25-year-old mother of three who has cancer. She has absolutely zero immune system because of chemotherapy.”
Bitz goes on to build her case, citing heart-wrenching example after example, before concluding that everyone needs to do their part to keep others safe. “I have been in the room as a patient has passed away, because of influenza. I have watched patients struggle to breathe, because of influenza,” she writes. “Herd immunity is a thing. Influenza killing people is a thing. You getting the flu shot, should be a thing.”
As of Friday afternoon, the post had been shared more than 82,000 times and had more than 1,200 comments.
The flu can be deadly and cause serious illness, but vaccination rates remain low. Last season, 45.3% of adults 18 and older received flu vaccinations, according to the CDC. The rate was higher among children 6 months through 17 years: 62.6%.
A recent CDC study found that roughly two-thirds of pregnant women in the U.S. don’t get vaccinated against the flu — which puts them and their babies at risk. When pregnant women get the flu shot, it reduces their newborns’ risk of being hospitalized due to the virus by an average of 72%.
The agency recommends that everyone over the age of 6 months get vaccinated — if their health allows — and says vaccination is especially important for people with a high risk for serious complications, including young kids, adults over the age of 65, people with underlying medical conditions such as asthma, diabetes, and heart disease, and pregnant women.
Last year’s flu season lasted a whopping 21 weeks — the longest in a decade. But health officials aren’t sure how long this one will last or how bad it will be. Each flu season varies, but it usually starts in October, peaks between December and February, and lasts as late as May.
While flu activity is still low in the U.S., the CDC warns that Australia experienced an early start to its 2019 flu season and that, because influenza is unpredictable, circumstances can change very quickly.
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SATURDAY, Oct. 12, 2019 — Fall can be a challenging time of the year for kids with asthma, an expert says.
“Although asthma can flare up for a number of reasons, a lot of people with allergies also have asthma, and asthma can be triggered by allergies. So the fall is a tough time for asthmatic sufferers,” said Dr. Gaurav Kumar, a pediatrician at LifeBridge Health in Baltimore.
While many kids do well with their asthma during the summer, problems often accompany the return to school.
“You go from taking these outdoor summer vacations to now being in a classroom again,” Kumar explained. “So now you’re in contact with people in closed spaces. And of course, what happens is germs are more likely to spread that way. So you could get colds from friends who have colds, and then that becomes a trigger for asthma.”
Parents need to make sure their child’s asthma is under control. If a child stopped taking preventive asthma medications regularly during the summer, they should resume daily use now, Kumar advised.
Children with asthma should have checkups at least once a year, and in some cases as often as three or four times a year.
“An asthma checkup is an opportunity for us to reassess how the year has gone and to make plans in anticipation of what might happen,” Kumar said in a LifeBridge Health news release.
A flu shot is also important, because kids with asthma are at high risk for serious flu-related complications. Asthma is the most common medical condition among children hospitalized with the flu.
Flu vaccine is “very safe” in children with asthma and “will not cause any negative effects to trigger asthma attacks,” Kumar said.
More information
The American Lung Association offers advice for parents of children with asthma.
Halloween is a spooky fun time of year, filled with fun events, themed parties, and CANDY. But the fog machine doesn’t have to be the only thing clouding up your living room this season. Cannabis, when used responsibly, can be the perfect addition to this year’s festivities.
This guide, brought to you by Hemper and their Halloween Inspired Smoking Box, will help you get your creative juices flowing with ideas for incorporating cannabis into All Hallows Eve.
1. Host A Costume Party
The best parties are always those that have an underlying theme for guests to follow. Whether it’s a black and white required theme, a masquerade, or even a get together inspired by Disney, themed parties are extra fun when it comes to showing off your creativity.
So this Halloween, why not try hosting a costume party? But not just any costume party… a cannabis inspired themed party! Tell your friends to come dressed as anything or anyone that involves cannabis, and see what kind of cool ideas stop by! Whether they show up as Snoop Dog or a giant pumpkin bong, a cannabis inspired costume party will be the highlight of your year!
Alternatively, you could host a non-cannabis inspired party and simply incorporate cannabis into the festivities. For example, make “Trick or Treats” such as cookies or brownies, with a twist.
Label them as “Trick” (weed-infused), or Treat (regular non-cannabis treat for non-users and designated drivers).
2. Movie Night
Halloween is a great night for a movie marathon! From comedic Halloween themed movies to traditional slasher films. Especially if you’re not typically a fan of scary movies, cannabis can ease fears and let you enjoy movies that you wouldn’t typically have the guts to watch.
Mellow out this season and toke up with your favorite strains guaranteed to help you enjoy, responsibly from the comfort of your own home…just don’t forget the snacks. Want to spice things up even more? Consider checking out Hemper’s October Hemper Box, filled with Halloween themed smoking tools and accessories, including a “Jack the Ripper Bong”!
3. Cannabis Arts And Crafts Night
It’s always more fun to smoke out of something that you made yourself. Well, maybe not always, but Halloween is the perfect time to challenge your creative skills and see who can make the best DIY bong or pipe!
Not into making a bong? Take this opportunity to make decorations for the season to hang up around the house or outdoors. From plastic milk carton skeletons to scary props, you’ll find countless “how to” videos online…just don’t use sharp tools or powered devices when high ok? Remember, fake blood is fun and creepy, real blood is downright scary. The last thing you want is to spend the night in the Emergency Room. Enjoy responsibly.
4. Halloween Game Night
Who doesn’t like a good game night? Many of us grew up playing games with friends and siblings, only to have graduated to drinking games in college and beyond.
But what about cannabis games?
Think of it as drinking games, but with a twist. Replace the shots of alcohol with hits of your favorite herb, and challenge your friends to a game of Never Have I Ever, Poker, Weed Jenga, Rock Band, or even an old school game like Pin The Tail On The Donkey! Cannabis will make any Halloween game into a burst of giggles and fun.
Just remember, moderation is still key and advised. So plan accordingly and make sure participants are staying within limits they are comfortable.
5. Cannabis Dice
Speaking of games, why not try a game of cannabis dice? The best part is, you don’t need to use any special kind of dice! Although, the more sides it has, the more fun the game will be. Split a piece of paper into 2 columns.
In the left column, make a numbered list of spooky dares, and in the right column, make a list of things you have to do while performing the dare. For example, scare a friend in the tune of a song. The loser has to take a hit until the winner says stop!
6. Nature’s Candy Cooking
If you like to bake, why not have a nature’s candy Halloween themed party? You can either invite your friends for a giant cannabis cook-off, or simply tell them to bring their own Halloween cannabis infused desserts, and see which one you like best!
Consider setting up blind taste tests, voting, and awards for the most unique, best tasting, best decorated, and other categories. The only limit is your creativity.
7. Carve A Cannabis Pumpkin
Step up your pumpkin carving skills and make your own pumpkin dab rig! Choose a nice, round pumpkin, and start by carving it out like you normally would do when carving a pumpkin. Next, scoop out the seeds, push the pumpkin stem through 2 opposite sides of the pumpkin, pour in some water, and kick off your Halloween with a pumpkin dab!
The best part about carving a cannabis pumpkin is that your October Hemper Box comes with all the things you need to complete your pumpkin rig! You can also check out their head shop to find many more smoking accessories.
Smoke Up this Halloween and Enjoy
We hope you enjoyed this Halloween guide on how to incorporate cannabis responsibly into your holiday festivities. Don’t be shy about sharing any ideas you have with us, we’d love to hear what you have in mind.
Author:Shane Dwyer
Shane Dwyer is a cannabis advocate who isn’t afraid to tell the world about it! You can find his views, rants, and tips published regularly at The 420 Times.
MANILA (Reuters) – For a four-decade-old Philippine disco band, the namesake supertyphoon bearing down on Japan has brought a sudden rush of interest in its macho act.
Sonny Parsons (R), leader of Filipino boyband Hagibis, poses for a photo with fans at a fastfood restaurant in Manila, Philippines October 11, 2019. REUTERS/Jerome Morales
Known as the Philippines’ “Village People”, all-male band Hagibis has been going since 1979. While some members have changed over time, it has retained its act featuring tight black trousers, leather jackets, open shirts, shades, moustaches and suggestive dance moves.
“Hagibis is getting indirect publicity worldwide,” said 61-year-old Jose Parsons Nabiula, who goes by his stage name Sonny Parsons and has been with the band since the start.
“It reminded everybody of my group’s existence… Some people are making fun of it, some people are very serious.”
Typhoon Hagibis is due to make landfall on Japan’s main island of Honshu on Saturday as the most powerful storm to hit the capital in six decades.
Google Trends showed that search interest had spiked this week in Hagibis the band as well as the typhoon.
Hagibis means speed and strength in the Philippine language Tagalog.
Tropical cyclones in the Western Pacific Ocean are given their identity in sequence based on names provided by 14 regional countries.
People had been joking about the vigor of Typhoon Hagibis and comparing that to the band, Parsons said.
Parsons said he hoped the inquiries and feelers pouring in for Hagibis would translate into bookings for a band that currently performs around twice in a month in the Manila area.
A former elected official, he now also juggles his performances with film-making and a construction business.
“Maybe after a month or two I will be expecting a lot of concert offers,” Parsons said.
Typhoon Hagibis looks on track to hit Japan a month after another destructive typhoon and Parsons said he was worried about the damage.
“I hope that Hagibis storm’s show happens in the middle of the sea,” Parsons said. “Definitely, people will absorb the wrath of typhoon Hagibis and I feel bad about it.”
Hagibis is best known for its members’ macho image and songs extolling the beauty of women. The group’s hit songs include “Katawan” (Body), “Legs” and “Babae” (Woman).
While the storm did not enter the Philippine territory, its extension brought scattered rain showers and thunderstorms in central and southern parts of the Southeast Asian nation.
Sonny Parsons (C), leader of Filipino boyband Hagibis, poses for a photo with fans at a fastfood restaurant in Manila, Philippines October 11, 2019. REUTERS/Jerome Morales
Hagibis had used its renewed fame to warn Filipinos in Japan ahead of the storm’s landfall, Parsons said.
He hoped the band would get the chance to go to Japan after the typhoon.
“We will undo the sorrow and depression people experience,” Parsons said. “If the singing group will have a chance to go to Japan, we will help you forget the typhoon.”
THURSDAY, Oct. 10, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Climate change could trigger much bigger heat waves by mid-century, U.S. researchers report.
Previous research has predicted that the number and intensity of heat waves will increase, but this study is the first to examine changes in their potential physical size.
“As the physical size of these affected regions increases, more people will be exposed to heat stress,” said lead author Brad Lyon, an associate research professor at the University of Maine in Orono.
“Larger heat waves would also increase electrical loads and peak energy demand on the grid as more people and businesses turn on air conditioning in response,” he added.
The statistics are alarming.
With medium greenhouse gas emission levels, the average size of heat waves could grow 50% by mid-century, according to the study. With high emission levels, their average size could increase 80%, and more extreme heat waves could more than double in size, it predicted.
The study, published Oct. 7 in the journal Environmental Research Letters, was partly funded by the Climate Observations and Monitoring Program of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Climate Program Office.
Predictions about the growing size of heat waves could help utilities plan for the future, according to the researchers.
“Heat wave size is another dimension of extreme heat that people don’t necessarily think of,” Lyon said in a NOAA news release. “It’s a different vantage point from which to view them and assess their impacts.”
The study also found that the length and severity of heat waves could increase substantially, which came as no surprise to the researchers.
“An increase in attributes like magnitude and duration is consistent with expectations of a warming climate,” Lyon said. “What is new in our study is the way we calculated them, which allowed us to consider size as a new heat wave dimension.”
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FRIDAY, Oct. 11, 2019 (American Heart Association News) — Women are just as likely as men to survive after a heart transplant despite often getting poorer-quality donor hearts, new research shows.
The findings, published this week in the American Heart Association journal Circulation: Heart Failure, sought to shed new light on what role, if any, gender plays in surviving a heart transplant. Past research on post-transplant survival rates and gender have told conflicting stories.
For the new study, researchers looked at data from 34,198 international heart transplant recipients from 2004 to 2014 and, after adjusting for recipient and donor factors, they found “no significant survival difference” between men and women.
“That’s a pretty novel finding,” said study author Dr. Yasbanoo Moayedi, a postdoctoral medical fellow at Stanford University in California. “We already know that women are hugely under-represented as recipients of heart transplants, but the striking thing about the new findings is there’s no difference in survival when matched to their male counterparts.”
The study also found women who get heart transplants appear to have lower-risk features than male recipients, with fewer instances of diabetes, high blood pressure, smoking, peripheral vascular disease and past cardiovascular surgery. Yet, women appear to receive higher-risk hearts than men.
“We need to better understand the matching of risk with recipient,” Moayedi said. “We hypothesize that women tend to deteriorate more acutely, and they’re sicker, so they take any heart that’s available.”
She said the findings suggest women with advanced heart failure need to be referred a bit earlier for transplant.
“One takeaway of the study is that maybe we’re missing the optimal window [for women],” she said. “Many factors may determine access to transplant, but gender should not be one of the them.”
The study was limited by its observational nature and its lack of data on waitlist mortalities, donor race and information about how sick patients where when they received a transplant.
Dr. Monica Colvin, a heart failure-transplant cardiologist who was not involved in the research, called it “a contemporary analysis” because it included newer devices and current medical therapy.
“There have been anecdotes of women having worse survival than men after heart transplant and studies have been conflicting,” said Colvin, director of the Heart Failure Network Strategy at the University of Michigan. “This study should dispel that myth and inform doctors that there really is no difference. We should not delay or defer referral for this lifesaving treatment based on concern for differential survival in women.”
An estimated 6.2 million U.S. adults have heart failure. In 2018, there were 3,408 heart transplants, according to the federal Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network.
Moayedi would like to see future studies explore why more women don’t undergo heart transplants and how a doctor’s gender might play into that decision.
“Is it that women don’t see themselves worthy enough for a heart transplant? As a patient, should I be more of an advocate for my symptoms? These things need to be looked at more systematically to learn how to best help the patient,” Moayedi said.
Colvin advises women with advanced heart failure to be seen at an advanced heart failure center “and seek out as much information as they can. It’s important to know what all your options are.”
While I’m not quite the savviest of investors, I do have a keen eye for stocks in emerging markets, and for many years, I’ve considered “pot stocks” to be an emerging market as legalization grows across the USA and Canada. With marijuana becoming more mainstream, there are no shortage of stocks that allow the average armchair investor to get some skin in this lucrative game.
However, yesterday provided a massive speed bump to all of us who do indeed have skin in the game. I’ve surfed many investment sites and financial portals, and have a lot of stuff to say about what happened.
Note: I don’t offer financial advice. Invest at your own risk.
Again, I read a lot about this, as I have a few companies I’m invested in. This report on Market Watch was a good read.
This sort of gut punch that happened yesterday was explained in great detail, and according to Market Watch’s article, the average investor has lost 75% of it’s value over time in the marijuana space.
A big catalyst for this was an announcement by marijuana company Hexo, which goes by HEXO on the ticker. Net revenue for the fourth quarter will be about $ 14.5 – $ 16.5 million, and net revenues will be between $ 46.5 and $ 48.5 million for the year. These are both below expectations.
HEXO alone fell over 20% yesterday.
Other news that has not been so helpful is that MedMen decided NOT to purchase Pharmacann, which would have been a $ 600 million deal.
The vaping crisis is NOT helping the cause either. Consumers are jumping ship on buying vape pens and devices that were otherwise strong sellers.
The article continues to go on and suggest that you pick points when the selling of marijuana stocks is at a high, and buy stocks that have concepts that will work long term. Trends, (which could be vaping related) are not a reason to buy a stock. If there are spikes off these lows, it’s best to sell. It’s going to be a rocky road coming up, which is entirely my take and not related to the article’s articulation of the sell off yesterday.
Strap up, it’s going to be wild for anyone who has money in this space.
Author:Shane Dwyer
Shane Dwyer is a cannabis advocate who isn’t afraid to tell the world about it! You can find his views, rants, and tips published regularly at The 420 Times.
