Stephan: I am publishing this report because although it is getting almost no media coverage, at this moment, all over the world there continue to be ongoing scandals about the sexual dysfunction of Roman Catholic clerics, from a cardinal in France, to dozens of priests in Baltimore, Maryland. Literally thousands of Roman Catholic priests, bishops, and cardinals have been involved over decades in this ongoing scandal which has affected the lives of hundreds of thousands of catholic parishioners, mostly when they were pubescent children. It has cost the church billions but has not really brought the church's fundamental sexual dysfunction into proper consideration. Given that the Roman church is one of the largest religious institutions in the world I see this as an important trend deserving of much more consideration.
An investigation by Maryland’s attorney general identified 158 Roman Catholic priests in the Archdiocese of Baltimore who have been accused of sexually and physically abusing more than 600 victims over the past 80 years, according to court records filed Thursday.
Attorney General Brian Frosh announced that his office has completed a 463-page report on the investigation, which began in 2019. He filed a motion in Baltimore Circuit Court to make the report public. Court permission is required because the report contains information from grand jury subpoenas. It’s unclear when the court will make a decision.
“For decades, survivors reported sexual abuse perpetrated by Catholic priests and for decades the Church covered up the abuse rather than holding the abusers accountable and protecting its congregations,” according to the court filing. “The Archdiocese of Baltimore was no exception.”
The report, titled “Clergy Abuse in Maryland,” identifies 115 priests who were prosecuted for sex abuse and/or identified publicly by the archdiocese as having been “credibly accused” of sexual abuse. It also includes an additional 43 priests accused of sexual abuse but not […]
Stephan: If you live in a rural Red state and are typical, you have lousy healthcare options. People who live in Blue states and cities don't really grasp how bad healthcare in rural Red state areas actually has become. As this story points out in rural Maine there is one primary care doc for every 1,300 residents, and one psychiatrist for every 14,000 people. Do you think you might have a problem getting an appointment?
I keep asking Republicans why they are opposed to universal birthright single-payer healthcare and the answer I get overwhelmingly, is that they don't want their money to cover the costs of anyone with whom they do not agree. No Democrats. No Black people. No LGBTQI people. No Jews. The fact that this is complete crap doesn't get through to them, no matter what facts you cite.
During pregnancy, this woman developed gestational diabetes. Now, her son is 1½ years old, and she continues getting care at Mabel Wadsworth Center in Bangor, Maine. Credit: Sofia Aldinio / The Washington Post
BANGOR, MAINE — All the reasons people in this rural region seek reproductive care — and the barriers they must overcome in accessing it — were on full display from the moment the first patient stepped into this clinic nestled amid towering evergreens.
There was the 32-year-old struggling to pay out of pocket for a medication abortion because her credit card wouldn’t go through. A first-time patient who was referred to the Mabel Wadsworth Center — more than an hour from home — because her provider wasn’t sure how best to treat her disabling premenstrual syndrome. Another woman who developed hypertension while pregnant arrived to have her blood pressure checked. And a couple was there for their first prenatal visit.
The nation is in a maternal mortality and morbidity crisis that grows year after year and is particularly acute in rural communities, where it is […]
Stephan: Your life, and the life of your family, depends on the honey bee. Did you know that? As this article points out one-third of the human diet, the food you eat depends on the pollination of honey bees. If you can do anything to help the bees you should do so. If you have a yard or garden plant flowers that bees like (do a Google for what to grow in your area), and do not use any toxins in your yard or garden like Round Up. We need to support the bees, so they can support us.
To read the scientific report upon which this article is based: Water provisioning increases caged worker bee lifespan and caged worker bees are living half as long as observed 50 years ago.https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-21401-2
Bee on a vibrant orange flower Credit: Vicki Jauron / Getty / Babylon and Beyond Photography
It is a public health triumph that human life expectancy has increased linearly since the year 1800, rising about 30 years in that span. Imagine, then, if human life expectancy were to spontaneously halve, and the degree of panic that would ensue.
Alarmingly, this precise scenario is playing out among honeybees — a species on which humans are utterly dependent for our survival, given that one-third of the human diet depends on honeybee pollination, and bees pollinate more than 100 different crops worth about $6.4 billion. The bee lifespan crisis was discovered in a new study published in the scientific journal Scientific Reports, which found that honey bees today live only half as long as their counterparts in the 1970s.
Raghav Mahobe and Nandhini Srinivasan, Reporters - Reuters
Stephan: Diabetes is such a common disease I am sure you know someone who suffers from illness. It is also one of Big Pharma's gold mines. If you have diabetes you have to have insulin and other drugs that make your life liveable. Indeed, make it possible to live. So, of course, in the American illness profit system this is an opportunity to make obscene levels of profit.
Provention Bio Inc (PRVB.O) has priced its diabetes drug teplizumab at $13,850 a vial, it said on Friday, a day after receiving U.S. approval and far higher than some analysts’ expectations.
The company’s shares reversed course from premarket gains to trade down nearly 12% as the high pricing stoked fears over insurance coverage.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved use of the drug for patients, with stage 2 of type 1 diabetes, to delay the onset of insulin dependence in those aged 8 years and above.
A 14-day regimen, or a course of the drug would translate to a wholesale price of $193,900, the company said on a conference call. The wholesale price is not necessarily what patients pay for a drug.
“This (price) is much higher than perhaps what the Street was expecting,” said Gregory Renza, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets.
“Investors will have some level of concern that this pricing could lead to insurance hurdles,” said SMBC Nikko Securities analyst David Hoang, who was expecting the treatment to cost $70,000 to $80,000 per course.
Nicola Davis, Science Correspondent - The Guardian (U.K.)
Stephan: If you read me regularly you know that I have been following this very important male fertility trend story for years. You rarely hear this discussed on television media, and outside of the professional science literature, there are very few stories published. Whether covered by media or not, this trend is going to shape human culture in major ways, which is why I follow it so closely. Here is the latest.
Human sperm
Humans could face a reproductive crisis if action is not taken to tackle a drop in sperm count, researchers have warned after finding the rate of decline is accelerating.
A study published in the journal Human Reproduction Update, based on 153 estimates from men who were probably unaware of their fertility, suggests that the average sperm concentration fell from an estimated 101.2m per ml to 49.0m per ml between 1973 and 2018 – a drop of 51.6%. Total sperm counts fell by 62.3% during the same period.
Global figures suggest sperm concentration has halved in 40 years – and the rate of decline is accelerating
A study published in the journal Human Reproduction Update, based on 153 estimates from men who were probably unaware of their fertility, suggests that the average sperm concentration fell from an estimated 101.2m per ml to 49.0m per ml between 1973 and 2018 – a drop of 51.6%. Total sperm counts fell by 62.3% during the same period.
