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#Latest health related study
fatliberation · 6 months
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they have a point though. you wouldn't need everyone to accommodate you if you just lost weight, but you're too lazy to stick to a healthy diet and exercise. it's that simple. I'd like to see you back up your claims, but you have no proof. you have got to stop lying to yourselves and face the facts
Must I go through this again? Fine. FINE. You guys are working my nerves today. You want to talk about facing the facts? Let's face the fucking facts.
In 2022, the US market cap of the weight loss industry was $75 billion [1, 3]. In 2021, the global market cap of the weight loss industry was estimated at $224.27 billion [2]. 
In 2020, the market shrunk by about 25%, but rebounded and then some since then [1, 3] By 2030, the global weight loss industry is expected to be valued at $405.4 billion [2]. If diets really worked, this industry would fall overnight. 
1. LaRosa, J. March 10, 2022. "U.S. Weight Loss Market Shrinks by 25% in 2020 with Pandemic, but Rebounds in 2021." Market Research Blog. 2. Staff. February 09, 2023. "[Latest] Global Weight Loss and Weight Management Market Size/Share Worth." Facts and Factors Research. 3. LaRosa, J. March 27, 2023. "U.S. Weight Loss Market Partially Recovers from the Pandemic." Market Research Blog.
Over 50 years of research conclusively demonstrates that virtually everyone who intentionally loses weight by manipulating their eating and exercise habits will regain the weight they lost within 3-5 years. And 75% will actually regain more weight than they lost [4].
4. Mann, T., Tomiyama, A.J., Westling, E., Lew, A.M., Samuels, B., Chatman, J. (2007). "Medicare’s Search For Effective Obesity Treatments: Diets Are Not The Answer." The American Psychologist, 62, 220-233. U.S. National Library of Medicine, Apr. 2007.
The annual odds of a fat person attaining a so-called “normal” weight and maintaining that for 5 years is approximately 1 in 1000 [5].
5. Fildes, A., Charlton, J., Rudisill, C., Littlejohns, P., Prevost, A.T., & Gulliford, M.C. (2015). “Probability of an Obese Person Attaining Normal Body Weight: Cohort Study Using Electronic Health Records.” American Journal of Public Health, July 16, 2015: e1–e6.
Doctors became so desperate that they resorted to amputating parts of the digestive tract (bariatric surgery) in the hopes that it might finally result in long-term weight-loss. Except that doesn’t work either. [6] And it turns out it causes death [7],  addiction [8], malnutrition [9], and suicide [7].
6. Magro, Daniéla Oliviera, et al. “Long-Term Weight Regain after Gastric Bypass: A 5-Year Prospective Study - Obesity Surgery.” SpringerLink, 8 Apr. 2008. 7. Omalu, Bennet I, et al. “Death Rates and Causes of Death After Bariatric Surgery for Pennsylvania Residents, 1995 to 2004.” Jama Network, 1 Oct. 2007.  8. King, Wendy C., et al. “Prevalence of Alcohol Use Disorders Before and After Bariatric Surgery.” Jama Network, 20 June 2012.  9. Gletsu-Miller, Nana, and Breanne N. Wright. “Mineral Malnutrition Following Bariatric Surgery.” Advances In Nutrition: An International Review Journal, Sept. 2013.
Evidence suggests that repeatedly losing and gaining weight is linked to cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes and altered immune function [10].
10. Tomiyama, A Janet, et al. “Long‐term Effects of Dieting: Is Weight Loss Related to Health?” Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 6 July 2017.
Prescribed weight loss is the leading predictor of eating disorders [11].
11. Patton, GC, et al. “Onset of Adolescent Eating Disorders: Population Based Cohort Study over 3 Years.” BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.), 20 Mar. 1999.
The idea that “obesity” is unhealthy and can cause or exacerbate illnesses is a biased misrepresentation of the scientific literature that is informed more by bigotry than credible science [12]. 
12. Medvedyuk, Stella, et al. “Ideology, Obesity and the Social Determinants of Health: A Critical Analysis of the Obesity and Health Relationship” Taylor & Francis Online, 7 June 2017.
“Obesity” has no proven causative role in the onset of any chronic condition [13, 14] and its appearance may be a protective response to the onset of numerous chronic conditions generated from currently unknown causes [15, 16, 17, 18].
13. Kahn, BB, and JS Flier. “Obesity and Insulin Resistance.” The Journal of Clinical Investigation, Aug. 2000. 14. Cofield, Stacey S, et al. “Use of Causal Language in Observational Studies of Obesity and Nutrition.” Obesity Facts, 3 Dec. 2010.  15. Lavie, Carl J, et al. “Obesity and Cardiovascular Disease: Risk Factor, Paradox, and Impact of Weight Loss.” Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 26 May 2009.  16. Uretsky, Seth, et al. “Obesity Paradox in Patients with Hypertension and Coronary Artery Disease.” The American Journal of Medicine, Oct. 2007.  17. Mullen, John T, et al. “The Obesity Paradox: Body Mass Index and Outcomes in Patients Undergoing Nonbariatric General Surgery.” Annals of Surgery, July 2005. 18. Tseng, Chin-Hsiao. “Obesity Paradox: Differential Effects on Cancer and Noncancer Mortality in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.” Atherosclerosis, Jan. 2013.
Fatness was associated with only 1/3 the associated deaths that previous research estimated and being “overweight” conferred no increased risk at all, and may even be a protective factor against all-causes mortality relative to lower weight categories [19].
19. Flegal, Katherine M. “The Obesity Wars and the Education of a Researcher: A Personal Account.” Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases, 15 June 2021.
Studies have observed that about 30% of so-called “normal weight” people are “unhealthy” whereas about 50% of so-called “overweight” people are “healthy”. Thus, using the BMI as an indicator of health results in the misclassification of some 75 million people in the United States alone [20]. 
20. Rey-López, JP, et al. “The Prevalence of Metabolically Healthy Obesity: A Systematic Review and Critical Evaluation of the Definitions Used.” Obesity Reviews : An Official Journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, 15 Oct. 2014.
While epidemiologists use BMI to calculate national obesity rates (nearly 35% for adults and 18% for kids), the distinctions can be arbitrary. In 1998, the National Institutes of Health lowered the overweight threshold from 27.8 to 25—branding roughly 29 million Americans as fat overnight—to match international guidelines. But critics noted that those guidelines were drafted in part by the International Obesity Task Force, whose two principal funders were companies making weight loss drugs [21].
21. Butler, Kiera. “Why BMI Is a Big Fat Scam.” Mother Jones, 25 Aug. 2014. 
Body size is largely determined by genetics [22].
22. Wardle, J. Carnell, C. Haworth, R. Plomin. “Evidence for a strong genetic influence on childhood adiposity despite the force of the obesogenic environment” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition Vol. 87, No. 2, Pages 398-404, February 2008.
Healthy lifestyle habits are associated with a significant decrease in mortality regardless of baseline body mass index [23].  
23. Matheson, Eric M, et al. “Healthy Lifestyle Habits and Mortality in Overweight and Obese Individuals.” Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine : JABFM, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 25 Feb. 2012.
Weight stigma itself is deadly. Research shows that weight-based discrimination increases risk of death by 60% [24].
24. Sutin, Angela R., et al. “Weight Discrimination and Risk of Mortality .” Association for Psychological Science, 25 Sept. 2015.
Fat stigma in the medical establishment [25] and society at large arguably [26] kills more fat people than fat does [27, 28, 29].
25. Puhl, Rebecca, and Kelly D. Bronwell. “Bias, Discrimination, and Obesity.” Obesity Research, 6 Sept. 2012. 26. Engber, Daniel. “Glutton Intolerance: What If a War on Obesity Only Makes the Problem Worse?” Slate, 5 Oct. 2009.  27. Teachman, B. A., Gapinski, K. D., Brownell, K. D., Rawlins, M., & Jeyaram, S. (2003). Demonstrations of implicit anti-fat bias: The impact of providing causal information and evoking empathy. Health Psychology, 22(1), 68–78. 28. Chastain, Ragen. “So My Doctor Tried to Kill Me.” Dances With Fat, 15 Dec. 2009. 29. Sutin, Angelina R, Yannick Stephan, and Antonio Terraciano. “Weight Discrimination and Risk of Mortality.” Psychological Science, 26 Nov. 2015.
There's my "proof." Where is yours?
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Physicians are using excuses to intentionally dissuade people with disabilities from their practices, researchers say in a new study exposing just how pervasive discrimination against this population is in health care.
In focus groups, doctors described making strategic choices to turn away individuals with disabilities. They reported telling patients with disabilities that they would require specialized care and that “I am not the doctor for you.” In other cases, physicians said they simply indicate that “I am not taking new patients” or “I do not take your insurance.”
The findings come from a study published this month in the journal Health Affairs. It is based on focus groups conducted in late 2018 by researchers at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, the University of Massachusetts and Harvard Medical School with 22 primary care and specialist doctors who were selected from a national database.
Many of the participants described accommodating people with disabilities as burdensome and some used outdated language like “mentally retarded.” Doctors frequently indicated that individuals with disabilities account for a small number of patients, making it hard to justify having accessible equipment. They also had little knowledge of their obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act, with one suggesting that the law works “against physicians.”
The latest study builds on findings published earlier this year from a survey of 714 doctors that was done by some of the same researchers. Just 56% of physicians who participated in the survey said they welcome people with disabilities at their practices and only 41% indicated that they could provide such patients with a similar quality of care to others. Meanwhile, more than a third of doctors queried said they had little or no knowledge of their legal obligations under the ADA.
“Taken together, the focus groups and survey responses provide a substantive and deeply concerning picture of physicians’ attitudes and behaviors relating to care for people with disabilities,” the study authors note.
The findings suggest that bias continues to greatly influence health care more than 30 years after passage of the ADA, which prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities, including in medical services.
Tara Lagu, a professor of hospital medicine and medical social sciences at Northwestern University and an author of the study, described the doctors’ attitudes toward the ADA in particular as “upsetting and disappointing.”
“Our body of work suggests that physician bias and discriminatory attitudes may contribute to the health disparities that people with disabilities experience,” Lagu said. “We need to address the attitudes and behavior that perpetuate the unequal access experienced by our most vulnerable patients.”
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paimonial-rage · 8 months
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23 for heizou, albedo, xingqiu, and most importantly, KAEYA!! -- @milkstore
[Character Analysis Ask Meme]
Heizou Headcanons
Self-Focused
With a talent for deduction and an enthusiasm to match, Shikanoin Heizou is a whirlwind not to be messed with. However, it is often due to this unceasing drive that a few things often drop beneath his radar, one of which being his health. It’s not that he doesn’t take care of himself, he truly does. He makes sure to eat healthily and tries his best to keep to a set sleep schedule when not on duty. However, when he is sick, it’s difficult for him to truly realize just how sick he is. It often takes an irate Sango to force him to rest after being notified by his worried fellow doushin.
Relationship-Focused
As sweet as he is, don’t expect to not get roped into odd situations if you choose to date someone like Heizou. As a doushin, it is his job to crack even the toughest of cases. And how lucky he is to have you help with that! With a charming smile, don’t be surprised if he asks you to try to stab him with a rusty knife while wearing a kitsune mascot costume. The outcome will provide key evidence in solving this latest case, after all! With your help, you will be able to solve the puzzle together. Aren’t you lucky?
---
Albedo Headcanons
Self-Focused
When the Knights of Favonius are in need of something alchemy related, it is often that they will go to Sucrose or Timmaeus first. Not that they can be blamed, of course. For small and often weird requests, who would ever think about going to a captain for help? Little do they know is that Albedo is much less likely to turn down a request than the other two. While he will delegate if it does not fall within his realm of area of expertise, Albedo, at his core, is both helpful and curious. Therefore he sees no harm in helping if he has the time. 
Relationship Focused
It isn’t that you didn’t expect much when you first agreed to date Albedo, it’s just you didn’t expect… what exactly? The way he pauses his studies whenever you come by? The way he takes your hand so naturally without batting an eye? The way he weaves his plans to spend time with you so effortlessly in your conversations? He catches you off guard every time, and you know it’s on purpose. You hate how he is such an unassuming natural romantic.
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Xingqiu Headcanons
Self-Focused
Though many people have heard of the second son of the Feiyun Commerce Guild, revitalizer of the famous Guhua Clan, most would not be able to point him out in a crowd. This is a conscious decision on Xingqiu’s part for two reasons. First, it is certainly not chivalrous to give into such boastful activities. Secondly, as a whole Xingqiu is happy the way he is. He does not want a prestigious position as the Guhua prodigy, nor does he need more duties to the guild. All that matters to him is to become a chivalrous hero like the stories he holds so dear. 
Relationship-Focused
Anyone that is close to Xingqiu knows that he loves to tease. One would think being in a relationship with him would make it easier, but it’s only made him worse. How he adores seeing your face heat up into a flustered blush. Really, he is the worse. So it’s safe to say you really did not expect the reaction you got upon giving him a taste of his own medicine. Not only did he turn away to hide his pinkened cheeks, but did he just stutter too? Hmm, perhaps he is as easy to tease as you. 
---
Kaeya Headcanons
Self-Focused
For someone as seemingly confident and laid-back as Captain Kaeya, many would not pin him for having weaknesses or insecurities. How could they? He is always giving of his time to patrol, assist Jean with her duties, play with Klee, conduct business trips… Even when not on duty, he can be found gathering intelligence at Angel’s Share, surveying possible abyssal hotspots, reporting his findings to the Dawn Winery… Kaeya always gives his time for others, but on his own, he will never take for himself. 
Relationship-Focused
Even if you are able to catch someone like Kaeya, do not be so foolish as to expect his heart will be yours. Try as you may, there will be a wall. You will not be able to trust the words that come from his lips, no matter how sweet. He will lie about his wants, needs, insecurities, troubles, and more. This isn’t because he hates you or wishes to play with your feelings. He doesn’t know how to open up. He doesn’t know how to be honest. You’ll have to prove yourself a person he can trust.
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sophieinwonderland · 6 months
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Studies and Research Into Endogenic and Non-Disordered Plurality
I've been neglecting my Studies and Research page for a while, so I decided it was about time to bring it back. This time completely reorganized and mobile friendly. (Sort of. A lot of these are still PDFs, so clicking the links isn't mobile friendly. But you can actually reach it on mobile now unlike my old page.)
Blue links are free. Orange are paywalled but Sci-Hub compatible. Red is paywalled and not sci-hub compatible.
Latest Update: 10/19/23 (This post will be continuously updated with more research. If you see this in a reblog, you may not have the newest version)
Papers on The Tulpamancy Community
Varieties of Tulpa Experiences
Book: Hypnosis and meditation: Towards an integrative science of conscious planes
Learning to Discern the Voices of Gods, Spirits, Tulpas, and the Dead
DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbac005
Tulpas and Mental Health: A Study of Non-Traumagenic Plural Experiences
DOI: 10.12691/rpbs-5-2-1
Unusual experiences and their association with metacognition: investigating ASMR and Tulpamancy
DOI: 10.1080/13546805.2021.1999798
Personality Characteristics of Tulpamancers and Their Tulpas
DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/5t3xk (This is a pre-print and may lack peer review.)
Papers on Other Endogenic/Non-Disordered Plurals
Multiplicity: An Explorative Interview Study on Personal Experiences of People with Multiple Selves
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00938
Exploring the experiences of young people with multiplicity
ISSN: 2057-4266
Exploring the Utility and Personal Relevance of Co-Produced Multiplicity Resources with Young People
DOI: 10.1007/s40653-021-00377-7
Conceptualizing multiplicity spectrum experiences: A systematic review and thematic synthesis
DOI: 10.1002/cpp.2910
It's just a body: A community-based participatory exploration of the experiences and health care needs for transgender plural people
(Note: While most of the paper is paywalled, the introduction is still interesting and worth reading IMO.)
DOI: 10.1016/j.ejtd.2023.100354
Transgender Mental Health (Includes a chapter on Plurality)
Screenshots
ISBN: 978-1-61537-113-6
Papers on Spiritual Plurality and Plural-like Experiences
Can the DSM-5 differentiate between nonpathological possession and dissociative identity disorder? A case study from an Afro- Brazilian religion
DOI: 10.1080/15299732.2015.1103351
The Absorption Hypothesis: Learning to Hear God in Evangelical Christianity
DOI: 10.1111/j.1548-1433.2009.01197.x
Multiple Personality and Channeling
DOI: 10.29046/JJP.009.1.001
Commentary on "Multiple Personality and Channeling"
DOI: 10.29046/JJP.009.2.011
Papers on the Agency of Imaginary Friends
Explaining the Illusion of Independent Agency in Imagined Persons with a Theory of Practice
DOI: 10.1080/09515089.2022.2043265
Investigating Valence and Autonomy in Children's Relationships with Imaginary Companions (Paywalled)
DOI: 10.3233/DEV-130123
The bully in my mind: Investigating children's negative relationships with imaginary companions (Thesis)
https://ir.ua.edu/handle/123456789/1468
‘When my mummy and daddy aren't looking at me when I do my maths she helps me’; Children can be taught to create imaginary companions: An exploratory study
DOI: 10.1002/icd.2390
Imaginary Companions, Inner Speech, and Auditory Verbal Hallucinations: What Are the Relations?
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01665
Maladaptive daydreaming is a dissociative disorder: Supporting evidence and theory.
DOI: 10.4324/9781003057314
Papers on the Agency of Fictional Characters
The Illusion of Independent Agency: Do Adult Fiction Writers Experience Their Characters as Having Minds of Their Own?
DOI: 10.2190/FTG3-Q9T0-7U26-5Q5X
‘I’ve learned I need to treat my characters like people’: Varieties of agency and interaction in Writers’ experiences of their Characters’ Voices
DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2020.102901
Papers on the Agency of Hallucinations in Psychotic Disorders
A psychotherapy approach to treating hostile voices
DOI: 10.1080/17522439.2016.1247190
Auditory Hallucinations in Dissociative Identity Disorder and Schizophrenia With and Without a Childhood Trauma History (Paywalled)
DOI: 10.1097/NMD.0b013e3181c299ea
The Representation of Agents in Auditory Verbal Hallucinations
DOI: 10.1111/mila.12096
Rethinking Social Cognition in Light of Psychosis: Reciprocal Implications for Cognition and Psychopathology
DOI: 10.1177/216770261667707
Relevant Quotes From Irrelevant Papers
These are papers that largely have nothing to do with endogenic or non-disorder plurality, but include important quotes. These relevant quotes are screenshotted so you don't need to read entire papers for one paragraph.
Non-disordered plurality is mentioned in the International Classification of Diseases. (ICD-11)
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Authors of the The Haunted Self and creators of the Theory of Structural Dissociation reference that hypnosis or spiritual practices may result in self-conscious dissociative parts of the personality.
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DOI: 10.1080/15299732.2011.570592
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ukrfeminism · 2 months
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The number of women dying from alcohol-related diseases has soared in recent years, new figures show, with experts blaming the rise on brands deliberately targeting marketing at women.
The latest data reveals the number of women who lost their lives this way in the UK increased by 37 per cent in five years – surging from 2,399 to 3,293 between 2016 and 2021 and marking the highest levels since records began.
While more men than women still die from alcohol-related diseases, the Office for National Statistics figures show deaths are rising substantially quicker for women than for men, with the latter seeing a 28 per cent in the same period – from 4,928 to 6,348.
Professor Debbie Shawcross, a professor of hepatology and chronic liver failure at King’s College London’s Institute of Liver Studies, said liver disease was a particular problem in female patients. 
“Women tend to present with more severe liver disease, particularly alcohol-related hepatitis, and do so after a shorter period of excessive drinking and at a lower daily alcohol intake than men,” she said. “This can be accounted for by differences in body size and composition – less muscle mass.”
Richard Piper, chief executive of the charity Alcohol Change, claimed the main factor causing the surge is the “incessant marketing of drinks towards women” as he called for stricter regulation of alcohol advertising.
Abigail Wilson, from WithYou, a drug, alcohol and mental health charity, described the rise in women dying from alcohol-related liver disease as “very concerning” as she argued alcohol was as damaging as heroin and crack cocaine. “Women generally are less likely to die of alcohol-related causes than men. There is always a gap there but the gap is closing, and that is really concerning.”
The Independent can also report that:
The number of deaths among women attributed to alcohol-related liver disease in England increased from 1,533 to 2,190 deaths between 2015 and 2021 – a 42 per cent rise
The total number of male deaths linked to alcohol-related liver disease climbed by 34 per cent to 3,870 deaths in the same timeframe
Recent research from 33 countries found that British women are the biggest female binge drinkers
Exclusive polling from WithYou shows almost two-thirds of those who seek support online are women, with more than half seeking support for their alcohol use
Roxanne Knighton, who lives in Staffordshire, told The Independent of the pain of losing her mother Melanie to alcohol-related liver disease in March 2022. She was diagnosed with the illness in her late forties.
“All the earliest memories were mum drinking,” the 34-year-old recalled. “She was alcohol dependent – it made her function.”
Ms Knighton said her mother never went to the doctor and was in denial about her drinking. So Ms Knighton made the call instead. 
“It was me who called the doctors as she couldn’t get up off the sofa – she was full of fluid,” she added. “It had gone into her belly, she had to be drained, they got 12 litres from her.
“I was looking after her each day. It was four years until she died. It still hurts. I didn’t just lose her, I lost her to the alcohol first. You lose them twice.”
Raising concerns about the “feminisation” of alcohol marketing, Dr Piper highlighted annual reports of major alcohol brands which reveal they are deliberately targeting women.
“This is leading to deaths,” he said. “The second reason would be pricing – alcohol is more affordable now than it has been at any point in the last 20 years so people are drinking more.” 
He called for ministers to introduce tighter rules on alcohol marketing and roll out minimum unit pricing for alcohol to make drinks with higher alcohol content more expensive.
Other campaigners warned it is harder for women to get support for alcohol misuse due to services often being tailored towards men. Women routinely do the lion’s share of childcare, meaning they cannot physically find the time, they say.
Helena Conibear, chief executive of the Alcohol Education Trust, attributed the rise in women dying from alcohol-related liver disease to a significant increase in binge drinking in the late Nineties and early 2000s.
Meanwhile, Prof Shawcross argued women who struggle with alcoholism endure greater “cultural stigma” than their male counterparts, which may deter women from pursuing help. 
Alcohol-related liver disease often has no symptoms for many years, she added, while women also have lower levels of the enzyme which breaks down alcohol.
Vanessa Hebditch, of the British Liver Trust, said: “With alcohol becoming increasingly accessible and affordable, as well as more ingrained in our culture, more women are drinking to levels that put their health at risk.”
Siobhan Herbert, a project manager, told The Independent she started drinking a bottle of wine a night – and sometimes two bottles on weekend evenings – around 20 years ago.
“When I went out, I drank less,” the 52-year-old added. “I was a bit of a closet drinker. At home, there would be nobody around to witness me getting trollied. My mother was an alcoholic, she was exactly the same. You would have thought growing up, seeing all that through my teenage years, it would stop you, but it is very addictive.”
Ms Herbert said she eventually stopped drinking in June 2022 due to growing fed up with the impact alcohol was having on her physical and mental health.
She added: “I wasn’t putting Baileys on my cornflakes but every day I felt awful. I felt tired and anxious. 
“I am a whole new woman now. I feel alive. I have more energy. I am sharper. I do not have anxiety. My depression is gone and all of the problems I was blaming on the menopause have massively improved.”
Sandra Parker, a self-professed “classic binge drinker”, said she would struggle to know how much alcohol she had consumed due to blacking out and would sometimes be in bed for two days afterwards.
The 54-year-old, who stopped drinking in 2018, now coaches women to help them stop or cut down on their alcohol consumption, describing her clients as successful professional middle-class women who are secretly drinking harmful amounts of wine at home.
“They may have a single drink when they are out with people from work, or they may not even drink, but they come home and they have a bottle of wine,” she added. “They have learnt that when they have a drink, they feel less stressed, and it becomes a dependency where they really crave that feeling each night.”
A Department of Health spokesperson said. “Alcohol misuse can ruin lives and destroy families, which is why we are acting to support those most at risk.
“We’ve published a 10-year plan for tackling drug and alcohol-related harms and are investing an extra £532m between 2022 and 2025 to create places for 50,000 people in drug and alcohol treatment services. We are also funding specialist alcohol care teams at one in four hospitals in England, based on those with the greatest need.
“Our 10-year women’s health strategy sets out our plan for improving care and support for women.”
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cogitoergofun · 1 month
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In remarks following a mass shooting at the Chiefs Super Bowl parade, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas made a pointed statement about how the tragedy was able to take place even with more than 800 police officers stationed at the parade to secure the area.
“That’s what happens with guns,” he said plainly.
At least one person was killed in the violence and 21 people — including 11 children — were injured. As of Thursday, police had detained three people and confiscated multiple firearms in connection with the shooting, which they attributed to an interpersonal dispute.
“Parades, rallies, schools, movies, it seems like almost nothing is safe,” Lucas added.
According to reports, the violence began as an argument and escalated. It was not a single-shooter targeted attack like the kind that often receives more media attention. That makes it more in line with the vast majority of shooting incidents in the US.
Lucas’s statements highlight the fact that the proliferation of guns and weak gun control policies have fueled the United States’s mass shooting crisis, including the latest instance of violence in Kansas City. They also explicitly acknowledge the fallacy of the “good guy with a gun” argument: the idea that adding armed security — rather than limiting access to guns — can keep people safe.
The US has problems with gun violence because it has a lot of guns
The US is unique among industrialized countries when it comes to the frequency of fatal gun violence.
According to CNN, which referenced the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), a University of Washington global health research group, the proportion of homicides caused by gun violence in the US was 18 times that of the average of other developed countries in 2019.
Similarly, the number of firearms people own in the US far surpasses that of any other developed country. The US has about 120 firearms per 100 residents, much higher than Yemen, the next closest country, which has about 53 firearms per 100 residents, according to a 2018 study by the Swiss-based gun research project the Small Arms Survey.
As Vox has explained, multiple studies have directly linked the country’s number of firearms with the frequency of gun violence. “One 2013 Boston University-led study, for instance, found that for each percentage point increase in gun ownership at the household level, the state firearm homicide rate increased by 0.9 percent,” my colleagues Nicole Narea, Ian Millhiser, and I wrote. “And states with weaker gun laws have higher rates of gun-related homicides and suicides, according to a study by the gun control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety.”
The impact of gun violence has already been evident this year. In the first month and a half of 2024, 1,639 Americans have been killed by firearms and 2,223 have been injured, according to data collected by the Gun Violence Archive, a not-for-profit group that tracks US shootings.
In response to shootings, gun advocates often argue that more guns are the answer, that having a so-called “good guy with a gun” helps as they can stop a “bad guy with a gun.” That argument was advanced by gun advocates following a recent church shooting in Houston, in which off-duty officers shot and killed the suspected shooter.
And it’s a myth directly peddled by the gun lobby: “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” former National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre previously said. As Lucas noted, however, despite the strong presence of armed security and law enforcement at the Chiefs parade, the shooting still occurred and resulted in injuries and a fatality.
“We had over 800 officers there, staffed, situated all around Union Station today. We had security in any number of places, eyes on top of buildings and beyond — and there still is a risk to people,” Lucas said. That’s not to say law enforcement and civilians didn’t help prevent the situation from being worse: Bystanders assisted in subduing one suspect, per reports, and police arrested at least one individual as well.
Research has shown that increasing the presence of “good guys with guns” is not a fully effective way to reduce gun violence. This is because police often aren’t able to respond in time and the attack has already occurred when they’re able to react. Per a Texas State University study, police were able to stop less than a third of active attacks — including shootings — between 2000 and 2022.
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naturalrights-retard · 3 months
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By trialsitenews December 11, 2023
The UK government reports on the latest excess death data, evidencing an ongoing disturbing increase in mortality. With a focus on England and Wales, provisional counts of the number of deaths registered by age, sex, and region in the latest weeks for which data are available. This data set includes the most up-to-date figures available for deaths involving coronavirus (COVID-19).
The latest data compares 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic, and 2023, a year that represented the transition out of the global public health emergency. 
What are excess deaths?
Referring to the number of deaths observed in a specific time period that exceeds the expected number of deaths based on historical data, excess deaths represent a metric often used to better understand the impact of events such as pandemics, natural disasters or other crises impacting mortality rates.
How are excess deaths calculated?
Excess deaths are calculated by comparing the actual number of deaths during a particular period to the expected number of deaths based on previous trends. The expected number of deaths is usually determined by looking at data from previous years, considering factors like population growth and age distribution.
Helps with broader understanding of scale of impact
During an event such as COVID-19, excess deaths can be a more comprehensive measure of the overall impact than just looking at the reported deaths directly tied to the specific cause (e.g., COVID-19 deaths). This is because some deaths related to the event may not be directly attributed to the cause, and other indirect effects, such as disruptions to healthcare systems, economic downturns, or stress-related health issues, can contribute to increased mortality.
What’s the true impact of a crisis on mortality? Calculating and analyzing excess deaths helps offer a more comprehensive picture of true impacts from events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and associated tends, from disrupted health access to possibly, although it’s not dared mentioned in most mainstream media, impacts of pharmaceutical interventions (e.g., vaccines) to other intertwined factors and forces. We cannot be certain in the UK unless the government allocates the funding for academic medical centers to study the matter in detail.
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solarisgod · 2 months
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▌┊ CH. STUDY // : PUBLIC ⅋ PRIVATE KNOWLEDGES
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▌┊ PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE. * READILY AVAILABLE TO ANYONE OR WIDELY KNOWN.
Xe has a Wikipedia page detailing self basic personal information along with xyr career history and known works, as well as accolades in drama and literature.
Xyr gender and orientation identity are widely known, including the fact that xe identifies xemself as transmasculine, when Micah is highly opening about them across every settings and situations despite any potential consequences. Likewise with xyr health conditions except xyr Dissociative Identity Disorder.
Xe is the first and oldest adopted child of the Everlove family who are famous for its grand benevolence and creativity and passions. The public is very well aware that xe is most happy and comfortable being part of the Everlove family.
Most of xyr known poem and literature works can be found online on writing related websites or as PDFs that some individuals have uploaded in a fashion of pirating. There are screenshots of certain lines from xyr works that can be found on social platforms such as Pinterest, Instagram, TikTok, and Tumblr.
▌┊ SEMI-PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE. * SELECTIVELY SHARED OR KNOWN TO CERTAIN PEOPLE ⅋ ORGANIZATIONS.
Micah's birth of date and place are actually unknown. August 11 was the date when the Everlove adopted xem in Los Angeles while it was estimated that xe was only one year old by the hospital team when xe was discovered in 1989.
The public found xem as a toddler at a burnt forest somewhere in the United States while xe didn't have any official records. No one was sure how could xe survive the fire or was even in perfect state despite the extreme fire and smokes, but Micah soon learnt it was xem who was responsible of the fire with xyr power.
Few of xyr close associates, including Adoniram and Warlock, along with xyr terrestrial and celestial families are aware xe have Dissociative Identity Disorder. Many of those familiar with Micah and xyr performances and interactions have speculated that xe have this condition, though, unless considered to be close enough to talk about it, xe will dismiss any comments on xem having it from these individuals.
Those from Micah's childhood neighborhood would know of the facts that when xe was six to eleven years old, xe often broke their bones by jumping off of high altitudes, as well as xe had the tendency to break objects from family and peers when experiencing negative emotions, earning an impudent childhood name from xyr peers, "the Breaker".
▌┊ PRIVATE KNOWLEDGE. * INTENTIONALLY HIDDEN WHILE KNOWN TO ONLY A FEW INDIVIDUALS.
Micah killed their latest abusive foster family at the age of five by burning the house with them trapped in it. It was initially thought Phobos did it, but before Micah discovered xe did it, Phobos claimed the memory as its own so Micah wouldn't have to experience the guilt for doing what's best for them in the end.
After Micah graduated in university, xe was a private detective with Adoniram for five years because xe wanted to do more with helping those around xem in ways that authorities couldn't provide. Micah went by Detective Sirius and wore masks to hide xyr identity, as shaped of a lion at day and a wolf at night. Xe dropped this role after Adoniram vanished during the car accident in early April 2023.
Adoniram was declared dead in mid April 2023, but he mysteriously resurrected while evolving into an Antigod when xe reunited with him few months later in early July. Micah and Adoniram chose to hide the latter's living status to avoid handling the complications with the public and Micah's terrestrial family.
Micah age dreams and regresses. This is an important private aspect of Micah when xe engages in this behaviour often for fun or as a coping mechanism when alone or with those who xe is extremely close to, this being only Adoniram and Warlock outside the system while all of xyr starmates are aware, yet is extremely cautious about it due to the fear of being judged or infantilized.
Micah is an Antigod, going through Exiting ( process of developing meta awareness of being a character in a fictional reality ) after a near death experience during the April 2023 car accident. In original version, xe is classified as Order 4, meaning xe has complete in-depth knowledge of the storyline and Audience's presence while being able to interact with them. In roleplay version to avoid godmod and metagame, xe is Semi-order 3, having partial basic knowledge of the storyline, yet can still see and interact with the Audience.
Micah is the only star child of Ílios and Fengári, the incarnations of the Sun and Moon, King and Queen of the Solaris Kingdom / Solar System; as well as xe is likely also connected to the Earth incarnation, Gi, as xyr surrogate parent.
The Starwake System had their first death experienced by the infamous Antigod assassin, as paid by the Infernal Infinity, Antiafter, on January 21, 2024. Due to their Antigod status, having pseudo immorality as they can't die in order to tell their original story of Antineon Hieraeon, they were able to return to life with a warning from Death that the more they die, the more they would harm the Natural Order, placing the whole Universe in danger.
On March 7, 2024, the Starwake System developed the Eyes of God, giving xem the ability to cause someone's body to combust when making eye contact, making xem be potentially one of the most dangerous beings to exist in both Antigodeus society and the Universe. Currently blind as xyr eyes are healing from the weekly development, xe have been wearing a sunglasses to protect those viewing xem.
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larascorner · 7 months
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Get to know me ☕️✨🍂
Hey! I’m Lara, 24 yo and from Italy. I don’t really know what I’m doing here but here’s some stuff that I like:
Reading and visiting bookstores for hours
Autumn and Christmas time
Stationery and journaling
Traveling
Daydreaming and overthinking (I don’t really like doing the second one but it’s very related to the first one)
Knitting, although it’s been some time since I’ve knitted something
Learning about mental health and waiting till I can afford therapy again
Watching teen dramas
Japanese culture and comics
Coffee but decaf because: anxiety
Dogs, of all kinds and breeds
Lists
And here’s some me time:
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Some of my favorites:
Books: the Osemanverse, The catcher in the rye, Little Women, The perks of being a wallflower, Kafka on the shore, Call me by your name, The midnight library
Comics: Heartstopper, everything by Zerocalcare and Giacomo Bevilacqua, Haikyu, Nana, Toradora, Blue Flag, Kabi Nagata’s diaries
Tv series: Gilmore Girls, Friends, This is us, Atypical, Heartstopper, Sex Education, Never have I ever, Anne with an E, Sherlock, Skins, Stranger Things, Fleabag
Movies: Your Name, Spirited Away and everything by Studio Ghibli, Lady Bird, Harry Potter
Musicians: Twenty One Pilots, Yungblud, chloe moriondo, Tananai, girl in red, Måneskin, RADWIMPS, the 1975, Arctic Monkeys, ariete
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And finally, some random facts about me:
I’ve always wanted to become a translator but since last year I have no idea what I want to do with my life
I’m studying foreign languages and literatures at university
I’m a socially anxious introvert
I love animated movies way more than “normal” movies
I’ve been writing articles about books and comics on a website for two years
I would literally die for my dog
My cousin lives in Thailand and I went there four years ago: best trip of my life
My latest addiction is Sylvanian Families
I’ve been sleeping with the same plush (a pink duck named Pape) since I was two
I’m a virgo sun, libra rising, taurus moon and I love astrology memes
I’ve had a bookstagram account for 4 years and idk if I’m ever using it again
That’s all for now, wish you a lovely stay in this random dump of my life 🫶🏻
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By: SEGM
Published: Feb 23, 2024
The finding of low suicide rates and no evidence of benefits of gender reassignment continues to challenge the practice of youth transitions
Summary
A recent study published in BMJ Mental Health, All-cause and suicide mortalities among adolescents and young adults who contacted specialised gender identity services in Finland in 1996–2019, analyzed overall mortality and suicide mortality among gender-referred young people in Finland over a 25-year time span (n=2,083; median age 19 years; median follow-up 5.7 years). The study defined young people as those referred to gender services under the age of 23.
The study found that suicide among young people <23 ("youth") seeking gender services in Finland is an unusual event (0.3%, or 0.51 per 1,000 person-years). Further, in comparing gender-referred youth to a cohort of matched controls (n=16,643), the study found no convincing evidence that gender-referred youth have statistically significantly higher suicide rates as compared to the general population, after controlling for psychiatric needs. The study also did not detect a statistically significant association between gender reassignment and the risk of suicide. The study did, however, find a statistically significant relationship between a high rate of co-occurring mental health difficulties and increased suicide. The authors concluded that "it is of utmost importance to identify and appropriately treat mental disorders in adolescents experiencing GD [gender dysphoria] to prevent suicide, while also noting that "the risk of suicide-related to transgender identity and/or GD per se may have been overestimated."
This paper has important strengths and limitations. Its conclusions should be examined in the context of the preceding research from the Finnish team on the psychological needs of the recent cohort of youth presenting with gender dysphoria. An earlier study (also a registry study with no loss to follow-up), Have the psychiatric needs of people seeking gender reassignment changed as their numbers increase?, concluded that the level of psychopathology among gender-dysphoric youth has increased in recent years, but found no evidence that medical gender reassignment resolved psychiatric morbidity in young people experiencing gender-related distress.
In order to put the strengths and weaknesses of this latest research from Finland in context, we start by discussing the critical role the Finnish researchers played in highlighting problems with the practice of medical transition of adolescents. We then briefly expand on the most recent paper from the Finnish research team. We conclude with SEGM take-aways. 
Background
Finland was the first country in the West to raise concerns about the practice of gender reassignment of minors. Finland opened its gender services for minors in January 2011, the same year as the first of two seminal Dutch papers—the paper focused on the outcomes of puberty blockers (de Vries et al., 2011)—was published. However, after the first few years of initiating youth gender transitions, Finnish clinicians began to sound the alarm. In their descriptively-titled 2015 paper, Two years of gender identity service for minors: overrepresentation of natal girls with severe problems in adolescent development, they observed that the majority of gender-dysphoric youth presenting for care were female, exhibited "severe psychopathology and considerable challenges in the adolescent development," and suffered from "wider identity confusion." The researchers cautioned that the concept of medical gender transition for this cohort was at odds with the principles of adolescent development.
In the majority of the applicants, gender dysphoria presented in the context of wider identity confusion, severe psychopathology and considerable challenges in the adolescent development. At this point it is not possible to predict how gender dysphoria in this group will develop: will gender dysphoria in these adolescents cease with the resolution of wider developmental problems, or perhaps consolidate later into transsexual identity, with the completion of the developmental tasks of adolescence.
The Finnish researchers continued to provide gender-transition services to youth, while continuing to note the increasing prevalence of gender-related distress in youth and the emerging role of social influence:
… GD appears more common than it was 5 years earlier among Finnish junior high school students. It remains to be seen whether this signifies a vastly increased need for SR services. Adolescents’ identity experiences are shaped by the surrounding society and extensive media coverage of topics related to transgender identity, GD, and gender reassignment, [which] may have an influence on how adolescents perceive themselves and their developmental distress.
By 2020, the Finnish researchers were in the position to evaluate treatment outcomes. While their 2020 paper is frequently quoted by proponents of youth gender transition as an illustration of success (during treatment with hormones, there was a reduction in visits related to depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and self-harm), the Finnish researchers themselves arrived at a much more nuanced conclusion with troubling implications. They reported that youth with significant mental health and functional problems at baseline not only failed to improve their functioning after they started hormones, but many got worse:
If the adolescents diagnosed with transsexualism had had difficulties at school/work as during the gender identity assessment, they mainly continued to have difficulties during the real-life phase. Only a minority moved from progressing with difficulties to progressing normatively, and equally many deteriorated during follow-up.
The focus on objective functioning—participation in school or employment, relationships with peers, romantic involvement, and gaining independence—were key outcome measures in the 2020 Finnish study. These measures of functioning are proxies for overall adolescent development. The Finnish researchers noted that gender transition does not appear to facilitate adolescent development in many gender-dysphoric youth, and indeed may exert a negative effect.
The data in the 2020 paper, along with a systematic review of evidence, led the Finnish Health Authority agency COHERE to issue updated recommendations for treating gender-dysphoric youth. These updated guidelines stipulated that psychosocial support and, if necessary, gender-explorative therapy was to be the first line of treatment, while hormone treatments were restricted to very few cases. In Finland, surgery was never allowed for youth under age 18.
While the Finnish research team published a number of other important research papers between 2015 and 2023, the two papers discussed above (Kaltiala-Heino et al., 2015 and Kaltiala et al., 2020) had arguably been the most groundbreaking papers from the Finnish gender research team—until this 2024 paper in the BMJ Mental Health.
Suicide Mortality in Gender-Dysphoric Youth: What Do We Know?
One of the strongest stated rationales for gender transition in youth is the aim to prevent suicides. The notion that suicides are common in gender-dysphoric youth, and that medical gender transition prevents this tragic outcome, is exemplified by the phrase “would you rather have a dead daughter or a living son?”
In February 2024, a new key paper, All-cause and suicide mortalities among adolescents and young adults who contacted specialised gender identity services in Finland in 1996–2019 by the Finnish team was published in BMJ Mental Health. The paper posed three important questions (quoted directly from the paper below):
Do the all-cause and suicide mortalities of gender-referred adolescents differ from those of matched control populations?
Are any observed differences in mortality between gender-referred adolescents and matched controls explained by psychiatric morbidity?
What is the impact of GR [gender reassignment] on mortality among gender-referred adolescents?
In response to the first question specific to suicides, the researchers found that among <23-year-olds referred to the gender clinic between 1996 and 2019, 0.3% died by suicide, corresponding to 0.51 per 1,000 person-years. While this rate was about 4 times higher than the rate observed in the population of non-gender-dysphoric peers (0.12 per 1,000 person-years), the researchers found that once specialty psychiatric visits were controlled for, the difference between suicide rates in gender-referred adolescents and the general population was no longer statistically significant. In response to the second question, the study found that having 101+ psychiatric visits was a statistically significant predictor of suicide.
In response to the third question, the researchers were unable to find evidence that gender reassignment reduced suicide. When the gender-referred group was separated into “gender-reassigned (GR+)” and “not gender-reassigned (GR-),” and each group was compared to the general population (after controlling for the number of psychiatric visits as a proxy for psychiatric comorbidities), neither group's suicide rates differed from the general population in a statistically significant way. The researchers concluded that these results did “not support the claims that GR is necessary in order to prevent suicide.”
The paper has important strengths and limitations. 
Strengths:
Objective and robust measure of suicide rates. The paper’s report of 0.51 per 1000 person-years, based on 13,602 person-years (with a median follow-up of about 6 years) represents one of the most robust measures of suicide in gender-dysphoric youth to date. Suicides should not be confused with “suicidality,” a related but distinctly different measure. Suicidality refers to a wide range of behaviors from thoughts about suicide and non-suicidal self-harm, to serious suicide attempts; it is usually assessed by self-report; it typically excludes actual suicides; and it is considered a less robust and reliable outcome. The large sample (over 2,000 cases of gender-referred youth) provides a high degree of confidence in the size of the estimate and strongly signals that suicide is an unusual event for gender-referred adolescents in Finland, regardless of their gender transition status.
Control for severe psychiatric comorbidities. Because psychiatric illness remains a key predictor of suicide, it is essential to isolate the extent to which gender dysphoria itself contributes to suicide risk in transgender-identified youth. The paper’s use of a proxy measure for severe psychiatric comorbidity allowed for a more reliable estimate of the effect of gender dysphoria on suicide (which was found to not be statistically significant). However, the chosen method of controlling for psychiatric comorbidities has important limitations, which we discuss below. 
Isolated the effect of gender reassignment on suicides. One of the ongoing criticisms of the existing data on suicide is the inability to determine whether medical gender reassignment has a positive, negative, or neutral effect on suicides. This is because suicide is reported for gender-dysphoric patients without accounting for whether or not the patient was treated. The Finnish researchers controlled for treatment status by splitting the sample of gender-referred adolescents into “transitioned” vs “not transitioned” and comparing their suicide rates to the general population of matched peers. The paper concluded no effect of transition on suicides due to a lack of statistical significance. Our discussion in the "SEGM take-away" section below discusses the limitations of exclusively relying on statistical significance when too few events are observed, but we ultimately agree with the authors' conclusions. 
No loss to follow-up. The paper used linked national health registries, which assured that all the assessed individuals were accounted for, with effectively no loss to follow-up (only those who left the country would be missing from the national register data). In contrast, most research in this field suffers from substantial loss to follow-up, ranging from 20% to 60%. Loss to follow-up can often mask negative outcomes, as patients disillusioned in their care or struggling with functioning are less likely to engage in follow-up research.
While this paper represents one of the most robust efforts to date to answer essential questions about the relationship between gender dysphoria and suicide, and the impact of gender transition on suicide, it also has important limitations. The most salient ones (some of which are recognized by the authors) are outlined below:
Limitations:
Relatively short-term follow-up. While the registry spans 25 years, the median follow-up time is under 6 years. Since the elevated morbidity and mortality in adult studies emerge after the 10-year mark, it is unlikely that the paper accurately reflects the long-term picture on adverse outcomes. Given the “honeymoon period” associated with gender transitions and the young age of current study participants, it is likely that the positive outcomes of the transition have been “frontloaded” and thus accounted for by the results, while the negative outcomes—including both the possibility of regret and the negative effect of prolonged exposure to cross-sex hormones—may not have been yet incurred and are not captured by the data. With longer follow-ups, the results could substantially change. However, this is a limitation of the field rather than the limitation of the study itself. Youth only began to present for gender reassessment in high numbers in recent years, which has contributed to the median follow-up of only about 6 years.  
Too few events for a subgroup analysis. The welcome news that there were few suicides among the gender-dysphoric youth (n=7) comes with a scientific disadvantage that these numbers are too small for well-powered statistical analysis. For example, the study’s first two research questions led the researchers to compare 7 suicide events among gender-referred youth to 13 suicides in the matched control population. The analysis to inform questions about which independent variables (e.g., level of psychiatric comorbidity, transition status, sex, etc.) have an effect on suicide is necessarily limited by these small numbers. The small number of suicides is a welcome limitation.
Imperfect control for co-occurring mental illness. To assess the level of co-occurring psychiatric conditions, the researchers relied on the count of psychiatric visits to tertiary care. However, this approach does suffer from limitations. While the frequency of psychiatric visits is an indicator of severe psychiatric disease (the authors explain that in Finland, only severe psychiatric illness is treated at a tertiary level), it is an imprecise measure of psychiatric morbidity. For example, 1 psychiatric hospitalization, 1 outpatient consult for severe and persistent mental illness such as schizophrenia, and 1 visit related to depression would all count as "1 visit" but would signal different levels of psychiatric needs. At the same time, disorders such as anxiety may not be captured at all, if such less severe conditions are addressed at a lower level of care in the Finnish healthcare system. Further, while the researchers controlled for birth year, it does not appear that the number of psychiatric visits was annualized; instead, it was summed across the entire timespan. This risks underestimating the burden of psychiatric illness for most recently referred youth, who are presenting with large numbers in recent years with significant mental health comorbidities, but who have shorter psychiatric histories (fewer total visits).
The authors observe that "experiencing GD [gender dysphoria] significant enough to seek GR [gender reassignment] appears to not be associated with increased suicide mortality, but suicides appear to be explained by psychiatric morbidities." They further note that "when psychiatric treatment history is considered, GD significant enough to result in contact with specialized gender identity services during adolescence does not appear to be predictive of all-cause or suicide mortality. Psychiatric morbidities are also common in this population. Therefore, the risk of suicide-related to transgender identity and/or GD per se may have been overestimated." Consistent with these observations, the authors finish with the clinical implication of the “utmost importance to identify and appropriately treat mental disorders in adolescents experiencing GD to prevent suicide” and recommended that “accurate information is provided to professionals” regarding this important topic. 
The current study's conclusions must also be examined in the context of earlier Finnish research. As mentioned above, another recent study from Finland, also relying on the registry data with no loss to follow-up, examined the psychiatric needs of gender-referred individuals in Finland. The study concluded that gender referrals at ever-younger ages are on the increase, with an increasing burden of co-occurring psychiatric problems. The authors examined the effects of gender transition on psychiatric needs, with the hope of seeing that gender reassignment, combined with reduced stigma and prejudice in society, would alleviate psychiatric comorbidities. Instead, the analysis showed that “manifold psychiatric needs persist regardless of medical GR [gender reassignment].” The authors noted that this conclusion from Finland is consistent with a recent US study, which also had no loss to follow-up.
SEGM Take-Away
The results of the study should be interpreted in the context of the unique characteristics of Finland's transgender-identifying population (e.g., the reportedly low rates of substance use in Finland, in contrast to the high reported rate in the US), Finland's recent strides in having significantly reduced suicide rates in the country overall, and Finland's unique, high-quality healthcare system, which contributes to superior health outcomes for the Finnish population. At the same time, several important aspects of the Finnish results are nonetheless likely generalizable to other Western countries, as the trend of high numbers of young people presenting to specialty services with a wish to medicalize their recent-onset transgender identity appears to be ubiquitous in the West.
The recent Finnish study confirms the earlier finding from the UK that suicides remain uncommon events in gender-dysphoric youth, regardless of gender transition status. It also confirms the finding from an earlier international study on suicidality (a related concept) that while the frequency of such events is elevated in gender-dysphoric young people compared with the general population of youth, it is comparable to youth referred for other mental health problems but not gender dysphoria. The Finnish study's results suggest that the clinical management of gender-dysphoric young people should focus on the management of comorbid psychiatric conditions, which are a well-known risk factor for suicides. This conclusion is consistent with prior research, which consistently shows that psychiatric comorbidities are highly prevalent in gender-dysphoric youth, typically predating the diagnosis of gender dysphoria.
Some proponents of youth gender transitions may argue that while the effect of gender reassignment on suicide reported by the study was not statistically significant, it was nonetheless clinically meaningful. The study reported that youth who were gender-transitioned had a lower risk of suicide over time (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.8; 95% confidence interval 0.2 to 4.0; p-value = 0.8) compared to the general population, while youth who were gender-referred but did not undergo transition had a higher risk (adjusted hazard ratio, 3.2; 95% confidence interval 1.0 to 10.2; p-value, 0.05). Some have suggested that this signals that gender transition decreases suicide risk, and that this finding deserves careful consideration despite the lack of statistical significance, which could be explained by a small sample with insufficient power. In the past, SEGM itself made an argument that statistical significance alone should not be relied upon, and that some results can be not statistically significant, yet clinically meaningful.
Our analysis of suicidality data in the Bränström & Pachankis 2020 study is a case in point. Originally, the study concluded that hormones did not lead to improvement in mental health of gender-referred individuals but claimed that gender-affirming surgeries did result in a benefit. After the study's publication, the analysis was found to have had significant problems, and the data were subsequently re-analyzed using a more rigorous statistical method. After the re-analysis, the earlier finding of benefits had to be corrected, stating, "the results demonstrated no advantage of surgery in relation to subsequent mood or anxiety disorder-related health care visits or prescriptions or hospitalizations following suicide attempts in that comparison." In examining the re-analyzed data, SEGM noted that not only was the original conclusion of suicide attempt reductions nullified, but the re-analyzed data showed nearly twice as many serious suicide attempts in the "gender-dysphoric and surgically-transitioned" group relative to the risk-matched "gender-dysphoric but not surgically-transitioned" group. While this difference was not statistically significant, we argued that it was nonetheless clinically meaningful, and that the lack of statistical significance was likely due to lack of power from too few recorded suicide attempts.
For the reasons outlined above, we will engage with the question, does the Finnish data show that gender transition reduces suicides—even if the results were not statistically significant?
Does the Finnish Study Show That Gender Transition Reduces Suicides?
Statistical significance is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, statistical significance testing is an objective method that separates the "signal" from the "noise" of random error in a dataset, so that random effects are not mistaken for a likely true effect (also known as Type I error). On the other hand, it is possible to wrongly dismiss a real effect because it failed to reach statistical significance, for example, due to a small sample (known as Type II error). For this reason, besides looking at statistical significance, one should examine the direction, magnitude, and precision of effect estimates (i.e., confidence intervals), as well as the overall sample size. It is possible to come to a conclusion that a non-statistically significant result is still clinically meaningful and informative.
Below we explain why the Finnish results do not suggest that gender transition reduced suicides. In fact, had the results been statistically significant, we would still assert that one could not draw the conclusion that Finnish data provided reliable evidence that gender transitions reduced suicides. This is because we believe the adjustment for psychiatric illness, which is one of the strongest predictors of suicide, did not fully account for the burden of psychiatric comorbidity, and that this limitation disproportionately affected the "gender-referred but not reassigned" (GR-) group's comparison to the general population, leading to a possible overestimate of the point estimate for the adjusted hazard ratio.
Because the researchers chose to rely on the total count of psychiatric visits to specialty tertiary care centers as their control variable, the analysis remained vulnerable to confounding due to psychiatric illness, as we explained in the limitation section above. This limitation is particularly relevant to the discussion at hand because the assignment to  "gender-referred but not reassigned" (GR-) vs. "gender-referred and reassigned" (GR+) groups was non-random. Individuals with a higher degree of psychiatric comorbidity, and, thus, a higher baseline suicide risk, were less likely to be approved for transition by the centralized Gender Identity Services (GIS), and, thus, more likely to "end up" in the GR- group, as the quote from the earlier 2023 Finnish study suggests:
Proceeding to medical GR [gender reassignment] interventions was not independent of psychiatric treatment needs prior to contacting GIS. Those who proceeded to medical GR presented less commonly with needs for specialist-level psychiatric treatment before contacting GIS and after the index date. 
Given the well-established fact that recent gender-referred youths suffer from high rates of co-occurring mental illness, the inability to fully control for psychiatric comorbidity would likely disproportionately affect the GR-group's comparison to the general population, affecting the adjusted hazard ratios calculations. 
Of course, the lack of statistical significance is another strong reason not to over-interpret the difference in the point estimates in the adjusted hazard ratios between the GR+ and the GR- groups. The confidence intervals for adjusted hazard ratios for suicide between GR- and GR+ (compared to controls) were 1.0 - 10.2 and 0.2 - 4.0, respectively. In other words, among gender-referred young people who underwent medical reassignment (GR+), the rate of suicide was anywhere from 80% lower to 4 times higher than matched controls, after accounting for psychiatric comorbidity, whereas among gender-referred young people who did not undergo medical reassignment (GR-), the rate of suicide was the same as or up to 10 times higher than matched controls. The uncertainty around the estimates was due to the (thankfully) small number of suicides in both groups.
Perhaps most importantly, debating whether these non-statistically significant study results can still be interpreted to mean that gender reassignment reduced suicides misses the biggest point of the study: the low absolute risk of suicide in the population of gender dysphoric youth. Because this absolute base risk is low, any further treatment-associated reductions in the risk are naturally limited and must be considered in the context of the harms of the same treatment, as we explain below. (To clarify, the explanation below is based on a thought experiment, as the researchers did not share the raw numbers due to patient privacy reasons.)
Let's assume that 6 of the 7 recorded suicides in the Finnish study occurred in the GR- (un-reassigned) group (6/1287=0.47%), and only 1 of the 7 suicides occurred in the GR+ (reassigned) group (1/796=0.13%); this is the most generous assumption the current data affords. Although one could claim that suicides were reduced nearly 4-fold (from 0.47% to 0.13%), the absolute suicide risk was reduced by less than 1 percentage point (0.47%-0.13%=0.34%)*. This example emphasizes the need to always consider the absolute, rather than relative risk. Reliance on relative risk reduction can lead to an overly optimistic (and often misleading) assessment of a treatment's efficacy.
Further, any reductions in the risk of suicide from gender reassignment, which are limited by the ceiling of less than 1% as we demonstrate above, must then be weighed against the risk of treatment-associated harms. For example, every child treated according to the recommendations by the Endocrine Society (i.e., starting puberty blockade at Tanner stage 2 and followed with cross-sex hormones) is expected to be infertile or sterile, and significant unanswered questions remain about bone and brain development. Past studies of transgender-identified adults found significantly shortened lifespans and elevated morbidity among transitioned individuals, including significant cardiovascular risks. A number of other risks emerge saliently only after the 10-year mark, which is several years later than the study's average follow-up of 6 years. While the Number Needed to Treat (NNT) to avoid an adverse outcome such as suicide is impossible to calculate from the current study, given the hypothetical best-case-scenario example above, the relationship between the NNT (number needed to treat) and the NNR (number needed to harm) is unlikely to be favorable, even if gender transitions did reduce suicides—which the study failed to conclude. 
Finally, trading off benefits and harm involves patient and parent (in the case of minors) value judgments about how much harm (and what type) a patient would accept in return for a benefit. Quality systematic research into patient values and preferences in this space has not been conducted.
In constructing Table 1 below to summarize what's known about the absolute risk of suicide in gender-referred youth, we noted that the highest rates of suicides were reported in instances where every young person was treated with hormones. That neither the current study nor several other studies to date have been able to demonstrate that gender transition reduces suicide or serious suicide attempts adds to the concern that the suicide narrative has been inappropriately used to promote medical gender transitions of youth.
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We would like to conclude our discussion of the Finnish study with a recent quote from Dr. Erica Anderson, the former President of USPATH: “If gender-affirming medicines could not provide sufficient relief to the adolescents so treated and reduce their suicidality, should such patients have received hormones at all?" 
We would like to add one more important question: How should the treatment outcomes be measured? The medical community must come to a consensus on what the primary treatment target is. The goal of suicide reduction, which has long been asserted by the many proponents of youth gender transitions, appears to be a flawed measure. At the same time, a mere achievement of satisfying appearance results, as suggested by the new "gender incongruence" ICD diagnosis, is also a questionable measure, especially given what we know about ongoing adolescent development.The Finnish researchers have long asserted the treatment target should be on the improvements in functioning (both short- and long-term).
These critical questions must be urgently debated by the professionals who deeply care about helping gender-dysphoric youth. The answer to these questions will have a direct impact on which treatments—hormones and surgery, or watchful waiting and psychotherapy—will become the standard of care for the rapidly growing numbers of gender-dysphoric youth in the 21st century.
==
The primary manipulation used by activists and activist-clinicians to manipulate both parents and kids is, unsurprisingly, a lie.
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Education on what to do if you have questions about medications, side effects, and drug interactions. (For the US only)
Obviously if it's a prescription medication, the first person you want to call is the doctor that prescribed it. However, they're not always open, so...
The Pharmacist (ie the person that the Pharmacy tech will summon if you have questions about your medication or if the medication requires a consult) is required to complete med school and go to school specifically to become a pharmacist. Which means they aren't just a random person counting pills, they need to know about medications and be able to answer them.
So if you're looking at your benadryl and wondering "I took Claritin this morning. Can I still take this?" Call your local pharmacy.
If you're taking a new medication and are like "My tongue is itchy when I take this. Should I stop?" Call your pharmacist.
If you're taking a medication and you're wondering "The side effects of this medication are literally driving me crazy. Can I stop taking it cold turkey?" Call your pharmacist.
If you're taking a new medication and are like "These side effects make me worry about my health and safety. What should I do?" Call the pharmacist (they'll tell you if you need the emergency room or just urgent care).
Obviously you want to read the notes that came with the medication first if you're worried about side effects or drug interactions, but if that doesn't answer your question? Call the pharmacist.
Trust me. Even if the pharmacist sounds really fucking annoyed by your question? It's their fucking job. They went to fucking med school for this. And if they don't have an answer? (Sometimes pharmacists aren't up to date on the newest drugs on the market). CALL ANOTHER.
Pharmacists typically need a Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree that includes healthcare and related courses, such as biology, chemistry, and physics. Programs are accredited by an organization such as the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE).
Admissions requirements vary by program, however, all Pharm.D. programs require applicants to take postsecondary courses such as chemistry, biology, and physics. Most programs require at least 2 years of undergraduate study, although some require a bachelor’s degree. Most programs also require applicants to take the Pharmacy College Admissions Test (PCAT).
Pharm.D. programs usually take 4 years to finish, although some programs offer a 3-year option. Some schools admit high school graduates into a 6-year program. A Pharm.D. program includes courses in chemistry, pharmacology, and medical ethics. Students also complete supervised work experiences, sometimes referred to as internships, in different settings such as hospitals and retail pharmacies.
Some pharmacists who own their own pharmacy may choose to get a master’s degree in business administration (MBA) in addition to their Pharm.D. degree. Others may get a degree in public health.
Pharmacists also must take continuing education courses throughout their career to keep up with the latest advances in pharmacological science.
(I'm putting this out there because a friend was worried about the side effects of their medication, and their family was trying to convince them it was no big deal. I'm like "What if you could call a person that's literally been to me school and ask them? Right now? Even though your doctor isn't in yet?")
-fae
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lifewithchronicpain · 3 months
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Study underscores urgency of addressing adverse childhood experiences, potentially traumatic events that occur before 18 years of age, and taking steps to mitigate their long-term impact on health. These results are extremely concerning, particularly as over 1 billion children - half of the global child population - are exposed to ACEs each year, putting them at increased risk of chronic pain and disability later in life. Previous research has indicated a positive relationship between exposure to ACEs and chronic pain in adulthood. However, there are still gaps in knowledge - particularly around which type of ACEs are associated with specific pain-related conditions, or whether a dose-response relationship exists.
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theendnews · 6 months
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WHO Orders World Governments To Ban ‘Meat Products’ To ‘Prevent the Next Pandemic’
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned world governments that the “next pandemic” will come from the meat supply and as a consequence humanity must be restricted in its consumption of animal products.
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According to the WHO, the meat supply must be regulated to price animal products out of reach for ordinary people, with blanket bans on many products.
This disturbing new globalist narrative comes amid an escalating war against agriculture and livestock farming over claims that producing meat and dairy products contributes to the so-called “climate crisis.”
Now the WHO, which receives the majority of its funding from Bill Gates, is targeting the meat industry with the latest proven fear tactic – the alleged risk of another freedom-robbing pandemic.
This new fearmongering idea is now being pushed like never before under One Health. One Health is a global agenda that gives sweeping powers to unelected bureaucrats at the WHO.
The plan will allow the WHO to centralize power and make decisions relating to diet, agriculture and livestock farming, environmental pollution, movement of populations, healthcare, and much more, for the entire world, overriding the rights of citizens and the laws of sovereign nations.
To that end, a report from the Brooks McCormick Jr. Animal Law & Policy Program at Harvard Law School and the Center for Environmental & Animal Protection at New York University now predicts that the next pandemic is likely to emerge from the U.S. meat supply.
Additionally, they warn that the fur trade, petting zoos, and pets all create similar risks.
It basically reviews all the different areas of life and commerce that involve animal and human contact, however brief or rare, and the subsequent hypothetical zoonotic transmission chains.
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Unsurprisingly, One Health documents are repeatedly referenced in this report.
Overall, the One Health agenda essentially demonizes the meat and dairy industry and the consumption of food products from animals.
The plan calls for minimizing or eliminating certain animal-human contact, sterilizing areas where animals are kept or butchered, and/or increasing the use of antibiotics and vaccines in animals across the board. It also calls for massively increased biosurveillance and testing.
The One Health agenda effectively suggests that contact with animals and meat products creates a high risk.
In contrast, the report in question primarily focuses on legislative and regulatory actions to curtail zoonotic disease.
The suggestions include the potential banning of certain animal practices that “present great risk but relatively little value, economic or otherwise.”
The warnings in the report read like they were prepared to be used to justify the transition to synthetic lab-grown “meat” promoted by Bill Gates and the World Economic Forum (WEF).
In recent years, the lab-grown “meat” industry has been pushing the narrative that their cell-based lab-concoctions are the answer to today’s environmental woes, and that includes the threat of zoonotic disease transmission, as lab-grown “meat” is grown in supposedly highly hygienic and sterile conditions.
The main marketing pitch for the emerging lab-grown meat industry is that it helps “fight climate change” by reducing the emissions from traditional farming.
However, as The People’s Voice previously reported, a recent study found that lab-grown meat is actually 25 times worse for the environment than traditional beef production.
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can you talk to me about Logan? was he retconned into being a simp or was he always a simp? what else do u like about him
AHO YES
thanks for the ask!! I have had MANY thoughts about this.
So. Logan's story started in 1319 when he met Rytlock, then Caithe, and they fought in an arena in Lion's Arch for a while. This is documented in the official, canonical book Edge of Destiny.
Queen Jennah came to watch a match as part of international relations or something, and Logan was smitten immediately and went to talk to her before the match. (His brother was the queen's guard so that may have given him some leeway lol.) He told her he would fight for her, his queen. He asked for a token, and she gave him a scarf, which he wore while he fought. He was injured so terribly that he was unconscious, but he did have victory.
Once he woke up, Logan received an official summons to Divinity's Reach in Kryta. He went and met with the queen, who presented him to all the nobles, ministers, and other politicians as 'her Champion,' raising both their hands in the air. He would be her warrior outside Kryta, her presence on foreign fields. Then she turned to him, squeezeed his hand, and whispered in his ear, "thank you for answering my summons" (she is a queen). Logan squeezed her hand in return and responded that he would always answer her summons.
So she, on the spur of the moment, magically bonded him to her, a process whereby she went into his mind (Logan's mental monologue describes her as a thief in the night, and yet he welcomed her and led her into his memories).
This rocks her back for a moment in awe at the things he has done, but she quickly recovers in the presence of her court and declares to Logan that if she summons him, he must come. Logan kneels and promises he will.
After this, Logan returns to Lion's Arch to continue fighting in the arena, meets the rest of Destiny's Edge and goes off to fight dragons.
During the rest of the book, Logan and Jennah exchange letters in which Jennah clearly returns his love. She is concerned for his wellbeing fighting dragons and their champions, which as well all know is not known for its health benefits. See the tail end of her first letter:
As your queen, I could forbid you to do this thing, but I have seen you defeat a legion of charr. I have seen you slay devourers and destroyers, centaurs and ettins and worse. If anyone could defeat the Dragonspawn, it would be you. So, I will not forbid it. I will trade fear for hope and look forward to congratulating you on this latest and greatest of your victories. -- your queen, Jennah
She calls him 'my dear Champion' and says her trust in him was well placed, and wishes he could return home (but he is too busy for this) and 'you are most alive in the heart of danger' anyway.
My heart tells me to forbid you to go. I should. [...] if I lose you to Morgus Lethe, it would be worse than losing an army. [...] I think of you often. I imagine you marching across blasted tundra, battling monsters in caves of ice, standing stalwart against our enemies. Perhaps I am just imagining the battles you fight, but I choose to believe we have a deeper bond.
After the second victory of Destiny's Edge, Jennah writes in exultation that a champion of a dragon cannot stand against the champion of a queen. I fear to lose you, and I want more than anything to see you again. But you cannot fight for me by standing around the halls of Divinity's reach. The last thing I need is another polished advisor. They are just statues compared to a flesh-and-blood champion. So, fight for me. Defeat the Destroyer of Life. And in our long separation, I will content myself with letters and with visions of your heroism. Your queen, Jennah
Later, she addresses a letter to the Most Magnificent Logan Thackeray, after spending the book dropping her own titles as they grow closer, and she calls her desire to summon him 'selfish.'
Then follows the incident with Glint, Kralkatorrik, and Logan leaving to protect Jennah. (Their magical bond allowed her to communicate with him via telepathy.) We know how that goes. Logan's brother is killed in the fighting, and we last see Logan Thackeray taking his place and bearing his sword as Captain of the Seraph, left hand of the queen.
And so we see Captain Thackeray in-game, often in his office doing paperwork or clinging to the queen's side (often in spite of her gentle persuasion to depart for adventure and glory). So the man who was most alive in battle becomes the polished advisor Jennah never needed him to be, for the sake of her own protection.
So much for Edge of Destiny! but even officially-canon sources are nothing compared to in-game sources. Off we go to Divinity's Reach, 1325, five years later, when the queen is in danger from one of her own soldiers who went mad from dragon corruption, and the Durmand Priory has stepped in to help defend her.
The player, who has recently been delegated the role of 'Advocate of the Queen' in dealing with the three Orders of Kryta, has this conversation with her.
Advocate: Captain Thackeray is very worried about you, Your Majesty. Queen Jennah: Logan? He mustn't worry... please, tell him I'll be fine. If he is distracted, and gets hurt, I don't know what I would do. Advocate: If I may be so bold, ma'am, the two of you seem to care about one another very much. Queen Jennah: He is like an angel sent from Dwayna to be at my side. If things were different, or if Kryta were at peace, then, perhaps... Advocate: Good luck, ma'am. To all of us.
after the battle, another conversation is had.
Advocate: Speaking of Captain [Logan] Thackeray... it doesn't bother you that he's going to Lion's Arch? Queen Jennah: I'm worried, I'll admit. Caithe has never been trustworthy even in the best of times, and lately... Please, tell me you'll watch over him? Advocate: You know that you could stop him, right? One word from you, and he'd stay. Queen Jennah: No, Advocate. I have enough servants - I want a partner. Logan must be free to make his own decisions.
Note that these dialogues are not available to characters who pick the Vigil path. The first one (and most important, imo) is only available in the Durmand Priory path. Don't ask me why, that's a stupid decision (and perhaps the wiki just failed to document them in the other two paths), but here we have the lore still perfectly intact, confirming the books and even increasing on them. The strongest declaration of the queen's love aside from the magical bond is found in the game itself. "He is like an angel sent from Dwayna?" please.
Logan didn't simp for Jennah, although he did embarrass himself a few times and he is most certainly quite sappy and focused on Jennah's welfare and protection. It's his whole vocation. He is a guardian, and guardians protect. He is Seraph Captain, and the Seraph Captain serves the queen and defends her and her people. And he loves her, and she loves him. She cares for him fiercely and worries about him just as much as she did five years ago.
Contrast that to Season 3, Head of the Snake, 1330, five years after, where the player Commander approaches the queen again.
Commander: After the incident with Estelle, I meant to ask you about Logan... Queen Jennah: Captain Thackeray has provided unwavering, invaluable service to the crown. I expect he will continue to do so, especially given the current situation with Caudecus. Commander: Apologies if I've given offense, Your Majesty. Queen Jennah: That's not necessary. I hear the whispers, and I see with my own eyes. Logan is... a loyal servant, and a friend. I think he's coming to terms with that. At last.
Logan was never a simp until they forced him to be by taking his full decade of service, love, and devotion and said it was never appreciated. They ripped his lover out of his arms and forced her to tell him, against her own expressed feelings, that she never loved him, that all his years of service and sacrifice meant nothing to her and never had, that he had wasted himself on nothing. It makes a mockery of him, turning him into a blind fool whose expressions of unashamed, raw love were the foolish delusions of a lovestruck boy who, apparently, spent ten years trying to win her love and failing to measure up.
This was in a main story instance that everyone who played that episode could see.
This of course, holds no candle in fandom discourse to an offscreen source (book) and a conversation that occured in 1/15th of all possible story paths (1/5 chance of playing human, 1/3 chance of choosing Priory). The real funny thing is that Anet never removed these dialogues when they made the retcon.
Logan was a hero. He was a champion. He is skilled and experienced in both combat and strategy, in leadership and military management. Logan was evenly matched with a Blood Legion Tribune, and for a human that is no mean feat. He slew beasts with a company of five that it took the whole dwarven race to kill. He is one of, if not the strongest hero, aside the Commander, to exist in the modern day. There's a reason he was snapped up by the Pact almost immediately. And this retcon turns Jennah into a blind fool as well, failing to see the strength, courage, and heroism in front of her face, who loved and was devoted to her, and foolishly spurned his love.
So much for the canon!
I do not like this retcon, not one bit. I also hate changing canon. Undoing this retcon would change a lot of things going forward from Season 3, such as him being Marshal of the Pact, him being a ladies' man with all the ladies who aren't as dumb and stupid as the retcon made Jennah to be, and so on.
So I will fix the retcon while preserving a respect for both Logan and Jennah, and it is this: that it is not a retcon - that is to say, it has no power going backwards - but that it is a development. Jennah has fallen out of love with Logan after his repeated refusal to leave her side and be the hero she fell in love with. He used to have utmost respect for her, and would take her suggestions as commands. But here he does not, and when he finally did leave to kill Zhaitan, it was only to come back in S1 and be just as stubborn as ever. (Which is technically a limitation of S1's timing and development IRL, but it works.) He leaves to fight dragons but he comes straight back and does not listen. This is a minor improvement, but it is not enough. The queen can not love a man who will not listen to his queen.
This could read either as Jennah falling out of love, or that she, for his own good, says that she doesn't love him anymore, in order to let him leave and be his most true, alive self in battle. And maybe she misses him and is torn apart when she dreams of his battles with the Pact, and of his adventures with other women, but he is happy, and there was a part of him that was not while he stayed by her side and did paperwork and sacrificed himself for her safety.
So much for the retcon!
What else do u like about him? -- dabenport
I'm glad you asked, I have no clue! He's not a particularly compelling character to me. I'm asexual and have never been in a relationship, so I don't relate to... much of his existence lol.
I'll say I've mained human all my life (despite my fave race being sylvari) and Logan is pretty great. He has a sense of humor (as Seraph Captain, I can't exactly jump up and down saying 'pick me! pick me!' but I can certainly think it) (oh dear! the White Mantle is upon me! oh woe! is this the end for poor Logan?).
I guess what I really like about him is his devotion to the queen. The queen serves the kingdom, and Logan serves the queen. They are united in their service to the people. That's a great picture to me.
You can tell how much a person cares about something by what they sacrifice for it. Logan sacrificed Snaff, Glint, and the chance of defeating Kralkatorrik. Logan sacrificed a life of adventure. He sacrificed his relationship with Rytlock, an honorary brother, as well as the rest of Destiny's Edge. (Jennah's side of the relationship is much more hidden, not well known aside from what I've just related; she is a shadow in the story compared to Logan's bright flare of a hero, a mentor to human characters and connection to Destiny's Edge.)
Logan also sacrifices for fighting the dragons: in Arah he stayed behind, and although by some miracle he survived, it was clear he did not expect to.
Sacrifice is like catnip to me. Give something up for the sake of that which you love; gimme. It's the theme of all my blorbos. Somehow it doesn't come through in making Logan a compelling character to me. I can feel strongly about his overall story and write about that, but the long-term drudgery of writing a narrative is much more difficult. Perhaps it is because I have never been in a relationship and don't know what to show/how to explore that. Write what you know, they say. I don't know the strength of the feelings involved or how they might express. (I've also never really been a fan of the romance genre, possibly for the same reason, and I've had very few friends in my life, so I really have no sources of knowledge on what is it like to love that deeply.
Possibly for these reasons, it's difficult for me to write about Logan. Despite my high regard for him, he's just not compelling to me the way other characters (cough Trahearne cough Forgal cough Taimi - whose stories may contain love in some amount but are not focused on them) are. I write about him because I concluded that his PoV would be the best to tell the opening acts of Dreams of Freedom from, chronicling Destiny's Edge's journey in this AU of mine. Sometimes I reconsider, although I'm sorta committed now, and I do enjoy it when I can buckle down to it.
~oOoOo~
This has been
Character Study: Logan Thackeray
thank you for asking and giving me this opportunity to talk! On some level, all GW2 characters are my blorbos and I could talk about any of them at length. Logan is less compelling than other GW2 characters, but that is like saying a giant is short for being 12ft tall and not 15 or 20.
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is this true? neither of the source links work for me so im highly skeptical that it isnt worded in a very anthropomorphizing way https://didyouknowblog.com/post/683999150289944576/monkeys-can-learn-to-use-money-capuchins-that
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The first source didn't work for me, the second linked back to the research paper linked below. I didn't see anything in the paper mentioning the tokens being stolen or the capuchins paying each other for sex. The "gambling" was if a capuchin would trade the token for a treat from one of two experimenters- one would always give the treat shown, the other experimenter would display two treats, but give only one randomly 50% of the time.
From the original research paper: How Basic Are Behavioral Biases? Evidence from Capuchin Monkey Trading Behavior
This blog does not support the use of non-human primates in laboratory settings to understand human cognition/origins.
The study used 9 tufted capuchins, and the paper itself suggested very little can be extrapolated from capuchin to human because:
"Within the set of primates, though, capuchins are actually very distantly related to humans. While the exact date of this split is not known, molecular-clock estimates suggest that capuchins split off as a genus around 23 million years ago. Estimates of our latest common ancestor date around 40 million years"
I'm not a fan of lab-based animal research. You get better data, and happier animals, when studying wild populations in their native habitats. I especially don't like research that is for the sole purpose of understanding human behavior, but utilizes non-human primate test subjects. Humans and other primates have major differences that make it difficult to extrapolate one finding to both humans and non-human primates. Even when the testing conditions are favorable for the animals' mental and physical health. This does several things that harm animals:
Demand for monkeys heightens the need for the poaching and trade of primates from the wild. This specific study used captive-born capuchins.
When the research is concluded, the animals are either: sold to another lab, euthanized to be necropsied for the study results, or surrendered to sanctuary. All US primate sanctuaries are at capacity, and many labs want to surrender their animals, but cannot find a place to house them so they must resort to one of the other two options. It is alot cheaper to euthanize than to pay for habitat construction and lifetime care at a sanctuary.
The published results of non-human primate research for the purpose of understanding human behaviors or cognition supports the common public anthropomorphization of primates and inadvertently increases the demand for pet primates since they're seemingly just like us.
I strongly believe there is an ethical way to conduct research: with accurate social groups in their natural habitat and gathering data in non-invasive ways. I don't condemn this study in particular, but I wanted to talk about laboratory, especially bio-medical research impact on primates.
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cogitoergofun · 1 month
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Florida health officials on Sunday announced an investigation into a cluster of measles cases at an elementary school in the Fort Lauderdale area with a low vaccination rate, a scenario health experts fear will become more and more common amid slipping vaccination rates nationwide.
On Friday, Broward County Public School reported a confirmed case of measles in a student at Manatee Bay Elementary School in the city of Weston. A local CBS affiliate reported that the case was in a third-grade student who had not recently traveled. On Saturday, the school system announced that three additional cases at the same school had been reported, bringing the current reported total to four cases.
On Sunday, the Florida Department of Health in Broward County (DOH-Broward) released a health advisory about the cases and announced it was opening an investigation to track contacts at risk of infection.
At Manatee Bay Elementary School, the number of children at risk could be over 100 students. According to a Broward County vaccine study reported by the local CBS outlet, only 89.31 percent of students at Manatee Bay Elementary School were fully immunized in the 2023/2024 school year, which is significantly lower than the target vaccination coverage of 95 percent. The school currently has 1,067 students enrolled, suggesting that up to 114 students are vulnerable to the infection based on their vaccination status.
Measles is one of the most contagious viruses known. It spreads via respiratory and airborne transmission. The virus can linger in air space for up to two hours after an infected person has been in an area. People who are not vaccinated or have compromised immune systems are susceptible, and up to 90 percent of susceptible people exposed to the virus will become infected. Measles symptoms typically begin around eight to 14 days after exposure, but the disease can incubate for up to 21 days. The symptoms begin as a high fever, runny nose, red and watery eyes, and a cough before the telltale rash develops. Infected people can be contagious from four days before the rash develops through four days after the rash appears, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 1 in 5 unvaccinated people with measles are hospitalized, the CDC adds, while 1 in 20 infected children develop pneumonia and up to 3 in 1,000 children die of the infection.
Those who are not immunocompromised and are fully vaccinated against measles (who have received two doses of the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine) are generally not considered at risk. The two doses are about 97 percent effective at preventing measles, and protection is considered to be life-long.
[...]
While the risk of measles is generally low in the US—the country declared it eliminated in 2000—the threat of large outbreaks is growing as vaccination rates slip. Many cases in the US are linked to travel from countries where the virus still circulates. But, if a travel-related case lands in a pocket with low vaccination coverage, the virus can take off. Such was the case in 2019, when the country tallied 1,274 measles cases and nearly lost its elimination status.
Health officials typically consider vaccination coverage of 95 percent or greater sufficient to protect from ongoing transmission. In the years since the COVID-19 pandemic began, vaccination rates among US kindergarteners have slipped to 93 percent, and vaccination exemptions reached an all-time high in the latest data from the 2022-2023 school year. There are now at least 10 states that have vaccination exemption rates above 5 percent, meaning that even if every non-exempt child is vaccinated, those states will not have enough coverage to reach the 95 percent target.
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